62 BULLETIN 393, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Fort Covington line makes two trips a day and charges $1 for the 
round trip. They have a regular schedule as to time of arrival and 
departure from terminals and intermediate points, and a schedule of 
rates for intermediate points. 
DALLAS COUNTY, ALA. 
An object-lesson road constructed in 1909 under the direction of 
the Office of Public Roads of the United States Department of 
Agriculture started the movement for better roads in Dallas County, 
and in May, 1910, an election was carried for the issuance of $250,000 
in county bonds. This sum was supplemented by an additional bond 
issue of $100,000 in July, 1912. The economic studies were made 
in March, 1911, April, 1912, April, 1913, April, 1914, and a short 
study in October, 1915. 
The county is in the central part of the State and has an area of 
940 square miles, or about 612,480 acres, of which about 256,000- 
acres constitute improved farm land. The principal product of the 
county is cotton, but about 40,000 acres are in corn, hay, and forage. 
Most of the county is level or gently rolling, and a small portion is 
hilly. The soil in the eastern part of the county is a sandy loam, 
while the western part is in the prairie section or Black Belt, which 
takes its name from the fact that the soul is very dark. The popula- 
tion of the county in 1910 was 53,401, of which 13,649 were comprised 
in the population of Selma, the county seat and principal city. 
There are about 1,000 miles of public road in the county, of which 
217.9 miles, or 21.7 per cent, have been improved up to the year 
1915. (See Pi. XXVI.) 
HGW THE IMPROVEMENT WAS FINANCED. 
The first $250,000 of bonds voted were sold in two lots of $100,000 
and $150,000, respectively, on November 9, 1910, and July 3, 1911. 
The first issue brought a premium of $4,847.20 and the second issue 
$7,875. The $100,000 of bonds voted in 1912 were sold July 8, 1912, 
for a premium of $4,255. Thus the county had a total to apply to 
its road system of $366,977.20. The bonds all carry 5 per cent 
interest and run for a term of 30 years under the smking-fund method. 
As no provision had been made to the close of 1915 for a smking fund 
it is difficult to forecast just what the tax burdens will be to meet 
the indebtedness. It is understood that the county commissioners 
plan to buy up the bonds as fast as a surplus accumulates in the 
county treasury rather than maintain a sinking fund. This method 
would be far preferable to the maintenance of a sinking fund, pro- 
vided the holders of the bonds are willing to surrender them at the 
amount of the original purchasing price, but this is an uncertainty, 
since it does not appear that the bonds have been issued subject to - 
