The Grange advance., 1874-04-22
Aend 1ur ways.


has placed in our hands the following,
clipped by him from the North We'ts'"
Farmer, on the subject f'good and bad
roads, that contains some thoughts worthy
Of careful reading BY Minnesotisns. A
thought suggested by the Commissioner in
connection with this matter, also deserves
to be pondered BY those who believe in do
ing to others as you would have them do to
you, who are down on extortions and un-
just taxation, and that 10 that the district
which neglects to build good roads actually
levies an unjust tax upon all who pass over
the road, = tax which is not coAectable by
law but which is extorted from them by
taking it out Of their teams, their wagons
and their carriages, and out Of their very
souls and lives. by the ve1ation and hard
ships endured on account of the 1hbors and
accidents arising from bad roads.
We have often wondered at tho aversion
often manifested to doany wo1k on the
public roads it comes, doubtlesA from .
want of thought as to the amount lost, an
nually, by poor roads. Only think of en-
abling one horse to pull as much as eight
horses by improving the surface Of level
road, and think how much the roads of
this State might be improved by leveling
down hills, and filling up wet and muddy
places, and making the rough places
smooth. We believe that it would pay
every farmer in the State to spend one
month the coming summer with his
team in faithful work on the roads.
The roads once placed in as thorough a
state of repair and improvement as such a
working for one year would place them,
would require great deal less to keep
them in repair than they do now. This
half way improving and repairing that has
to be done over every year is poor economy
of labor and expense. There is another
thing that would add greatly to the comfort
of our farmers in winter, and that is to have
fences so constructed as to prevent drifting
of snow in lanes. The building of wire
fences will do this. besides the wire fence is
cheaper than boards. We hope that there
may never be another rod of board or rail
fence built or rebuilt On the prsiries ofthis
State. If we are to have fences 1T all let
us have such as will not make our roa1s al
most impossible for four months 81 the
yesr, and put man in danger killing
his team, smashing up his sled And break
ing his own neck in driving over them. But
here is the article referred to, read it:
We arc grumbling about ouf roads and
our surveyors. The roads a<4 miserable,
and our system Of making any repairing
them is miserable, too, but we Np not rea-
lize how much we are losing by continuing
to use them in their present condition. The
annual expense for wear and tear Of horses,
carriages and harness is enormous, but the
loss from carrying only half the load we
might, on smooth, hard and level roads, is
very much greater. Supposing horse can
pult on level road ], 200 pounds, on . road
rising one foot to the hundred, he could
pull but 900 pounds. If it rises two feet in
hundred $40 pounds, two and half feet
720 pounds, four feet $50 pounds, five feet
400 pounds, and if the rise were ten feet in
hundred, he could pull $50 pounds, or
only one-quarter the load he could draw on
level road. Then, again, the condition of
road, whether hard and smooth, or soft
and une'en, has much to DO with the
amount team can draw over it. Expert
ments made by NORM show that load of
5000 pounds, will require trsctive force
Of 600 pounds to move it over firm, grav-
Ell road, newly repaired. On best kind of
gravel road, 80 pounds. On broken stone
road in Good condition, 1861 pounds; on
a good pavement, 1873 pounds. According
to the above calculations, in the first case
it would require eight horses to do the
wotk which one could do in the latter case.
So if both roads were level, and we have
200 bushels Of potatoes to carry to market,
we could draw them on the best paved road
with one horse, while on the newly re.
paired gravel road we should need eight
horses, and if the rise were ten feet in a
hundred we should require thirty-two horses
to draw the same load.
If these calculations are correct, and we
think they are, who can calculate the an
nual loss to our country from poor roads
And who can doubt that if all this wasted
energy and power could be applied to the
making and repairing Of our highways in
the best manner known, we should, in a
few years, be able to place them on par
with those of the older European nations.
N. E. Farmer. ~
Ventilation Of schoof HRuses.
We give below .hs conclusion &f the .o.