The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-01-24
KEEP EARTH HIGHWAYS
ARTICLE NO. OF SERIES "A" ON
ROAD MAKING.
Department. Of Agriculture to Keep
FREQ Press Readers Posted on
This Important Question.

This Important Question.
From Thursdays Daily.
The United States Office of Public
Roads will supply The Free Press
with practical articles on various fea-
lures of road building and mainte-
nance, which will be published from
time to time. Our subscribers are
urged to give this matter careful con-
sideration, and are requested to for
ward to this office for transmission
to the Office of Public Roads
any practical question which they de-
sire answered relating to road con-
struction and maintenance. Questions
and answers will be published by this
paper at suitable intervals. The fol-
lowing is No. |, Series a.
We may recognize the value of hard
and durable roads in all parts of the
country, but still the fact remain
that for a long time to come the
majority of the roads will be com
posed of earth. Furthermore, III
about nine months out of the year,
the earth road, if properly cared for,
is reasonably satisfactory. For many
agricultural districts, it is the only
road at present available. Hence,
these communities should set them
selves seriously to work to learn the
best methods of maintaining earth
roads and of getting the maximum
service from them. Prosperity comes
to the country to a great extent
through the prosperity of the armers
This fact strongly suggests the i'm
portance of giving the earth road ev-
cry possible care and attention in its
location, drainage, construction IL
maintenance.
An earth road composed of water
holding soil should be exposed to the
sun and air as freely as possible, as
comparison between the shaded and
sunny portions of such a road will
easily indicate. This should be ac-
complished by clearing a sufficient
amount of trees and underground
away from the road. 1t must be re-
membered, however, that sandy and
.gravelly roads require moisture, and
in these cases some shade should be
retained. Furthermore, trees are bene-
fetal along river banks and on steep
grades subject to washing.
Drainage is one of the most i'm
portant points to consider in connec-
ton with an earth road. The ma
jority of earth roads in all noun
famous and hilly districts have too
much drainage. Occasionally a road
will be found with five bitches, three
i'm the middle made by the horses
hoofs and by wheels of the vehicles,
and two on the sides. All well-con-
structed earth roads are supposed to
have no more than two bitches, one
on each side of the travelled roadway.
Keep the water out of the middle
of the road by giving it a crown or
elevation in the center of seven and
one half inches above the top OF the
inner slope of the ditch for a twenty
foot road, and where the hills are a
little steep make the crown ten inches.
With a crown of about II inch to
the foot from the center to the sides.
the bitches which are often built
across the road on steep grades to
defect the water will not be needed
Instead of carrying water across the
road in open bitches, tile or concrete
drains should, if possible, be provid-
ed. They should have sufficient ca
pacity and fall to carry the maxi
mum amount of water that is expect
ed t. flow through them at any one
time. The capacity is increased in
proportion to the fall or grade; for
instance, twelve inch pipe laid on a
one per cent grade will carry l,SOC
gallons per minute, while the same
pipe laid on a two per cent grade
will carry $500 gallons per minute
Furthermore. a culvert laid flat will
soon fill up, while one having a good
incline will keep itself clear.
In the maintenance of an eartl
road, avoid the mistake of changing
the natural order of things. Natur.
ally the ysoil is found on top and the
clay on the bottom. If this order is
reversed in constituting a road, the re
suit will he less satisfactory than il
the soil be left at the top of the
road, for soil makes a better surface
to a road than clay. If the road bed
is largely clay to start with, it viii
be well to place sandy soil OF clean
sand on top. A covering of six to ter
inches of sand upon clay that persists
in breaking up into deep mudholes
will usually be. satisfactory, and il
sand enough be added, this clay viii
cease to make mud. If the rOadbed il
composed of sand it can be improved
by an application of clay.
The rule for a serviceable eartl
road, is as follows: Make bitches OIL
each, side and keep them open; hau
sand and gravel upon sections need
ing this treatment; use road machine
and a split log drag judiciously e
full description of which will be con
tanned in a later a%rticle) /; follow TIN
"stitch in time" rule and give al
loortb rooJ tho como o,rofnl nors;Sfop-