The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-08-02

earth or stone, can long remain good |
without drainage. Drainage alone |
viii often change a bad earth road TO |
a good one, and the best road may be |
destroyed by the absence Of proper |
drainage. Water is the only agent !
that destroys earth roads. Water and
dirt make mud and mud makes bad
going. The dirt Is always In the road,
and the wafer comes at unpropitious
times, as rain or snow. The water
softens the earth, the horses feet and
wagon wheels mix and knead 1t, and
II soon becomes impossible mud;I
finally the frost freezes It,. and the
second state of the road is worse than
the frst-for a time at least. Further,
If the water Is allowed to course down
the middle Of the road it win wash
away the earth and leave gullies in
the surface that must be laboriously
filed up by the traffic or the hand Of
man. No road, however well made
| otherwise, can endure If the water
collects or remains on It.. Prompt and
thorough drainage is a vital essential
in all road construction.
A perfectly drained road win 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, viz, under
drainage, side bitches and surface
drainage.
Underdrainage-Many, if not most,
country highways could be consider
ably improved by thorough subdrain'
age Most roads need undertakings
even though water does not stand in
the side bitches. Most people appear
to think that the sole object of tilC
drainage is to remove the surface
water, but this is only a small part OF
the object Of the underdrainage Of
roads.
The most important object Of under
drainage is to lower the water level il
the soil. The action OF the sun ant
the breeze will finally dry the surfac
of the road, but if the foundation i
soft and spongy the wheels wear rut
= and horses feet make depressiOns be
= tween the ruts. The first shower fill
these depressions with water, and tn
| road is soon a mass of mud. A goo
e road cannot De maintained without
good foundation, and an undraine
2 soil is a poor foundation. A dry sui
soil can support almost any load.
r friend of the writer, an intelligeI
. man and a close observer, claims thG
even in a dry time the easiest diggin
on or around a farm is just under til
r surface of a road having no unde
d drainage. His theory is that excel
o in the road vegetation is continual
: pumping the water up from the SUI
s soil and giving it out into the al
d while in the road the compact surfa'
q prevents evaporation of the water
IL the subs0il Therefore, the road neet
q undertakings more than the field.
l. A second object of undertaking.
'e freeze. When the frost comes out
"a the ground in the spring it thaws Qui
as much from the bottom as from t
IN top. If the land is underdrained t
ST water when released by thawing frc
below will be Immediately CARR
7d away. This is particularly importa
in road drainage since the fol
10 dation of the road will then remf
lu solid and the road itself will not
er cut up like untitled roads
III A third, and sometimes, a very
'e- portant, object of subdrainage is
ID remove what may be called the und
UT flow. In some places where
er ground is comparatively dry when
IN freezes in the fall it will be very '
ng in the spring when the frost con
ler out-surprisingly so, considering
dryness before freezing. The eXI
ay nation is that after the ground free
icy water rises slowly in the soil by
drostatic pressure of the water
AZ IL higher places; and if it is not dra
off by undertakings it saturates
IRIS subsoil and rises as the frost goes
We so that ground which was comp;
II lively dry when it froze is practic'
u saturated when it thaws-
you The undertakings of a road
ing only removes the water, but preve
al or greatly reduces, the destructive
mt feet of frost. Frost is destruc
lem only where there is moisture. The
un- heaving action of frost is due to p
f it l,o,, nf water water EXPANDS
'eet freezing and loosens the soil; W
be thawing takes place the ground is
e,o,ov ond wet and the roads 'bl