The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1878-03-07

have more width In proportion 10 Ia
depth than IN the ordinary land soraper,
Instead OF having tho bottom rounded
In the usual manner, II should DO made
perfectly fiat,
Tho way Of constructing turnpike
road Is 10 first pillow the sod on the nldo
of tho road the width OF tho bitches,
which should not bo less than ten aud
half feet for u roadbed twentyiour feet
wide second, scrape the turf or sod on
the center of tho road, striking the fur
rows ondwise with the soraper, and hav.
ing the team pass round in u circle;
third, when the sod tho whole width Of
the bitches, ID removed TO the roadbed,
| pillow again, making the lnrrows deeper
TO the center OF the bitches Scrape
this earth upon tho roudbed, rounding
up the center and illiug all tho in-
CAPABILITIES caused by the sod fourth,
drive longthwisoo Of tho ditch, with tho
soraper, and remove all ohstructona 10
the continuous flow of the water Ono
man only il required by this method.
The manual labor IL considerably loss.
ened as compared to the olhcr mo,
thods, though tho team work 10 in
creased,
General Gilmore says that dirt roads
necessarily possess so many defects Of
surface, that whatever amelioration
their condition is susceptible of, by q
careful attention degrade, suriaco-dgain>
age, and sub,drainago should be se~
cured. The grades should be easy, not
exceeding one in thirty, tho road sur
face should slope not less than one in
twenty from the centre towards tho
sdes, the side bitches should DO deep
and capaoous, with n fail of not less
than one in one hundred and twenty,
aud trees should be removed from the
borders TO admit the wind and sun, In
soils composed Of mixture of sand,
gravel and clay, the road is formed of
this material, and requires only that
the bitches should be kept open and
free, and that the ruts and hollows
should be filled up MS fast M they form
on the surface, in order to render tho
road good one of It's kind
In loose, sandy soils, " top layer six
inches thick, OF tough clay, will DO an
effective method Of Improvement, which
to save expense, may DO restricted TO
one>half the width of the roadway.
Sand may be added TO adhesive
clay soils with equal benefit, tho
object in either case being
to produce an inexpensive roads
covering that will pack under tho ao-
ton of the traffic during the dry seas
son, and will not work up into adhesive
mud in rainy weather,
The material used in filling up ruts
and hollows should be composed largely
of gravel and coarse sand, free from
sod, muck and mould 1t should not
contain cobble.stones, or larger irags
ments of rocks, which would form nard
and unyielding Jumps ON ono side OF
tho wagon track, soon resulting in cor,
responding ruts and hollows on the
other. All ruts should be filled in with
good material as soon rs formed.
A pernicous custom prevails through.
out large portion OF the United States
of repairing country roads only at Gers
tain seasons of the year. The cost Of
maintenance would be greatly reduced
by frequent repairs and especially by
keeping the side bitches clear and open
to their full width and depth by
promptly filling in the ruts, and by
maintaining the required slopes from
the center towards the sides, 1t will
be seldom found that the material obs
tanned by cleaning out the side bitches
is tit to DO put upon the roadway.
W. NJ. JOHNSON, CITY Engineer.