6 BULLETIN 284, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
spread in one course to a depth of 6 inches for a width of 8 feet and a length of 
933 feet, making 829 square yards. About 188 cubic yards of material were 
used with an average haul from the crusher to the road of 630 feet. Planks 
2 by 6 inches were used at the sides to secure a uniform depth of 6 inches, and 
against these planks shoulders were built. The surfacing material was loaded 
into wagons direct from the elevator, hauled in farm wagons and spread with 
shovels, and the surface given a crown of three-fourths inch to the foot. 
The equipment consisted of fourteen wheel scrapers, four drag scrapers, 
two heavy grading plows, one heavy harrow, one rooter, one road grader, one 
6-ton horse roller, one crusher, one 25-horsepower traction engine. 
‘Labor cost, $1.80, and teams, $3.60 per 9-hour day. The contract for the 
engine at $10 per day included fuel. The total cost of the road was $1,190.43, 
which is at the rate of $0.222 per square yard of graded area. The principal 
items of cost were as follows: Plowing, at $0.14 per cubic yard, $315.02; 
scraping, at $0.2685 per cubic yard, $609.60; trimming banks, at $0.0322 per 
square yard, $38.70; blasting, at $0.6867 per cubic yard, $20.60, including $8 
for dynamite; hand-breaking stone, at $1.282 per cubic yard, $42.30; trimming 
shoulders, at $0.028 per linear foot, $26.43; spreading stone, at $0.0587 per 
cubic yard, $8.10; crushing, at $0.5155 per cubic yard, $54.13; rolling, at 
$0.0052 per square yard, $20.80; hauling stone to crusher, varying from $0.25 
to $0.80 per cubic yard, $33.35; hauling crushed stone to road, at ou: 2088 per 
eubic yard, $21.40. 
GRAVEL ROADS. 
CoAHOMA COUNTY, CLARKSDALE, MISS. (SECTION 1).—A gravel road leading 
from Clarksdale northwesterly toward Friar Point was begun on January 5, 
1914, and completed January 19, 1914, with a loss of four days waiting for 
materials. The adjacent land is level and the natural soil a buckshot clay. A 
section 1,060 feet long was graded with 580 feet surfaced 20 feet wide, and 
480 feet surfaced 16 feet wide, making the surfaced area 2,142 square yards. 
The grade of the road was not materially changed, and the average cut was 
but 0.5 foot with a maximum of 1 foot. The material was loosened with 
plows, loaded by hand into slat-bottom wagons, and hauled away. The sur- 
facing material, which was Tishomingo gravel and novaculite, was shipped in on 
the cars. The gravel weighed 3,000 pounds to the cubic yard, and the novaculite 
weighed 2,400 to the cubic yard. The novaculite seemed to have better 
wearing and binding qualities than the gravel. The material was spread to 
a loose depth of 12 inches by means of rakes, shovels, and the drag. It was 
afterwards rolled with a 5-ton horse roller until the material was compacted 
*to 8 inches. The average haul from the cars to the road was one-fourth mile. 
The material contained particles of stone from the size of peastone to that of 
cobblestone. The road was given a crown of 6 inches on the surfaced portion. 
The equipment consisted of a road grader, a 5-ton horse roller, wagons, and 
small tools. Labor cost $1.50 and teams $4.50 per 10-hour day. 
The cost of the novaculite on the cars was $1.63 per 2,000 pounds, or $1.96 
per cubic yard, and the gravel $1.474 per 2,500 pounds, or $1.77 per cubic yard. 
The total cost of the road to the community was $1,722.72, which is at the 
rate of $0.804 per square yard for the surfacing. The principal items of cost 
were as follows: Excavation, $71; shaping, at $0.0217 per square yard, $46.50; 
surfacing material, $1,191.22; loading wagons from car at $0.126 per cubic 
yard, $94.50; hauling from cars to road, at $0.3815 per cubic yard, $236.25; 
spreading material, at $0.058 per cubic yard, $43.50; trimming shoulders, 
$16.50; rolling, at $0.011 per square yard, $23.25. 
ee ee 
