48 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
RECORD of CALCIUM CHLORIDE on CEMETERY ROADS 
Editor Park and Cemetery: At the 
Convention of the A. A. C. S. held 
in Philadelphia last September, an 
address was made by Mr. W. G. 
Mortland on the treatment of roads 
with Calcium Chloride as a dust pre- 
ventive. Mr. Mortland presented his 
subject very intelligently and attrac- 
tively, explaining the nature of Cal- 
cium Chloride, its effect on road sur- 
faces, manner of application and gen- 
eral adaptability. He invited dis- 
cussion and no doubt hoped to have 
an expression of opinion from mem- 
bers present who had had experience 
with this chemical as a road dressing or 
questions from other members con- 
fronted with the problem of dust sup- 
pression and road preservation but 
undecided as to the best or most 
practicable method of accomplishing 
that object. To such Mr. Mortland’s 
technical and practical knowledge 
and the experience and unbiased 
opinions of fellow members of the 
Association with the Calcium would 
undoubtedly have been of much value 
and greatly appreciated. Unfortun- 
ately lack of time precluded any ques- 
tions or discussion. 
For the benefit of those of your 
readers interested in this subject and 
looking for information, I am pleased 
to recite our experience with the 
Chloride during the summer of 1911. 
The avenues in Forest Home Ceme- 
tery are constructed of gravel found 
on the premises, which is rather 
sandy, and having been used un- 
screened, as is still our practice, does 
not compact readily. In continued 
dry weather the avenues unless well 
sprinkled become very dusty, and in 
wet weather except where recently 
constructed or re-surfaced, they are 
apt to be quite muddy. To remedy 
this condition we had planned to 
macadamize the avenues as soon as 
the necessary funds were available. 
Having an abundance of gravel, how- 
ever, at hand and to save expense, 
the macadamizing has been post- 
poned from time to time, and from 
By James Currie, Superintendent of 
Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee. 
our encouraging experience with 
Calcium Chloride in the past year 
it would appear that we might ad- 
vantageously defer macadamizing 
for an indefinite period. 
In the summer of 1910 we were 
persuaded to give Calcium a trial 
on a small area of the main avenue 
near the entrance which was sub- 
jected to the maximum traffic in the 
Cemetery. The Calcium was spread 
at the rate of one pound per square 
yard and the trial proved so satis- 
factory that we decided to use it 
more extensively in 1911. We planned 
to treat part of the most traveled 
avenues with two applications at the 
rate of one pound per square yard, 
the first to be made in June and the 
second about the first of August. 
With that purpose in view we bought 
twenty tons of Calcium. To facil- 
itate the spreading the Solvay-Proc- 
ess Co. from whom we purchased the 
Calcium loaned us a one-horse Buck- 
eye spreader, which not only saved 
much time but distributed the Cal- 
cium more evenly than was possible 
by hand. We began applying the 
Calcium on June 5th. At that time 
the weather was very dry and our 
avenues very dusty, yet so effective 
was the treatment that we decided to 
apply all of the twenty tons as far 
as it would go at the rate specified, 
determining to purchase more if we 
found it necessary to make a second 
application. The weather continued 
very dry and unusually hot, but so 
well had the Calcium accomplished 
the purpose that no sprinkling was 
required to keep the dust in subjec- 
tion until July 17th and not again 
until July 22nd, only one sprinkling 
each day being necessary. In August 
the rainfall was very light (only a 
few showers at long intervals) and 
the temperature was unusually high, 
yet very little sprinkling was required, 
not more than once a day every two 
or three days until the last week of 
the month, when the main avenues 
were sprinkled lightly every day. 
The second application, which had 
been unavoidably delayed, was begun 
on August 30th, all the avenues first 
treated getting a second dressing and 
others a first application, thirty tons 
being used at the rate of one pound 
per square yard, the work being done 
with a one-horse Buckeye spreader, 
which we had purchased in the mean- 
time. The cost of each application, 
including all expenses, was approx- 
imately eight-tenths of a cent per 
square yard. It may be observed that 
this was more than the usual cost of 
sprinkling with water. We found it 
so, but as the question is not merely 
one of dollars and cents but largely 
one of efficiency, we had no difficulty 
in reaching the conclusion that the 
additional expense was warranted by 
the very satisfactory results obtained. 
Water sprinkling, as everyone knows, 
is only a very temporary expedient 
and is seldom satisfactory. If dust 
on dusty roads is to be kept in sub- 
jection during dry weather frequent 
sprinkling must be resorted to, gen- 
erally resulting in a muddy condition 
of the roads, very annoying to foot 
passengers and users of nice vehicles. 
Calcium Chloride on the other hand, 
as indicated by our experience, not 
only effectively prevents dust without 
sprinkling for some considerable time 
after its application and then only oc- 
casionally in the driest weather, but 
it has a tendency to compact the sur- 
face of the road, which under heavy 
traffic, especially that of automobiles 
becomes comparatively hard and 
smooth. We noticed too that after 
a heavy shower where the Calcium 
had been used there was very little 
washing of the road surface and while 
it was muddy for a short time follow- 
ing the shower, the mud very soon 
assumed a plastic condition, which 
with the use of the road drag was 
easily leveled down to an even sur- 
face, presenting a very neat appear- 
ance and a surface which very soon 
again became smooth and solid. 
We have been asked the question 
