The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1912-09-25

tear up and ruin roads. A grader
has it's uses, but they are so few gen
orally that it would be better many
times for the roads if they had never
been purchased.
A perfect dirt road can't be made
with a drag in day or a week and
scarcely in a year, but long and con
slstent use of it is bound to make a
good road finally. The main trouble
now, with the drag, is that it is used
only systematically in many cases, and
then not at the right time. There is
certain time after rain when the
mud is not entirely dried and yet is
IN shape to be dragged into the ruts
and uneven places of the grade. In
this condition it packs like putty and
, travel on it beats it until it is almost
hard as a pavement and practically
lmperviOus to water When the roads
are dragged before they are dry there
are no little Jumps to be ground into
dust.
The making and keeping of the
proper crown on the roads is another
matter that should be given close con-
sideration. After dragging the roads
a long time, the center of the highway
may become too full. This condition
has not been reached generally, but it
may be. 1t is then time to turn the
drag and throw the dirt out from the
center toward the edges.
| have noticed, too, that there is a
tendency to start at the outer edge
Of the highway and make one trip,
making the next trip so it catches the
dirt thrown up the first time and
crowds it onto the very center of the
road. This practice, if followed, will
make sharp ridge in the center of
the grade, with possibly sway on
each side. TO overcome this it is
we'll to make the trip up and down
the center first and then the trips up
and down the sides will leave the
loose earth half way between the cen
ter of the grade and the gutter.
A roadway we'll drained at the sides
and treated with the drag consistent
ly, faithfully and scientifically, will
never get very bad. 1t will be excel
lent to drive over, eleven and one
half months in the year.
The broad wheel and the wide hitch,
following the use of the road drag
will make the perfect dirt road. These
can only be brought into general use
through legislation and | am inclined
to think that it would bring about a
very strong protest, if legislation along
these lines We're attempted at this
time. l believe large portion OF the
people of the state would consider it
an attack on their constitutional
rights to provide by law the manner in
which they hitch their horses and the
kind of tires they provide for their
wagons 1t is bound to come, though,
and that at no distant date. BY CIV
ing, say five years to make the
change, it could be brought about
without working any special hardship.
You probably all know the advant-
ages to be obtained by the wide tire.
The wide tire, by exhaustive tests, has
been proved to pull all the way from
ten to sixty per cent easier than the
narrow tire, except under two condi-
the dust is very deep on
the roads and when there is soft
mud on the surface with foundation
under. Under these conditions the
narrow tire cuts through the dust or
the mud, as the case may be. and
runs on the hard surface underneath.
while the broad tire carries up and
runs considerably harder