The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1901-11-15
BLACK EARTH ROADS.
When Properly Constructed aud
Cared For This Sort of Highway
II Not To BE Despised.

For several years | was an earn
est advocate of hard roads. and be-
lieyed that the best interests of the
farmer demanded them. but have 10
considerable extent changed my
mind. For over a year | have been
watching real up-to-date road
keeper care for about eight miles of
common black-earth road, and 10 say
he has done good work would be
putting it mildly. / am now wen
satisfied that if our common earth
roads are properly and thoroughly
cared for-if they are well built at
the right time and repairs are made
promptly-there is no necessity
whatever for going 10 the enormous
expense Of building hard roads ex-
cept in limited districts. I'm due time
the trolley will come into the west. as
ii already has into many portions of
the east, and in most sections long
hauls Of farm produce will soon be
a thing of the past Where the ma
terials for making hard roads are
cheap and near by they can be
built at reasonable cost; but when
they are distant and must be freight
ed it is nonsense to talk about build
ing them. 1t would be far better 10
adopt the method of the ''road-keep-
er" mentioned above.
His district lies in a blacl-soil sec
tion where rain quickly converts soil
into mud. He has learned that where
the grade is tile-drained and rounded
so that the water quickly flows off,
the road is easily kept in good condi-
tion. The first thing done was to pro-
vide good drainage; after that TO
keep the grade well rounded and the
ruts filled by the use of the road
hone. As soon after a rain as the
grade is dry enough the hone is run
over it and the surface made perfect
ly smooth. At the edges of bridges
and culverts, where are often found
ugly "drop-offs" and deep ruts when
the roads are not properly cared for.
he dug out the soil to a depth of
about IS inches and filled in with /
broken brick and tile, covering them /
with cinders, and there the road is as |
solid as a rock. To place one man /
in charge of the roads of a town /
ship or district would remove the
burden and bother Of road-tinkering |
of the farmers. and most of them
could. by attending TO their crops at
the season when road work should
be done. make many times more than
they could save by tinkerlng on the
road The idea of working a road
nto fair condition one week ard let
ting it go to ruin the rest Of the
year is utter foolishness, and the
'ooner a change is made the better.
rhe reading, thinking farmer knows
his. and he is patiently waiting for
he leaven TO work among his neigh
,ors. Agitation for costly hard roads
md a great burden of debt has served
o intensity the opposition to reason
bile schemes for road improvement.
The best thing we can do till the troll
ey comes, and after il comes. is 10
dopt the "road-keeper's" system
,ay steady. skilled men a salary TO
uild our roads in the best manner
With the material at hand. and then
eep them up the year round. If this
: done we will have. even in the
lack-soil districts, very good roads
inc of ten months of the year. and
hey would be passable the other two
ionths. while the cost Of living would
I the end be much less than the
resent overseer poll-tax-everybOdy-
-ork foolishness. - Fred Grundy, in
arm and Fireside.