Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1915-05-05
WHAT A ROAD DRAG WILL no

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The road drag is the simplest and
least expensive continuance yet de-
vised for maintaining earth roads. ac-
cording to the experts i'm the United
States department OF agriculture. who
are cooperating with the state and
county authorities in work for better
\ roads.
Properly used, the drag gives the
needed crown 10 the road, smoothes
out rnts and other irregularities.
spreads out puddles OF water, thereby
accelerating the drying of the road.
and makes the surface more or less
impervious TO water by smearing over
the so-called pores in the earthly ma
terial. The cost of operation depends.
or course, upon local conditions and
the thoroughness with which the work
Is done. IL is safe TO say, however,
that IL is less expensive than any
other efficient system OF upkeep.
Farmers Bulletin No 597 OF the
department OF agriculture, discusses.
under the title of "'rhe Road Drag and
How IL Is Used" the best methods of
maintaining earth roads in good con-
dition by this simple device.
In this bulletin. which has Just been
published. the department points out
that OF more than 100000 miles OF
public roads i'm the United States, only
about 100000 miles have been given
a hard surface. Ii is true, of course,
that large part of the remaining
mileage consists of roads that are
entirely unimproved, and that on
roads of this class the drag is prac-
tically useless.
There liz n much larger mileage.
however, that has been partially i'm
proved, and IL is on roads OF this
character-roads that have been
crowned or drained, but have not a
hard surface-that the use OF the drag
is advocated.
4 In its simplest form, the road drHs
consists 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 log
should be about seven or eight inches
in diameter, and from six to eight
feet in length. Ii is better TO have
II OF well seasoned, hard, tough wood
/ The semi-cylindrical halves of the
log form the runners of the drag and
are usually spaced from 80 TO 3G
inches apart. The front runner is
always placed with the split surfac
of the wood facing forward, but the
rear runner sometimes has it's rounded
face in front This is done in order
TO increase the smearing action OF the
drag as IL passes over the surface OF
the road.
The two runners are not placed
directly behind each other, but are
offset" as IL is called, from IL to IL
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 on
skew depends. of course. upon the
condition OF the road. BY offsettinp
the runners. it is possible to make
their ends follow approximately the
same line Of the road which they
would not do If they were set directly
behind each other and the draw drawn
at an angle with the road.
In order to provide standing room
for the man, IL is usual TO nail two
boards down upon the rungs parable
10 the runners. Standing upon these
a skillful driver will bear his weight
in such n way as to aid materially IN
the successful operation of the drag