The Portland daily press., 1871-11-01

| Every farm of considerable s;za ;t oo,,,,,oo,
| in form, should have a substantial road thranoi
it. This should be arranged so as to afford sc-
cess to most of the cultivated fields. and In
the pastures. 1t should be of sufficient width
to enable team to turn into or turn of, with
load of hay. The gates or bars opening to
the fields should be strong, so as to allow the
cattle to be turned into the road directly from
the barnyard. In this case the road becomes
part of the pasture.
1t would be economical to remove the sur
face of this road, and replace with coarse
gravel at the bottom, and screened gravel at
tne top. When thoroughly rolled, with a
very heavy roller, 1t would probably resist the
actoh OF wheels, SO as to leave quite smooth
anu easily travelled road. If some portions
Oh the way are of a sot and swampy charac-
yer, IL would be well to take off the surface
until a firm bottom is reached, and then fiji up
TO within six or eight inches of the top, with
some OF re sones that are in the way ON
the farm. II ON farm where stones do not
abound, fill with old timber, coarse brush.
plank, or anything which will prevent the
gravel from sinking, then fill with sand, grav-
el, or whatever can be obtained at least cost,
that will best meet the purposes desired.
For want OF such road, we have seen
farms greatly disfgured. Otherwise beautiful
helds were cut into unsightly ruts, and the
cost OF moving and raking them nearly doub-
LED III consequence of their existence. When
It becomes necessary to re-seed such fields, the
burrows are broken every time the plow pass
es over the ruts, and the places can only be
made level and smooth by hand, with hoe or
spade. II the land is not to be planted and
cultlvated before seeding to grass, it is not of
SO much consequence; but still, the neat work
man VIII be annoyed by the slovenly appear
ance of the field.
A good road passing through the farm is
greatly needed in the spring. The ground is
then soft, and the teaming to be done of the
heaviest kind. Very few farmers appreciate
the weight OF two-horse cart-load OF green
manure.
An easy way of ascertaining will be by TAX
ing bushel basket-weigh it, and fill the bas-
ket, weigh again and empty into the cart un-
I'll IL IS hlled with such load as is usually
drawn out by the team. Dana, in his Muck
Manual, page 13S, states that one cord of
green cowdung will weigh o,4S9 pounds. 1t
is not unusual to see an ox-cart filled with
such material, to be hauled off by a single
pair of oxen, and perhaps over ploughed
ground, where the power to move it ought
10 be twice as great as on a hard
road. We have often seen a common
horse-cart filled with green manure from the
barn-cellar, and taken to ploughed field by
single horse. When there, the feet of the
horse would sink to the fetlocks, and the
wheels OF the cart several inches into the soft
soil. Still, the poor animal was expected to
draw the load. On requiring farm hand to
find the weight of his loads by the "basket
process" it appeared that he was hauling out
about 2,2C0 pounds at each load. Such a load
would not be too much, perhaps, for stout
shorse, on hard road, but over newly
poughed field it was acIdel exaction.
There are other reasons why the farm
should be supplied with one good road, at
least. Through moist soils, ruts are soon
deeply cut; this not only increases the draft,
but the carts become coated with mud, and
sometimes that coating remains on them dur
ing the entire summer-haying season and
all! This Injuries the paint and woodwork of
the vehicles, and, to say the least, is no credit
to the farmer.-N. f. Farmer.