The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-04-01

RrcHMoSp. Marcia Sk 1879. i
), rss.,ose ~ fAe Richmond dispatch

eyn fbg Editors or h6 hschB,oHO dsSoPu'o'''s
gentlemen. this windy March wea-
sbsr. which IL this gear several weeks iates
shan usual, we IRE painfully acmindea VI
she remarks lately made by The boaru y.
Health, and bore you VII pardon ms
again calling them 10 the attenttoh ., oa 49, Ss,
fathers. The public have atsacbea TUE oss.sS
to The City Engineer. Had tese pubic SUM- ~
street improvements befMf, tney mouIa
have found that the CITY Engineer lo,soweu'
most strictly all the rules laid down oy sns
highest authorities Tn Earope on macaaamS
r;no ssrpets: and that u we suffer, as we ur>
Jonhtnt,Ic do. In our houses, clothes, eyes,
eara and lungs, from tie granite dust blown
In dense clouds through our streets, espe-
ciaIy at this time, they should blame not
che CITY Engineer akene, but chiefly the cary
Council, for not enabling him to com.
plese the misunderstanding and making
Il what Il should be-one OF the best
and most agreeable modes OF street I'M
.proyement iouad in any city, ansteau
nf the very worst, as at present.
The chairman Of the Board OF Health, after
recommending granite pavement m most
OF the streets subject 10 heavy wagons anu
carts, calls the attention OF the Councit 10
the injury done to the streets by the present
mode OF watering them. This wasfVldent
II not to censure watering In genera, Dut
the very partial watering as at present. In
France and England many streets are still
macadamized in exactly the way in which
ours arc doae; but afterwards the hne
stone, and even dust, Is put on the top TO
ell up the crevices, the streets are KEPT
constantly watered until this dust has hll'
ed uD every creyice, and the roadbed is
made thus enc solid block, az hard rs the
blocks OF granite. hen the metal becomes
worn by constant use, and dust again forms
on the top, Udt is scrapcd of in wet Wea-
Their, instead of being swept, as here IN the
driest weather, when streets are mace even
more dlsasrecable than they would DC II ielt
alone. BY ScrapiDg the street when wet tne
fine dust can be completely carried OIL in
carts; whereas by sweeping when 1t IS dry
very large per centage OF it IS blown 10
other parts Of the city or into the adaaccn'
houses and the clothes, eyes, ears, ana lungs
Of the pasSers-by.
The cost 10 the city Of watering would
be more than compensated, not only by the
comfort to the citizens derived from 1t, but
by savings to them in very many other
ways unnecessary now 10 mention; and
am persuaGed that there would not be nearly
rs many GROWERS as at present. Whether
watering by carts is the cheapest mode OF
not, | cannot now say: but the most usual
mode in Paris is by band-hose in numer-
Gus sections on rollers, by which single
man can in short time, without horse or
cart, water asquare. These hoses are doubt,
less well known to our City Engineer; and
merely suggest them as probably more
economical than the horse and cart. But
whether cheaper or not, it is certainly time
for the City Council to take actire notice OF
The protest OF the chairman OF the Board OF
Health against our present mode OF street
"improvement," so called, to which he has
so often called their attention as most in
furious not only to our houses and clothes,
hut also to our health. Yours truly,
t MAIN STREET.