2 BULLETIN 388, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
States, who furnished valuable assistance in compiling the infor- 
mation for this bulletin, are as follows: For Maine, Lucius D. Bar- 
rows; for New Hampshire, Frank W. Brown; for Vermont, M. E. 
Shedd; for Rhode Island, Peter J. Lannon; for Connecticut, C. G. 
Nichols; and for Massachusetts, W. D. Sohier and T. N. Waddell. 
Similar bulletins have been prepared for publication for the Middle 
Atlantic States, the Southern States, and for the Middle Western and 
Western States. 
WORKING PLAN AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 
The method pursued in obtaining the information contained in this 
bulletin was as follows : 
A series of card inquiry forms covering conditions in each State 
and designated A, B, C, and D, covering, respectively, mileage, taxa- 
tion and revenues, administrative organization, and bond issues, was 
furnished to each State collaborator, and correspondence was then 
conducted by the collaborators under Government frank with the 
respective county and town officials. On account of the absence 
of detailed records in many of the towns, extreme accuracy is impos- 
sible, and because of the large amount of correspondence necessary 
to conduct the investigation considerable delay in the issuance of this 
bulletin has been unavoidable. The data on mileage and revenues 
should, therefore, be considered as approximate only. A summary 
sheet of each of the forms A, B, C, and D was prepared for each State 
as fast as the card forms were received from the State collaborators. 
These summaries, when completed, were forwarded to the respective 
State collaborators and to the heads of the State highway depart- 
ments, who then prepared texts explanatory of the statistical tables 
and of the administrative systems in effect in then respective States, 
or approved the texts prepared in this office. The bulletin is issued, 
therefore, hi the form of a series of chapters, each under the author- 
ship or approval of the State official who has cooperated with this 
office in assembling the data. 
ROAD ADMINISTRATION IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 
All of the New England States have highway departments and apply 
State funds to the aid of road improvement. This policy was inau- 
gurated in Massachusetts in 1892, Connecticut in 1895, Vermont in 
1898, Maine in 1901, Rhode Island in 1902, and New Hampshire in 
1903. In Vermont the State aid law was enacted in 1898, but the 
State highway department was not established until 1906. Maine, 
Rhode Island, and Connecticut have trunk-line systems of roads built 
entirely at the expense of the State. Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, and Vermont have trunk-line systems of roads built by the 
State, but the towns contribute toward the cost of their construction 
and maintenance. 
