The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1908-04-17
drag THE ROADS.
THE SPLIT-LOG-DRAG A WONDER WORK.
Err In ROAD BUILDING.
Muddy Highways Transformed Into
Hard Roads in Four Hours.

In sections where it has been tried
the testimony is all in it's favor. One
man says: 1--WE put the drag right
into a muddy road where wagons were
sinking up to hubs, and just four
hours after beginning to use it, wag-
ons loaded with two tons of baled hay
were being drawn over this road with
out making perceptible rut." This
statement is not the result of too
much enthusiasm, but can be substan-
tiated by a score of witnesses. Hun
dreds of miles of Middle West earth
roads in a similar condition are being
made good by applying the"roa drag
ging' idea to them.
The cost of making and operating
this drag is so small, and the idea that
is embodied in it is so simple, that
the wonder of it is that it's applica-
ton has not already become universal.
Roads can be worked up into an ex-
ceilent condition and maintained at
cost of from three to ten dollars
mile. The dragging accomplishes a
number of useful things. The most
important one is that by giving it
smooth surface and rounding shape,
it makes it possible for the road to
shed water instead of absorbing 1t.
Then, too, it kills the weeds and takes
out the bumps at the sides of the cul-
verts. 1t also destroys the old trail
and thus prevents deep ruts being
formed. The time to use the drag
and the manner Of its use are both
very important. Until q road has been
worked into some sort of shape, the
first dragging should be done when it
is very wet or when it is thawed on
top during the early spring. After
that the time to drag is after rain
storm or wet spell when it begins to
dry out.
The perfect earth road must have
three attributes and all three can be
acquired by the intelligent use OF the
Split Log Road Drag. 1t must be at
the same time oval, hard and smooth.
Then it is in condition to shed water
! instead of soaking it up. Strange as
| it may seem, the worse the road ma
| terial, the better the road becomes
when the drag is used. Clay, for in
stance, which when thoroughly water
soaked makes terrible road, by drag
ging is nodded and tramped into a
form that bakes on the surface and
no longer absorbing the water, makes
the best kind of a dirt road.
The time when the most effective
work can be done is early in the
spring Most farmers have the time
then, because the fields are too wet
to work, horses are idle in the barn.
/ After several years trial, it has been
developed that the best kind of drag
is made by splitting log and plac-
ing the pieces about thirty inches
apart, with the fiat sides both facing
/ in the same direction and pinn1ne
them together. The KIND of wood used
is not vitally important any kind OF
light timber will do. 1t is better not
| to use oak. Mr.. King says that the
best split log drag he ever used was
made of red elm. The lower edge OF
the front piece should be protected
with iron, and wagon tire will an
swer for this purpose. The log
should be ten or twelve inches thick
and perhaps nine feet long. A chain
or heavy wire is fastened three or
four inches from the right hand side
and about half way up. 1t is then
carried to the front till 1t is about two
feet away from the drag, then to the
left and over the top of the front slab
and fastened around the cross bar.
The team should be hitched so that
the drag will move the dirt to the
centre of the road. The importance
of hitching up properly cannot be over
estimated as it is only SECOND in i'm
portance to the time at which the
dragging is done. The road should
be dragged after every wet spell be-
cause a smooth surface is thus pro-
duced. But that is not the object of
dragging. Its object is to put the
road into such shape that it will shed
the next rain instead of absorbing it.
There are several things to be re-
membered in operating the drag. 1t
is certainly not plaything for chill
dren, and they should not be allowed
to ride on it any more than they
should on a harrow. If the drag
should strike a rock, the result would
probably be serious fall. 1t does
not pay to plow a road before drag
ging, because that makes the founda-
ton too soft. However deep the ruts
may be, if you keep at them with a
drag they will soon disappear. By
hauling the drag in a slanting posi-
ton the dirt can be easily dragged to
the middle of the road. After three
or four rains plow a shallow furrow
just outside the part that has just
been dragged and spread this over the
road. Plow only one furrow. After
the next rain, if necessary you can
pIow another. At each plowing you
widen the road bed two feet. If the
earth is pushed to the middle of the
road continually the road will drain
itself.
1t is not absolutely necessary to
make the drag out of split logs. 1t
can be made out of plank, but it is not
so satisfactory, as it is less rigid than
a log. A drag should be hauled at an
angle Of about As degrees. This is not
absolute, however, but depends on the
Judgment of the man dragging the
road If the drag lodges around the
earth which you are moving, it is be-
cause it is overloaded. The secret of
success in road dragging is to do a
little at time and to do it often. 1t
lis peculiarly adapted to clay and gum
bo soils so prevalent in the West. In
the case of sand roads different
method must usually be adopted.
The difficulty that is experienced is
in overcoming prejudice against this
method of making roads. 1t seems in
conceivable that any method so SIM
pie and so cheap could be devised to
make turnpikes. We have been so used
to having our macadam roads cost US
from three to eight thousand dollars
a mile that any suggestion that we can