The sun., 1897-11-14
BAD Road BENEFITS.
THEY KILL HORSES AND HELP KEEP
UP THE PRICE.

They Also Keep the Farmers' Sons .
Homo and Out Of Mischief-How h
Make Poor Roads and Keep Them II
That Condition-Use Marrow Tires.
There Is an absurd idea gaining
ground here and elsewhere that bette,
roads would be advantageous and that
the present methods of building and
maintaining them are out Of date IN
every age and in every country there
has been a class Of agitators dis
gruntled, dissatisfied, endeavoring Sc
overthrow existing conditions. In Rus
sia there are nihilists, who rebel against
the tyranny Of czar; Spain is at present
disturbed by Cuban patriots; in Canada
there are road reformers. The last men,
toned are turbulent, obnoxious and aim
at state Of anarchy.
Bad roads are in every way desira.
bic. They kill time. Farmers have too
much time hanging Oh their hands.
They dom t know what to do with it all.
Time is money. Farmers have so much
money usually that they can afford to
kill time. They have time to burn. But
they don burn their money-just time
We have enjoyed the benefits Of bad
roads so long that if they were con-
verted into good roads We wouldn't
know how to use them. Every farmer
would be as uncomfortable as Fiji is
lander wearing a new suit Of clothes
and fur overcoat. How they would
perspire In the meantime the horses
perspire.
Bad roads kill horses and help to
keep up the price. Good roads would
encourage fast driving and would there
by encourage cruelty to horses. Fast
driving is very immoral. With good
roads every farmers son would own
nice top buggy and would be able to
keep it clean long enough to drive into
town, and they would want to spend
half their time in town. Bad roads keep
them at home. They have to "stick to
the farm" because the farm sticks to
them.
These are few of the reasons why
we want bad roads. But it does not
complete the list by any means. There
are many other matters respecting COM
merce, society and civilization which
we have not space to even suggest. OF
course, if they have been applied, in
principle, to other matters besides the
roads, we would still be without the
printing press and the steam railway.
We would be without religious and ed
ucational institutions. There would be
no progress, no civilization. The saw
ages of central Africa would send mis-
sionaries to us.
Still it is evident that we want bad
roads. In making them the first point
to observe is that water should be kept
in the road as much as possible. Dig
trenches along each side Of the wagon
track, but do not provide a fall or out
let's to carry water out of the trenches;
otherwise they will be drains These
trenches should hold water and permit
it to soak into the roadbed, keeping it
soft If the surface of the road should
by any means get dry, the tires OF ve-
hicles will easily break through the
crust and sink into the soft foundation
The dirt from these trenches, COM
posed CT sod and clay should be thrown
into the center Of the road so as to Sc
cur good depth of mud. By keeping
the Roadway fat on the surface there
will be little danger Of aiding Dir; mage
to any extent Ey the greater height Of
the center The sod, ton will decay,
aud is excellent to keep Il ROAD in IA
muddy condition.
If gravel must Le used On the read,
choose quality containing plenty Of
sand and clay. This will retain mois-
tule and will yield easily rnder traffic
in wet weather. There should he plenty
of big stones to roll around under the
feet Of the horses and the wheels of the
vehicle. a rCttCn Culvert, standing
foot or so above the surface Of the read,
is almost necessary for the making Ct
bad road i'll it's ideal state. 1Lty l"cGk
the MtnOtOny, carriages and horses
legs.
A road grader is a good thing with
which to make bad roads. although in
tie hands OF an unscrupulous ItrsCn it
nuy also br'r lhytd IN making il coed
road Care sh, u!d ie tak,n to rIoCse
all operator " l:u DOESN'T know Low to
make Il - Cd rCad AID tie CEaEtts are
that he will tc sut'tss1Ll III producing
n bad one. DO not keep one man con-
stuntly ,r.ployed On 1t, but pass it
around for e>ely ,Gr and ally ol.e to try
his hand on. 1t Is just like Il plow i'll
this respect. DO not get an experienced
man III the first instance, and see that
no ore gets any experience. When using
it on IL gravel road, always turn the
dirt and sod from the shoulders of the
road and the bitches in to the center of
The road. If gravel can be covered by this
means, let the maker Of bad roads wear
4 blissful smile. He has crowned his
Efforts with success If the gravel road
was previously good, it will be ruined
BY this treatment
Use narrow tires. Wide tires have
to keep the surface smooth.
Narrow tires cut into the road and are
harder for the horses to pull, but the
nan who has the interests of bad roads
.ruly at heart must not hesitate. Be-
tides, the horses have to do the pulling.
The driver can sit on top of the load
md smoke. What use are good roads,
anyway? We must have time to smoke.
If these few principes are carefully