The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-12-13

CSOOUO uctll dHu HALL lOf GQS uESG IOOG.
Your road bed will, at first, be hard
one to travel and will rut and become
rough, like all new road beds; but har-
row it or scrape it smooth again, till
the sand becomes thoroughly mixed
with the soil. Then it will begin to
pack beneath wheels, and will con
stantly let the surplus water that
lodges on it down into the drainage De-
low.
Put on more sand whenever needed
till you have a sufficient strength of
solid packed surface to hold up any
load that passes over it; and as your
ground is at all times drained and hard
and dry beneath it, it will not take a
very great thickness on such a founda-
tion to make permanent, hard and
solid road. There is sand enough not
far away that would do to make all
our roads, usually much nearer than
either gravel or stone could be found.
Our railroads also would undoubtedly
deal most generously with any neigh
bOrhOOd or county that desired to make
permanent improvement in their
roads in all matters of hauling to their
depCts the necessary commodities. In
ali such matters they are proverbially
public-spirited. For road making is
right in the line of their whole bust
ness, These are my ideas Mr.. Editor,
about western road making.
If the roots Of trees should stop up
the drainage pipes, it would soon be-
come apparent throug gh the soil; and
a trench should be dug near the trees
and the offending roots cut off, or the
tree itself cut down. For we must
have roads, whether we have shade
trees or not. This is the way that
nature has made all the best roads over
deep soils there have ever been in the
country, viz by thorough underdrain
age of the roai bed itself, and such an
admixture of soil and sand on the sur
face as will let the water freely through
and pack under wheels and hoofs,
whether wet or dry. It is as good for
stock yards and gateways as it is for
roads. Any common prairie soil that
will underdrain is just as good as solil
rock for the whole road bed, except the
surface foot, which must be so inter
nixtd with sand with the plow and
harrow that it will pack under wheels
and hoofs, and still let the water freely
through it, and not tread up into mortar
and retain it. On hill sides dug down
into clay that will not underdrain, sur
face soil that will underdrain must be
carted in for the road bed, or the clay
itself mixed with sand until it will
underdrain, as the quick riddance of
the water is everywhere and always,
the main element Of success. This
every farmer knows who ever drove a
team along over his drain tiles in the
lowest and muddiest parts of his farm.
Open side bitches and piling up dirt
between are utterly worthless toward
this end; and, if the stuff piled up
reaches down to the clay, they are
worse than worthless, as they only in
crease the power and depth of the mud,
and mortar made by the treading. And
if there is no sand in the clay they can
never be made half as good as was the
old naked prairie. All who have
studied the subject or closely observed
things passing right under their eyes
all over the country, know these facts
to be true. Why not then put them
into use9 Our newspaper press cannot
be opened to the discussion of a more
important subject to the farmers, and
to the whole people, than this is to day,
and it will continue to be so, until it is
fully decided. J. B. TURNER.
Morgan county, Illinois
A FATHERS WOE.