St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-08-20
FARMER AND PLANTER.
THE GOOD ROADS QUESTION.
the Has Come When Antiaua4.
ca Methods II Road Maxine
Must Go to the Rear.

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1ae Tt.ae Has Come when Ant,au...
Of Road Makine
Must Go to the Rear.
Good Roads.-When one who no.
worked his way up from the lowest
round OF the ladder arrives At thai
.lae OF lie when he is willing to admit
nat ne is no longer young and active
ne Is apt to become rather ~conserya-
i've. he may not become a brake to
ne wheels of progress, but he will act
Is a check on enthusiasts, and do mueh
70 prevent unwise action. / was an
pointed a state delegate to the Ma
uonai Good Roads congress, which met
~ 81. Louis in May, and closely
watched the proceedings Of that body.
iisteneo TO the speeches, and especially
noted who were pushing things and
the 1uenc at work to make a great
impression and bring results. The men
VINO are now most active in the good
Foaos are automobile makers
ana users, road-machine manufacture
ers, and men who desire to keep them
selves prominently identified with the
movement SO as to fall heirs to some
OF the offices that will be created when
congress takes hold of the matter; and
1t takes SUCH forces to make it a go.
There were quite a number of farm
ers at the meetings, and some of them
were quite as enthusiastic as the lead
ers, while Others appeared to be some
what fearful that they were being led
Into deep water and likely to be
swamped with taxes.
The n point that met with great
est favor was that good drainage is the
fTst essential to good roads. Every
man who has had any experience in
building roads knows well enough that
Il Is useless to build a road through a
pond and leave the pond undrained.
The water must be gotten away from
tho sides Of a road by surface-draining,
and from beneath the grade by tile
drainage, before a good road can be
maintained. After drainage comes
grading, and the higher the grading, il
it Is properly done, the easier it is to
keep the road in good condition. But
1t is the silliest sort of nonsense to
grade a road and then leave it; yet
that is exactly what is done all ove1
the country. What sort of road-bed
would a railroad have il 1t were left
to take a r of itself for three years.
1t would be unsafe to run a train q
mile IN hour on it. A wagon-road
needs the same kind of care that Is
given a railroad. The surface must be
kept smooth all the time by the use
of the road-hone as soon after every
shower as the soil will crumble. This
means that the wasteful, ANTICIPATED
method of each farmer working out his
poll and road tax must be abolished.
and that section men" must be hired
to care for the roads and keep them
up as they are hired to keep up the
railroads. When this system is adopt
ed we a have good roads about ten
months in every year without a pound
Of gravel. Where stone and gravel are
abundant, hard roads are the ones to
build; but in the section l live in II
would cost from three to five thousand
dollars q mile to build hard roads
There are quite a number OF good-roads
advocates who are strongly in favor
OF building the main road between
towns Of gravel or other hard material
SO that they will be good the year
round, but it was stated that it would
be much cheaper in the end to build
trolleys onpsuch roads.
There are quite a number OF mer
who advocate the erection OF kilns, ant
the manufacture OF small, rounded
brick for surfacing bad places along the
roads and for use on the approaches
to bridges. Where the soil is suitable
\ for making such brick, the cost o.
manufacture would not be great, and
they would make as good roads az
gravel. In a few sections I learn they
are using the waste Of brick and tile
factories for surfacing bad places il
the roads, and this material seems te
give excellent satisfaction. Where dirt
is the only material available, we mus
depend on drainage and repeated hon
| ing. FOur years ago VIC Aou q
commissioner who was thorough
raadman-one who declared that a GER
tain section Of road that is much trav.
eled and is VIGOROUSLY bad eight
months in the year could be made good
and kept good by proper and timely at
tention. He was told to try his plan
on It. He first rounded it well up with
a road-grader drawn by eight horses
and cleaned out the bitches on either
side so that no water could stand In
I them. This was done in June. After
ward he ran over, the road with a road
hore as soon after every shower as the
dirt would begin to crumble, filling W
ALL russ. and leaving the surface per-
fectly smooth and rounded. During
those two. years that section OF the
road was the best in the township, and
the cost of keeping II. in that condition
was very small compared with the ben
eAts derived. Now, n would be led
to think that with such an object les
son ;,efore them for two years the
farmers and village people would be
come enthusiasts on such an easy and
simple means of having gooi roads
..,,r +.r ononths of the year. Instead