Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-05-30
Roads.
To the Tobacco Ltaf-cnronicie.l

10 Nuc AODAtlQ A<GdA-AnNNAACAcsl
You solicit correspondence and in
vite suggestions on the road ques-
ton. We will begin by illustrating
the manner they should be worked.
Say our roads are sixteen feet wide
and fiat or level. Take a common
plank 16 feet long and 6 inches wide.
Lay it on the ground measure from
one end feet and make a mark on
the edge; get another piece Of plank
four or five feet long for a straight
edge, so that straight line can be
drawn from this mark diagonally
across the face of the plank to its
other edge at the end. Make your
scribe and saw off. You have sawn
off wedge-shaped piece 4 feet long,
inches wide at one end and narrow
ing to sharp point at the other.
Treat the other end of The plank the
same way. Each of these wedges
contains exactly enc square foot.
Now edge up the plank on its long
16.foot edge and put both of these
wedges on top of 1.-THE wide ends
to the middle. You now have the
shape of dow roof of house, the
middle one foot higher than the
ends, The plank at first contained 8
feet; it still contains feet; there is
no change In quantity, but great
change in the figure containing that
quantity. This great change is
brought about by moving the small
quantity of only two feet from the
ends to the middle. Before this
change the whole surface was level !;
now we have watershed giving a
fall of II inches in feet,
Now apply this principle to dirt
and road making, starting on a level
surface across the road. We don't
want our roads flung up in the shape
of roof; we want them rounding
One cubic foot of dirt taken from
each side of the road after the man
ner the wedge was taken from the
ends of the plank, and thrown to the
middle in a proper way, will make
one lineal foot of rounded road-so
rounded that it will have a drainage
fall of not II, as before, but 8 inches
to 8 feet, or one inch to the foot.
Nobody wants more. Six cubic feet
thus taken and applied will make a
yard in length of such road. This
shows how easily and how rapidly
good roads can be made if the work
is properly directed. Every shovel
full counts two; 1t lowers the side
80 much and also at the same time
raises the middle that much. The
way roads are now worked is almost
throwing work away and keeping
bad roads all the time. We
have more than naked theory
on this; we have the prac-
tical application to substantiate
it. In other words we have a short
piece of road made on this principle
last year. One part of it runs
straight down long, steep hillside
into deep hollow. AS this hillside
has been the abomination of wagon
Gs for the last fifty years, to our
knowing, we will just speak of the
improvement of that particular part
of the road so worked. The mire at
the foot Of the hill-half way up
frequently clear up to the top, caused
travel to shy out 70 one side in the
woods In spite of trees thrown down
and posts thickly set up to keep
them in the road. But that one
working last year cured the evil at
once which could have been cured as
well fifty years ago. All know
there has been rain, rain, rain all
through winter and spring, even up to
'n0W, We had one rain especially
which washed down our fences, even
across wide valleys, which tore up
this road for twenty miles back so
that it was reported impractioable
for buggies and almost so for wagons.
This hillside is within a mile of a
public ferry. Travel-tobacco and
other heavy hauling-pours into it
right and left for more than twenty
miles back. What effect had all this
rain and ali this travel upon this hill- |
side? 1t stood it perfectly and APP
peared TO grow better on it-more
firm and solid. There is not a rut or
a wash Ia it, there ia no sign that a !
rain has ever fallen on it except
some smooth places in the cutters
There is no telling how long, how
many years that road will remain |
perfect, if the cutters do not get
filed UP with leaves and the wagon
ers, to save locking In going down
hill, would quit running their wheel
on the bank outside and tumbling
dirt into them. We have not con-
exaggerated In anything.
If spy one should think so there is
the road to speak for itself.
Overseers should be compelled to
work their roads early in the year,
so they can be tramped and consOli-