The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1901-08-09


nt unproptious times, as rain or snow
The water softcus the earth, tho horses
feet and wagon wheels mix 1t, and it
soon becomes impaSsable mud. Final
ly the frost freezes it, and the second
state of the road is worse than the first,
for time ut least. Further, If the wa
ter is allowed to course down the mid
die of the road it will wash away the
earth and leave gullies in the surface
that must he laboriously filled up by
the traffic or the hand of man. No
road, however we'll made otherwise,
can endure If the water collects or re-
mains on it. Prompt and thorough
drainage Is n vital essential in all road
construction.
n perfectly drained road will have
three systems Of drainage, each of
which must receive special attention if
the best results are to be obtained.
This is true whether the trackway be
iron, broken stone, gravel or earth. and
it is emphatically true of earth. These
three systems are underdrainage. side
bitches and surface drainage.
Many if not most country highways
could be considerably improved by
thorough suhdrainagc. Most roads need
undertakings even though water does
not stand in the side bitches. ''
The most important object Of under
drainage is to lower the water level in
the soil. The action Of the sun and the
breeze will finally dry the surface of
the road. bur IL tho foundation is soft
anu SpOn@y the wheels wear ruts and
horses feet make d"prcSsions between
the ruts. Tie first shower fills these
drprcSSions with water, and the road Is
not be maintained without good foun-
dation, and an undrained soil is a poor
foundation. y dry subsoil can support
almost any load. A friend of the writ
er, an intelligent man and Il close OBJ
server, claims That even in dry time
the easiest digging on or around n farm
is just under the surface of n road hay
ing no undcrdrainagc. His theory is
that except in the road vegetation is
continually pumping the water up from
the subSoil and giving it out into the
air, while in the road the compact sur.
face prevents evaporation of the water
needs undcrd!ainage more than the
field.
y second object OF underdrainage is
to dry the ground quickly after q
freeze. When the frost comes out of
the ground in the spring, 1t thaws
quite as much from the bottom as from
the top. If the land is underdrained,
the water when released by thawing
from below will be Immediately car
ried away. This Is particularly i'm.
portant In road drainage. since the
foundation of the road will then re-
main solid. and the road itself will not
be cut up like untitled roads.
i third and sometimes a very i'm
pOrtant object of subdrainnge Is to re.
move what may be called the under
flow. In some places where the ground
is comparatively dry when it freezes in
the fall it will I've very wet In the
spring when the frost comes out. sur.
prsingly so considering the drynsess be-
fore freezing. The explanation is thai
after the ground freezes water rises
slowly In the soil by hydrostatic pres
sure of the water in higher places. and
If 1t is not drawn off by undcrdrainage
1t saturatcs the subsoil and rises as the
frost goes out. so that ground which
was comparatively dry when 1t frcGc
is practically saturated when 1t thaws
The undertakings Of road not only
removes the water, but prevents OIL
greatly reduces the destructive effect OF
frost. Frost Is destructive only where
there is moisture. The upheaving ac
tion OF frost is due to presence Of wa.
Ter. Water expands on freezing and
looscns the soil. When thawing takes
place the ground is left spongy and wet
and the roads "brcak up" If the roads
are kept dry, they will not break up
Underdrainage helps to keep them dry
1t is the universal observation that
roads I'm low places which are tiled dry
out sooner than the untitled roads OH
the high land. The tiled roads never
get so bad as those not tiled. There is
no way in which road taxes can be
spent to better advantage than In til.
Ing the roads.