The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1908-03-12
ROAD DRAGGING COST
Why King System Is Cheapest
as Well as Best.
IT BECOMES MERELY A CHORE
By Quitting a Little Earlier a Farmer
Can Easily Renew His Boulevard.
Proof of Winter Drassins's Value.
Camparison of Cost.

0y ~uiStIu9 I'ktie Earlier a Farmer
Can Easily Renew His Boulevard.
Proof Of Winter Drasgins's Value.
Comparison of Cost.
Copyright, 1907, by D. Ward King.1
The cost of putting the King system
have consideration. Cost always is
important.
When one first hears about road
dragging he feels certain mistake or
an eXaggeration is somewhere snugly
concealed. and an active brain spends
certain period searching for its hid
ing place. Convinced at last of the
drag's achievements as a wonder
worker. the same brain asks, What
is the expense?" and again is skeptical
when the answer comes, The cost Of
the new system is many times less
than the cost of the old system
For the farmer who drags the half
miie or mile, as may be. from his
own front gate to his neighbor's front
gate toward town." there is no ex-
pense account. With the drag il the
road at the front gate, he quits Il little
| early at noon or in the evening. as
| the condition Of the road soil decides,
| bitches to the drag and renews his
| boulevard. 1t becomes merely chore.
| A neighbor of mine says, AFTER a fel-
| low once gets into the fashion of drag
| CIT ioJy RI Iol 1,o 1,i
For myself, have been riding drag
since the spring Of 1896.
! In the fall l can take team from q
corn wagon at the crib and drag my
half mile stretch before the corn is I'M
loaded, and in the winter months most
farmers can find an abundance of lei
sure in which to drag, and the operation
possibly is of as much benefit in the
winter as it is in the summer In this
latitude .(near the Missouri-Iowa line,
we find two conditions of the road in
winter when dragging is remarkably
effective. One of these special cont!i-
tions is when a rough and frozen road
is thawed an inch or more in depth
at about o'clock in the afternoon.
| Another favorable opportunity is at
the close of warm spell when the
| wind changes to the north and the
mud begins to stiffan with the chill.
If the mud is dragged just before !,
freeze the road of course remains
smooth until another thaw, ana the
difference between such road and
one which was permitted to "frceze up
rough is as marked as the difference
between deep mud and dry road.
On the one you can skim along at any
q snail's pace. with the horses gingerly
picking their steps and the vehicle
bouncing around as if you were riding
over fresh blast in rock quarry.
Let me offer two paragraphs from
the Record. Hampton. Ia, the first
showing the skepticism often met. the
other confessing radical change OF
opinion and furnishing proof of the
value of dragging in the winter
months. The writer addressed a good
roads meeting at Hampton Nov. 2S
1905. Under date Nov. % i'll the course
of an extended report of the meeting
the Record said:
1T is to be regretted that there was
no split log drag at hand that he could
make a satisfactory demonstration
with. the one available not being II
accordance with the requirements, ant
the attempt to show its workings Were
of little or no benefit"
| D,,A s,~k IN
ord admits the inaccuracy of its frs
impression in the following paragraph
the kernel of which is found in tn,
last sentence Of the quotations:
''The King drag that we have herr
in town is being used today on ou
streets, and if we had teams enough
and drags enough Hampton woult
have good roads within the city limit
tomorrow, whereas for week the.
have been practically impossible TO
the reason that the ground froze up
week ago last night, leaving the road
all cut up. And suppose that ever.
man in the county had had Kin;
drag, costing about 50, and had drag
ged the road In front OF his premise
once over and back week ago-Tues
day. the afternoon thai Mr.. King spok
at the courthouse, we would have ha
good roads ever since. This Isl demon
strated bs the fact that wherever o
our streets the drag was used that aft
ernoon has been a smooth track eve
/ since"
So much for the value in the winte
of the winter dragging
: But winter dragging prepares til
way for lessening the cost of sprin
T and summer dragging, because If til
, roadway has this winter preparatio
1t will generally dry off and be read
, | to drag before the adjoining fields DIR
t out and are fit to be plowed or cult
: vated And so another series Of leisur
r hours is provided for making goo
roads without money.
!. would rather drag half mile {
r road for year than water three horse
e for year.
t If should try to strike Il balance *
the twelve months, it would be SOM
thing like this:
e DEBIT.
Z Labor $4
CREDIT.
! Comfort and pleasure of my
. own family. iy..--.......-.......-. S9.W