Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-09-13
ROAD DRAG IS USEFUL
Proven Success Everywhere,
When Used After Rains.
Implement 10 Of Particular Value In
Rounding Up Crown and Filling In
Ruts-Harrow Makes Excel.
lent Substitute.

The road drag has proved a sue.
cess everywhere when used after rains
to round up the crown and
I'LL the ruts. This does not mean
that the crown should be SO sharp as
to slant the wagon unduly, for as the
road Is not to be neglected, but cheap.
ly worked as needed. there Is no need
for too sharp an elevation.
We shall soon be hauling an i'm.
mense tonnage to market. and l be-
lieve the drag should be used whether
1t rains or not. to keep the roads IN
shape. or we shall again, unless there
are frequent rains, which seldom &C.
ours in the fall. have deep cuts all
across the travelled surface which are
so close they cannot be avoided, says
a writer in the Denver Weekly Post.
When we start hauling we follow the
center of the road, which soon be-
comes deeply rutted and then we
atraddle those ruts, continuing whilst
any surface is left which Is at all
solid. The great loads cut deeper and
deeper, forcing the dirt higher and
higher at the side Of the nut where IT
dries out, becoming pliable and loose.
In fact. the road begins to present the
pearance of badly plowed field
which has not known the harrow. The
escape of moisture leaves the soil par
ticles without film Of water around
them to bind them together, and there
is a more of less complete break up OF
the road surface. 1t is not SO much
the use of the drag as a rut filler
which is obvious, to which ! wish to
draw attention as to its use as an
agent to retain some moisture which
will bind the road and give 1t resist
ance to the wheels, just as narrowing a
field or race track works for in eth
er case. It is the dust mulch on top
that preserves the lower levels from
air spaces and breaks up. Teams and
teamsters will follow the lines of least
resistance, and how often the road
runs round where once was wet
spot on a sharp curve for months be-
cause the erstwhile mud spot is a lit
tie rough and the roundabout way
smooth. Where these rough spots
are short, teams returning with empty
wagons can easily straighten out the
road, but they seldom do so.
If the road be dragged occasionally,
perhaps we cannot entirely prevent
the formation of rut, but when the first
ones are straddled the old ones will
be filled, and soon we can travel both
tracks, alternating at the same time,
forming a most solid comb to the road
by the rolling of the wheels. A wagon
wheel, on account of its small size,
dropping off a hard onto a soft spot,
naturally makes cracks, whilst road
drag, whilst it may not fill all tho
holes If there is not enough loose dirt.
produces long undulations which do not
tend to cut out day by day and get worse
and worse. Sometimes we shall have
bad roads In the fall, even II we drag
because our road material is not equal
to resisting the loads placed upon 1T.
but the road cannot become so bad
as it does when no attention what
ever Is given to leveling 1t and keep
ing it. compact. Where no drag ID
available, a harrow, with the teeth
stunted, will work very great I'M
provement, and it can be cheaply ap'
piled.