Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1896-11-07
DURABILITY OF ROADS.


g.,rders Il the Best Material for n Smooth
Carriage Drive.
With about 13 inches of rainfaE III
six weeks, we have all had a gooo oP-
portunity to observe some facts IN re-
gard to the durability of roads and car
rage drives. In somewhat billy coun-
try almost all the houses are upon an
elevation, with a carriage drive rising
more or less abruptly from the street.
and it is no small annoyance to nave
| these drives quilted and washed OUT,
especially if it happens in very busy
time in midsummer.
| Where it can be obtained, the very
best material for constructing car
| rage drive is cinders, made by burn
| ing soft coal. If these are put on sum-
| GENTLY deep so as to hold or take up an
| ordinary heavy rain. and there Is an
outlet for the water below, there viii
be very little washing away of the sur
| face of the drive. The very worst mode
of constructing a carriage drive is that
usually practiced and which was fool
| ish enough to adopt a good many years
ago; it is that of digging deep trench
| the width of the carriage drive and fill
| ing it promiscuously with stones of all
sizes, then covering with gravel.
| A drive may have an underdrain and
still not be able to take care of the
4
shower. More or less refuse and Iine
earth is carried onto the drive in the
| way of mud from the street and this
fills up the interstices while the gravel
fills those between the stones If the
mud brought upon the driveway is OF
| clay nature the drive in time becomes
| impervious to the rapid seepage of the
| water and the result is the water
| forms a stream top OF the ground.
channeling and cutting away all the
fine gravel upon the top of the stones
and leaving it in bad condition lno-
tice that the railroad which passes
through my farm has in recent years
been ballastel almost entirely with
| cinders in place of gravel. More than a
foot of cinders is used beneath the ties
| and the result is that no matter how
heavy the rain the cinders take all that
falls and part of it at their leisure.
The same would be true of a driveway
filled to the depth of Is inches with
cinders. though of course more or less
clay would be deposited such a
drive that does not find its way on a
| railroad track.
| When it is impossible to procure GIN
ders in quantities sufficient to make a
driveway and it seems desirable to use
stone, the excavation should be made
two feet or more deep, with the largest
stones in the bottom, gradually using
smaller stones until near the surface
they should not be bigger than apples
or hen eggs.
If the stones are selected in this way
and carefully placed, the big ones will
never come to the surface to bump a
wheel and the gravel will never work
down among the larger stones to OBJ
struct the passage of the water. The
bottom of the excavation should slope
both ways to the center with dram
. only laid foot or two below the sur
: face along the center line. Then if the
: surface is ballasted with clean good
gravel the drive will take all the water
that falls as fast it falls and there
will be embarrassing. The best
drives in cemeteries and public grounds
are made in this way with the addition
of a stone or brick gutter on both or
, either sides. This of course makes it
more expensive and cannot be practiced
. by the ordinary owner of a home. Ii
it is not possible to make the whole
driveway as thoroughly as L have midi
Gated, then the steepest slope should
be treated in this way, carrying the
porous material sufficiently far above
the steep incline to catch and absorb
, the water that comes from above.-L.
B. Pierce, in Ohio Farmer.