Arizona republican., 1896-05-02
ROADS IN VIkGlNIA.
MT. D. 0. Nourse Tells How They Might
 Be Improved.

Se ItnprOVeG.
 Mir. D. O. Nourse, the agriculturist and farm superintendent of Virginia experiment. station, has just published a bulletin relating to the roads of that state-''if,' as he says, the tracks over which we are obliged to travel may be dignifcd by the name of roads"-in which he makes a strong plea for plac- ing the building and repair of earth roads in the hands of persons who understand how to do such work in ac- cordance with correct principles. What is wanted is an engineer or overseer for each county, to be paid regular salary, who would, if a man of honor, be jealous of his reputation, and good roads would be the result. Such an officer could in a few years, by keeping a sufficient number of teams and em- ploying men used to the work who would be becoming better worknen year by year, build up department that would be credit to the commun- ity. It is no wonder that roads are poor when contracts are let to persons who hardly know a good road from a bad one-for it is just as necessary to know how to build highway as it is to build railroad. A few fundamental principles in the building and mainten- ance of earth roads are given.
 1. A common error is that of at- tempting to repair without first re- moving the cause of the trouble. Drain age must be first attended to, as it is simply impossible to make a road bed to stand if the drainage is bad. "We have seen on one of the most travelled roads the water run for half a mile in the wheel and horse tracks, when per haps the taking out of a stump or one blast of rock would remove all ob- structions and allow good gutters." Water must be kept out of the road at all hazards and this must first, last and always be by the conduits at each side.
 2. Water never runs up hill. Often the gutters are sufficiently good in every respect except that the slope is in the wrong direction. The eye is not always a true evidence of slope of ground, as the topography of the land may be such that the fall is more ap- parent than real. Apply the test of the simple level.
 3. A safe rule is to place bridges or culverts wherever there is 6 depres- sion in the read; and unless the water may be conveyed to fields on each side, a culvcrt must be made in the lowest spot, carrying the water across the road.
 f. Whenever mud hole is formed in an earth road, it should never be filled with lot of stones, as this is al most certain to make two mud holes instead of one. First remove the mud and water from the puddle, and then take earth as nearly of the same nature as the roadbed as possible and pound this into the hole firmly, so that wheels may pass over it at once without sink ing into it. It should be filled some what higher than surrounding portions to allow for settling.
 5. Give the road bed the proper slope. Never allow it to be too flat, or lower in the middle than at the sides. A sec ton of road should, if cut transversely, present an arc in shape, sloping from the center to each side. This, of course, is to prevent water from standing on the surface.
 6. Do not make roads too wide or too narrow. If too wide they become very expensive to keep in repair, and if too narrow the gutters become ob- structed from wagons running into them. In general these rules apply with equal force to earth or rock roads, as, if a rock road is to be made, these princi- | ples must first be carried out. The idea may appear absurdly simple, but there are thousands of instances in which they are utterly disregarded in road building and repairs, and hence are the more necessary. American Agricul- | turist.