Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-05-02
Road fiNkING.
- they do - here and How ihcy DO
IL Ahrnad.

! IL ABROAD,
In the United States, after leaving out
(: :ov sections, the amount Of care and
bn,ii given to roads is not in proportion
/ nc intelligence of the pcoplc-indecd
ON it, and it is difficult to realize
that they are managed by the same keen
minds that show so much thought, pur-
- and energy in other works In
3..-";ry districts the time given to roads
Is regarded as an exactiOn to be paid with
the smallest possible percentage of fulfil
ment, and the results are such that the
= # bad roads is far more serious than
the road tax. Wagons wear out two
trips are made to carry the load that
should go in one; many high stepping
horse'is ruined, and from steep pitches.
short culverts and careless obstructions
there are frequent fatalities and accidents.
Leaving the man-traps Of America. the
wanderer abroad has new feeling of
security come over him when he realizes
the care given to Enb lish roads, and
those who use them, trim and true from
wall to wall, never a rut, never a round
stone or steep pitch, he can drive at
full speed night and day in assured safety.
If dark all vehicles are lighted, usually
with small red light showing behind to
enable the driver which way all Craps"
are going. He will see two or three times
in each mile spot where the walls take
in space about ten or twenty feet in ex-
tent from the fields, in which broken
stone is neatly piled. From these heaps,
that are safely ont Of the pay, men with
barrows bear stone to every hole that is
deep enough to hold fine "mptal," as the
crushed stone is called. No spots are ne
elected long enough to permit them to
hold water consequently the destructive
action wheels pounding into wet spot is
unknown, and 'stitch in time saves
many nine" in road work aud wear and
tear of men, beasts and wagons The
''water bar, that product of sheer stup-
ldlty, usually made to turn water from a
track several inches lower than the sides,
is an unknown barbarity, and should any
one, high or low, oDstruct the highway in
this or any other way, the remedy would
be immediate, and the people not shocked
by an Enforcement of prccaution.
Old country IDEAS are not a5 expansive
as ours. Men nrG not all born there tl be
president, competent to teach school, sell
art works, run for Congress, milk kicking
COWS and make roads without prcparato-
ry study, lis here, where wc breathe the
gales OF bOundless land and take airs to
correspond. Their road work is prI-
tesslon as much as engineering or arrAi-
lecture, and the highest hDnnrs have gone
to men like Macadam and others. In
many cases the road owus neat cottages
that are two or three miles apart, aud here
near their work live the men who know
the trade of road.making and find it a
good one. They have certain sections
under their care, where n stream il not
permitted to run nll through the spring
months carrying two or three loads Iai V
Of x ,nd material from rljts l mile long. rs
with us before the IRE diverted T. is
attended to MT once, ami thousands Of Il H.
lars annually saved by the expenditure
Of hundreds at the right moment.
Let any one drive over most American
roads in the spring, with open eyes and
wits, and see what unchecked destruction
Is at work-streans are running in the
tracks that the removal Of Il sod would
turnintn the drains holes are living full
Of water until May or June. being worked
into brck-clay by weary teams to be
burned into lava beds by the sun stones
coming up by the frost and lying to COM
bat every passing wheel until they are
actually worn out, M are the wagons that
bump over them. Aud all this in the
midst Of men Will Libraries il ,htlr houses
modern tools i'll their barns, keen brains
III their heads and horses of value eating
their heads of waiting for the roads to
dry mp 80 they can dance out after long
rest and lame themselves on the fir 2
round stone? 1t was n wise discovery OF
the late John Wilkinson, in his manage
ment Of one Of the first railways in th5
state, that 81 on the track Wa, wa;L 81
IN the shop and it viii be the era Of bet
ter days in the roads when it Is uuder-
stood that Sl.25 III days work, at the
proper time, on the roads will save many
times that sum III wear and damage that
only high prioel mechanics can repair.
But the road makers are not alone at
fault. Oar ordinary wagons are made to
destroy TO ads, with round narrow tires
and uniform track, the latter the best
possible arrangement for putting all trav-
ell In hue and making ruts. Ii roads
were railroad tracks, an even width OF
traced would Of course be the thing, but
for roads it is just as far from a saving
as any possible invention. Buying once
J trap in England, as light "rigs" are
, called, the writer asked if it had the or
binary width of a track. The honest
maker scratched his puzzled head and
confessed he did not know any such thing
when " was made plain to him he said
there was no rule OF the kind and just
here is the secret of the small wear and
tear OF foreign roids--the wheel tread is
all over the road.
A very large amount OF light and heavy
. w WORK IL done on two wheels, but the
VI all "a far
) nearly always constructed with tires OF
not less than four inches, aud the front
axle il shorter than the rear one. The
front wheels usually turn under When
going III a straight line four tracks are
made at once, and farm rna'R are left
even 10y Il distributed weur. winch keeps
them good and in the end raoujis IN &c ).
nomy. Light wagons are made ~ the
a same way. 1t may be noticed tlr,t i
crooked road, where the curves are snort
B wears well. and there 10 RARELY ia, al
n corner OF street, for the simple reason
8 that there the hind wheels do not dig il
the path Of the others,
D There are some very good reasont
known to most intelligent people fui
planting corn in the spring and pickins
apples IN autumn but there is no equa
I reason for making roads only in June
' when 1T is too late to arrest the damage o
: the spring breakup, and just in time tc
i RUIN them for summer pleasure driving
u byputtlng on soft earth from the tlirhes
There are days in March aud April vhel
y time is ut less value to farmer than il
June, and then, in many cases, a few
hours would prepare road for drying
d with the first fine day and save man,
a loads OF gravel. Half the miles Of roac
Q in many counties are lower than the sides
n Mud has splashed out, dust has blow
v into the grass, and streams have mad
o free with the road bed with no one to sa,
It nay, when the sod is soft all this can b
e remedied, and the man who runs the ploN
v IN the spring under this sod that is mad
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