The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1911-06-22

large extent takes the place OF a roll
| or. IL roller can be had this alss
should be used, and used Immediately
after a rain. But good road car
be had without roller, II It Is taken
care OF and looked after during the
first year, and the best implement &c
do this is with a split log drag, using
1t the same as on an earth road. Ruts
will form along the wagon track and
where the horses go, but a dragging
Of the surface viii I'LL these and In
short time compact, smooth road.
way Will result. A better road can be
built In one year IL this plan is fol
lowed than ran be built in three years
by the old plan, and the road will be
smoother and will serve a better pur
pose.
Do not forget that the moGt impor.
tant part of road building Is drainage,
and that five or six inches OF gravel
on a well drained road will give bet.
ter results than twice this material
upon road that is imperfectly drain.
ed.
When the writer was attending the
great International Meeting OF Road
Engineers In Paris, 1908. one Of the
delegates asked an eminent French
engineer how soon after the road was
built he commenced to make repairs
Ills answer was: The next day"
II any place "a stitch in time saves
nine" 1t certainly will do SO on the
highway. The splendid roads of
Europe are looked after by an attend.
ant who goes over them every week,
and as soon as break appears, the
necessary repair is made. In this
country the practice has been to build
an expensive road or pave a street at
a high cost, and do nothing with It un.
I'll It becomes impossible.
When any township has well grad.
ed and thoroughly drained It's high
ways the question of good roads is
half solved. but only half A smooth
hard wearing surface must be put up
on the same. especially upon the main
highways. Where the state aid plan
Is followed the expense IS not q bur.
den to anyone and the benefits are
many and shared In by all
We sometimes hear the statement
made by those who are trying 10 find
objections to the building of hard
roads, that an earth road Is much
pleasantcr TO drive upon and easier
for the horses, and therefore the ad.
vantages Of good road are In some
degree Offset by the fact that an
Garth road at certain seasons ia the
better of the two
The writer has always advocated,
that where II 10 practical. 1t would be
well to leave a smooth earth road
alongside Of the stone or gravel road
80 that the drivers might choose be
tween the two. When the weather IS
fine and the earth road Is smooth, the
drivers will usually take that In pref
ercnce to the hard road. This saves
wearing the hard road, and thus II
serves a double purpose Let a heavy
rain descend and everybody takes the
hard road. The difference is tho I'M
proved highway is good 365 days IN
tho year. and the other road is good
and bad by turns. Having them side
by side, which can easily be done
without additional expense, the people
have the choice
There is another feature OF the per.
manent road that should not DO lost
sight of. In the busy season while
the crops are being planted, some
times a heavy eAin will fall, so that
the fields are too wet to work. With
good roads the farmer can make
trip to town. do the necessary er-
rands, haul off load of grain or hogs
and keep his farm hands employed.
II the roads arc unimproyed he can
neither work the farm nor travel the
Every road overseer. and in fact ey.
cry farmer, should send to the state
engineer of his state. and to the office
of Public Roads at Washington, and
have his name put upon the mailing
list. NO that the bulletins and circu.
lars. of which scores are published ey-
cry year. upon road building and main
tenance, road drainage, and sugges.
tlons that grow out of the experience
OF road building can be followed UP
and adopted By them. If this were
done 1t would stop an enormous
amount of money that every year is
wasted upon the highways by I'll
,iinet and misdlrected effort.