The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1914-06-12
Good Roads at Low Expense.

The great enemy of road is water,
and the great preventative of poor
roads is to keep the water away, not
only from the middle of the road, but
from the sides for few feet at least.
Every road should have bitches at the
sides to receive and carry the water
away and not into the road. The road
should be slightly crowned and there
is nothing equal to the road drag for
this purpose. We should remember
that the whole tendency of travel on
the roads in wet weather is to make
ruts and bitches running parallel with
the roads and to break down or hollow
out the road. These ruts soon fill with
water and instead of being carried off
to the side, it is carried along in the
road to the low places, which soon be-
come almost impossible. By keeping
the roadway crowned and the bitches
on the sides open, the water is drawn
out of the road instead of being carried
to the low places in the road.
Water always seeks its lowest level,
and slight fall is sufficient to carry
the water from the roadway into the
right after rain and even during the
rain, for it not only crowns the road
but fills the ruts with dirt, which is
heavier than water, and thus gets the
water out of the ruts where it can
drain away at the sides. The road
drag also smears the road, leaving it in
fine shape to dry quickly, and this fire.
Quent plastering of the road has a
marked effect in fitting it and to with
stand the action of rain and water.
There is great difference in the
condition of roads that are frequently
dragged and those that are not. No
dirt road can be kept good without fire.
quent attention of this sort, but it pays
and pays big.
A farmer was asked how far he lived
from his market town. ''That de-
ponds, /" he said. eff there was good,
even we'll kept dirt road, my place
would be about five miles distant. But
as it is | live about 20 miles from the
market most of the year." That was
good way to put the question of dis
lance. 1t largely depends on the con-
dition of the road.
The Jefferson County Union is be-
coming of the opinion that we have
been making mistake in the building
of such expensive macadam roads. 1t
will cost too much money to put all the
roads in that condition, and even if it
was done they wear out, under this
fast automobile travel, in about five
years. Note how quickly the rock road
on Madison avenue and the one on the
Busseyville road went to pieces. Now
why? Well, because public conviction
at present is all for building such
road and paying no attention to it af-
terward.
If the same money were put into
we'll graded and rounded dirt road and
the same kept dragged right after ev-
cry shower, we would have fine roads
at all times of the year, get them for
a quarter the cost per mile, and hence
could have four times as many OF them.
There is where we are coming to on
this country road question. For fact,
John Porter of Oakland is about the
only man outside of Commissioner
Royce who has comprehended how to
make good, solid dirt road. Ride
over the road from Oakland Center to
Cambridge and take in the lesson. Get
the road drag into your mind a little
more permanently. Jefferson County
Union.