Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1867-06-07
Roads and Road-Makers.

Riding in London almost every dav ny
one of our main thoroughfares, l nave
been in The habit of noting from month to
month tho process of what that Intelligent
body. n local board, calls road-mendlnS.
In the Transactions of the Royal Society
in 1916, is a .Dsscrtation concerning the
Present State of the High Roads OF En-
gland, " etc, by Robert Phillips, who re-
monstrates against the very practice OF
which we have still to conplaln-tliat OF
LAYING down large heaps OF nnprePared
gravel to be gradually consolidated by the
labor of traffic. This was SIX amt thirty
wears after the management OF our man
roads had been taken out OF the hands OF
the parishes, to become profitable com
mercial understanding. and we trust, now
that the element of direct profit has again
ceased to operate. common sense may YET
prevent our road manager from relapsins
into the old penny wise pound-iooiish
plan. ,.,
The great principle cnunciatcd by Ph'I-
lips was that OF securing the largest amount
of elasticity in roadway; Maeadam III
1919, and Telford did no more than per
feet the means of attaining this end. ne
systems of these great engineers lhonSh
! litfcriu in important particulars. agree IN
tAis-that the upper coating OF the roa'!
should he of one material, the stones OF
uniform size, and not exceeding six ounces
in weight. This coating was to be laid
down in layers of not more than three
inches deep at time. They objected to
the use of any finer material to bind to-
gpther the larger stones. on the ground OF
moisture which it would absorb rendering
the road liable to he broken up after Il
frost. In this respect medcrn experience
has corrected Interviews indeed, 1t seems
! hardly possible to admit their reasoning
| for the fine material must come at last lroin
the crushing of the larger stones, and 1t Is
found that hy using it at first the road may
he nut into perfectly smooth state III
very short time. In Paris this is done by
steam rollers of about twenty seven tons
weight I; fine sfted gravel is p!entliully
scattered over the surface of the road met
al, and this is broken to about half the size
of that which we see about London. The
road mcndng is generally carried on at
night; and you may often find IN the
morning some two hundred and fifty OF
three hundred yards of fresh roadway, as
smooth and fit tor traffic as could be made
in a months wear in London. About
London the process is exceedingly tedious
first, the old roal Is picked up. and the
granite metal literally laid on SIX inches at
least in depth. and in blocks from the size
of half brickbat downwards. In about
Il fortnight's time the traffic has worn a
| fair road on either side of the way, leav-
ing the middle untouched. except where
some wretched vehicle has been obliged to
cross over from one side to the other of the
undigestcd mass, leaving two deep tracks
to receive the standing water, and assist
in the future destruction OF the road. AT
the end of this time the practicable part OF
the road will be blocked up with trestles.
and the grinding aud rolling process of the
centre will he done by the passing traffic
for another fortnight. Thus, for a month
we shall have had only half the road for
use at the end of winch time it may re-
main IN pretty good state fer another
month or two, with occasional patchnss OF
fresh metal then the Whole process will
begin again. But even this result Is not
attained without constant supervision and
labor. Hardly a day passes bnt we meet
gangs Of poor broken down fellows sweep
ing the mud towards the centre of the
road. or in fine weather. and before the
water cart has gone by, filling the air with
clouds of dust. They always prefer a
windy Gay tor the dry process. probably
because it gives the dust cart less trouble
to collect what remains. TREY are also
much in the habit of picking up by hand
the larger Jumps Of granite. or OF collect
ing three or four OF them in broken show
el. to be again thrown upon the central
chaos. BY the French system, all this is
unnecessary; the stones once rolled down
are rarely disturbed, and from the smooth
ness of the surface. the actual ware is very
much lessencd No one will hesitate as to
which plan is the most convenient; but if
we find that our own Is the most expensive,
any one WHO understands the English
character will at once see why we are slow
10 change it. The fact is, that tie cost of
tn. one system can be shown in few min
ntcs, and comes to SO many pounds. siil-
lings and pence in the other case, 1t Is
reckoned by broken down horses. WORN
out carriages, and general waste of time
and lubor-items which can not very well
be put down at a round sum in balance
! sheet. but which have a real value after
all. For instance, Il Hanson cab weighs
about eight hundreawcisht, and can he
moved along good level road by force
equal to twcun>iour pounds, or, accord
ing to the average strength OF a man, by
hail IA tailor; OF a bad road, it would take
at least ii tailor and IA quarter to do the
same work anu On a new mctalied subur-
ban road, have seen whole man hardly
equal to the ex.rtion. CkamberS' J0urRal.