The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-05-05
Good Roads.

1t is a most satisfactory sign of the
times that the people in all sections of
the country are awakening to the great
importance of the keeping of the roads.
To the agricultural community, AM. in
deed to all in rural districts, it is a sub
iect of much moment concerning the
material welfare of the people, and as
such cannot be too actively or too per-
sistently kept before the public eye.
In these days Of close competition
the farmer is of necessity bound to
avail himself of all the means in his
power to lessen the cost of distribution
from producer to consumer, and while
attacks are being made often with a
grossly undue venom upon the ways of
the commission man, who in our pres
ent conditions is somewhat OF a neces-
sity, other means of curtailing pecu-
mary loss in the form of charges for dis
tribution are passed over. Therefore,
we say, it is a satisfactory sign of the
times that the farmer is pushing intel
ligently the " good-roads" question.
In the cities the value of good roads
has been long recognized and acted
upon. The bicycle craze is having a
good healthy reaction which cannot fail
to benefit the interests which we have
at heart; those urban devotees of the
wheel have been clamoring loudly for
better cycling roads, and in the immedi-
ate vicinity of the large cities have
already secured to themselves cinder
paths and such like at the public cost,
but in districts more remote from the
large cities, these ~bicyclists have seen
the improperly of agitating for roads
for their special benefit, and joining
hands with the farmer are largely
agitating the cause of good roads. If
the urban, suburban and rural forces
unite there must of necessity be formed
a movement that will be irresistible.
The great problem to-day in the
farming districts is not how to grow
the crops but how to get an adequate
coin return for them; in the city the
question is not so decidedly one of
price as it is of quality in the goods
offered for sale. This mean simply
that if the farmer can get the best into
the market at a reasonable outlay, salts
factory returns are ensued, and there
fore if double the produce can be
hauled for what it now costs to haul a
given quantity, better markets will re-
suit.
ii has been estimated that while 200
pounds force is required to draw one
ton over an ordinary dirt road, 100
pounds will accomplish the same work
on macadam, 3S pounds on granite
blocks and Is pounds on asphalt.
These are figures full of food for
thought, and money invested in the
construction of good roads is put out
at good interest, other things being
equal.
AS further illustration of the position
on which we stand, the subjoined eX-
tract from a local farmers letter to a
Florida paper will be of interest.
He says: "C~ultivating ten acres
eight miles from the station, l buy two
tons of fertilizer for $40. This guam
tity makes eight loads for one horse,
and six hours required for a trip. The
time of myself and horse is worth sixty
cents per load. l make 500 crates of
vegetables, which require II trips to
get them to the station, at a cost of
$4,000. On hard roads l could haul my
$40 worth of fertilizer in four trips of
four hours each, at a cost of SLIGO. L
could haul my 500 crates of vegetables
in 35 trips of four hours each, al a cost
of S14. On The sand roads n horse
is required II days to ship my crop,
which is a longer time than the ship
ping season, hence 1 I'M compelled to
keep two horses during the year, or
hire from my neighbors at a busy time.
The cost of keeping the second horse
may be safely estimated at 1926. So
much of my time is used in my trips to
town that during three months of the
year 1 am compelled to hire an extra
hand, which costs me about $45."
The foregoing items suffice to show
that bad roads cost on the ten-acre crop
$101. so, being a tax of owe SO per
acre, and we do not think that any ad-
vanced farmer will willingly place him.
self longer under such a BURDEN
American Gardening.