The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1897-04-23
Road Building.

The Outlook for April contains an
excellent article, from "Spectator,"
on road building. We quote the gist
of the views expressed, as follows:
For years the spectator has had oc-
casion to walk, to drive, and to wheel
over certain piece of country road,
piece of road as bad as combina.
ton OF mud and sand and sods and
loose stones can make road. Last
summer he found this piece of road
not only good, but excellent and i'm.
proving all the time, until IN the au
tumn it was as good a dirt road as
any one could want. The other day
the Spectator CHANGED to meet the
overseer of the "deestrck" the same
overseer, by the way, who has had
charge for twenty-five years past.
81 wish TO congratulate you, Mr..
Overseer, said the Spectator, son
the good road you have,made. 1t is
fine, fine !" The rugged face of the
overseer was wreathed in smiles, and
his cheeks glowed with pleasure.
Then, as he spoke, his look became
serious. "Well, l tell you how il
was, Mr.. Spectator. Last fall
took drive down to Blank"-namine
large town sixty miles away and
three counties off-"and | seen some
roads that made me ashamed of the
old mud holes up here, and l says to
myself, If ever l work the roads OF
my deestrick again, l will have good
roads too So l asked 'em how they
did it, and, by George ! they tell me
that they didn't do nothin' but keer
the stones outen the road, keep the
sods off, and open up the bitches SC
as the roads wouldn't wash. And
that's all done this spring but
kept on a-doin' it, and though we had
the worst washes this summer | eve,
see, the roads in my deestrick have
been better than they was afore.
Next year," he continued, 81 mean
to tell the town committee that | will
take mile more of road, and don't
want no more money than l been get.
ting"
Now, on this little excursion from
home, this honest old farmer had
learned the real secret of road making
and he had had the sense to apply it
when he resumed work in his "dees-
trick" Water is at once the most
destructive and the most beneficial
force that the road maker and the
road repairer has to contend with and
to count on. If it be harnessed, SO
to speak, it can be made to keep the
roads clean and smooth and hard /; if
it be uncontrolled, it is sure to wash
the road into ruts, and make them all
but impossible. Drainage is the
most essential feature of road, and
In most instances this is simplicity it.
self. In the Spectators experience
he has rarely come across country
road maker who did not believe that
the sods taken out of the side bitches
should be put into the road to be
ground up into dust by the Wagon
wheels, converted into mud by the
rains, and finally washed back iutC
the bitches again. This process Of
road repairing does no good at any
time, as the road so worked is usual,
indeed, in nine cases out of ten
better when the repairer puts his hurt.
full hand upon it than at any Other
| time, 1t is so easy to make COCO
dirt road and to keep it in order that
it seems ever q wonder to the Specta.
tor that in this country, where the
people plume themselves upon theil
|
ingenuity and adaptability, they
should keep on being stupid on this
very important matter of road repair.
ing. The Spectator knows from &C
tual experience that in the average
country neighborhood the roads car
be kept in most excellent order ter
months in the year with the none,
that is now spent on them. If ele
mentary instruction in drainage coul(
be given to the overseers of the roads
then the powers of nature, now only
| destructive, could be made to dc
most of the necessary work of road
repairing. The spring rains can be
made to do the work of road scrapers,
and the summer rains will, more fle.
quently than not, suffice to keep the