Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1908-03-27
HINTS ON ROAD WORK.
U. S. Office Of Public Roads Tells How
TO make and Maintain a Model
Earth Read.

While American road builders arr
as capable of constructing good road.
as those Of any country of the ole
world, they have not been as Loyalty
supported as the men of those coun
tries in maintaining the highway
after completion, and the deplor
able state Of many hundred thousand
miles Of road is thus accounted for
County and township officials may
at the outset stand the expenses o.
having a road built, but they siren
uously object when asked toprovidt
funds to rebuild the road that has
been allowed to go to ruin.
1t is important that farmers learn
of the benefits to be derived from
good earth roads that county boards
be impressed with the need of a pro-
per maintenance of the same, and
that road builders and overseers learn
how best to care for the roads in
their charge.
The persistent and powerful enc
mics of earth roads are water and
narrow tires, and the constant effort
of the men in charge Of the roads
should be to guard against their de-
structive effects and remedy all
damage as quickly as possible. The
simple implements which have been
found to be Of greatest assistance in
this work are the pillow, the drag
scraper, the wheel scraper, the road
grader, and the split-log drag.
With a sandy soil and subsoil
of clay, or clay and gravel, deep
blowing so as to raise and mix the
clay with the surface soil and sand
will prove beneficial. The combina-
ton forms a sand-clay road at a
trifling expense. On the other hand
if the road be entirely of sand a mis-
take will be made if it is plowed un-
less clay can be added. Such plOw-
ing would merely deepen the sand,
and at the same time break up the
small amount of hard surface mat
erial which may have formed. If
the subsoil is clay and the surface
scant in sand or gravel, blowing
should not be resorted to, as it
would result in a clay surface rather
than one of sand or gravel. A road
foreman must know not only what
to pillow and what not to pillow, hut
how and when to pillow. If the
road is of the kind which according
to the above instructions should be
plowed over its whole width, the
best method is to run the first fur
row in the middle Of the road and
work out to the sides, thus forming
a crown. Results from such plow-
ing are greatest in the spring orr
early summer.
In bitches a pillow can be used to
good advantage, but should be fol-
flowed by a scraper Or grader. Tol
make wide, deep bitches nothing
better than the ordinary drag scrap
er has vet been devised. For hauls |
under 100 feet, or in making ellis
it is especially serviceable. 1t is a
mistake, however, to attempt to |
handle long haul material with this
scraper, as the wheel scraper is bet
Ter adapted to such work. For
hauls of more than 500 feet, a wagon
should be used.
The machine most generally used
in road work j. the grader, or road
machine. This machine is espec-
ally useful in smoothing and crown
ing the road and in opening bitches.
A clay subsoil under a thin coating
Of soil should not be disturbed with
a grader Ii is also mistake to use
q grader ind icriminately and to
uuu material nm bitches upon a
nd-cay road Not infrequently
urf. soil and silt ON ditch bottoms
are piled in the middle of the road
I'D a ridge making mudholes GER
nty It Is important in using a
adler to avoid building Vi the road
100 much at one time. Aroad grad
lally built up by frequer use Of the
raider will last better than If COM
Ieted at one operation. he fore
d 5n frequently thinks insl dmust
be nigh 81 Die FIRST instan lie
pile. up ms erial from 10 IN, $ to
a foo IN depth only To learn it'll
the arrival Of the hs rain, tia hei
has furnished the material for