The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1895-06-29
FARM AND GARDEN.
VALUE OF GOOD ROADS.

| VALUE OF GOOD ROADS.
Really Question OF Farming as . Los.
| or at . Profit.
There are few subjects more i'm.
portant to tho farmers of this country,
ana indeed to all men who transport
their merchandise in wagons, than the
subject OF good roads The country
may he said to be just waking up to
the value OF roads over which heavy
| burdens may be moved with economic
al expenditure of force, but the intelli-
| gent movement which began less than
ten years ago is gathering strength
I and impetus year by year, and it is not
nkely to die out SO long as u single
hrst-rate road remains an object lesson
OF the gain in money of such construc-
lions to those whose business or recrea-
tion makes them the users of country
highways.
10 the wheelmen a good deal of the
enthusiasm of road reform is to be
credited. They have worked constant
~ and enthusiastically for the enact
ment OF laws facilitating roadbuild-
ing, for the extended use of tho bicy-
Gle Is impossible unless the old dirt
road-lnuddy in wet weather, and full
OF ruts and holes as we'll as a breeder
OF choking dust in dry weather-is re-
placed by the Macadam or Telford way.
with Its hard, well-crowned surface
and adequate drainage. But the influ-
ence of the wheelmen and the pleas
re-drivers is not to be compared with
that which might be exerted by the
men whose business requires the trans
Portation of heavy loads from their
farms and shops to the railroad sta
t1ons or their customers.
Col. Francis Vinton Greene has re-
Gently delivered an address on the sub
Ject OF good roads in the Butterfield !
Practical Course at Union college, In |
the course OF his remarks he showed |
that while Massachusetts, annually ex-
Pends S66 mile on roads outside Of |
cities, New Jersey SAB and New York
$780, the average expenditure in the
other states is much less. If it is only
$1s mile, this means total annual
throughout the country of
seo, DOC, 900, and much the larger part of
this vast sum is literally thrown away
on roads that are not ONLY the ca,,se Of
vexation and discomfort to those who
drive over them, but that entail actual
loss upon those who are compelled to
carry their goods over them to the mar
kets or railway stations.
The enormous drain made bv had
roads on our resources was estimated
~ Col. Greene, and his figures will not
De doubted by anyone who has paid
my attention to the subject. He said:
1T has been proved, not only by me- 4
experiment but by actual test,
hat the same force which draws one
on on a muddy earth road will draw i
our tons on a hard Maca dam road. On I
he improved roads of New Jersey loads &
4 four to five tons are habituallv 6
rawn by a two-horse team. This eff I
ects saving of fully three-fourths of /
he cost of hauling to the station, and i
educes the cost of road transportation {
rom 30 cents to ~ cents per ton per 7
llle What this saving amounts to r
lay be imagined when it is known '
hat the New York Central railroad f
aries nearly 10000, 600 tons of way /
eight in year. If this is hauled on G
? two miles by road, to or from the $
alton, and saving of 221s cents per -
IN per mile could be effected, it would "
can a total saving of $1,000, Ooo.'' b
In other words, the question of roads D
many of our agricultural communi-
es is a question of farming at loss or IL
a profit. And there is not n com b.
unity Or town in the thicl<ly settled tt
lrts of the country that cannot pro- d,
de itself with thoroughly good hi gh- fc
avs by anticipating its road taxes for tt
teen or twenty years. Money Dor
wed on fifteen or twenty year bonds,
be paid off from the annual road
xes, would be sufficient for the work
each locality, while the expenditure
ould involve little, if any, Increased
xation. The plan that is here sug-
sted has been tried in towns near a
sw York, and 1t is noticeable that y
cry good piece of road that has been =,
instructed in these communities in
eases the sentiment in spending
'ney in this way. A good road is an !!
mirable object lesson of the fact
Itch Col. Greene seeks to enforce. In
is state the continuity of good roads
aid be secured through the county
stem. If the proper spirit be aroused
towns and villages. the problem will co
speedily and satisfactorily solved tir
rper's Weekly. to-
nj