Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-05-26
agricultural department.
ROAD MAKING AND MENDING.


stranger. or cause him to form favor
able opinion of its inhabitants, than
good and well-kept streets and roads.
There is benefit arising from keeping
the roads in good condition, aside from
the comfort and convenience of those
who may have occasion to travel over,
or do business on. the highway, for |
property will sell enough higher in such |
communities to pay the expense of max
ing good roads. No expenditure made
by the town is more satisfactory in its
results, or better repaid, if intelligently
and honestly applied.
The work should be done early in the
season, as soon as the road is sufficiently
settled not to be damaged by teaming on
it. All know that tillage land worked
in wet condition, will settle down hard
and remain so during the rest of the
season. The same rule will hold good
in working a road Material put in
early settles down hard and makes a
firm surface put on late it remains loose
and is displaced by the wheels all through
the season. The best material for max
ing repairs is good coarse gravel. 1t is
better to purchase good gravel and draw
it long distance than to put on soil,
clay and sods, which are the materials
too often used for the purpose. The
blowing up of tho sides of the road and
throwing the material thus obtained into
the path, is poor practice, unless it is
to receive good covering of gravel, as
the sand and soil have often been thrown
in before and as often been washed out.
1t makes poor and muddy road and is
damage instead of benefit.
Many of the improved road-scrapers
made for the purpose, and which are
used in various parts of the State, do
good work, and much cheaper than the
same amount of work can be done in any
other way. 1t would be a good invest
ment for every town to have one, for the
use of the different highway districts.
Roads not much used, which have be-
come ridged may be plowed and har-
rowed, and then leveled with hoes thus
long piece of road may be put in good
order at small expense Often no more
material is wanted it only needs put
ting in place and the surface put in
proper shape. Such roads may be easily
plowed early in the season, just as the
frost is out.
Water is the greatest hindrance to
keeping and maintaining good road.
The path should be sufficiently rounded
to shed all surface water, and water
should be turned off at the top of hill.
So self.evident is this that but few need
to be told of it, yet but few succeed
in doing it efectually. By allowing
water to run down in the path, frequent
and costly repairs are made necessary.
The water, bars made to prevent it are
often constructed as to be dangerous to
ride over Water which comes from
underneath can only be remedied by
drainage. 1t is useless to pile on ma
terial with the idea of getting above the
water. as it will work up through and
make the road soft and wet. A good
open drain should be maintained at each
side of the road to carry off stagnant
water which may accumulate. Where
the road is wet from beneath, there is no
better remedy than tile drainage. 1t
: will generally be much easier to sink the
water-line than to raise the road bed,
and one or the other must be done before
= a good road can be had.
: Rocks and stones should be removed
from the track, as they cause much
damage to the wheels of passing vehicles,
: and are serious source of annoyance to
travellers. The stones which do the
: most damage are small and are brought
to the surface by the action of frost, and
may be easily removed with crowbar.
This should be attended to every spring.
Loose cobble-stones may be easily re-
; moved with an iron garden rake. II
would pay we'll to have man 60 over
all the roads in town two or three times
during the season and remove the small
stones, as they are both troublesome and
dangerous.
? The culverts should be kept in good
condition, so that any sudden freshet
may pass off quickly and not do much
: damage. When this is neglected, much
| expense is often incurred in making re-
;. pairs which would not have been needed
: had the bridges been kept in order.
A good road should be wide enough
for two teams to pass each other in safety
and as free from bad places as possible
], as no more load can be carried than tn,
r team can draw over the worst part o
t the road. If one-third of the load mus
t be left behind because one-eight of tn,
!. road is bad, it is quite serious loss ant
heavy addition to the cost of transpor
n tation.- Warren Broom, IN Mancheste
: Mirror
Many people think that because early
paoe n ra RI ho plopfo,1 oo II 10 - 800. - :.