Show M M MAKING MAKIN G DIRT ROADS BETTER foreman must know what Wh atHow howand how and when to plow avold avoid building up too much at one onetime almo by E VAN benthuysen with a sandy soil and a subsoil ol of clay or clay and gravel plow deep so go as to raise and mix the clay with the ile surface soil boll and sand the combination comile bin atlon fortna forms a band and e clay road at trifling expense if the road bo be entirely at 0 sand a mistake will be made if it la Is plowed unless clay can be added such plowing would merely deepen the sand and at the same time break up the small amount of hard surface material which may have bavo formed if tho the subsoil to la clay and the surface scant in sand or gravel plowing geould not be resorted to as it would result in a clay surface rather than one of sand band or gravel A road foreman must know not only is what hat to plow and what not to plow but hove bow and if the road Is of the kind which according to the above instructions instruct long should be plowed over its whole width the best beet method Is to run the first furrow in the middle of the road and work out outto to the sides thus forming a crown results from such plowing are greatest in spring or early summer in ditches a plow can be used to good advantage but should be followed by a scraper or grader to make wide deep ditches nothing bet ter than the ordinary drag scraper his has virginia road after improvement with top soil gravel yet been devised for hauls under feet or in making tills fills it Is especially serviceable it Is a mistake however to attempt to handle long haul material with tills this scraper as aa the wheel scraper Is better adapted to such work for hauls of more than feet a wagon should be used the machine most generally used in road work Is the grader or road machine this machine Is especially useful in smoothing and crowning the road and in opening ditches A clay subsoil under a thin coating of soil should not be disturbed with a grader it Is also a mistake to use a grader indiscriminately and to pull material from ditches upon a sandy road not infrequently turf soil and silt from ditch bottoms are piled la in the middle of the road in a ridge making mud holes a a certainty it Is important in using a grader to avoid building up lip the road too much at one time A 9 road gradually built up by frequent use of the grader will last better than it if completed nt at one operation op fatiori the foreman frequently thinks his road must be high in tho the first instance he plies piles up material from ten inches to a foot in depth only to learn with the arrival of the first rain that he has furnished the mate material ital for so many inches of alu mud all material should be brought up in thin layers each layer well ell and firmly packed by a roller or traffic before the next Is added A common mistake Is to crown too high with the road machine on a narrow road the splitlog split log drag should be used to fill the ruts and smooth the road when not cot too badly washed the drag possesses great merit and is so simple in construction and operation that every farmer should have one |