The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-09-27

OF the country. writes James Wilson,
Secretary of Agriculture, In Harpcr's
Weekly. Tourists have been forced
to make comparisons unfavorablc to
the home highways when they have
gone abroad and seen the beautifully
level and well.kept roads of Great
Britain and many of the Continental
countries. II will be good news to the
whole nation TO learn that road i'm
prOvement is to he made n special
study. and wide inquiry to he set on
foot among the several States as to
the best ways and means of placing
the highways of the country upon
superior basis.
The Department of Agriculture has
a little road office by which a few
thousand dollars Il year are spent
along the lines of both educational
and practical work Inuumerahle
projects have been advanced consld.
cred. and abandoned MS being made.
quatc to meet the difficulty of improv-
ing our highways. One Of these pro
jects led to the sending out by the
last year, of experts to meet and CO.
operate with different bodies in vari.
Gus States for the purpose of carrying
on practical experimentation with steel
tracks that would enable the farmers
To get their produce to market with
out running the risk of the heavily
laden wagons sticking fast in the ruts
nf gnff L.,
uous rains.
These experiments have caused such
demand to he made for further aud
more extensive experimentation to de.
eide the best plan for road improve
ment that | have decided to organize
an office on broader lines and prepare
1t for doing more thorough work.
TO this end it is proposed to divide
the United States into districts, secure
an educated agent in each of those
districts to study conditions. confer
with scientists and practical road
makers, address students and educa-
tional institutions, and make reports
of work done and proposed to be done
that VIII form the basis of road lit
crature.
To begin with. ii is proposed 10 To-
cate the agents in the Eastern States
and the Southern States, one in the
prairie States, and one in the noun
tain States of the far West. The value
OF this plan is that as the conditions
in the several localities are peculiar
unto themselves, by a system of inter
communication between the various
agents we shall gather the best infor-
nation as to the needs of the whole
country and the best methods of in
nugurating scheme of national road
Improvement.
1t Is proposed that these agents shall
send specimens of good road material
to the chemical division of the Depart
ment of Agriculture for analysis; that
study shall he made along the lines
OF affinity and possibility of coalesclng
the several materials to be obtained at
each of the several localities and the
advantages accruing from the inter.
change of material between the differ.
ent districts. 1t Is Intended that each
agent shall reside within his own dis
trict and concentrate his entire time
ana thought on the study of the con
ditlOns found within that district.
These agents must of necessity be
good engineers; they should know
something about geology. for 1t will
be necessary to poke around In all the
corners of the surrounding country
in search of material suitable TO the
r0ad-making needs of that section.
u knowledge Of draining will be nd.
vantageous I'm making reports of the
general conditions and the difficulties
10 be encountered in road improve
ment, and the practical acquaintance
with the art of grading that those
familiar with road-making acquire
VIII greatly help in comprehensive
survey of the situation.
The first thing an agent will be OK
pected to do when he arrives at his
district VIII be to make himself thor
oughly acquainted with the material
ut his command. There are many 10.
'alltles In the United States where
stone cannot be found within a hun.
dred miles or more. Other localities
are so stony as to make the farmers
who try to make the soil fertile almost
despair of overcoming the obstacles
that nature has placed in their way.
1t can easily be seen how the reports
that come in from agents in districts
where the ground Is of these two scDa.
'atc natures can be made valuable.
rhc material for road d-making that Is
lbsent from one district will be found
m abundance in another, and the office
at the Department of Agriculture viii
thus be placed In possession of lntellI.
sence that Will make the laying out of
great plan of campaign for road i'm
provement comparatively easy mat
ter.
The stony section can he drawn upon
% supply the wants of the district that
is all sand and SOIL and from the
sandy quarter can bc obtained in
exchange for the stone the ma
terlal that is lacking In the
stony country. The wants of the peo.
pie in one place will not be the wants
or those In another. These needs VIII
be studied by the agents and reports
made in due order. Each man will
work earnestly and methodically for
the good of the whole, and the road
department will keep guiding hand
over all. accepting and using sugges.
lions from any one who has anything