The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1905-07-07

OssEO GRAVEL ROAD NEAR MIME
ApOLIS
sized hin composed almost entirely of
| gravel which was used for road build
/ ing in several directions The owner
of the hill was selling the gravel at
price low enough TO make It an induce
ment for the road commissioners to pur-
chase It and haul Il onto the roads. The
said commissioners did not attempt to
gravel the road for it's whole width, but
made the graveled driveway about u
feet wide AS they had a good founda-
| ton naturally, and as the road was
aanked by good bitches on each side, the
gravel became an almost impervious
cap to the road turning the water cas-
fly in both directions. for II had in II a
small percentage of soil and had been
rolled hard The farmers in the vicinity
were very proud Of their work. and a
number of them had subscribed $50 each
In addition 10 their road tax to help push
the work along The road shortened the
distance 10 town very materially and
reduced the cost of hauling all produce.
for it was only within recent years that
the great deposit of gravel was touched
There are I'm the middle and western
states immense quantities Of such gray
el Usually the soil over those depos-
its is Of no great value for agricultural
purposes. as the porous condition of
the substrata makes it difficult to retain
enough moisture In the soil for plant
needs. These deposits should there
fore be used for the construction OF
roads where such Improvements are
needed. Where # is possibletOpurchase
such gravel at a low price II will pay a
township much better TO use the gravel
in the construction Of roads than 10 con-
tinue TO remake the roads with dirt sur
face each year
The state with deep alluvial soil such
as Illinois and Iowa, have very bad
roads A government report says that
on this account Illinois has the worst
roads of any state in the union. In some
sections there are no gravel deposits
and gravel must be hauled in over the !
railroads. In such cases II becomes nee
essary to make the graveled roadbed |
as narrow as possible. This can be ac- |
complished by having the gravel road
bed Just wide enough for use by the |
wheels of an ordinary carriage or wag- !
on and have the graveled strip paral-
leled by an earth roadbed This latter
arrangement is seen in certain parts Of
Illinois. The earth roadway gives room
for turning out when two teams meet
on the gravoled strip. and I'm some parts
of the summer the dirt road is preferred
for use by the drivers Of light wagons.
II is useless to attempt to build a
gravel OF any other kind of road till pro
vision has been made for taking of the
water as fast as it falls and keeping Il
from accommodating. says the Ohio Farm.
en- If the bitches on the sides of the
road are allowed to become clogged up.
causing the water in the bitches to rise
10 near the surface of the road. the
whole foundation is softened and the
gravel either sinks Into the soft mud be.
ow or is washed out Of position by cur
rents of water This is the reason why
iome gravel when put on roads has dis
in a year or two.
The drainage Of the road must be
provided for and then the dirt founda-
ion should be packed hard by using
steam roller. On the top OF this
gravel TO the depth Of four
inches should be put on and rolled till
{ is not more than three inches in
thickness On top Of this should be
MT another four inches and that too
houid be rolled hard. making a bed
tx inches In thickness. This plan of
curse must be modified 70 suit cir
as there are roads with
aturally such good foundation that
ar less than this amount Of gravel
required to make a satisfactory sur
ace