The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1908-04-10
Hints ON Dirt
ROAD WORKING
U. S. Office CT Public Roads
Tells How 10 Make Them.
Use the PIoW, The Drag, Scraper,
Road Grader ano The
SPLIT Log Erag.

as capai lc Of constructing good ROADS
as { % &. ,..3 country Of the old
world, ,ECy La, a., teC1 IS lUyalIy
supported as tie mel. q t,iC-. COIN
tries in maintaining the hiG. w.. ~
ter completion and the depiorable w."
of many hundred thousand miles o.
road is rAus accounted for. County
and township officials may az me Uh,-
set stand Inc expense of having road
built but they strenUCusly object when
asked 10 provide FUNDS 10 rebuild the
road that has been allowed 10 80 10
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 prop
er maintenance of the same, and tnat
road builders and overseers learn how
best to care Tor the reads 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 dam
age as quickly as possible. The sim
pie 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 sub-soil OF
clay and gravel, deep blowing so as TO
raise and mix the clay with the sur
face soil and sand will prove benefl-
cial. The combination forms sandy
clay road at a trifling expense. On
the other hand, if the road be entire
ly of sand mistake will be made II 1t
is plowed unless clad can be added.
Such blowing would merely deepen the
sand, and at the same time break up
the small amount of hard surface ma
terial which may have formed. If the
subsoil is clay and the surface scant
in sand or gravel, blowing should not
be resoried 10, 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 accort
ing 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 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 a scraper or grader. To make
wide, deep bitches nothing better
than the ordinary drag scraper has
vet been devised. For hauls under 100
feet, or in making fills" it is es-
pecially serviceable. 1t is a mistake,
however, to attempt to handle long
haul material with this scraper, as the
wheel scraper is better adapted to sucf
work. For hauls of more than 500 feet
a wagon should be used.
The machine most generally used in
road work is the grader, or road ma
chine. This machine is especially use
full in smoothing and GROWING the
road and in opening bitches. A clay
subsoil under a thin coating of soil
should not be disturbed with grader.
IL Is also a mistake to use grader
unfortunately and to pull material
from bitches upon a sand-clay road
Not infrequently turf, soil and Sill
from ditch bottoms are piled in the
middle of the road in ridge, making
mudholes a certainty. 1t is important
in using a grader to avoid building up
the road too much at one time. road
gradually built up by frequent use OF
the grader will last better than If com
pleted at one operation. The foreman
frequently thinks his road must be
high in the first instance. He piles
up material from 10 inches to a foot
in depth only to learn, with the arri-
val of the rain,1 that he has FURNISH
ed the material for as many inches OF
mud. All material should be brought
I'D in thin layers, each layer well pad
died and firmly packed by roller OF
traffic before the next Is added. "A
common mistake is to crown too hfgh
with the road machine on a narrow
road.
The split log drag should be used
to fill in ruts and smooth the roao
when not too badly washed. The DRAG
possesses great merit and is SC
simple in construction and opera
ton that every farmer should nave
one. A special article will be publish
ed later telling how to make and use
the drag.
When French Words Became