Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-06-23
FARMER AND PLANTER.
OUR COUNTRY ROADS.
Unsatisfactory Dirt Roads In
Good Mncadam,

| slant source of unnecessary expense TO
Taxpayers and an almost constant
reXation to travellers. At its best the
dirt road is good for onlya few months
III the year, and those months the time
VIXEN 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 sncw
that makes good sleddin.'" Bad roads
mean small loads, and small loads
mean to the farmer proportionately
small profits. | know many farms
where the saving in time from hauling
larger loads, the saving in wear and
tear of horsetlesh, wagons and harness
would over and over again pay for the
increased initial cost of good maca.
dam road. Made of the best dirt oh.
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
vised by men equally ignorant, or not
at all? The true remedy for poor dirt
roads is good macadam. But with ne
greater expenditure of money than
now, the present road might be vastly
| improved. The road tax should be
| paid in cash. The system of loating
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 lackof which
are due many of the abuses of thepres
ent methods. One man, hiring his la
boz where he pleased, and paying casf
for days work, would get consider
ably more done for the money than &
| dozen or Is roadmasters working out
the tax in conjunction with theil
ne.ghbors and fellow farmers.
Proper tools should be provided tc
work with. Roadscrapers are almost
unknown in many country dictricts
ana plows and shovels are the tools
most commonly used. Very goot
road scrapers can be bought for only
two or three times the cost of a gooo
piow, and two men, two horses, and {
roac scraper will do the work Of al
| 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, anC
| when not, the dirt most nearly APP
preaching it in quality The use o
gutter wash" sods, and stones larger
thar two inches in diameter, SHOULD
be forbidden. ! have seen road!
"niended" with sods, that were fol
weeks impossible at any gait faster
tnan a walk, and have seen holes il
tie road bed filled with large stone!
that were nuisance for years.
The roads should be worked at prop
er times. The need of the dirt road il
little repairs often made. The common
practice is to do almost all the worl
just after corn planting" This il
wrong for two reasons; it is too lat,
for the best results, and too much il
done at one time. Six inches of dirt o.
gravel will make far better road j
put on in layers of, say two inches Il
intervals of a month or So than vii
the entire quantity applied at once
Just as soon as the roads are settled il
the spring, and before they have he
come dry and hard, the scraper shoult
be put to work leveling and filling tin
ruts that were worn during the win
ter, and slightly rounding the roadbat
towards the center. The ground BEN,
still moist, and not compact, as il is u
the usual time of doing this, the worl
can be done more easily and rapid,
and the road will pack better. Later
light coat of earth or gravel should b.
applied, to be followed by anothe
when the first becomes packed hard
and this in turn by third if possible
Lastly, in the fall the entire roat
should be gone over TO see that all gut
tiers and bridges are free, that the roat
may not be washed out by wintc
storms and spring rains. All mut
holes, of course, should be file,
promptly at all times, so that no waite
may stand in the road. and loos
stones should be removed at least one
a month. The usual time for cuttn,
brush along roads, August, seem
right, but some reform is needed il
the way of doing it. The brush shoul,
be cut close down to the ground, an,
not, as often is the case. cut foot q
more above it, leaving long insight,
stubs to sprout the ensuing spring. |
should he piled at once, and burner
when sufficiently dry. Under the pres
ent system | have seen brush cut. lief
as cut, the next years growth cut owe
top of that, and the resulting tangl
abandoned the third year.
With some such sytem as this
lave sketched, the application to tn
road work of the business rules whicl
govern every progressive farmer in tn
conduct of his farm, with the worl
done under the supervision of re
sponsibe man, done at the prope
!, times, instead of whenever convenient
~ With the proper tools and with a prop
er quality of earth, by men who wer
compelled 10 give days work for
days pay, the dirt road could be mad
not good, but vastly better than it IL
! L 4 - i. ~