19 
road fouudation should be pennaueut ; ouee attaiued, to be 
held. Surfacing is too costly to employ much before these 
other details are attended to. The best off-haud method of 
judging the work of a highwa}' agent is by the amount of 
permanent work done and discrimination used in surfacing ; 
that is, surfacing onh' where work will stand a reasonable 
time. 
Men should be employed in each section of a town to make 
all necessarj^ ordinary repairs in surfacing, not once or twice 
a year, but as the}' are needed. Nothing is so costly as al- 
lowing a good road to go to pieces for lack of a little attention. 
7th Records. More complete records, than are customary, 
of woi'k done by highway agents should be kept for the towns. 
A detailed statement of payments to John iSmith, Henry Jones, 
etc., is not sutticient. If a bridge is planked, a culvert relaid, 
500 feet of road graveled two inches deep, 1000 feet rounded 
up with the road machine, and so on, these items should be 
reported with at least approximate cost of each. 
