The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1867-05-25
Common Roads.

A Bucks county correspondent writing to
| The Germantopn Tcleg,oph dscourses AS
follows on Common Roads:
The method of keeping the roads in tray
cling condition varies in different places ac
cording to the laws made and provided for
the place, the will OF the people in regard to
them, and the material at hand for such
purposes. a description of the castom
prevalent here may not be amsS.
Our supervisors, who are annually elect
ed, notify those who have roadtaX to pay
that they will meet on q certain day at Il
certain place in a township for the purpose
of mending the roads. This is usually done
at seasons of the year when farmers are not
engaged in putting in or gathering the crops
lIther at the appointed time are seen APP
preaching from every point of the compass
| men Of most all ages, and boys OF a dozen
years and upwards, armed with shovels
grubbing hoes &c. II it is not a gala day
with them it is generally pretty jolly one
They usually commence work about seven
o'clock, many trying to be on the ground n
little while in advance of the pillow; the old
er ones to enjoy social chat with their
neighbors about the news of the day, and
the younger ones to vent their cXuberance
OF animal spirits in some rompng amuse-
ment. When the plowman with his team
comes on to the ground there is q muster
irg of the hands by the supervisor. They
stand in line. He passes along numbering
them and telling each one 10 remember his
number. He then with a piece of chalk
marks the adjacent panneIS of fence !. ., 3,
&c., till he has as many numbers down rs
there are hands. This allotment ofsecions
to each one distributes the labor more equal.
ly among The hands and renders Sinking or
the avoidance of duty more difficult to &C.
compliSh than would otherwise be the case.
Previous to this arrangement in our neigh
borhood where your humble correspondent
! has been working man and road member
nearly fifty years, it was no unusual thing
to see some halfdoZen men or more tagging
in the rear leaning upon their shovel han
dies, talking and idling away their time,
without performing n molety OF the labor
performed by others. Dishonesty has many
| ways of manifesting itself.
At the close Of the day the supervisor. in
! book for the purpose the day
work. giving credit to whom it is due, and
| is thus enabled OH settlement to strike the
balance between labor and tax. This, with
| slight notifications, is about the process on
| all the roads Of this county. thorough
| repairing in the spring generally lasts the
year round. BY a thorough repair ! mean
| the road well rounded, always highest in
| the middle; tie holes evenly filled up; the
clods, sods and dirt leveled, aud the stones
| carefully picked off aud carted to some place
where they are needed. Loose stones left
| in the road, rock, rack and often wreck the
vehicle, jostle its occupant, and not unirc.
| quently cripple his horses.
Holes made by rains in the summer are
| frequently filed up by farmers adjacent to
them without charge stones, gravel, red
shale, &C., being the substances generally
used for the purpose. This shows an adj.
vanccment in civilization north of Dixie
since the days OF Sopor, king OF Persia.
This tyrant who llayed the emperor Halerian
| alive and tanned his skin, used to order his
prisoners to he thrown into the hollow parts
of the highways to render them level and
facilitate the passage of his carriages
By the timely stopping of breach in the
road great expense in its reparation may
frequently be avoided. The old adage that
~ stitch in time saves nine is very fully
eXempliied in this matter. During a hard
shower little water breaks through or over
IA causeway and washes, it may be, triiling
gutter in the middle or side OF the road. -
| Two or three shoyels full of dirt at this time
would stop the break and cause the water
to flow where it was designed to. :! What's
everybody business is nobody sbusiness:'
! it is neglected. A few more rains and the
earth Is torn and washed away by wagon
loads. The road soon becomes dangerous
if not impossible The supervisor is Motif
ed of the fact. He sommons his posse, and
the needful repairs are made at an expense
to the township of from five to fifty dollars
perhaps.
| Negleoting the bitches and cutters made
to conduct the water from the roads intotbe
| fields is a great loss of ten times to indivi-
duals, and vastly greater one to the conn,
try at large. When they become chok ed
with any substance so as to prevent the wa
ter passing along them, it of course remains
in the roads, gathering volume and force as
it proceeds, and dealing destruction to them
in the manner above described; sweeping
l off Mt the same time immense amounts OF
fertilizing material to the ocean. BY lit.
tie seasonable care great part ofthis could
be made to overflow our fields, and to add
very much TO their fertility. What observ.
ling man has not noticed in passing through
the country heavier sward of grass or n
more luxuriant and a finer growth of grain
on those portions Of our fields subjected to
the washings OF the public highway? A
thrifty farmer needs no advice on this head.
bitches in his fields are timely attended to.
Apart from township action the roads in
many places have been very materially i'm
i proved by the united efforts Of those resid