The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-04-27
HIGHWAY BUILDING.
IMPROVING EARTH ROADS WITH CLAY
AND SAND.

How to Mix and Apply Them to se-
cure the Best Results-The Use OF
Road Machines In Building These
Highways.
In an interesting address delivered at
the Greenville (Mich.) good roads con-
vention Fraak F. Rogers, c. E.. had
the following to say regarding the i'm
provement of earth roads:
If you must always have an earth
road and cannot get gravel or stone at
reasonable cost. put clay on the sand
and sand on the clay. When these be-
come suitably mixed, they will form
sort Of hardpan, making very good
road surface at most seasons OF the
year. OF course, the clay Is good when
hard and dry and the sand quite passa-
BILE when the weather Is so wet that
nobody wants to travel, but to secure
a medium earth road, good the great
est number Of days in the year, that 1t
Is possible to make 1t, this is the best
method that we can prescribe.
1t should be borne in mind that mel
ther improvement Is very good until
suitably mixed, and clay should be ap-
piled to sand in a manner to secure
that mixture as speedily as possible
and vice versa.
Decide on the width Of a given road
between ditches-say twenty to twen.
ty-four feet. not much narrower and
not much wider. These are economical
widths, and the lack Of uniformity In
this particular is one Of the greatest
evils Of our lack Of system in road
building all over this country. Bring
the road to a suitable crown from
twelve to eighteen inches above the
side cutters. This, however, will have
to be varied to meet the special needs
of drainage for the locality, and should
a large ditch be required on narrow
road it should be entirely outside the
regular gutter, which will protect the
vehicles from the danger Of tipping
over.
To prepare the bed it may have to be
plowed toward the center, but If so,
do not disturb the old roadbed unless
absolutely necessary. After plowing,
harrow thoroughly, take a road ma
chine and shape the whole bed to 4
perfectly rounded shape and roll till
no more compactng is possible with q
roller weighing four tons or more. A
farm roller Is of little use for this pur-
pose.
After the bed is properly shaped and
rolled as described take road ma
chine and crowd enough earth to each
side of central strip Of such width as
it may be desirable to cover with clay
or gravel. This being done, clay should
be applied on sand to the depth Of five
or six inches where no gravel Is used
and to the depth Of three or four inches
where a dressing Of as much gravel
can be placed upon the clay. After the
clay is applied, it may be leveled with
q road machine II well pulverized, or,
II lumpy, it may be leveled by first
rolling to crush the Jumps, then har-
rowing till smooth, but in each case it
must be rolled till hard after smooth
surface has been secured.
Where no gravel is used the clay
must be covered With from one to two
inches of sand by reversing the road
machine and crowding little Of the
surplus sand from the sides to the
center. This will prevent the roads
from becoming muddy at the first wet
spell If a top dressing Of gravel Is
used, it should be applied to the thin
coat Of clay Immediately after rolling,
then be brought to true surface by
the use Of a road machine and rolled
till it is thoroughly compacted. If the
weather Is dry, the gravel should be
kept sprinkled during the final rolling.
When sand is used on clay, we
usually secure as good results as by
putting clay In sand, for 1t does not
always prevent mud when the ground
Is extremely soft. A clay road should
always be well piked with good side
bitches, which must quickly take the
water to its nearest natural outlet,
which in turn must always be so
we'll kept as to take the water at once
away from the road allowance. Sand
should be applied to clay after the
picking Is done, without forming any
depression for its reception. as has
been recommended for gravel. Sand
should never be applied at season OF
the year when a long dry spell Is e1-
pected. but rather Immediately before
wet fall wes ther and winter sets In,
80 that by the next season it may be-
come sufficiently mixed with clay to
produce the condition already referred
to. The same practice should be en-
ployed when any considerable depth
of loose gravel is applied to clay soil
with the expectation that travel will
make it hard.
The application Of sand and gravel
o clay, as above described, can be done
In layers, giving time for the first layer
to pack before the second is applied.
It is often advisable to wait till the
next fall before the second layer Is
applied, thus giving time to watch re-
suits and use just the depth required
to secure the best effect, as we'll as to
economic material. After all this Is
done, we have not secured permanent
road suited to heavy traffic, and we
shall be obliged to look to the better
grades of gravel and broken stone to
produce any roads that may really be
called permanent.