The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-01-27
PRINCE EDWAD'S ROADS.
Criticisms and Suggestions-lmpor-
lance OF Good Roads to Town and
Country.

EdHOr Herdid.-There Is one sub
ject / " ish to ask yoI to agitate freely
in your paper and continue to agitate
it a. persistently n YOU do some other
questions. We may not all agree on
the desirablity Of the coinage of silver,
but We can bn that Of good roads. Our
roads at present add largely to the cost
OF marketing farm produce, and not
only does this condition Of the roads
add to The expenses Of the farmer but
| il decreases the sales of the merchant
in two ways First, the producers
earnings are cut of so he has less to
spend. Secondly, through the daily
mails at neighboring postoilices the
purchases 20 to build up the depart
ment stores that flood the country with
catalogues. II the merchants in our
towns knew how much trade they lose
in this way they would be the first to
agitate the construction Of good roads
and would be more than willing to
help pay for them.
The present condition Of Prince Ed
wards roads make it impossible for
physicians to pay proper attention to
their patients, and had we here the
epidemics of pneumonia and diptheria
that prevail elsewhere, the apparent
neglect would be frightful, though even
now the patient and physician both
suffer through the impossibiity Of
moving with any degree Of quickness.
Prince Edward county need not have
had bad roads save for the reckless way
i'm which its road tax have been ex-
pended.
About one half Of the length Of the
public roads is gray soil. Keep that
drained and eat the trees that shade
it and the road will be good the year
round. Where there Is red clay
macadamize the road if it he but one
hundred yards, and the next year work
over another piece. BY making good,
say, one road running North and South
and one East and West in each district,
it would enable every one to reach a
firm road quickly and give our popu-
lation far greater comfort than the pre-
sent way Of scrapng over all Of the
roads imperfectly; having some good
roads the people would demand that
the rest be made 50.
In many places there is rock enough
Immediately contiguous to the deep
red mud to cure the whole stretch of
the mud. Curing short distance of
red road improves thegray road next to
it for great distance, rs the red mud
is then no longer carried by the wheels
to the adjacent dry road, adding both
mud and water and 50 making the
road deep.
Road Commissioner Mugs, Of Ke0-
kuk, H., has been trying an expert
ment on the black roads that
are even worse than ours. He has
treated the road when dry with the re-
fuse from refining Kerosene oil. To
use that the road must be in good
shape. No pockets to hold water that
are so frequently found in Prince Ed
wards roads, and at time Of appica-
ton the road must lie dry. Treating
the roads around KeOkuk in the au-
tumn Of ~ with this "shedge" oil, the
road has been IN summer free from
dust, and last winter and this, free from
mud. The oil, if bought costs % cents
bbl.; - bbls treat a mile Of road and
the oil is offered free to any one who
will experiment on the roads with it,.
One tank ear of 1917 bbls. would cure all
Of the road from Hampden-Sidney to
Farmvile-the road that the writer
uses least in the county-but he is
willing to 90 in with 20 others. and
paying IS each, the county paying half
a. much, treat that seven miles as an
experiment. Farmvile's Town COun-
ell should treat at least one mile of
the road from the Tan Yard bridge to
the cemetery. Having once begun to
have roads that are pleasant to drive
on let our county road commissioners
20 to work i'm earnest. Let them levy
a special road tax on every bicycle, say
two and One-half dollars. A similar
one on all bugges and road carts, and
a fine of 81. 90 on all wagon tires less
than maximum width. The people
will cheerfully pay the tax if the roads
are good but not ifbad. Having cured
certain thoroughfares let them pro-
coed to the others; let them receive say
one-hal Of the road tax i'm rock deliv-
cred at a given point, and in addition
to all let our road men study road con-
struction; the agricultural department
Of the United States will furnish all OF
the literature.
The chief reason heretofore that our
roads have been bad is that the most
of the road tax has come out Of the
landholder. Our people have not re-
cognized the fact that the townsmen
are as much interested financially in
this question AS is the planter and thai
they should pay as freely for road con
I.ArIlnIinl1