Casco Bay breeze. [volume] (South Harpswell, Me.) 1901-1917, 1905-06-29
Drag sm Making i,irt Road.

= hhBhShtVht SoNh shas
Sx No used by Mr.. King in H.
S01eka6kxx 'trating his lectures. I'm
connection with the North
western good roads train, OH the sub
5ect 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 log. sometimes
from plank of either hard or soft
wood. Anybody can make the drag.
and the boy is likely to make a better
drag than his father.
The question we discuss now is def
initely and specifically how to use IL.
Make Your drag ut once so ID will be
ready. After the first rain hitch on to
your drag so as to give it an angle
OF about forty-five degrees and go
down one wheel track. The best. way
Is to go from Your own front gate to
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 up
the ruts. and throwing little dirt to
the centre Of the road. 1t Is better
to have the ground quite muddy and
slushy the first time. Two horses
may not be able to pull! the drag IL Ii
is a heavy one, 80 IL necessary. put on
the four-horse eyener and hitch up
fourD Then stop. You will have made
n smooth passagewuy some twelve or
fourteen feet wide, a little higher In
the middle than at the sides. which
will shed water fairly we'll Then when
1t dries OF partially. rut on your two
horses and go over II again perhaps
that afternoon or the next day-tlen
wait until after the next rain. and
when 1t is drying or Ga little expert
ence will show You just when 1t is
right do it again. Passing teams
i'm the meantime will have p,,ddled 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 ra:s ]
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 1t again, always throw
Ing a little dirt to the middle of the
road and gradually grading Ii ND and
filling up any holes or other uneven
ness.
This is very simple methodist
simple that you will not believe I'm it
until you try 1t. You will wonder that
you did not think Of this long ago; that
1t never occurred to you that the
tougher the mud the better the road
1t will make. II you want to get your
road little wider, wait until the next
rain and plow 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. IL every reader of waliace's
Farmer will make the drag and 90 Mt
1t as above stated, he will do more
toward making good roads in the
neighbOrhood than has been done by
the road supervisors i'm the last ten
years, and do 1t with very little ex-
pense. Is II not worth while taking
all this trouble to have piece of
good road in front Of your farm? Is
IL not worth while to set an example
10 your neighbors between you and
town so that they will be ashamed of
themselves IL they do not follow II.
and thus have good reads to town
during the greater portion OF the year?
a road treated in this way will shed
water on into the ditch. Wafer MI.
ways seeks the easiest way toward the
centre OF the earth. and finds IL is n
good deal easier to slide OF into the
ditch than Ii Is to get down through.
especially through puddled and almost
waterproof earth.
Ii Is then up TO you 10 get IL ont of
the ditch. This can be done only by
drainage, either natural or artificial.
Bear In mind that the drag will not
take water out Of the ditch. Bear fin
mind that IL will not work on rood
Ded or pure sand because sand will not
stick together. II. however. you can
drag a good soil out OF the ditch and
mix 1t with the sand. IL will make n
very decent road. Neither will the
drag work In n mire hole where water
stands during the summer season.
You VIII have culvert for that. or
otherwise drain IL out.
DO not understand us to say that
this drag Is paneaca for all the ills
or bad roads. IL will simply make.
III properly used, a good road out of n
very bad earth road. A good road
must be hard and smooth and oval
all three at the same time. The drag
VIII make u smooth and in time make
IL oval The tramping OF the horses
on earth which has any considerable
percentage Of clay in IL will I'm time
make II hard.
Bear In mind further that you cam
NOT make first class road by drag
ging the first time, the second time.
nor the third. IL will. however. make
u little better every time. IL Will
be better the second time than the
FIRST, the ffth than the second. and
the tenth than the fifth.-waIIace's