The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1905-07-27
Drag in Makinr Dirt Roads.


western good roads train, on the sub
ject Of how to make good roads out
Of just dirt, or any other kind OF
dirt except sand. Those drags are
sometimes made after the arrival OF
the car with the split bog, sometimes
from plank of either hard or soft
wood. Anybody can make the drag
and the boy is likely to make better
drag than his father.
The question we discuss now is def.
initely and specifically how to use it
Make your drag at once so it will be
ready. After the first rain hitch on ia
your drag SO as to give it an anglg
of about forty-fve degrees and &c
down one wheel track. The best way
is to go from your own front gate te
the next neighbours front gate on the
way to town, then turn around and
come back on the other track, smooth.
Ing down the rough places, filling M
the ruts, and throwing a little dirt tc
the centre of the road 1t is better
to have the ground quite muddy and
slushy the first time. 1.-TWO horses
! may not be able to pull the drag if Il
is heavy one, 50 if necessary, put OF
the four-horse evener and hitch up
four) Then stop. You will have made
a smooth passageway some twelve OF
fourteen feet wide, a little higher in
the middle than at the sides, which
will shed water fairly we'll. Then when
1t dries off partially. put on your two
horses and go over it again perhaps
that afternoon or the next day-theu
wait until after the next rain, and
when it is drying off "a little expert.
ence will show you just when it is
right do it again. Passing teams
in the meantime will have pHddled the
earth and made it so that it is par.
tally impervious to water Teams
will not be obliged for comfort to fol.
low one track. There will be no ruts
for them to follow and you will find
that they will beat down and compact
the whole of this twelve or fourteen
feet. Then wait until after the next
rain, and do it again, always throw.
Ing little dirt to the middle of the
road and gradually grading it I'D and
filling up any holes or other uneven.
ness.
This is a very simple methodist
simple that you will not believe in il |
until you try it. You will wonder that |
Fou did not think Of this long ago; that |
1t never occurred to you that the
tougher the mud the better the road
it will make. If you want to get your
road little wider, wait until the next !.
rain and pillow a very shallow furrow
down one side and up the other, then
take your drag and move this into the
middle of the road and still further
build it up.
Now, if every reader Of Wallace's
Farmer will make the drag and go al
it as above stated, he will do more
toward making good roads in the
neighborhood than has been done by
the road supervisors in the last ten
years, and do it with very little ex.
pense. Is it not worth while taking
all this trouble to have piece of
good road in front of your farm? Is
it not worth while to set an example
to your neighbors between you and
town so that they will be ashamed OF
themselves if they do not follow it
and thus have good roads to town
during the greater portion Of the year,
A road treated in this way will shed
water off into the ditch. Water al
ways seeks the easiest way toward the
centre of the earth, and finds it is a
good deal easier to slide off into the
ditch than it is to get down through,
especially through puddled and almost
waterproof earth.
1t is then up to you to get it out OF
the ditch. This can be done only BY
drainage, either natural or artificial
Bear in mind that the drag will moi
take water out of the ditch. Bear in
mind that it will not work on a road.
bed of pure sand because sand will moi
stick together. If, however, you can
drag a good soil out of the ditch and
mix it with the sand. it will make
very decent road. Neither will the
drag work in mire hole where water
stands during the summer season.
You will have a culvert for that OF
otherwise drain it out.
Do not understand us to saw that
this drag is a paneaca for all the ills
OF bad roads. 1t will simply make,
If properly used, good road out of
very bad earth road. A good road
must be hard and smooth and oval
all three at the same time. The draa
win make it smooth and in time make
1t oval. The tramping of the horses
on earth which has any considerable
percentage of clay. in it will in time
make it hard.
Bear in mind further that you can.
not make first class road by drag.
ging the first time, the second time.
nor the third. 1t will, however. make
it little better every time. twill
be better the second time than the
first, the fifth than the second. and
the tenth than the fifth allace's
Farmer