Middletown transcript., 1899-10-28


pear. Materialof this kind binds read
lily with new material that may bt
added and may in this manner fre'
quently be kept in good condition with.
out great difficulty. while il not attend
ed to at once when wear begins to show
it viii very rapidly increase to tht
great detriment Of the road. In making
repairs by this method the material d
commonly placed a. little at q time and
compacted by passing vehicles The
material used for this purpose should
be the same as that OF the road surface
and not fine material. which would
soon reduce to powder under the loadi
which come upon 1t. By careful atten-
tion to minute repairs in this manner Q
surface may be kept In good condition
until it wears so thin as 70 require re-
newal. Ef
In case the road be Of harder ma.
terial, that win not 90 readily combine
when a thin coating is added. repairs
may not be frequent. as the surface
win not wear SO rapidly. and immediate
attention is mot 50 important. It ID
usually more satisfactory in this case
to make more extensive repairs at one
time, as o larger quantity Of material
added at once may be more readily COM
pacted to a uniform surface, the repairs
taking the form Of an additional layer
upon the road. 88s#
L Where the material Of the road sur
face Is very hard and durable q well
constructed road may wear quite even
" and require hardly any attention, be.
yond ordinary small repairs, until worn
out. It Is now usually considered the
best practice to leave such road to it-
self until 1t wears very thin and then
renew 1t by an entirely new layer Of
broken stone placed in the worn surface
and without in any way disturbing
that surface.
If "a thin layer only Of material Is to
be added at one time, in crder that II
may unite firmly with the upper layer
Of the road. it is usually necessary to
break the bond Of the surface material
before placing the new layer, either by
picking it up by hand or by steam
roller with short spikes in itssurface, II
such machine is at hand Care should
be taken In doing this, however, that
only the surface layer be loosened, and
that the solidity Of the body of the road
be not disturbed, as might be the case
il the spikes are too long.
In repairing roads the time hcnored
custom of waiting until the road has
lost its shape or until the surface has
become filed with holes or ruts should
never be tolerated. Much good material
lis wasted by spreading *hick coat
over such road and leaving 1t thus for
passing vehicles to consolidate The
material necessary to replace defects in
road should be added when the neces-
stiles arise and should be Of the best
quality and the smallest possible guam
tity. II properly laid in small patches,
the inconvenience to traffic win be
scarcely perceptible. If such repairs are
made in damp weather, as they ought
to be, little or no difficulty is expert
enced in getting a layer Of stone to con-
solidate properly. IL mud fills the rut
or hole to be repaired, 1t should be care
fully removed before the material Is
placed.
Wide tires should be used on all
heavy vehicles which traverse stone
roads. A four or Ave inch stone or
gravel road viii last longer without re-
pair when wide tires are used than an
eight or ten inch road Of the same ma
terial on which narrow tires are used