Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1914-02-16
How To Build
Good Dirt Roads

' Washington.-It is great mistake
to put off working roads until August
or September, according to road eX-
perts of the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture. The roads
should be worked when the soil is
damp SO as to make the soil bake
when it dries out. If the roads are
worked when they are dry it takes
more power to draw the machine and
besides dry earth and dust retain
moisture and quickly rut after rains.
The use of clods, weeds or vegetable
matter in building earth roads should
be avoided because they also retain
moisture
II the working o. the roads is de-
ferred until the latter part of the
summer when the surface is baked
dry and hard they are not only diff
cult to work, but the work is unsat-
isfactory 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
soon packs down into a dry, hard
crust which is less liable to become
IN nj -, ,,.;,
ter.
Repairs to roads should be made
when needed and not once a year
after crops are laid by. Because of
its simplicity, efficiency and cheap
ness the split-log drag or some cim-
liar device is destined to come into
more and more general use. With
the drag properly built and its use
we'll understood the maintenance Of
earth mad gravel roads becomes a
simple and inexpensive matter. Care
should be taken TO make the log so
light that one man can lift it with
ease, as light drag can be drawn
by two medium-sized horses and re-
spends more readily to various meth
DDS of hitching and the shifting po-
sition of the operator than a heavier
one. The best material for the
drag is a dry cedar log, though elm,
walnut, box elder or soft maple are
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. 1t should
be split carefully as near the center
as possible and the heaviest and best
slab chosen for the front. When the
soil is moist, but not sticky, the drag
does the best work. AS the soil il
the field will bake IL plowed wet,
so the road will bake if the drag is
used on it when it is wet. If the
roadway Is full of holes or badly rut-
ted the drag should be used once
when the road is soft and slushy.
The earth road can best be
crowned and ditched with road ma
chine and not with picks and shovels,
scoops and plows. 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 better. If the road is COM
posed of fine clay or soil 1t will some
times pay to resurface it with top
soil from an adjacent field which has
sand or gravel mixed with it. This
method, called the top soil meth
od," is now in successful use in
Clarke county, Georgia.
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 CIV
ing the road q crown or slope from
the center to the sides. For an earth
road which is "a feet wide the CEN
ter should be not less TAIN six inches
nor more than twelve inches higher
than the outer edges of the shoulder.
The narrow road which Is high in the
middle will become rutted almost as
quickly as one which is too flat, for
the reason that on a narrow road all
the traffic is forced to use only a
narrow strip. Shoulders are often
formed on both sides OF the road,
which prevents storm water from
flowing into the side bitches, retain
ing it in the ruts and softening the
roadway. These ruts and shoulders
can be entirely eliminated with the
road machine or split-log drag.
The width of the earth road will
depend on the traffic. AS a rule, 25
or 80 feet from ditch to ditch is suf-
ficient II the road is properly
crowned. Ordinarily the only bitches
needed are those made with the road
machines which are wide and shall
low. Deep, narrow bitches wash rap
idly, especially on steep slopes. The
earth road should not be loosened,
dug up or plowed anw more than is
absolutely necessary. II should be
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