The suburban citizen., 1901-07-13

IOuUbs NO IOdus WuHLutI
earth or stone, can long remain good
without drainage. Drainage alone
will 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 water comes at unpropitious
times, as rain or snow. The water
softens the earth, the horses feet and
wagon wheels mix and knead it, and
it soon becomes impossible mud;
finally the frost freezes It, and the
second state of the road is worse than
the first-for n time at least Further,
if the water is allowed to course down
the middle Of the road it will 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 viii 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 underdrainage
even though water does not stand in
the side bitches. Most people appear
TO think that the sole object OF tile
drainage is to remove the surface
water, but this is only n small part of
the object Of the underdrainago Of
roads.
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, but II the foundation is
soft and spongy the wheels wear ruts
and horses feet make dcpresslons be-
tween the ruts. The first shower fills
these depressions with water, and the
road is soon Il mass Of mud. A good
road cannot ne maintained without a
good foundation, and an undrained
soil is a poor foundation. A dry sub
soil can support almost any load A
friend OF the writer, an intelligent
man and a close observer, claims that
even in a dry time the easiest digging
on or around farm is just under the
surface OF road having no under
drainage. His theory is that except
in the road vegetation is continually
pumping the water up from the sub
soil and giving it cut into the air,
while in the road the compact surface
prevents evaporation of the water in
the subsoil. Therefore, the road needs
underdrainagc more than the field.
A second object of underdrainagc
is to dry tie ground quickly after a
freeze. When the frost comes cut OF
the ground in the spring it thaws quite
as much from the bottom as from the
top. If the land is underdrained the
water when released by th2wing from
below will be Immediately carried
away. This is particularly important
in road drainage, since the foun,
dation of tho road will then remain
solid and tho road itself will not be
cut up like untitled roads
A third, and sometine3 a very In
portant, object Of subdrainage is to
remove what may be called the Under
flow. In some places where the
ground is comparatively dry when it
freezes In the fell 1t will be very wet
In the spring when the frost comes
Out-surprlsingly so, considering the
dryness before freezing. The expla.
nation IS that after the ground freezes
water rises slowly in the soil by hy
drostatic pressure Of the water IN
higher places; and if 1t is net drawn
of by Underdrainage it saturates the
subsoil and rises as the frost goes out
SO that ground which was compare
lively dry when 1t frozo is practically
saturated when it thaws.
The underdrainage of a road not
only removes the water, but prevents
or greatly reduces, the destructive ef
feet of frost. Frost is destructive
only where there is moisture. The up
heaving action of frost is due to pres
ence of water Water expands or
freezing and loosens the soil; wher
thawing takes place the ground Is left
spongy and wet and the roads "breaB
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 In low places which are tiled
dry out sooner than the untitled roads
on 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
Il. a. 4