PARK AND CEMETERY. 
present, Solvay Calcium Chloride ideal- 
ly performs its functions on a compara- 
tively level road surface making the 
road dense and firm and able to with- 
stand heavy vehicle traffic and pound- 
ing rains without damage to the road. 
We have had some remarkable experi- 
ences in our treatment of grades and 
have found in every case where the 
road was laid carefully and the Chlor- 
ide put down intelligently that after 
heavy pounding rains the treated sur- 
face held and the roads remained in 
good condition, showing conclusively 
that the Chloride has a binding proper- 
ty which is very beneficial. It is a re- 
sult to be expected if one stops to 
think, for do we not set up the same 
condition in our treated road surfaces 
that has so often been observed on the 
ocean beach where the water-bound 
shore sand is so hard and dense 
that a heavy vehicle can pass 
over it without leaving any im- 
pression, yet this is the same 
sand which without its water-bond 
blows hither and thither, in many 
places laying in waste vast territories. 
The principle of the water-bound 
macadam is but another illustration of 
the same sort, and in the development 
of this question it may not be out of 
place to submit to you gentlemen 
whether or not oil is a proper treat- 
ment for macadam surfaces. You all 
know how macadam is laid and realize, 
of course, that the success or failure of 
such a surface is altogether dependent 
on the water bond which cements the 
individual stone to its neighbor, and it 
in turn to others until by and by there 
stretches out before us a splendid road 
ready for the ravages of the automo- 
bile and swirling air current. The sur- 
face of any road must be kept in place, 
and not be permitted to blow hither 
and thither or it is easy to see that in 
a short while our splendid thorough- 
fare will be in ruts and holes. It is a 
fact, and I know you gentlemen will 
agree with me, that no sooner is a ma- 
cadam road completed and open to traf- 
fic than the builder’s anxiety commenc- 
es and he begins to thrust about for 
some adequate means of prolonging its 
life. Oil treatment is expensive and 
disagreeable, and so where this agency 
is employed enough oil is doused on 
the road to make it last as long as pos- 
sible. Before a great while it may be 
observed that most of the oil has been 
squeezed off to the road sides, and later 
a tendency to dust and flake will be no- 
ticed, and in many cases, in my experi- 
ence and yours, the life of the macadam 
road is measured by the time it takes 
the oil surfacing to lose its effective- 
ness. There are splendid reasons for 
this if it is remembered that the under- 
lying principle of the macadam road is 
its water bond which unites the whole 
surface into one continuous compact 
mass. When oil is applied to a ma- 
cadam roadway experience has shown 
that the oil penetrates the surface to a 
depth of perhaps one inch, severing the 
water bond which can never again be 
re-established. Under these conditions 
a stone may be loosened and a ravel 
started which only the rebuilding of the 
entire road will repair. This is a rea- 
sonable argument because every day in 
the experience of road builders such 
conditions are met and we venture the 
assertion that it will not be a great 
while before oil dressings of macadam 
road surfaces will be a thing of the 
past. 
W e maintain and we think you will 
uphold us in a contention which has the 
approving seal of practical road build- 
ers that Calcium Chloride is not only a 
proper dressing for macadam surfaces, 
but it is the only one which will insure 
the maximum road life under condi- 
tions which are ideal so long as the 
road surface is carefully attended. 
When Calcium Chloride is applied to 
macadam the water bond is strengthen- 
ed and by its use a road may be patched 
and the water bond be established at 
once without difficulty. Then, too. the 
road is always in a moist condition and 
its surface by virtue of this state is 
able to resist the traction of automo- 
biles and the destructive suction which 
follows in their wake. It is a simple 
matter to keep on hand a few drums of 
Calcium Chloride which may be applied 
from time to time as a tendency to dust 
shows itself on your road. Vigilance is 
the price of a good road and where, 
even with Calcium Chloride, a dressing 
will not last for two seasons, two 
dressings a season will answer the 
average requirements. But right here 
be it known that each situation is a law 
unto itself and every user of Chloride 
must suit it to conditions as he finds 
them. The point we make is this. Cal- 
cium Chloride will not fail if intelli- 
gently applied. You, each of you, ^must 
suit its use to your local condition. 
That you fail to get the maximum of 
satisfaction from your first test is no 
reason for saying Calcium Chloride is 
not all we claim for it, but it is the 
best reason in the worl(4 for establish- 
ing new conditions and making another 
trial, because in the end you will have 
better roads and your cost of mainte- 
nance will be minimized. This goal all 
roadmen should earnestly strive to at- 
tain. You can nearlj' always see where 
the trouble lies, and if you go about it 
in an interested and common sense way 
1 dti 
your difficulty may soon be overcome. 
Beyond any question Calcium Chlor- 
ide is the best dressing known for 
gravel roadway. Some of your mem- 
bers will bear me out in this statement, 
and I trust they will come to my aid 
and tell you how they have been able 
to attain results which to me seem 
wonderful, and which, I dare say, were 
as great a surprise to them. Last year 
we sold the City of Duluth a sample 
carload of Calcium Chloride for use 
on a gravel boulevard. Up to the pres- 
ent we have shipped them this year be- 
tw'een si.x and eight hundred tons. 
When it is considered that Calcium 
Chloride has nearly all of the good fea- 
tures and scarcely any of the bad ones 
of other road dressings, it will be seen 
that it will be very difficult to make a 
fair comparison of cost. We think for 
the work it will do that it is the cheap- 
est and most economical road dressing 
on the market today. We keep our 
roads moist and compact and in this 
way insure the maximum of life to the 
road. We pay road users large divi- 
dends of satisfaction because our roads 
are clean and sanitary. Calcium Chlor- 
ide does not mess up clothes and car- 
pets nor does it ruin automobile tires 
and paints. It is a good thing for you 
gentlemen from every standpoint as it 
IS for all who are troubled with a nui- 
sance of dust or are responsible for the 
good condition of road surface. 
A Member — I would like to ask a 
question of the gentleman, and that is, 
if Calcium Chloride has any bad effect 
or disintegrating effect on a tar road? 
Mr. Mortland — I would say that 
Calcium Chloride is not very successful 
if the road has been already oiled, that 
is a road that has been oiled, say within 
a year or two, because water in the 
Calcium Chloride and the oil do not 
assimilate, and I do not believe we 
would get very satisfactory action. 
The President — I will now call upon 
Mr. S. G. Howe, of the Howe Chem- 
ical Road Co., of Detroit, Michigan. 
Mr. Howe — Ladies, and Gentle- 
men : I have not come prepared with 
a paper to read on this subject of 
chemical road treatment, but will give 
you some of the points of my four 
years of experience and experiment 
along these lines, and, if time will per- 
mit, shall be pleased to answer any 
questions you may ask. 
In the first place, I can vouch for all 
the good things claimed for this chem- 
ical treatment of roadways in the very 
able paper you have just listened to, 
but I disagree quite radically with the 
methods the company which this gen- 
tleman represents employ in use and 
application of this chemical. In their 
