The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1908-04-03
HINTS
ON ROAD NORk.
U. S office of Public Roads Tells How
to Make and Maintain q Model
Earth Road.

"HibS SuDtFltdH GDdu DuiiucrS are DO
capable of constructing good roads as
those Of any country of the old world,
they have not been as loyalty supported
az the men OF those countries In main
tanning the highways after completion,
and the depiorable state Of many hun.
bred thousand miles of road is. thus
accounted for. County and township
officials may at the outset stand the ex-
pense of having a road built, but they
strennously object when asked to pro-
vide funds to rebuild the road that has
been allowed to go to ruin.
IL is important that farmers learn Of
the benefits to be derived from good
earth roads; that county boards be i'm
pressed with the need Of a proper main
tenance Of the Sam and that road Bdfld-
ers and overseers learn how best to
care for the roads in their charge.
The persistent and powerful enemies
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 greatest assist
ance in this work are the pillow, and the
drag scraper, the wheel seraper, the
road grader, and the splitting drag.
With a sandy soil and a subsoiI of
clay, or clay and gravel, deep blowing
40 as to raise and mix the clay with the
surface soil and sand will prove bene-
fetal. The combination forms a sand
clay road at a triHing expense. On the
other haDf, IL the road be entirely of
sand a mistake will be made IL it is
plowed unless clay can be added. Such
blowing would merely deepen the sand,
and at the same time break up the small
amount of hard surface material which
may have formed. If the subsoil is clay
and the surface scant in sand or gravel,
blowing should not be resorted to, as it
would result in a clay surface rather
than one of sand or gravel. A road fore
man must know not only what to pillow
and what not to pillow, but how and
when to pillow. II the road is Of the
kind which according to the above in
structions 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 q crown. Results from such
blowing are greatest in the spring or
early summer
In bitches a plow can be used to good
advantage, but should be followed by a
scraper or grader. To make wide, deep
bitches nothing better than the ordinary
drag scraper has yet been devised. For
hauls under 100 feet, or in making
fills" it is especially serviceable.
1t is a mistake, however, to at
tempt to handle long haul material
with this scraper, as the wheel
scraper is better adapted to such work.
For hauls of more than 800 feet, a wagon
should be'used.
The machine most generally used in
road work is the grader, or road
machine. This machine is especially use-
full In smoothing and browning the road
and in opening bitches. A clay subsoil
under a thin coating Of soil should not
be disturbed with a grader. 1t is also
a mistake to use a grader indiscrimi-
nately and to pull material from bitches
upon a sand-clay road. Not in~frequent-
ly, turf, soil and silt from ditch bottoms
are piled In the middle OF the road in a
ridge, making mudholes a certainty. 1t
is important in nsing a grader to avoid
building up the road too much at one
time. A road gradually built up by
frequent use of the grader will last bet
ter than If completed 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 ar
rival of the first rain, that he has fur
nished the material for as many inches
Of mud. All material should be brought
up in thin layers, each layer well pud-
died and firmly packed by roller or
traffic before the next is added. A COM
mon mistake is to crown too high with
the road machine on a narrow road.
The split log drag should be used to
I'LL in ruts and smooth the road when
not too badly washed. The drag pos
sesses great merit and IL SO simple In
construction and operation that every
farmer should have one. A special ar
ticle will be published later telling how
to make and use the drag.