Warren sheaf., 1905-09-14

rOQ ana Degan 20 cnO8 IL down.
The way it,sank through the moist
ened soil made my eyes opened. A
little more water and a little more
chugging, and in few minutes he
had put that rod down eight feet in
to the earth without removing more
than half shoveful of dirt. Then
it came to me-that's digging by
mixing little water with dirt, and
it's precisely what wagon-wheel
does to muddy road a road where
the water can stand until something
comes along to mix it with the earth; /;
while, on the other hand, the drag
ged road uses a coat of mud-to all
practical purposes a cement-to
make an oval roof that will not let
the water stand.
At one of our meetings in Nebra-
ska a road commissioner came to me
very much troubled about a stretch
of gumbo highway under his super
vision. II suppose, " said he, that,
if you had this road to take care of,
as soon as you saw hollow place
in it you would go and get dirt and
fill it in?"
'No," I replied, II would fill it
in before there was any hollow place
there" ...ss
Apparently this statement was a
little beyond his grasp, and so
tried to think of some illustration
by which could make it entirely
clear to him. Just at that moment
I happened to notice that he had a
head of thick, wavy hair. This
gave me the inspiration I needed,
and I said:
"How often do you comb your
hair?" IF. ... f.
Why, three times day, OF
COURSE" he answered, flushing
Slightly.
Then I came back at him with
the question:
why don't you wait until there
are tangles, or at least indications
of tangles, in it before you begin to
drag it with aIcomb? That's precise
ly the plan upon which traditional
road-making is conducted. You
have been in the habit of waiting until
the tangles are there, and conse-
quently, you had to use heavier
implement, with the result that you
moved great deal more earth!"
Everywhere the rallying-cry OF
this movement is: From your own
front gate to your neighbor's front
gate toward town." Thus, the
thing always starts with the farm
er's own self-interest, but leads him
directly beyond his own line-fence
to the place where he finds himself
working for the general good OF the
community. There are three con-
siderations that are especially pow
erful in getting men interested in
this movement: keeping the roads
in condition so that school and
church privileges may be enjoyed;
keeping the boys in touch with a
certain amount of social life so that
they will not wish to leave the farm,
and keeping the roads passable for
work and heavy hauling so that
good markets may be taken advant-
age of, and work done at a time
when it will count most and be ac-
complishedat a minimum of time, toll
and expense.
From the outset Of this work, SO
many questions have poured in
upon me indicating points concern
| ing which the public is prone to 20
astray in its understanding of how
to build and use the split-log drag
that I have prepared the following
road dragging 'catechism'' as
covering, with fair completeness,
the main working facts in the
problem:
Would it not be better to plow the
road before dragging?
No. Flowing gives soft foun.
dation. Flowing the middle of the
road is a relic of the old dump.
scraper days.
What do you do when there are
deep ruts in the road?
Drag them. # you drag when
| the surface is quite loose and soft,
sVyn,1 -s11 Io e,,r,,,seox3 1 -, a !.