The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1868-10-03
farm ano Aousebolo.
Ascent in Roads.

All roads not perfectly Level may De re-
garded as inclined planes. If the load and
wagon weigh a ton, and the road rise one
foot in height to every five feet of distance,
then the increased strength required to draw
the load will be one fifth of its weight, or
equal to 400 pounds. If it rise only one
foot in twenty, then the increase in power
needed to ascend this plane will be only 100
pounds. The great Importance of preserv-
ing as nearly as practicable a perfect level is
very obvious.
There are many roads made in this coun
try, rising over and descending hills, which
might be made nearly level by deviating a
little to the right or to the left. Suppose,
for example, that road be required to con-
meet two points three miles apart, but sepa-
rated by lofty hill midway between them,
and one mile in diameter. Passing half a
mile on either side would entirely avoid the
hill, and the road thus curved would be only
one hundred and forty eight yards, or one
twelfth of a mile longer. The same steep
hill is assembled perhaps fifty to five hundred
times a year by hundred different farmers,
cxpending an amount of strength, ia the
aggregate, sufficient to elevate ten thousand
tons annually to this height, as calculation
will at once show-more than enough for all
the increased expense of making the road
level.
1t is interesting and important to examine
how much further it is expedient to carry a
road through circuitous level course than
over hill. To ascertain this point, we
must take into view the resistance occasion
ed by the rough surface or soft material of
the road. Roads vary greatly in this partic-
ular, but the following MAJ be considered as
about fair average. In drawing ton
weight Including wagon on freely running
wheels, on perfect level. the strength ex-
erted will be found about equal to the fol-
lowing:
On hard, smooth plank road. 10 pounds
On good Macadam road......... GO
On common good hard road...-l00
On soft road, about. .............. 200
Now let US compare this resistance to the
resistance Of drawing up hill. First, for the
plank road-for;y pounds is one fiftieth of a
ton therefore rise Of one foot in fifty of
length will increase the draught equal to the
resistance of the road. Hence the road
might be increased fifty feet in length TO
avoid an ascen. of one foot; or, at the same
rate, it might be increased mile in length
to avoid an ascent of one hundred and five
feet. But in this estimate the increase in
cost of making the longer road is not taken
into account. If making and keeping in
repair be equal to three hundred dollars
yearly per mile, and one hundred teams pass
over it daily, at cost for travelling Of four
cents each per mile, being four dollars daily,
or twelve hundred dollars per annum, then
the cost of making and repair would be one
quarter of the expense of travelling over it.
Therefore the mile should be diminished
one quarter in length to make these two
sources of expense counterbalance each
other. Hence road with this amount of
travel should, with reference to public ac-
commodation, be made thrae-fourths Of a
mile longer to avoid a hill of one hundred
and five feet. This estimate applies to load
ed teams only. For light carriages the adj
vantages of the level road would not be SO
great. One-h half to five eghths of mile
would, therefore, be fair estimate for all
kinds Of travelling taken together.
The same kind of reasoning applied to q
common good road will show that it will be
profitable for the public to travel about halt
Al ., o,-o,J l,,1I &C I,n1 cd
and five feet. In this case the whole yearly
cost of the road, including interest on the
land and the cost of repairs, would not
usually be more than tenth part Of the
same cost for plank, or would net exceed
thirty dollars.
On railroads, where the resistance is only
about one fifth part of the resistance of
plank roads, the disproportiop between the
draught on level and up an ascent
becomes many times greater. Thus, if a
single engine will move three hundred and
fifty tons on level, then two engines will
be required for an ascent of only twenty feet
per mile, four engines for fifty feet per mile,
and six engines for eighty feet per mile.
Such estimates as these merit the atten-
ton of the farmer in laying out his own phi
waite farm roads 1t may be worthy of con
siderable eifert 10 avoid a hill of ten or
twenty feet, which must be passed over a
hundred times yearly with loads of manure,
grain, hay and wood. The greatly increased
resistance of soft materials, also, is too
rarely taken into account. A few loads OF
gravel, well applied, would often proven,
ten times the labor in blowing through deep
ruls, to say nothing Of the breaking of har.
ness and wagons by the excessive excrtons
of the team.
FORM AND MATERIALS FOR ROADS.
The depth Of the mud in common roads
is often unnecessarily great, in consequence
OF heapng together with the pillow and scra-
per the soft top, soil for the raised carriage,
way. When heavy rains fail, this forms a
deep bed of mud, into which the wheels
worl. their way, and cause extreme labor to
the team. \ much better way is to scrape
off and cart away into the fields adjoining
all the soft. rich, upper surface, and then to
form the harder Subsol into Il slightly,
rounded carriage way, with a ditch on each
side. Such roads as this have a very hard
and firm foundation, and they have been
found not 10 cut up into ruts, nor to form
mach mud, even in the wcttest seasons
On this hard foundation six inches of gravel
will endure longer and form "a better surface
than twelve inches on a raisel "turnmhe =
of soft soil ard mud.
1t frequently happens that the forr Of the