Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1894-09-13
AGRICULTURAL HINTS.
PRACTICAL FARMING.
Tho Laying out Of New Roads IL n Tasl
of great Importaoce


Tho Laying out of New Roads Is n Task
Of Great Importance.
Perhaps some may question the pro-
prlcty Of treating sucha subjcctundcr
practical farming" but IL seems to us
that good roads have very much to do
with practical farming, and one Of the
best ways TO have good roads Is 10
study the essentials OF having them
good when laying out new ones,
The following Is taken from paper
by Prof. N. s. Shalcr which appeared
in the Atlantic Monthly: 1t seems
worth while for all intelligent people
to have some general notion concern
ing the simpler facts involved in the
science and art of roadmaking. With
such persons the study of these mat
tiers may we'll begin with certain
fundamental conceptions as to the es'
sential relations of these construc.
tons. All highways are intended to
afford hard smooth, and, as nearly
rs possible, horizontal surface over
which that great il. strument of civili'
ton, the wheel, with its burden, can
be made TO move with the least possi'
BILE friction. Every unit of friction
which is encountered is measurable
element of cost, either In time, power
or damage to the road aud carriage.
For every foot of distance he traverscs
the WAGNER is mourning n tax. II he
is conveying the weight of ton to
market the amount of this tax for q
mile may under favorable conditions,
not exceed five cents. From this mini.
mum scale of expenditure, with the
advancing degradation of the way the
cost may increase until 1t amounts TO
ten or twenty times what it is in the
ideal though seldom realized state of
highway. At certain stage in the ac-
emulation of the tax even the more
adventurous, wisely, though without
clear reckoning, regard the way AS
economically impossible. This con-
ception of roadway tax and clear
idea as to the frequent enormity of the
imposition are the fundamental no.
tions which we need to fix in the
minds of our people. With these well
affirmed we may hope to interest them
In the questions of betterment.
AS in most other matters, the details
connected with the construction and
use of roads are much harder to pre-
sent than the general considerations
of the subject. There are, however
| certain simnla c0n sid arntiOns which
will enable anyone to know the essefi-
tial differences between sound and I'M
sound practice in the construction Of
highways. The first and most i'm
portant, though In countries the most
neglected, element of care concerns
what engineers call the profile of the
way; that is, the irregular line de-
scribed by its center across the coun-
try.
The ordinary roadmaster is in all
cases tempted to draw his proposed
line MS directly as possible between
his principal objective points If he
makes depression from rectilinear
path, it is generally because he has
encountered an insuperable obstacle,
or because some landowner has effect
lively objected TO having his fields cut
In twain Thus 1t comes about that the
greater part of our roads are, from
their unnecessary uphill and down,
sorely taxing to the community which
they are supposed to serve. In many
parts of New England and the other