Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1908-03-25
Hints on Road Work.

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
highways after completion. and the
deplorable state of many hundred
thousand miles of road is thus ac-
counted for, County and township
officials may at the outset stand the
expense of having road built, but
they strenously object when asked
to provide funds to rebuild the
road that has been allowed to 90 to
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 proper maintenance of the
same, and that road builders and
.overSeers 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 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 implements which have
been found to be Of greastest as
sistance in this work are the plow.
the drag Scraper. the wheel scraper.
the road grader, and the split-log
drag.
With sandy soil and a subsoil
of clay. or clay and gravel. deep
plowing so as TO raise and mix the
clay with the surface soil and sand
will prove beneficial. The com
hlnatlon forms sand-clay road at
Il trlfilng expense. On the other
hand, if the road be entirely of
sand mistake will be made if it is
plowed unless clay can be added.
Such plowing 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 subSoil is clay and
the surface scant in sand or gravel.
plowing should not be resorted 10.
as 1t would result in clay surface
rather than one of sand or gravel.
\ road foreman must know not
only what 10 plow and what not TO
plow. but how and when TO plow.
If the road is of the kind which
according TO the above Instructions
should be plowed over its 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 tc
good advantage, but should be fol.
lowed by scraper or grader. Tc
make wide, deep bitches nothing
better than the ordinary dror
scraper has vet been devised. For
hauls under 100 feet, or in making
fills 1t is especially serviceable
1t is mistake, however, to attempt
to handle long haul material with
this scraper, as the wheel scrapel
is better adapted to such work
For hauls of more than 500 feet. {
wagon should be used.
The machine most generally useC
in road work is the grader, or roaC
machine. This machine is espe
cially useful in smoothing anC
crOwning the road and in openins
bitches. a clay subsoil under .
thin coating of soil should not b,
disturbed with a grader. 1t i
also a mistake to use a grade
indiScriminately and topullmateria
) from bitches upon sand-clay road
Not infrequently turf, soil and sill
from ditch bottoms are piled in tn
middle of the road in ridge, max
ing mudholes a certainty. 1t
important in using a grader t
) avoid building up the road toomuc
= at one time. a road gradual
r built up by frequent use of tn
t grader will last better then if CON
t pleted at one operation, The fore
man frequently thinks his roa
must be high in the first instance
He piles up material from 10 inche
t to foot in depth only to learr
with the arrival of the first raiI
that no has furniSbC tho ,,,otox;.