Year: 1872

From the Maryland Farmer.


PUBLIC ROADS.


The committee appointed by the late
Road Convention, assembled on the 22d
Aug. at 12 NJ. at the Rooms of the State
Agricultural Society in Baltimore, and
after some general conversation be-
tween the members from various parts
of the State, Mr.. d. Lawrence, of How
ard Co., called the meeting to order
as chairman of the committee, and stat
ed all that had been done by the COM
mittee, since it was appointed, at its
different meetings, and he then called
the Hon. A. B. Davis, temporarily to
the chair, whilst he read and explain
ed the report incorporating provisions
of a Law, which he had prepared at
the instance of most of the members of
the committee who were present at the
former meetings. On taking the chair,
Mr.. Davis, spoke in substance as fol-
lows:


OF the Location of Public Roads.


Public roads should be located as
nearly as possible to horizontal line.
Not only does the experience of all hui
name and observant reinsmen and team
sters teach this-but little study of
the anatomical structure of the horse
will convince the most Indifferent and
skeptical upon this point. The strength
of all animals is derived from, and
iesin the virtebra or backbone. That
of man being vertical, he is seen with
ease and agility climbing steep ascents,
lofty ladders and successive flights of
stair steps. The most familiar exam
pie of the ease with which heavy loads
are carried by man on the shoulder, is
that of the hod carrier and the miller.
The horse being on all fours-his write
bra is directly at right angles to that
of man-and when at ease is parallel
with the level space which he always
selects. He is frequently seen stand
ing across his stall to bring himself as
nearly as possible to this horizontal
position. Hence, when forced upon
steep grades, he is out of his natural
position, and deprived of the ability to
exert the full strength with which ma
ture has endowed him-and hence loss
of power, loss of speed, and loss of full
usefulness to his owner. Both human
ity and economy demand that this great
and too-frequent error in the location
of public roads, should as far as possi-
BILE be lessened in old roads and avoid
ed in the new. A mistake however,
in location is fatal, because when once
made, it cannot afterwards be easily
corrected.


OF the Construction of Roads.


Hardness and smoothness are the es-
sentials of a good road. Toobtain this,
perfect drainage is indispensable. A
writer upon roads his observed that
zone dollar in drainage under a road,
is worth ten dollars spent upon it's sur
face" Soimportanti lis shorough drain
age to obtain a smooth and hard road
track. The superior value of hard
road is witnessed every winter in the
. country, when farmers avail themselves
of severe freezing weather, when the
ground is hard frozen for their heavi-
est hauling. Nothing can be equal to
a hard frozen road, when worn to
smoothness by a few days travel. The
books more handsomely illustrate the
Importance of hard as well as smooth
road, by supposing marble projected
upon piece of velvet stretched beside
a cake of ice of equal length and vice
versa. The experiment will soon salts
fy the most incredulous that smooth
ness without hardness will never make
aperfect road.


OF the Repair of Public Roads.


To obtain the hardness and smooth
ness insisted upon in the preceding
head, public roads thould be kept up
rather than repaired. The old adage,
"that a stitch in time saves nine" is
pre-eminently applicable to the repair
of roads. When suffered to dilapidate
soas to need repair, two positive wrongs
are committed.


First, breach of contract with the
travelling public, and second, loss
and damage to the proprietors of the
road. To keep up a road, as is here
suggested, requires skill, Judgment and
perfect familiarity, by frequent inspec-
tion of the road. The common prac-
tice of appointing supervisors from any
other consideration than that of fitness
for the office, and interest in and ac-
quaintance with the road, is a fraud up
on the public who use the road, and a
directrobbery of those atwhose expense
it has to be kept up, whether the road
be owned and managed by the county,
through their County Commissioners,
or byaprivate corporation. Undoubt-
edly the kind of road most likely to
obtain the perfection herein insisted
upon is toll road. Because first, it
is the interest of those who build the
road. to keep it up; secondly, because
the owners can be made to feel the pen
alty of neglect and thirdly. hacausa If