The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-02-03
B U S I N E S s M E N
SPRING THE PROPER
 TIME TO WORK ROADS

Washington, Feb. 3-It is great mistake to put off working roads un- til August or September. according to road experts of the United States De- partnent of Agriculture. The roads should be worked when the soil IS damn so as to make the soil bake when it dries out If the roads are worked when they are dry, 1t takes more power to draw the machine ana besides dry earth and dust retain moisture and quickly rut after rains. The use of c1ods. sods, weeds or vege- table matter in building earth roads should be avoided because they also retain moisture.
 If the working of the roads is de- ferred until the latter part of the summer when the surface Is baked dry and hard, they are not only d1fll- cult to work but the work. is unsac- isfaot tory when done. Earth which is loose and dry will remain dusty as long as the dry weather lasts. and then turn to mud as the rains begin By using the road machine in the spring while the soil is soft and damp the surface is more easily shaped and soen packs down into dry hard crust wEich is less liable to become dus- tv in summer and muddy in winter.
 Repairs to roads should be made hen needed and not once year after crops are laid by. Because of it's simplicity, efficiency and cheap ness, the split-1og drag or some sim liar device is destined to come into more and more general use. With the drag iroper1y built, and it's use well understood, the maintenance of earth and gravel roads become a simple and is.exT eLsive matter. Care should De taken to make the log so light that one man can lift it with ease, as a light drag can be drawn by two me- dunn sized horses and responds more readily to various methods of hitch ing and the shifting position of the operator than heavier one. The best material for the drag is dry cedar log, though elm, walnut. box elder or soft maple sare excellent Oak, hickory or ash are too heavy. The log should be from seven to ten feet long, and from eight to ten inches in diameter. It should be split care fully as near the center as possf- ble and the heaviest and best slab che sen for the front. When the soil is rnofst, but not sticky, the drag does the best work. As the soil in the field will bake if ployed wet so the cn it when it is wet. If the roadway is full of holes or badly r1tted the drag should be-used once when the road is soft and slushy.
 The earth road can best be crown ed and ditched with a road machine
  and p1cws. One road machine with a suitable power and operator will do the work of many men with picks and shovels and in addition will do it bettsr. If the road is composed of fine clay or soil it will sometimes pay to resurface it with top soil from an ae accent field, which has sand or gray el mixed with it. This method, called the sttop soil method, ,''-is now in suc- cessful use in Clarke County. Geor- gja-
 storm water should be disposed of quickly before it has had time to penetrate deeply into the surface of the road. This can be done by gfv- ing u e road a crown or slope from I tEe center to the sides. For an earth road which is 24 feet wide the center should be not less than six inches nor more than 12 inches higher than the outer edges of the shoulder. The n arrow read which is high in the middle will become rutted almost as qLicl<ly one which is too flat for the reason that on a narrow road all l the traffic is forced to use only q r1arrow9 strip Shoulders. are often formed on both sides of the road. which prevents storm water from flow ing into the side ditches, retaining 1t ! in the ruts and softening the roadway. l These rutss and shoulders can be en- tirely eliminated with the road ma | chine or split-1og drag
 1 me W1dfh or the earth road will | dePend oT the traffic As a rule 25 or 30 feet from ditch to ditch is sufh- lcient if the road is properly crown led Ordinarily the only ditches need ed are those made with the road ma ichine which are wide and shallow. l Deep narrow ditches wash rapidly especially on steep slopes. The earth road should not be loosened, dug up. Tor plowed up any more than is abso- 1utely necessary. It should be grad lually raised, not lowered; hardened inor Softened.