The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-02-02

.5'
lone, as the dry weather lasts, and
then turn to mud as the rains begin.
Nv 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 dry hard crust
which is less liable to become dusty
in summer and muddy in winter.
Repairs to roads should be made
when needed and not once a year al
ter crops are laid by. Because OF It's
simplicity, efficiency and cheapness.
the split-log drag or some similar de-
vice is destined to come into more
and more general use. With the drag
properly built and it's use well IN
derStood, the maintenance OF eartn
and gravel roads becomes simple ana
inexpensive matter! Care should be
taken to make the log so light that
one man can lift lit with ease, as
light drag can be drawn by two me-
dunn sized horses and responds more
readily to. various methods OF hfteh-
ing and the shifting position OF the
operator than a heayier one. The
best material for the drag IS dry
cedar log, though elm, walnut, box
elder or somt 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 inch
es in diameter, tIt should be Spit
carefully as near tie center as pos
sible and the heaviest and best STAT
chosen for the front. When the sou
| is moist. but not sticky, the drag does
the best work. AS the soil in the held
will bake If pIowed wet, SO the road
will bake II the drag is used on@lt
when it is wet. If the roadway Is
full of holes or badly rutted the drag
! should be used once when The ROAD IS
soft and slushy.
The earth road can best be crowned
and ditched with a road machine and
mot with, picks and shovels. scoops,
land plows. One road machine with
a suitable power and operator viii DO
4 the work of many men with picks and
shoyels. and in addition will do 1t bet
/ ter. If the road is composed OF hne
clay or soil it will sometimes pay to
resurface it with top soil from an ad-
iacent field, which has sand or gravel
linked with it, This method, called
1.-THE stop soil method" is now in sue
cessful use in Clarke county, Geor-
| gia.
storm water should be disposed of
quickly before 1t has had time to pen
citrate deeply into the surface OF the
road. This can be done by giving
THE road a crowd or slope from the
center to the sides. For an earth
road which is "a feet wide the CEN
ter should be not less than 6 inches
lnor more than 70 inches higher than
the outer edges of the shoulder. The
narrow road which is high in the
middle will become rutted almostsas
quickly as one which is too fat. for
! the reason that on a narrow road all
! the traffic is. forced to use only a mar
row strip. Shoulders are often form
led on both sides of the road, which
prevents storm waters from flowing
Into the side bitches, retaining 1t in
/ the ruts and softening the roadway.
These ruts and shoulders can be en-
tireIy eliminated with the road ma
chine or spIit-log drag.
The width of the earth road viii
depend on the traffic. As rule %
or so feet from ditch to ditch is suGi-
cient if the road is properly crowned.
Ordinarily the only bitches needed
are those made with the road ma
chine which are wide and shallow.
Deep narrow bitches wash rapidly,
especially on steep slopes. The earth
road should not be loosened, dug up,
or plowed up any more than is abso-
lutely necessary. 1t should be grad
ually raised, not lowered; hardened,
nor softened.