Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1914-07-29
The ROAD DasG DOES F Ne WORK.
Less Expensive Than ANY Cher Efficient
System of Upketp.

Washington. July Is .-Th
road drag is the simplest au'
leatt exoenslve contrlvance We
devised for maintaining earl
roads, according to the experts il
the United States Department Q
Agriculture, who are co.opeIafiDj
with the State and county au
thorities III work fcf better roads
Property used. the drag give
the needed crown of the road
smoothes cut ruts and other lrr9g
ularitiss, spreads ous puddles @
water, thereby acceeFatiug th'
drying Of she road, and makes
the surface more or less imprevi
Gus 10 water by smearlng over the
so-eailed pores in the earthly ma
terial. Tie oose o.. operation de
pends, of course, upon local con
ditions aud tbs thor. gh ines
] with which !, he W ark is depee eea@sil
is safe to say, however, thas it Is
less expensive than an5 eff ;ienl
system Of npk ep
Farmers Bnll-tin, No. 597, OF
the Department. OF AgrlcnltuTe
discusses, uudsr she tlst' # The
Road Drag and How II Is U,ed .
the best mathods of m4lut. .iniug
earth roads Iii e BOD coLdit;on ~
this simple d7ylce.
In this hulles.l which has us
been published, the departn7i ,
points out that Of m re t1an q
100000 miles of good public reads
iu she United States ,nIy about
100000 miles have been given L
hard surface. l. is true, OF course
that large part If the remaining
mileage consists of of roads that
are entl. ely unlmprov7d, aud that
on roads of this class the drag /.
practically useless.
There lie mu3n larger mileage,
however, that has been PARTIAL y
improved, and it ls on roads OF
this characser-roads that have
been crowred or drained, bat
have not a hard surtace-thas the
use of the drag is advocated.
~ Ia its simplest form the road
drag CONSISTS of Of an Ordinary
log split in half and the two
halves connected like the uprights
of a ladder by means of cross
sticks or rungs set In. The i 8
should be about seven or eight
inches in diameter, a::d~ fr@ua s z
to eight fest in length. l is bet
ter to have it Of we'll seas soDed
hard, tough wood The two semi
cylindrical halves Of the log from
the runners of the drag, and axe
usually spaced from thirty to
thirty six inches apart. The
front runner ls always placed
with the split surface OF the wood
facing forward, but the rear rus
ner sometimes has It's rounded
face in front. This is done III Or
der TO increase the smeariug &C
tion of the drag as it passes over
the surface OF bh9 road.
The two runners are not placs I'D
directly behind each other, but
are "offsst, as it is called, from
twelve to sixt5 en- inches. This Is
done because ths drag is drawn
over the road at all augle suffic..
ent to make thu ru nars t.es
themselves of the material which
they scrape. The amount of this
angie or skew depends, Of course
upon the condlslcn u Of the road
By offsettlng the runners, Is If
p1ssible to make their ends fol
low approximately the same hne
Oh the read, which they woulc
MT do if they were set directly
behind each other and the drag
drawn at an angie w.bh the road
In order to provide standlDe
room for the man, 1T IS u.uai t.
nail two boarss down upon the
wruugs parallel &c the runners
Standing upon these, skilfu
driver will bear his weight in such
way as to aid materially IN th'
successful operation of the drag.
The drag ls drawn by chain
which 8 ,ould be about eight fee
long. This can be fastened b,
eve bolts to each end of the iron
runner, or Que end of the chaiI
pass through a hole at the dis
charge end of the front runner
and the other end be looped owe
the wrung at the cutting end o
the runner. 1t is important tina
the hitchii g link should be g
designed that it's posltl can /
changed readily. 1t is also desls
able to prov de a metal cuttll,
edge for she front runner. Tbl
can be made from strip of lro
or steel, and old wagon tires hav
frequently proved satisfactory.
The cost of such a drag varle
fro m 50 to perhaps $40 or ST.:
This practically lhslgulticaht on'
lay will secure an Implement tha
will be of great setvlce to th
community for at Least three {
four years. The fact canaot t
overlo okek, however, thai SKI
in the use Of the drag is iudispal
sab g.
The angle that the rupnel
make with the center line of tt
road, the skew angle as it m gf
ha nnilud in an imHnrtank factn