Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1905-07-27
GOOD ROADS
SMALL COSTS
Split Log Much Improves an
Earth Hishway.-.-B a Mis-.
souri, Man..

y
of split log used as drag is
asserted by D. Ward King, in the
Saturday Evening Post, who
describes his experience in the
matter in little Missouri town.
Mr.. Kings first experiment in road
making he describes as follows:
II one day hitched my team to
drag made Of a frost-spoiled wooden
pump stock and an old oak post,
held parallel to each other by three
pieces Of fence board about three
feet long. Smooth wire served in
place of a chain, and a strip of plank
laid between the post and the pump
stock gave me a rough platform
upon which to stand.
THE horses were attached at
such point Of the wire as to give
the drag a slant of about 45 degrees
in the direction required to force
the earth that it would gather from
the side OF the road up into the
center. We had just had a soaking
rain and the earth was in a plastic
condition. I had driven this drag
but few rods when I was fully
aware that it was serving at least
the initial purpose for which it was
intended that of leveling down the
wheel rut and pushing the surplus
dirt into the centre of the road.
AT my neighbor's gate, toward
town, turned around and took the
other side Of the road back to my
home. The result was simply
astonishing. More rain fell upon
this road, and it ran off like water
from a ducks back. From that
time forward, after every rain or
wet spell, I dragged the half-mile of
the road covered by my original ex-
pertinent. -...
AT the end of three months the
road was better than when it had
been dragged for three weeks, and
at the end of three years it was i'm
mensely improved over it's condi-
tion at the end of the first years
work. studied the result of each
step in my experiment and finally
learned that three elements are re-
quired to make perfect earth road
and that the lack of any one of them
is fatal to the result. To be perfect
an earth-road must be at one and
the same time oval, hard andsmooth.
ALL of these indispensables are re-
quired by the use of the split-log
drag in any soil that I have ever
come in contact with-and I have
worked in the various kinds of clay
soil, in the gumbo of the swamp
lowlands and in the black mud of
the prairies.
Observation of my experiment
taught me that two weeks of rain
would not put this bit of road in
bad condition at a time when the
highway at either end of it was i'm
pascal BILE for "a wagon. OF course it
was plain that the reason the road
was not bad was that there was no
mud in it. But why mud would
not collect in it was not clear to me
until | was taught my lesson by the
very humble means of the hog wal
low. One day chanced to notice
that water was standing in one of
these wallows long after the ground
all about it had become dry. Prob
ably I had many times before OBJ
served this fact, but not until now
had it occurred to me to inquire into
it's cause. Examining the edges of
the wallow, | was impressed with
the fact that it was almost as hard
as piece of earthenware. Clearly
this was because the wallowing of
the hogs had mixed or 'puddled'
the earth and water together, form
ing kind of cement which dried
into hard practically waterproof
surface. :
WAY TO USE THE DRAG
Mr.. King tells how his example
was followed by his neighbors with
gratifying results and concludes
with some suggestions concerning
the use Of the drag.
According to these suggestions
the road should not be plowed be-
fore dragging and preliminary
grading is quite necessary. The
d