The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-04-02
HINTS ON ROAD WORK.
Office of Public Roads Tells How to
Make And Maintain a Model
Earth Road

ofnCP OF fUDltC ROADS Tells foW TO
Make And Maintain a Model
Earth Road.
While American road builders are
as capable of constructing good
roads as those of any country OF the
old world they have not been as
Loyalty supported as the men OF those
countries in maintaining the high
ways after completion, and the de
plorable state of many hundred
thousand miles of good roads is thus
accounted for, County and township
officials may at the outset stand
the expense of having a road built.
but they strenuously object when
asked to provide funds to rebuild
the road that has been allowed to go
to ruin.
1t is important that farmers
learn of the benefits derived from
good earth roads; that county boards
be impressed with the need of a
proper maintenance of same,
and that road builders and oyerseers
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 eff
fort of the men in charge of the
Dads should be to guard against
their destructive effects and remedy
all damage as quickly as possible
The simple implements which have
been found to be of greatest assist
ance in this work are the ploW the
drag scraper, the wheel scraper, the
road graded, and the split log drag
With sandy soil and a subsoil of
clay, or clay and gravel, deep plow-
with the surface soil and sand will
prove beneficial The combination
forms a sand-clay road at a trifling
expense. On the other hand. if the
road be entirely of sand a mistake
will be made If it is plowed unless
clay can be added. Such blowing
would merely deepen the sand, and
at the same time break up the small
amount of hard surface material
, which may be 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 plow
and what not to pillow, but how and
when to pillow. If the road is of the
kind which according to the above
instructions should be plowed over
it's whole width the best method is
to run the first furrow in the middle
of the road and work out to the
sides, thus forming a crown. Results
from such blowing are greatest in
! the spring or early summer
In bitches a plow can be used to
good advantage, but should be fol-
lowed by scraper or grader. To
make wide, deep bitches nothing
better than the ordinary drag scrap
err has yet been devised. For hauls
under 100 feet, or in making fills"
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
more than 500 feet, wagon should
be used.
The machine most generally used
in road work is the grader, or road
machine. This machine is especially
useful in smoothing and GROWING
the road and in opening bitches. A
clay subsoil under thin coating of
| soil should not be disturbed with a
| grader. 1t is also mistake to use a
grader Unfortunately and to pull
| material from bitches upon a sand
soil and silt from ditch bottoms are
piled in the middle of the road in a
| ridge, making mudholes a certainty.
| 1t is important in using a grader to
avoid building up the road too much
at one time. A road gradually built
| up by frequent use of the grader will
/ last better than if completed at one
operation. The foreman frequently
| thinks his road must be high in the
| first instance. He piles up material
only to learn with the arrival of the
| first rain, that he has furnished the
| material for as many inches of mud.
| All material should be brought up
! in thin layers, each layer well pud-
| died and firmly packed by roller or
traffic before the next Is added. A
common mistake is to crown too high
with the road machine on a narrow
road.
The split log drag should be used
to fill in ruts and smooth the road
when not too badly washed. The
drag possesses great merit and is so
simple in construction ana operation
that every farmer should have one
A special article will be published
later telling how to make and use
the drag.