Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1913-06-27

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times larger pools. This, water stays
on the road surface because it cannot
drain away into the side bitches. IA II
you look closely you will see Side
bitches which have grown up with
bushes and weeds in many cases, and
which are so far from the Travelled
part of the road that the rain water
does not drain into them. That part
! Of the roadway where the wagons
travel is called the travelled way. TIC
prevent water from standing on the
| travelled way the road should be raised
in the center and should slope gently
into broad shallow bitches. 1t is then
said to have a crown. II it is 10 feet
from the center of the road to the
ditchshould be at least 10 inches lower
than it is at the center where the
horses travel The road then has a
10-inch crown. The rain that falls
on road properly crowned will run
quickly to the side and not soak into
the surface or form pools. The side
bitches for surface water should run
parallel to the right of way, and should
be open at every low point so that the
water can run out of them into neigh
boring brooks or streams. If the ditch
es merely collect the water from the
road surface and it cannot run away,
large pools will be formed along the
roadside, which will gradually soak
into the soil beneath the road and
make it so soft that the wheels of
wagons will cut through the road sur
face and soon destroy it.
Sometimes water runs from land
along the road into the road and forms
a little stream down the wheel tracks
or in the middle where the horses
travel. When ,driveways into farm
yards are built across the side bitches
they frequently form channels for
water from the farm yard to run into
the road The pipes under driveways
become filled with leaves or rubbish
and the water can no longer run
away. If the driveways that stop the
ditch water were rebuilt so that no
pipes were necessary and the ditch
could be left open, much trouble from
surface water would be stopped.
Sometimes road runs across low
ground or through swamp where the
road cannot be drained by side bitches
alone. If the road were built higher
like a railroad embankment across
such low land and made with crown,
it would be dry and hard. Sometimes
a road passes through what is called
a cut. This is a place where the
earth has been dug out so that the
road can go over hill without being
too steep. The water which always
flaws quietly under the ground on hill
sides is known as ground water. In
road cuts such water sometimes makes
the road very muddy, and the road
then needs what road builders call
undertakings. A good kind of under
drainage is trench to go along under
the side drain and about 3 feet deep,
and foot and half wide. In this
trench pipe is laid near the bottom
and covered with loose stones no big
ger than an egg. When the trench is
completely filed with loose stones the
ground water, instead of soaking into
the roadway, will stop among the
stones and flow down the hill through
the pipe.
To keep road smooth and crowned
the best method is to drag it with
road drag. A road drag is made easily
with two halves of log which has
been split. The log should be about s
or 8 inches in thickness and about 6
or feet long. The two halves of the
log are set 8 feet apart with the
smooth faces forward and upright.
They are then fastened together with
braces set in holes bored through the
log. A pair of horses may be used to
drag the road and are hitched to
chain fastened to the front half of the
log. The road drag should move for
ward so that it slants across the road
in such way that a small amount Of
earth will slide past the smooth face
of the log toward the center of the
road, thus forming the crown. The
edges of the logs will smooth out the
ruts. The best way to drag is to begin
at the side ditch and go up one side of
the road, and then down the other. In
the next rip the drag should be start
ed little nearer the center and the
last trip over the road the drag may
work close to the center itself. Small
ridges Of earth will be thrown in the
horse track and smeared by the round
side Of the log smoothly over the
road. The smearing of the earth by
the drag is called pudding" and it
tends to make the surface OF the road
smooth and water-tight after the sun
comes out. The road is always drag:
Eged after it has rained and not when
il is dry. A good, strong pair of horses
with a we1lbuilt drag can drag abous
8 or 4 miles Of road in a day, and it is
the best way to maintain good roads.
In every county some farmer along
leach 4 miles OF road should own a
drag and drag the road when ii rair1s