Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-02-02
Great Mistake to Put off Working on
Roads Until August or September
Declare Experts.
REPAIRS TO ROADS SHOULD
BE MADE WITHOUT DELAY
Should Not Be Put off Until After
Crops Are Gathered and split-log
Drag Is Great Aid.
UNITED PRESS LEASED w1nr.l

Washington, Feb. 2.-It is a great
mistake to put off working roads until
August or September, according to road
experts Of the U, s. Department of
Agriculture. The roads should be work.
ed when the soil is damp so as to make
the soil bake when it dries out. If
the roads are worked when they are
dry, it takes more power to draw the
machine and besides dry earth and dust
retain moisture and quickly rut after
rains. The use of clods, sods, weeds
or vegetable matter in building roads
should be avoided because they also
retain moisture.
If the working of the roads is de.
ferred until the latter port of the sum,
mer when the surface is baked dry and
hard, they are not only difficult to
work, but the work is unsatisfactory
when done. Earth which is loose and
dry will remain dusty as long as the
dry weather lasts, and then turn to
mud as the rains begin. BY 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 a dry hard crust which is
less liable to become dusty in summer
and muddy in winter,
Should Be Made as Needed.
Repairs to roads should be made when
needed and not once a year after crops
are laid by. Because of its simplicity,
efficiency, and cheapness, the split.log
drag or some similar device is destined
to come into more and more general
use. With the drag properly built and
it's use well understood, the mainte.
nance of earth and gravel roads become
n simple and inexpensive matter. Care
sLould be taken to make the log so light
that one man can lift II with ease, as
light drag can be drawn by two me.
dium sized horses and responds more
readily to various methods of hitching
and the shifting position of the opera.
tor than a heavier one. The best ma.
terial for the drag is dry cedar
log, though elm, walnut, box elder or
soft 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 inches in diameter,
II should be split carefully as near the
center as possible and the heaviest and
best slab chosen for the front, When
the soil is moist, but not sticky, the
drag does the best work. As the soil
in the field will bake IL plowed wet,
so the road will bake If the drag is
used on it when II is wet, II the road
way 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
aud ditched with a road machine ami
not with pick and shovels scoops, and
plows. One road machine with a suit.
able power and operator will do the
work Of many men with picks and shov.
els, and in addition will do it better.
If the road is composed Of fine clay or
soil II will sometimes pay to resurfoce
il with top soil from an adjacent field,
which has sand or gravel mixed with
H.. This method, called the "top soil
method, is now in successful use in
Clarke county Georgia,
Crown for Roads.
Storm water should be disposed Of