The Prescott daily news., 1914-06-30
DRAGGING EARTH ROADS
Simplest and Cheapest Way to Main tain Certain HighrOads in
 Good Condition

expensive contrlvance yet devised for maintaining earth roads, according to the experts in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, who are cooperating with state and county authorities in work for better roads.
 l Properly used, the drag gives the needed crown to the road smoothes out ruts and other irregularities, spreads out puddles of water, thereby accelerating the drying of the road, and makes the surface more or less imprevious to water by smearing over the so-called pores in the earthly ma terial. The cost of operation depends, of course, upon local conditions and the thoroughness with which the work is done. It is safe to say, however, that 1t is less expensive than any other efficient system of upkeep.
 Farmers Bulletin No. 597, of the Department of Agriculture, discusses under the title of "The Road Drag and How it is Used," the best meth ods of maintaining earth roads in good condition by this simple device. In this bulletin which has just been pub lished, the Department points out that of more than 2,000,000 miles of pub lie roads in the United States, only about 100000 miles have been given hard surface. It is true, of course, that large part of the remaining mileage consists of roads that are en- tirely unimproved, and that on roads of this class the drag is practically useless. There is a much larger mile age, however, that has been partially improved, and it is on roads of this character-roads that have been crowned or drained, but have not hard surface-that the use of the drag is advocated.
 In it's simplest form, the road drag consists of an ordinary log split in half and the two halves connected like the uprights of ladder by means of cross sticks or rungs set in. The log should be about or inches in dia- meter, and from to feet in length. It is better to have it well-seasoned. hard, tough wood. The two semi-cy- lindrical halves of the log form the runners of the drag, and are usually spaced from 30 to 36 inches apart. The front runner is always placed with the split surface of the wood facing forward, but the rear runner sometimes has its rounded face in front. This is done in order to in- crease the smearing action of the drag as it passes over the surface of the road
 The two runners are not placed di- rectly behind each other, but are offset" as it is called, from 12 to t6 inches. This is done because the drag is drawn over the road at an angle sufficient to make the runners free themselves of the material which they scrape. The amount of this angle or skew depends of course, upon the con dition of the road. By offsetting the runners, it is possible to make their ends follow approximately the same line on the road, which they would not do if they were set directly be- hind each other and the drag drawn at an angle with the road.
 In order to provide standing room for the man, it is usual to nail two boards down upon the runners paral- Tel to the runers. Standing upon these, skillful driver will bear his weight in such way as to aid mater ially in the successful operation of the drag.
 The drag is drawn by a chain which should be about feet long. This can be fastened by ey bolts to each end of the front runner, or one end of the chain can pass through a whole at the discharge end of the front runner, and the other end be looped over the rung at the cutting end of the runner. It is important that the hitching link should be so designed that it's posi- tion can be changed readily. It is also desirable to provide metal cutt- ing edge for the first runner. This can be made from strip of iron or steel, and old wagon tires have ire quently proved satisfactory
 The cost of such drag varies from $200 to perhaps $1000 or $12.00. This practically insignificant outlay