Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1908-06-10
low TO BUILD AND
 USE SPLIT-LOG DRAG
office of Public Roads of the United States Department of Agriculture Is- sues Bulletin on This Simple Road Building Device.

each heavy rain. Tn some cases. how over, one dragging every three or four weeks has been found sufficient to keep a road in good condition. When tho soil is moist but not sticky the drag does it's best work. As the soil in field will bake if ploughed wet. so the road will bake if the drag is used on it when 1t is wet. If the roadway Is full of holes or badly ru. ted. the drag should be used once when the ground is soft and slushy. This |. particularly applicable before cold spell in winter, when it is possible 'c so prepare the surface that it vii. freeze smooth.
 Not infrcqucntly conditions are me, which may be overcome by slight change in the manner of hi,ching. Shortening the chain tends to lift the front slab and make the cutting slight, while n longer hitch causes the front slab to sink more deeply into the earth and act on the principle of blow.
 If furrow of earth is to be novel. the doublctree should bc attached close 10 the ditch end of the drag, and the driver snould stand with one foot on the extreme forward end of the front slab
 Conditions are so varied in different localities, however, that it is quite ina. possible to lay down specific rules. Ger tain sections of roadway will require more attention than others, because of steep grades. wet weather springs, Soil conditions. exposure to sun and wind. washes, etc. There is one condition however, in which special attention should he given. Clay roads under persistent draggings frequently become too high in the center. This may h. corrected by draggign the earth to- wards the center of the road twice, and away from it once.
 There is no question as to the ec"n' omy of this road making implement. either in first cost or operation. In siN counties in Kansas in 1906 the cost of maintaining ordinary earth roads, with out the aid of the split.log drag, aver aged $42.50 mile. These figures wer" furnished by Professor W. C. Hoad. oi the University of Kansas, who secured them from official records of the coru' ties.
 Some figures furnished by F. F. San born and R. IT. Ashton, general mann ger of the Northwestern Railrol |. have revealed the wonders of this sim pie device. Mir Sanborn said. "Thc lcas, expense per mile per annum f'r splitlog dragging was si.5o, the great est little over s6. and the averagc expense per pile for 5is miles little over $3. I have lived along this roa' all my life and never in 40 years have I seen it frecr from mud and dust, dc' pite the fact that during the season wr have experienced the extremes "' weather conditions.
 The testimony of MT. Ashton '' equally strong. Learning that town ship in Iowa had been making an 'r' vestigstion of the split'log drag and had been experimenting with it for year on 2s miles of highway, he sent an agent to secure information. II was reported that although the town boar'l had paid the cost of making the drag' and of hiring men 10 operate tnem, t'e total expense for one year averaged hut s2.iO a mile. and the roads werc reported to have been "like a race track" the greater portion of the year