The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1908-04-03
Hints On Road Work.

H as those Ol any country oi The bld
World, they have not been as loyalty
supported "a, the men of those coun-
tries loo maintaining the highways az
Ter completion, aud the deplorable
state of many hundred thousand
miles of road is thus accounted for.
f. County and township officials may, at
the outset, stand the expense Of hay-
ing "a road built, bat they ,trenuously
object when asked 20 pro, ide funds 10
rebuild the road that ha, been allowed
to go to ruin.
lti, important that farmers learn Of
/ the benefit, to be derived from good
earth roads That county board, be im-
pressed with The need Of a proper
maintenance of the same. and that
road builder, and oNer-eer- learn how
best to care for the roads ia their
charge.
The persistent and powerful enc
mics of EARTH roads are water and mar.
row tires. and the constant effort of
/ the men boo charge 0f the roads should
bee 90 guard against their destructive
effects and remedy an damage a.
quickly as possible. The simple inn
f plements which have been found 10
hcof greatest assistance in this work
are the pillow, the drag scraper the
wheel -cmper, the road grader and
the -plil-log drag.
With sandy soil and -ub-soil of
clay, or clay and gravel, deep plowing,
-o a- to raise ana mix the clay with
/ the surface soil aud sand, will prove
beneficial. The combination forms a
-and-clay road at "a tnfling expense.
F ON the other hand, if the road be- en-
trely of sand mistake will bee made
|ifitis ploWcd unless clay can bee add
cd. Such blowing would merely
i epeu the sand and at the same time
break zap the small amount Of hard
surface material which may have
I formed. o. the -ub-~oil is clay and
+ the surface scant in sand or giaNel,
blowing should not be resorted Ia, a.
F 10 would result iu a clay surface rather
+ than one of sand or gravel \ road
brennan must know not only what Ia
/ pillow and what not 10 pillow, but how
and when Co pillow. n the road is of
/ the Kind "a hich. according 10 the above
instructions. should be- plowed over
it, whole width, the hest method Is 10
rum the first urrow in the middle of
/ the road and work ont 10 the sides,
thu, forming crown. Results from
such blowing are greatest in the spring
or early summer
ln ditchc, plow can be used to
good advantage, bat should be fol-
lowed hy scmper or grader. To make
wide, deep ditche, nothing better than
/ the ordinary drag scaper has yet
/ been devised. For haul- under 100
F feet. or boz making ellis it Is espec-
Iailv -erViccable. IL is "A mistake,
/ however Ia attempt 10 handle long
haul material with this scraper, As
/ the wheel ,cmper is better adapted 10
such work. For hauls Of more than
500 feet wagon should be used.
The machine most generally used IN
road work is the grader, or road ma
chime. Ihl. machine i- especially
useful Boo smoothing and crowuing the
road and in opening bitches. 4 clay
-ub--oil uudera thin coating Of soil
should not bee disturbed with grader.
/ Il j., also mistake 10 use "A grader
unfortunately and to pull material
from diichc- upon -and-clay road.
/ Not nrequently turf, soil and silt
F from ditch bottoms are piled IN the
middle of The road in ridge, making
mudholes a certainty. 10 is important
/ 300 using grader to avoid building up
the road too much al one time. 4 road
f. gradually built mp by frequent Use Of
/ the grader VIII last better than 10 COM
pleted 40 one operation. The foreman
. frequently thinks, DIS road must be
high boo the first instance. He piles
up material from DO inches 10 a foot IN
depth only Co learn with the arrival
of the hr,ttmn, That Doe has furnished
ihe material for a- many inches Of
mad. 80 material should be brought