Evening star., 1898-06-23
ROAD MAKING IN CUBA
Instructive Manual Issued for the Use of the
Army.
Plans Laid Out and the Topography
and Vegetation of the Island
Detailed.

Brig. Gen. Roy Stone, now on the staff of
Maj. Gen Miles, has prepared a manual
Tor the use of troops operating in Cuba,
covering the most expeditions means of
cutting military roads through the tangled
tropical vegetation, swamps and brush
through which the American army must
push its way in Cuba. Gen. Stone was the
road expert of the Agricultural Depart
ment but on the breaking out of the war
Secretary Alger asked that he be assigned
to the military service, with a view to max
ing his expert knowledge available in road
building Though Cuba. He has made
study of Cuban soil, vegetation and timber
growth, and besides personal acquaint-
ance with the country, he has collected
large number OF photographs, maps, etc,
which show in detail the topography and
vegetation of the island. With this ma
terial in hand, Gen. Stone has framed his
manual for military roads in Cuba, which
has, within the last few days, been dis
tributed to commanding officers for their
guidance
Guava Tree Put to Good Use.
In opening roads through Cuba, Gen.
Stone makes good use of the guava tree or
brush. which grows in luxurious abund-
ance throughout the island. He gives
diagrams by which this is to be cut, and
the boughs bound upward, making a COM
pact roll, about the size of a small log.
These guava burdles, known as fascines,
are laid lengthwise, one row of bundles
tapping over another, like shingles. There
are successive layers of this, bound to-
gether. making a serviceable roadway,
strong enough for troops and even for field
ordnance.
Rules for Road Making.
The manual lays down the following plan
for Cuban road making:
IF the road is an important one it
should have about sixteen feet of travel
way, and, to allow for bitches on either
side, the ground should be cleared at least
800 feet wide Running through wooded
country, the advance or clearing party
should be equipped with axes, machetes.
bush scythes and a few forks, and should
be instructed to cut and clear away all
vines, weeds and small underground and
to bind up into bundles all small bushes
less than an inch in diameter at the
ground, these bundles to be kept for repairs
of roads. If there Is heavy timber, the sec
ond gang, equipped with axes and saws,
will chop out all trees, leaving the root in
the ground, and saw the trees into such
lengths as will allow the logs to be hauled
or rolled off the roadway"
1t then provides that the third gang,
equipped with axes, matches and twine will
cut the bushes and make the fascines or
bundles, to be used for the road bed. The
fascines are placed lengthwise, butt end
forward, and over them is a covering of
earth about three inches deep. Each ad-
ditional layer of fascine has q layer of
earth. The roadbed is SO laid as to be
solid in itself with difchpS cir
and with an easy slope, SO that a wagon
may be driven off without upsetting. In
crossing low, swampy ground, layer Of
poles or canes is first laid lengthwise to the
road and the fascines on top.
Better Than Corduroy.
While these bush roads might seem In
secure, they are, as a matter Of fact, more
solid than an ordinary corduroy road, the
bundles of bushes being crowded together
with crowbars until they lay with the
solidity of baled hay.
General Stones manual also gives direc-
tions for grubbing out timber where exca-
vations are to be made, for making sluiced
ways, and for the improvement of sandy
roads The cane Is laid upon the surface
and covered with about two inches Of sand
with alternate layers upward. Another
Cuban growth utilized for this purpose is
the palm tree. The fiber from the bark of
this tree makes one of the best material
for improving sand roads. Warning is CIV
en- against the use Of pine needles, as they
work to the surface and are Liable to be
burned off.
The manual is illustrated by a number of
diagrams, which show in detail how these
military highways through Cuba can be
best constructed