Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1867-05-30

Ough drainage in their fields 0
meadows, will at once understan
this matter They know how
+ line or two Of tiles four feet deer
. through shaking bog, or along
r springy hillside, will change a spo
. over which no beast could pass. in
to a sUil compact enough that load
, of hoy, or even Of manure, ma,
, cross it safely. Dry sand is a goot
foundation for a road ora building
clay drained of its moisture form
a hard subsoil, but cracks and OPEN
sufficiently by drainage, to ALLOW
water to pass through it, and ever
swamp mud or peat well drained tc
the depth of four feet would sup
port the gravel or other materia
necessary to form a good country
highway. If the reader will call to
mind the places on the roads in his
own neighborhood which have been
most expensive to repair, and are
still in the worst condition for
travel, he will be satisfied that we
are correct when we say that the
one thing needful to the good re-
pair of our common highways, is
underdrainage.
MODE OF DRAINAGE.
Any one who knows how to drain
a field or meadow, knows how to
drain highway. Tiles have been
long in common use in this coun-
try, but their use is now understood
by most farmers. AS a general
thing, tiles four feet deep, properly
laid, two rods apart, will drain any
soil, though on very close clay they
are laid nearer The pathway of a
road is not usually more than 30 or
% feet wide, and o line Of drains
parallel with the road on each side
Of it, will almost certainly draw off
all water that can be taken from the
soil by drainage, and the rest, what
is held by capillary attraction, will
dy no harm.
Many seem to imagine that a.
though these little tiles of two or
three inch bore, may drain field
well enough, some great process,
more expensive and imposing is
necessary to drain apublic highway.
So they dig a trench 4 feet wide
and 4 feet deep, in the middle of
the road, and lay a costly culvert of
fiat stones, and cart in hundreds of
loads of loose stones, and build
their road-path on the top Of it,
when single line of three inch
tiles laid in place of the culyert, /
and one-tenth of the cost would an
swer the purpose far better. We
say better, because, although the
culvert may drain as well as the
tiles, while kept open, it is far more
liable to be filled up and obstructed
than is a tile drain, because the lat
ter is laid tighter and cannot be en-
tered by the various vermin which
work ruin to stone drains.
We have in our treaties on Farm
Drainage set forth fully our views
on these points, and they are appli- |
cable alike for the most part to
highways as well as farms. The
common mode of attempting to
remedy wetness in roads, by carting
gravel and sand upon the sutfac !, /
is only successful when the road is
so far raised above the common |
level that it is thus drained at the
foundation. Now tile drain may
he laid in the best manner, any
where almost, for fifty cents to a
dollar a rod, and the cost of carting
on material to raise the road bed
even two feet, would be ten or TWEEN
-y times as much.
We know of tracts of road in vii
ages, that have been thus raised,
and rounded up to the inconvenience
Of every body, to get rid of wet pla-
,es, when a tenth of the expense
aid out in drainage, would have
eft them level and dry, and con
renient.-Nt5s. PloEghman, "