The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1907-06-19
How Europe Preserves It's Roads.

There is a lesson for Our road
makers III the following from Farm
and Fireside:
We Americans have a great deal to
learn from Europe as to the making
and preservation Of roads. On the
other continent there is a constant
solicltude for the public highways,
which would perhaps surprise most
Americans. In England, for example,
the country roads are cared for by
the county council Of each shire, an
elective body numbering about fifty
Our consul at Nottingham, Rev F.
w. Mahin, says Of the care exercised
by these bodies:
'The official in immediate charge is
the county surveyor, an appointive
officer, who serves during efficiency,
and is an expert engineer. All the
roads are macadamlzed, or similarly
treated, and for ordinary traffic are
very satisfactory. In recent years au-
tomoblles and heavy traction engines
and motor wagons have created new
and serious problems. Automobiles
not only cause sitting clouds Of dust,
but lOsen the macadam by suction,
while heavy engines and motor wagons
crush and destroy the surface smooth
ness Of the roads. The result has
been to heavily increase the expense
OF road maintenance and to exercise
the ingenuity Of county surveyors in
devlsing means Of suppressing dust,
and constructing roads suited to pres
ent traffic conditions
The Nottingham County surveyor,
after experimenting for many years,
has apparently solved the problems of
both dust and durability. Ten years
ago he tried tar washing, process
now much talked about for roads, but
found 1t only Temporary palliative
The tar was chiefly absorbed by the
joints Of the paving, and only partially
adhered to the material, and after a
few months a dust resulted which he
considered worse than the ordinary
soil Dust. He next tried tarring Stag,
granite and limestone by the roadside,
but the heating of the material to
point necessary to make the tar adj
here made it brittle and not suitable
tor heavy traffic, and the process was,
besides, very slow and a public nuts
ance. He then removed his apparatus
to an iron foundry and tried hot Stag
taken from the furnace, the first at
tempt of the kind. The experiment
worked to a charm, and with the mix
ture OF toughening adjunct water
proof road material was created He
has patented the process. Not only is
che former work Of heating dispensed
with, but the material is not brittle,
and being uniformly hot to the center
1t sucks in the tar The process of
artificial heating leaves the center of
the material relatively cold, and the
reverse effect ensues, the tar being
in degree rejected. The preparation
is styled tarmac.' It is applied to a
road without any digging or grading
beyond mere leveling. Two layers are
used, the lower two and one-fourth,
and the upper one and one-tourth
inches thick. Steam rolling reduces
the thickness to three inches. A five
mile section Of road between Noting
ham and Radcliffe was used to test
the preparation. 1t lies near the Trent
River and canal, is below the level
OF both and has gravel bed. Con-
sequently, water could seep through
upon it. 1t was a VIGOROUSLY bad
road, dusty in dry weather and almost
lmpassably muddy in wet; at the same
time, one of the most important and
most used roads in the county. Tt
therefore offered supreme test to
the efficacy Of road-paving material.
This stretch Of road is now one of
the finest in England It is smooth
as asphalt; mudless in wet weather:
in dry weather dustless with ordinary
traffic and nearly so with the swift
passage of automobiles. A drv road
absolutely justices when traversed bv