Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-05-23
WILL THE LESSON BE HEEDEpf
When the Mud of Winter Has Departed
the Farmer Eorgcts 1t.

Whom the Mud of Winter Has Departed,
the Farmer Forscts 1t.
The mud has dried up, and once more
the rural dweller emerges from his re-
tirement and cheerfully drives to town
over roads now firm and smooth. Not
through any effort of his, however, have
the highways been changed from bog
holes and quagmires into "paths of
ease. - The rain fell and staid where it
fell, because there was no provision
made to get rid Of it i'll any other way
than by evaporation. 1t would be in the
road yet but for the genial spring sun,
and SO it has been and seems likely to
be, for all the farmer seems to care.
Why not always travel in comfort, no
matter what the season of the year?
Why forget now that no longer ago than
April you could only with the greatest
difficulty manage to traverse what was
and will be again a dreary stretch of
mud?
Will the experience of past years of
toll and vexation, of animals ruined, of
harness broken and wagons wrecked,
not suffice to awaken men to the bene-
fits of roadways constructed to with
stand the frosts and SHOWS of winter
and present an unyielding surface to the
heaviest rains of spring?
One of the strongest arguments i'll IA
vor Of macadam, telford or any paved
highways is that i'll not a single in
stance where they have been tried would
the residents of that locality return to
the dirt road. In no community has
n l., oe
ton at the changed conditions. Their
benefits are so speedily realized and
their worth SO early apparent that
Whilom detractors are fain to sing their
praise.
Fear of cost in construction has no
doubt great deal to do with retarding
the good roads movement. But it has
been shown i'll almost every instance
that the cost does not greatly exceed
that of the present slipshod and hap
hazard manner of building and repair
ing country roads. Roy Stone, in ''New
Roads and Road Laws says of Ontario
county, n. Y:
within the last 80 years there have
been expended on the highways in this
country over 81, 200 per mile, and, with
the exception of a few miles in the town
of Canandaigua, they are no better than
they were at the beginning of that pc
Rod, and should the same system be
continued for the next 80 years like
sum would have been expended, and the
condition of the highways would be just
about the same as it is now. The few
miles referred to in Canandaigua are
crushed stone or macadam roads, built
at an expense to the town outside Of the
regular highway tax. AS result, they
have in that town 10 miles OF more of
good roads, and SO well pleased are they
with the improvement that they have
had special act passed by the legisla-
ture, during the last session, empower
ing the town to vote upon the question
of expanding $4,000 per year i'll addi-
ton to the $4,000 already allowed by
law, i'll building such roads Those
roads are just as good i'll December or
March as they are in July or September.
They have increased the value of the, adj
joining farms many times the cost of the
roads, and the subsequent cost of keep
ing them i'll good repair will be much
less than the cost under the ordinary
system Of keeping poor roads in poor re-
pair
The question of cost, therefore, is no
argument against permanent stone
roads, as the money thus expended is re-
turned many times over, not alone in
enhanced property values, but i'll the
ability of the producer to sell his grain
on stock when prices suit, he no longer
being dependent upon condition of
weather and roads to place them on the
market. w. II. BAIIINGER.