The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-03-02
CONSTRUCTION
OF EARTH ROADS
Important Suggestions Are Made By
Road Experts of the Department
of Agriculture.

Washington, ID. G., March 2.-As soils
differ for agricultural purposes, SO they
differ for roads, says the road expert OF
the department of agriculture. Clay or
soils of fine texture usually make poor
roads, especially if they contain much
vegetable matter. The coarser soils,
however, which contain some sand or
gravel, will often make very satisfactory
roads for light traffic provided they are
kept in proper repair.
If the road is composed of fine clay
or soil, it will sometimes pay to re-
surface it with top soil from an ada
cent field which has sand or gravel mixed
with it, This method, called the top-soil
method, is now in successful use in Vir-
ginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, and
probabl other states.
The earth road can best be crowned
and ditched with road machine, and
not with picks and shovels, scoops, and
plows. One road machine, with suit
able power and operator, will do the
work of many men with picks and SHOW
els, and do it better.
The road machine should be used when
the soil is damp, so as to make the soil
bake when it dries out. 1t it is worked
dry, it takes more power to draw the
machine, and, besides, dry earth and
dust retain moisture and quickly rut att
err rains. The use of cods, ,sods, weeds
or vegetable matter in building earth
roads should be avoided because they
also retain moisture.
1t is a great mistake to put the work
ing OF the earth off until August or
September. The surface is then baked
dry and hard. 1t is not only difficult
work but is unsatisfactory work when
done. Earth which is loose and dry will
remain dusty as long as the dry weather
lasts and then turn to mud as soon as
the rains Begin. By using the road ma
chine in the spring of the year 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 orI
muddy in winter.
Storm water should be disposed of
quickly before it has time to penetrate
deeply into the surface. This can be
done by giving the road a crown or slope
from the center to the sides. For an
earth road which is "a feet wide the
center should be not less than 6 inches
nor more than II inches higher than
the outer edges of the shoulders. A mar
row road which is too high in the mid |
die will become rutted almost as quick |
w as one which is too fiat for the real
son that on the narrow road all the traf- |
fic is forced to use only narrow strip.
Shoulders are often formed on both
sides Of the road which prevent storm
water from flowing into side bitches, re-
tanning it in the rlts and softening the
roadway. These ruts and shoulders cam
be entirely eliminated with the road ma
chine or split-log drag.
Ordinarily, the only bitches needed are
those made with the road machine, which |
bitches wash rapidly, especially on steep
slopes, which is another good reason for
decreasing the steepness OF the grades.
IL is difficult to maintain an earth road,
or any kind or road for that matter, on
A steep grade.
The width of the earth road will de-
pend on the traffic. AS a rule, 25 or 80
feet from ditch to ditch is sufficient, if
the road is properly crowned. A road
that is narrow than % feet is difficult |
to maintain for the above stated reason
that on narrow roads the teams are more
apt to track than on wider road, caus
ing it to rut if subjected to heavy haul |
ing
The road should not be loosened, dug, /
or plowed up any more than is absolute
" necessary. The road should be grad
ually raised, not lowered; hardened, not
On fiat lands, where water moves slow
w, grading material should be taken
from the, lower ditch and culverts sup
piled where waterways occur. A shallow
ditch on the upper side makes it pos
sible to give eulverts a good fall Two
Or more small pipes, instead of one large
one of equal capacity, may be used for
especially if the large pipe neces-
states much grading or raising of the
roadway. At least six inches should be
left between each pipe and earth should
be tamped around them thoroughly so
to prevent washout.
To prevent washing on steep roads,
the water should be carried under the
surface at frequent intervals from the
upper to the lower side, and from the
lower. side away from the road. Five
l2-inch pipes in mile of roadway is
about as cheap and far better than one
24-inch pipe. The water must be dis
posed of before it gains force or head
way, or has time to damage the road.
The maximum velocity for a 24-inch
5trified tile flowing full without head
On grade of two inches per 100 feet
S SO feet per second, or about pa miles
per hour. When the grade is increased
10 SO inches in 100 feet, the velocity
becomes 20 feet per second or about 1881
miles per hour. The discharge for the
14-ineh pipe in the first instance will
be 50S6 gallons per minute and for the
sleeper grade 28,260 gallons per minute.
It will therefore be seen that 24-inch
pipe laid ON a grade of SO inches to the
100 feet will have over five times the
capacity of the same size pipe laid on
/ grade of | inch to the 100 feet.
Under the same conditions the maxi
mum velocity for a l2-inch tile on a
grade of l inch per 100 feet equal "
ieet per second or about "a of mile
per hour and for the same tile on
grade of SO inches to the 100 feet the
velocity would be ~ feet per second
)r about ) l6 miles per hour. The dis
,harge for the l2-inch tile in the first
instance would be 442 gallons per min
WEIn0ME snap