The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1899-06-17
FARMER AND PLANTER.
OUR COUNTRY ROADS.
The True Remedy for the Present
Unsatisfactory Dirt Roads 10
Good Macadam.

Good Macadam.
The average country road, as at pres
cnt maintained and repaired, is a con-
slant source of unnecessary expense to
| taxpayers and an almost constant
vexation to travellers. At its best the
dirt road is good for onlya fewmonths
in the year, and those months the time
when the farmer-the man most inter-
ested in good country roads-is using
his horses on the farm. In the fall,
winter, and early spring, when the
great bulk of teaming is to be done,
the roads are in bad shape, except
when kind Providence sends a snow
that makes good sleddin." Bad roads
mean small loads, and small loads
mean to the farmer proportionately
small profits. L know many farms
where the saving in time from hauling
larger loads, the saving in wear and
tear of horsefiesh, wagons and harness
would over and over again pay for the
increased initial cost of q good maca-
dam road. Made of the best dirt OBJ
tianable, applied under intelligent
supervision, and kept in order with
proper road-making tools, the dirt road
is never entirely satisfactory. What
can be expected of the quality of roads
made of the material most easily OBJ
tanned, applied by men ignorant of the
first principales of road making, work
ing without proper tools, and super
yised by men equally ignorant, or not
at all? The true remedy for poor dirt
roads is good macadam. But with no
greater expenditure of money than
now, the present road might be vastly
improved. The road tax should be
paid in cash. The system of loafng
out the tax, under the pretense of
working the roads, Should be abol-
ished. This money should be expend-
ed under the immediate supervision of
one man for each township, selected
fer knowledge of road making, and
put under bonds for the faithful per-
Torrance of his duties. This would
introduce into the system the element
of responsibility, which is sadly lack
ing at present, and to the lack of which
are due many of the abuses of the pres
ent methods. One man, hiring his la
Dor where he pleased, and paying cash
for days work, would get consider
ably more done for the money than a
dozen or Is roadmasters working out
the tax in conjunction with their
ne;ghbors and fellow farmers.
Proper tools should be provided to
work with. Roadscrapers are almost
unknown in many country dictricts.
and plows and shovels are the tools
most commonly used. Very good
road scrapers can be bought for only
two or three times the cost of good
plow, and two men, two horses, and
roac scraper will do the work of an
equal number of horses and ten men,
with plows and shovels, and do it bet
ter. Only the best obtainable mater
ials should be used in repairing the
roads, gravel, when possible, and
when not, the dirt most nearly APP
preaching it in quality. The use of
gutter wash" sods, and stones larger
thar two inches in diameter, should
be forbidden. / have seen roads
''nlended" with sods, that were for
weeks impossible at any gait faster
than walk, and have seen holes in
tie road bed filed. with large stones
that were nuisance for years.
The roads should be worked at prop
err times. The need of the dirt road is
little repairs often made. The common
practice is to do almost all the work
just after s'corn planting" This is
wrong for two reasons; it is too late
for the best results, and too much is
done at one time. Six inches of dirt or
gravel will make far better road if
put on in layers of, say two inches at
intervals of a month or SO, than will
the entire quantity applied at once.
Just as soon as the roads are settled in
the spring, and before they have he
come dry and hard, the scraper should
be put to work leveling and filling tine
ruts that were worn during the win
ter, and slightly rounding the roadbed
towards the center. The ground being
still moist, and not compact, as it is at
the usual time of doing this, the work
can be done more easily and rapidly
and the road will pack better. Later a
light coat of earth or gravel should be
applied, to be followed by another
when the first becomes packed hard,
and this in turn by a third if possible.
Lastly, in the fall the entire road
should be gone over to see that all gut
tiers and bridges are free, that the road |
may not be washed out by winter |
storms and spring rains. All mud
holes, of course, should be filled |
promptly at all times, so that no water |
may stand in the road, and loose
stones should be removed at least once
a month. The usual time for cutting
brush along roads, August, seems |