Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1908-05-20
HINTS ON ROAD WORK.
U. S. Office Of Public Roads Tells How
to Make and Maintain 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 coun-
tries in maintaining the highways
after completion. and the deplorable
state of many hundred thousand miles
of road is thus accounted for. County
and township officials may at the out
set stand the expense of having road
built. bit they strenuously object
when asked to provide funds to re-
build the road that has been allowed
to 60 60 ruin.
1t is important that farmers learn
of the benefits to be derived from good
earth roads; that county boards be i'm
pressed with the need of a proper
maintenance of the same, and that
road builders and overseers learn how
best to care for the roads in their
lcharge.
The persistent and powerful enemies
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 destructive
effects and remedy all damage as
quickly as possible. The simple i'm
plements 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 sandy soil and a sub-soil of
clay. or clay and gravel. deep plow-
ing so as to raise and mix the clay
with the surface soil !; nd sand will
prove beneficial. The combination
forms a sand-clsy road at trifiing
expense. On the other hand, if the
road be entirely of sand mistake
Twill 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 have formed. Ii the SUBJ
soil 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. but how and when to
pillow. If the road is of the kind
which according to the above in
structions 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 pillow can be used to
good advantage. but should be follow.
ed by scraper or grader. To make
wide, deep bitches nothing better than
the ordinary drag scraper has yet
been devised. For hauls under 100
feet, or in making tilis"sit is espe-
cially serviceable. 1t is a mistake.
however, to attempt to handle long
haul material with this scraper, as
the wheel scraper is better adapted to
such work. For hauls of more than
800 feet, wagon should be used.
The machine most generally used in
road work is the grader. or road ma.
chine. This machine is especially
useful in smoothing and browning the
road and in opening bitches. A clay
SUBJ soil under thin coating of soil
should not be disturbed with grader
1t is also mistake to use grader
indiscriminately and to pull material
from bitches upon sand clay road.
Not infrequentlv turf, soil and silt
from ditch bottoms are piled in the
middle of the road in ridge, making
mudholes Ger tainty. 1t is import
ant in using a grader to avoid build.
ing up the road too much at one time
A road gradually built up by frequent