St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-01-27
THE GOOD ROADS PROBLEM.
Suxxestions IN the Subject that VIII
Apply to Almost Every Local.
ity In the south.

All who travel our country roads; al.
who transport goods over county
roads; all who transact business with
those who travel or transport over
country roads, and all who depend for
employment or support upon any Of
the above, are directly interested-ps-
crniarily interested-in the improve
ment of public roads. Good macadam
roads would be profitable invest
ment, even at the average price of
SC, 900 per mile. But the size of these
figures frightens the timid, and for
that reason may be impracticable as a
general system. And perhaps it is bet
ter SO until the macadam system is
better understood, or at least better
practiced than In the Texas cities
where streets have been ''macadam-
ized." Up to this time we have not seen
. square yard of macadamized road CT
street anywhere in Texas. There mny
be such, for our observation is not
extensive; but we have seen several
presumed attempts ut macadamizing;
but the inventor of the process himself
would not have recognized it. Laying
down q lot of stone of every possible
size and shape and covering the same
with gravel is not macadam, and roads
thus constructed at much less than
$1,000 per mile would hardly pay the
cost. In many parts of Texas, anu
where good roads are most needles,
there is no suitable stone, and mate
rial would have to be transported 30
far that the cost of delivery would ex-
ceed the average cost of completed
roads. This is the case in the black
lands. The soft limestones are totally
unsuited for surfacing, and are net
durable even as foundation for Tel
ford work. This rock grinds up like
chalk under the iron-shod wheels and
hoofs of travel and transportation, and
is soon blown away as dust. Expert
ments on the streets of Dallas prove
this. Probably the best that can now
be done is to improve our dirt roads;
but this can not be done by men who
don't know how; therefore, scientific
roadmakers must be employed to di-
rect the work, or it would best not be
undertaken. The great enemy of roads
in clayey soil is water-not the water
that falls on them, but the water that
remains on them after falling. There
fore, arrangements must be made for
carrying away the water as fast as It
stands in bitches made for drainage,
but must be carried "out Of sight," SD
to speak, otherwise the roadbed will
take 1t up by capillary attraction,
soften and succumb. But, properly
graded and thoroughly drained, we be
ieye the black soils of North Texas
viii! make excellent dirt roads. When
dry, our black land roads are the hard
e:t Of all dirt roads, just as they are
the s0ftest when wet. But this re-
quires expert work, for water some
times has . perverse way of running
up hill, rs judged by the eye, and
bitches made for drainage often be-
come reservoirs, bringing water in lD-
stead Of carrying it away. And. fur
ther, mo amount Of surfacing will be
permanent unless the drainage is COM
plete. We knew = case en- large black
land farm where 400 wagon loads OF
stone had been put on y piece Of very
had roadway less than $50 yards long.
and slowly hut surely the stone sank
and the mud only Remained. The
writer suggested ditch and eE;veFt.
~ drainage. whies wsye madeb nd