Agriculture . y 20-ton steam roller will not need ROADS. to be passed over the gravel as often as a 6-ton roller drawnby two teams of horses. Unless the gravel is rolled in thisway, it remains loose and soft when the fall rains come on,the wheels of wagons cut through it, and mix it with the mudbeneath ; and so the gravel is wasted and the road is not nearlyso good as it should be. Then more gravel is put on androlled again, and a nicely rounded or crowned surface is madewhich will shed the rain-water into the side ditches, andwhich is so hard and compact on the surface that the wheelswill not


Agriculture . y 20-ton steam roller will not need ROADS. to be passed over the gravel as often as a 6-ton roller drawnby two teams of horses. Unless the gravel is rolled in thisway, it remains loose and soft when the fall rains come on,the wheels of wagons cut through it, and mix it with the mudbeneath ; and so the gravel is wasted and the road is not nearlyso good as it should be. Then more gravel is put on androlled again, and a nicely rounded or crowned surface is madewhich will shed the rain-water into the side ditches, andwhich is so hard and compact on the surface that the wheelswill not cut through. But big open ditches on the side are unsightly; they getchoked up with weeds, and they are frequently dangerous tohorses and travellers. They should be kept clean, of course,so that the water will not stand in them. But the better planis to put down a covered tile drain on each side of the road,and leave only a shallow ditch above it. The grass will growover this, and a neat roadside will Fig. 83.—A gravel road properly crowned, with side ditches and tile drains. In order to get a strong, tough surface, the gravel must bewell packed together, that is, it must bind. If we mixtogether in the road coarse gravel and fine hard stony materialand soft fine dirt the road will soon become uneven. It isnecessary, therefore, to have the gravel well screened ; thenthe coarser part should be spread on the roadway and wellrolled, and the finer gravel spread upon it to fonm the soft material, such as sods and loose dirt, should be kept 19° AGRICULTURE. out of the gravel; in short, the gravel should be as clean aspossible; it should be screened, graded, and put on in layers,and should be well rolled. Stone Roads. —As a rule, gravel is more or less rounded,and therefore does not at first bind well. You know that aroad could not be well made out of marbles. To bind wellthere must be sharp corners and rough sides on the we find that broken stone w


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidag, booksubjectagriculture