THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
May  2l 
342 
Country  Roads  and  Road 
Making. 
F.  HODGMAN. 
( Concluded .) 
Any  deviation  from  a  true  grade  line 
in  a  tile  drain,  diminishes  its  efficiency. 
If  there  is  a  sag  below  the  grade  line,  the 
lower  part  will  fill  with  dirt  up  to  the 
level.  If  the  sag  amounts  to  as  much  as 
the  bore  of  the  tile,  the  latter  will  in 
time  be  choked  up  entirely.  The  dis¬ 
tance  apart  of  the  rows  of  tile  will  vafy 
to  suit  the  circumstances.  They  should 
be  a  few  feet  outside  of  the  main  traveled 
portion  of  the  track. 
In  muck  a  ditch  on  each  side  of  the 
road  will  drain  it  sufficiently,  provided 
the  ditches  have  a  good  outlet,  and  the 
water  does  not  stand  in  them.  If  there  is 
reason  to  suspect  the  presence  of  a  “sink 
hole,”  of  which  there  are  so  many  in 
Michigan,  do  not  cut  any  ditches,  because 
they  will  cut  off  the  supporting  roots 
and  vegetation  and  let  the  roadway  down. 
Do  not  make  the  road  bed  any  heavier 
than  is  absolute^  necessary.  Many  a  b’g 
pile  of  earth  put  on  a  marsh  to  build  up 
the  track,  has  overweighed  the  surface 
soil  and  gone  down  to  a  watery  grave. 
By  observing  these  precautions  you  may 
avoid  a  “  sink  ”  which  it  would  take  no 
end  of  trouble  and  expense  to  fill  up  or 
bridge  over. 
When  things  are  ripe  for  it,  then  begin 
grading  the  road  bed;  but  first  determine 
the  grade  line  of  the  road  as  it  is  to  be 
when  completed,  and  work  to  that  as  far 
as  you  go.  Do  not  lay  out  a  foot  more 
grading  than  you  can  finish  at  the  time. 
The  sins  that  are  annually  committed 
by  patlimasters  plowing  up  roads  and 
leaving  them  less  than  half  completed 
are  as  fearful  to  contemplate  as  the 
roads  are  to  ride  over.  In  soils  where  it 
is  necessary  to  provide  for  surface  drain¬ 
age,  the  road  bed  should  be  elevated  in 
the  center,  “turnpiked,”  enough  to 
carry  off  the  water.  As  a  rule  the  plow 
is  the  best  tool  to  turnpike  with.  Plow 
toward  the  center  and  keep  on  plowing 
until  the  road  bed  is  sufficiently  high. 
Work  the  ground  over  and  over  with 
harrows  or  cultivators  until  it  has  a  uni¬ 
form,  homogeneous  consistency  and  a 
smooth,  true  surface.  Do  not  be  afraid 
to  work  clay  when  wet.  The  more  you 
work  it  then  the  harder  it  will  be  when 
dry,  and  that  is  what  you  want  in  a  road 
bed.  Work  the  road  up  to  the  grade 
where  it  is  to  stay  the  first  time  you 
plow  it.  Never  put  a  plow  into  it  after¬ 
wards.  This  of  course  does  not  apply 
to  the  hills  and  hollows  that  have  to  be 
graded  up  and  down  year  after  year  till 
the  millennium.  Do  not  turnpike  the 
road  too  high  in  the  center.  There  is  a 
very  strong  tendency  to  overdo  this  mat¬ 
ter  and  lots  of  roads  are  thrown  up 
far  too  high  in  the  middle.  The  only 
object  in  turnpiking  is  to  carry  off  the 
surface  water.  When  raised  too  high, 
the  loaded  wagon,  which  has  to  take  one 
side  of  the  turnpike,  has  so  much  of 
the  weight  thrown  on  the  lower  wheels 
as  to  greatly  increase  their  tendency  to 
cut  a  rut  in  the  road.  The  rut  will  catch 
and  hold  the  water  instead  of  letting  it 
run  off.  The  water  in  turn  softens  the 
ground,  further  increasing  the  tendency 
to  rut.  Sandy  roads  are  not  referred  to 
in  this  statement. 
Another  evil  of  a  steep  slope  is  that  it 
greatly  increases  the  strain  on  the  wheels 
and  axles  of  wagons  and  at  the  same  time 
reduces  their  ability  to  resist  it,  by  taking 
them  at  a  disadvantage.  Nearly  all  of 
the  breakages  of  wheels  and  axles  are 
caused  by  the  main  weight  of  the  load 
being  thrown  on  one  or  two  of  the 
wheels,  with  the  leverage  of  the  load 
against  them.  A  few  weeks  ago  I  was 
told  by  city  engineers  in  Chicago  that 
they  used  at  first  to  make  their  streets 
18  inches  higher  in  the  center  than  else¬ 
where.  The  height  has  been  reduced 
from  time  to  time  until  now  the  center 
of  the  street  is  raised  only  eight  inches, 
and  this  is  found  much  more  satisfactory. 
When  the  road  bed  has  been  properly 
worked  and  brought  to  the  permanent 
grade,  a  heavy  roller  is  useful  in  com¬ 
pacting  the  surface.  The  common  farm 
roller  is  not  heavy  enough  to  do  much 
good  on  a  road.  Steam  rollers  are  made 
especially  for  this  work.  Heretofore 
they  have  not  been  much  used  outside 
of  the  cities,  but  I  look  for  a  more  ex¬ 
tended  use  of  them  in  the  country  as  fast 
as  people  come  to  realize  the  benefits  de¬ 
rived  from  good  wagon  roads.  Road  ma¬ 
chines  are  excellent  tools  to  make  roads, 
and  keep  them  in  order;  but,  up  to  the 
present  time,  I  think  that  in  the  country 
more  harm  than  good  has  been  done  with 
them.  This  has  not  been  the  fault  of 
the  machines  but  of  the  men  who  use 
them.  They  require  an  expert  to  work 
them.  A  sharp  ridge,  like  the  roof  of  a 
house,  is  not  a  good  shape  for  a  road  and 
everybody  ought  to  know  it;  but  people 
do  not  seem  to,  for  I  know  of  a  good  many 
roads  that  have  been  spoiled  by  ridging 
up  with  a  road  machine.  It  is  not  a  good 
thing  to  leave  a  big  back  furrow  of  loose 
earth  along  the  crest  of  the  ridge.  It 
should  be  smoothly  and  evenly  distrib¬ 
uted  over  the  surface  and  rolled  down  as 
hard  as  possible. 
A  sandy  road  needs  different  treatment. 
It  should  of  course  be  brought  to  the  per¬ 
manent  grade,  but  it  does  not  need  turn¬ 
piking,  and  never  ought  to  be  plowed  up 
unless  for  the  purpose  of  leveling  it  off, 
giving  it  a  good  coat  of  manure  and  seed¬ 
ing  down.  If  grass  will  grow  at  all,  en¬ 
courage  it  to  occupy ‘all  the  road  it  can. 
If  the  sand  can  be  lqjpt  wet,  so  much  the 
better.  Don’t  try  to  keep  water  away 
except  to  prevent  washing.  Straw, 
marsh  hay,  and  the  waste  from  sorghum 
mills  make  good  temporary  applications 
for  the  surface  of  a  sandy  road.  They  do 
not  last  very  long,  but  cause  a  great  im¬ 
provement  while  they  do  last.  It  costs 
very  little  to  apply  them  and  it  pays  well 
to  use  them,  when  one  cannot  do  better. 
Long-continued  applications  might  in  the 
course  of  time  add  enough  vegetable 
matter  to  the  sand  to  be  of  permanent 
benefit. 
The  sand  is,  of  itself,  an  excellent 
foundation  for  anything  you  want  to  put 
on  it  for  a  road  bed.  A  coating  of  clay 
is  a  great  improvement.  But  it  right  on 
the  sand  without  turnpiking.  There  will 
be  no  trouble  about  drainage.  I  know  a 
piece  of  road  which,  25  years  ago,  was 
so  sandy  that  the  wheels  would  settle 
half  way  to  the  hubs.  A  team  could  not 
draw  half  a  load  through  it.  About  that 
time,  a  good  coating  of  clay  was  put  on 
it,  which  made  it  the  best  piece  of  road 
there  was  in  the  vicinity,  in  a  wet  time. 
It  could  fairly  be  called  a  good  road  and 
continued  so  for  many  years.  About  five 
years  ago  somebody  who  doubtless 
thought  to  do  a  good  thing  had  it  plowed 
up  and  turnpiked.  After  it  was  clayed 
the  travel  nearly  all  followed  the  clayed 
track  and  in  course  of  time  a  June  Grass 
sod  occupied  pretty  nearly  all  the  rest  of 
it.  This  sod  was  destroyed  and  the  bare 
sand  exposed  to  the  wash  of  the  rains 
and  melting  snows.  The  clay  was  cov¬ 
ered  with  a  thick  coat  of  sand.  The  road 
was  spoiled  and  it  will  ^be  many  a  long 
day  before  it  will  be  as  Jfood  as  it  was 
before  it  was  plowed.  It  never  will  be 
till  it  is  covered  with  something  besides 
sand. 
In  muck  and  very  soft  clay,  it  has  been 
customary,  in  making  new  roads,  to  put 
in  a  layer  of  logs,  with  or  without  string¬ 
ers,  across  the  track,  and  cover  them  with 
a  layer  of  earth.  In  clay  ground,  thor¬ 
ough  drainage  is  better  than  logs.  Brush 
is  better.  It  may  be  bound  in  tight  bun¬ 
dles  or  fascines,  and  these  laid  compactly 
together  and  covered ;  or  it  may  be 
trimmed  so  as  to  lje  down  flat,  and  be 
put  on  in  successive  layers  until  it  is 
from  six  inches  to  a  foot  thick  when 
thoroughly  packed  together.  This  will 
make  a  foundation  which  will  prevent 
wheels  from  cutting  through,  and  will 
last  until  it  is  no  longer  needed.  If  logs 
must  be  used,  they  should  be  laid  evenly 
on  stringers,  and  be  either  flattened  to  a 
smooth  surface  on  top  or  covered  with 
enough  brush  to  prevent  the  bumping  of 
wheels  from  log  to  log.  Coarse  marsh 
hay  comes  well  in  play  for  use  with  the 
brush  in  such  places. 
The  next  step  is  to  provide  a  harder, 
firmer  surface  than  can  generally  be 
made  from  the  native  soil  in  place.  For 
this  purpose,  gravel  will  naturally  be  the 
first  thing  used  wherever  it  can  readily 
be  procured.  It  makes  not  only  a  good 
road  covering  of  itself,  but  also  an  ex¬ 
cellent  foundation  for  any  paving  mate¬ 
rial  it  may  afterward  be  desirable  to 
place  on  it.  When  I  say  gravel  I  do  not 
mean  sand.  It  is  a  waste  of  time  and 
money  to  put  the  latter  on  a  muddy  road. 
It  does  very  little,  if  any,  good.  I  have 
seen  lots  of  time  and  labor  thrown  away 
putting  sand  on  prairie  mud  to  make  a 
road.  Gravel  should  consist  of  grains 
from  the  size  of  a  kernel  of  wheat  up  to 
that  of  a  hickory  nut.  If  it  is  to  go  on  a 
sandy  road,  a  little  stiff,  tenacious  clay 
mixed  with  it  makes  it  all  the  better.  If 
it  is  to  be  put  on  a  clay  bottom,  nothing 
but  the  clean  gravel  is  needed.  It  will 
get  all  the  clay  it  needs  from  the  road. 
Of  course  there  is  gravel  and  gravel,  and 
one  cannot  always  get  such  as  he  would 
like.  When  graveling  a  road,  begin  at  the 
point  nearest  the  gravel.  Spread  a  layer 
smoothly  over  the  road  about  four  inches 
thick  before  it  is  packed.  Drive  over  it 
as  you  go  back  and  forth  with  the  teams. 
When  one  such  coat  is  laid,  wait  awhile 
till  it  is  well  packed  down  by  passing 
teams.  Then  put  on  more  gravel  in  the 
same  way,  in  successive  coats,  until  there 
are  not  less  than  six  inches  of  solidly- 
packed  gravel.  When  you  have  put  on 
enough,  then  let  it  alone,  except  filling 
lip  any  holes  that  may  happen  to  get 
started. 
Don’t  do  as  a  man  near  Galesburg  did. 
The  road  in  his  district  is  on  a  level  prai¬ 
rie  with  only  slope  enough  to  give  good 
drainage.  The  native  soil  is  black  and 
sticky.  The  surface  of  the  road  was  well 
drained  by  side  ditelies  or  gutters.  The 
track  was  smooth,  and  had  been  graveled 
till  it  was  as  good  a  piece  of  road  as  there 
was  in  the  county.  The  graveling  had 
gone  on  for  years  till  the  gravel  pit  was 
exhausted.  This  man  was  elected  path- 
master  and  thought  he  had  to  do  some¬ 
thing,  so  he  went  at  it  and  plowed  up 
half  a  mile  of  this  nice  graveled  road,  in 
spite  of  the  protests  of  his  indignant 
neighbors.  He  turnpiked  it  up  from  18 
inches  to  two  feet  in  the  middle.  He 
covered  the  gravel  all  up  with  black, 
sticky  prairie  dirt  at  least  a  foot  deep. 
He  spoiled  the  road  for  wet  weather.  It 
is  doubtful  if  it  ever  again  will  be  as  good 
as  it  was  before  he  touched  it. 
Now  stop  right  here  and  reflect  a  little 
on  what  that  man  has  cost  the  public. 
Think  of  the  best  part  of  50  years’  work 
on  that  road  permanently  destroyed. 
Think  of  the  loss  of  time,  the  extra 
labor  for  teams,  the  extra  wear  and 
tear  of  vehicles,  the  discomfort  and  an¬ 
noyance  to  people  riding  over  the  road. 
When  you  have  traced  out  to  their  full 
extent  the  far-reaching  consequences  of 
his  work,  then  calculate  how  much  it 
would  have  been  better  for  the  public  to 
have  paid  him  for  doing  nothing  rather 
than  what  he  did.  This  case  is  not  an 
uncommon  one  except  in  the  amount  of 
damage  done.  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  per¬ 
son  of  mature  years  among  readers  of 
this  paper  who  does  not  know  of  cases 
where  the  work  done  on  the  road  was  a 
damage  to  it.  This  is  a  legitimate  part 
of  our  great  American  system  of  road 
making,  of  which  we  as  patriotic  Ameri¬ 
can  citizens  are  justly  (?)  proud. 
Sometimes  it  will  be  of  advantage  to 
remove  the  surface  soil  and  replace  it 
with  sand  as  a  foundation  for  the  gravel. 
This  will  not  pay  in  a  country  road  if  it 
can  be  thoroughly  drained.  Where  gravel 
cannot  be  had,  and  it  has  been  determined 
to  have  a  better  road  than  can  be  made 
from  the  native  soil,  some  kind  of  paving 
must  be  used.  I  have  already  mentioned 
brick.  A  layer  of  stone  broken  small 
(Continued  on  next  page.) 
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