The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1905-07-15
". I. Spoon in the Year
Book Of Agriculture Points
Out It's Value.
ITS BENEFITS TO FARMERS
Suggestions for Further Ad.
vance Along the Press
ent Lines.


Statesaare to be found stretches Of sand
clay roads never known to be bad, says
w. L. Spoon i'm the yearbook Of the De
partment of Agriculture. This fact has
led TO study Of the reasons why suclI
roads are always good Numerous ex-
periments have been made with varying
results, but all indicate that the essen-
tials to success in sandrclay road build
ing are pudding and saturafion What
is meant by pudding or mixing may be
clearly understood by any one familiar
with the operations in the process of
brielzmaking The clay must be rendered
homogeneous, and this can be done emily
by tihe addition of water during the pro-
cess until the clay becomes plastic, like
dough- The second essential is the addi-
tion of sand to the point of satura ton
but not beyond.
No sand-clay road can satisfactorily
withstand the severity of public travel
without having first been reduced to
compact homogeneous mass Of sand
and clay. Each grain of sand should
be in touch with other grains on all
sides. Such condition cannot be Sc
cured without the agency Of water. 1t
is useless TO roll dry sand-clay road
before it has been rendered homoge-
neous by the pudding process and the
grains of sand have been brought into
contact, with only the interstices be-
tween them filled with clay as a bind
er. The first operation is mixing. the
second is rolling as the mixture dries.
This forces the particles of sand to-
gether, and any excess of clay tends
to rise to the surface, rendering it
sticky. This clay must in turn be
sanded and the operations repeated un-
til the surface has become hard and
compact.
Many failures have been made in the
building of sand-clay roads, and few
of the more common causes for these
failures will be pointed out. The first
cause of failure is the want of perfect
drainage. The imperfections may be
in the cross sectional drainage, the side
bitches or the drainage of the subgrade
or roadbed. 1t is customary to give
TO a sand-clay road little greater crown
than is usually given to macadam road,
especially where the grade is above 3
per cent. The subject Of side bitches
should have more careful consideration
than is usually given in case Of macadam
roads, If the subsoil upon which the
road is built is clay it is important that
the bottom of the side bitches should be
eighteen inches or more below the
crown or middle of the Travelled track.
If, on the other hand, the land is roll
ing and the subsoil is sand of consid-
erable depth. thus giving perfect natural
drainage to the roadbed. little or no side
ditch will be required.
Perhaps the most common error in
drainage is the failure to drain proper
~ and thoroughly all places where there
are wet weather springs. If necessary,
the roadbed must be changed so as to
locate it upon dry ground, as even the
deepest side bitches practicable may fail
to give relief where such springs exist
1t is important to avoid deep cuts and
to carefully consider the probable sources
of trouble. The writer has often seen
old roadbeds with water oozing from all
parts during a rainy season in spite of
sufficient side bitches, the water even
rising in the center Of a twenty foot
roadbed and standing on the surface or
slowly running along the wheel tracks
10 the nearest mudhole. 1t should be
remembered that water. beyond very
limited amount. adds nothing of value to
the sand-clay road after it is COM
pleted, If water is always present. sand
should be used without clay. Sand and
water make a better road than sand aud