Morris tribune., 1913-07-18
EARTH ROADS
A Few Points on Their Repair
and Maintenance.

water stays on TIE TOau SuE1dC0 pe-
cause it cannot drain away into the
side bitches. If 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 road way
where the wagons travel is called
the travelled way. To prevent water
from standing on the travelled way
the road should be raised in the
center and slope gently into broad
shallow bitches. 1t is then said to
have crown. If it is 10 feet from
the center of the road to the side
ditch, the surface at the side ditch
should be at least 10 inches lower
than it is at the center where the
horses travel. The road then has
1O-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
ditcnes 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 neighboring brooks or streams.
If the bitches merely collect the water
from the road surface and it can not
run away, large pools will be formed
along the roadside. which will gradu-
ally soak into the soil beneath the
road and make it so soft that the
wheels of wagons will cut through
the road surface and soon destroy it.
Sometimes water runs from land
along the road into the road and forms
little stream down the wheel tracks
or in the middle where the horses ira
vel. When driveways into farm
yards are built across the side bitches
they frequently form channels for
water from the farm yard to run in.
to the road The pipes under drive
ways become filed 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.
l. Sometimes a road runs across low
ground or through swamp where the
road can not be drained by side
ditchessal0he. If the road were built
higher like railroad embankment
across such low land and made with a
crown, it would be dry and hard.
Sometimes a road passes through
what is called a cut. This is 9
place where the earth ras been dug
out so that the road can go over a
hill without being too steep. The
water which always flows quietly
under the ground on hill sides il
known as ground water. In road
cuts such water sometimes makes the
road very muddy. and the road theT
needs what road builders call Under.
drainage. A good kind of under
drainage is trench to go along under
the side drain and about 3 feet deer
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 il
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 crown
ed the best method is to drag it with
a road drag. A road drag is made
easily with two halves of a log which
has been split. The log should te
about 6 or 8 inches in thickness anC
about 6 or 8 feet long. The two
halves of the log are set 3 feel
apart with the smooth faces forward
and upright. They are then fastened
together with braces set in holes Dor.
ed through the log. A pair of horses
may be used to drag the road and are
hitched to a chain fastened to the
front half of the log. The road drag
should move forward so that it slants
across the road in such way that q
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 60 up one side of the road, anc
then down the other. In the. next
trip the drag should be started Z
lItle 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
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