VOL. LX.
INDIANAPOLIS, JANUARY 28, 1905.
NO. 4
GOOD ROADS CHEAP AND EASY.
By P. Ward King.
FAHM RESIDENCE.
It is cheap and easy to have good earth
roads. Rear in mind that no road is
perfect and the best, hardest and most
expensive roads must be constantly repaired.
A number of years hack I began to experiment with the earth road between- my
own front gate and my neighbor's front
gate toward town.
The land is rolling prairie. Part of
the soil is black nnd part of it is yellow
clay. I keep-this particular stretch of
road in- good condition by merely going
over it with a drag after every rain
or wet spell. The drag is made by split
ting a log nnd placing the two pieces
about 30 inehes apart with the flat surfaces facing the same direction. ' These
are pinned securely together. The lower
edge of the front piece is protected by
l-olting on an old wagon tire. The log
should be 10 or 12 inches in diameter
und about 10 feet long.
Attach a chain (I use a trace chain and
one-half) near each end of the drag and
hitch the double tree clevis to one side of
the middle of the chain so arranging matters that the drag will move the earth toward the middle of the road.
The right time to drag is just as the
road is drying after a rain, or when it
is thawing out on top. TIfe road should
be  dragged   after  every   rain.
Dragging smooths the surface, fills ruts
nnd holes and gradually elevates the center until no water remains thereon- after
rains.
Bj- dragging, a smooth surface for
traveling is produced. The most valn-
tiable result, however, is that the road
will shed the next rain instead ,of absorbing it. The important item in making a good earth road, it to keep it so
that the rain will not soak in. This,
as I said before, ean be done by dragging once a month on- an average. I
drag from my own front gate to my neighbor's front gate, one-half a mile. It
takes about 20 minutes. I don't make
many trips to town before I regain the
time expended in dragging, to say nothing
of the gain to my neighbors and the general public.
Dragging every time it rains not only
makes it smooth for travel, but distributes
the travel all over the road, packing it
evenly instead of just under the tires
ami under the hoofs of the horses. The
ability of the road to shed water is thus
increased. Dragging spreads a thin
layer of moist earth over a moist surface antl travel packs and pounds it
together. s\fter years of spreading
nnd packing, I have a road on which
Anything less than a week's wet weather makes little impression. In spring,
when tlie ground thaws through and un-
kept roads are so muddy and spongy that
we say the bottom has fallen out, this
read remains in fair condition.
A horse's hoof prints will hold from
a saucer full to a quart of water. The
neglected road presents a surface of upturned cups and saucers, in which the
water must stand until it either evaporates or soaks in. After being dragged a
few times the surface of the road remains
level.
More earth can be moved hy dragging,
the road during thaws in winter than at
any other season of the year, at which
time the soil is crumbly ami pushes to the
middle very easily.     If a road is dragged
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Plan of Farm Residence,  copyrighted by the Co-operative Buildin-:
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two conservatives were hard to start and
the majority allowed the small minority
to stop  them. In  trying  to  get  round
the dillicult}', I said to a farmer who lives
five    miles   from   Maitland:     "If I will
drag  the  road  from  your  house  to  town
once  this  year  will    you  do  the    same?
He answered "you bet." I asked the same
question   ot  each   fanner  along  the   road
and   generally   got   the  same   answer,   all
agreeing.      Then  I  went to some of  tiie
merchants and suggested  that if the road
t(.  Maitland  was  better than the road  to
Blanktown,   the  people   would  tome      to
Maitland     even     though     Blanktown   be
closer.        Then  I asked them if I  would
get eight or ten farmers along that road
to  drag to town  once  a    year,  if    they
would gi-t eight or ten- merchants to drag
to a point five miles out and back.      This
would  insure  dragging  1(!  to 20  times  a
year and a splendid road ought to result.
I did not have to urge this as everyone was
familiar with  my  fine  piece  of  road   and
the merchants and farmers agreed to it at
mice. We  now  havo  five  miles  of the
best dirt road I over saw.
Some complain that they cannot get
men or teams in May anrl June for road
work. I have given the matter careful study, and lind that if the road is
dragged in February, March and April,
wry little will have to be done during
May   and   June. At   the  earlier  dates
there are plenty of time for road work.
Ill- spring and winter, it is best to drag
the road when the surface is dry, litit
the part beneath the surface is still
quite moist. In the summer and early
fall it is best to drag when the surface
is just a little wet, because after summer
rains the soil an inch or so below the surface gets dry before the top. This may
seem a little thing hut it amounts to a
goorl deal in the long run.
AVe hear a great deal about making
good roads by law; it cannot be done. A
vigorous public sentiment must go before
the law in all such cases. A piece of
wisely dragged road is nn object lesson
that effects the entire community and lifts
public sentiment. And in many localities her.' in Missouri the public is asking
for a law that will make it the duty of
every farmer to drag the road from his
own front gate to his neighbor's front
gate,  toward  town.
m-
FIRST  FLOOR. SECOND   PLOOR.
On tins page we show plans for a farm  residence,  22   feet  by  48   feet  0
dies in  size,  two stories.
1. Cellar, 7 feet; 1st storj-, 0 feet ; 2d story, 8 feet (5 inches.
2. Foundation  is  stone;  lap  sidin-.'.   shingle   roof.
IS.    Two coat plaster and hard whit.- linish;stainednnd varnished inside finish.
-1.    Cost .?2,000 including mantels, range  anil   heater,  and   plumbing.
The cost is liased on cost of labor and materials in New York, nnd as these are
lower iu the middle west the cost of such a house here would be $1,700 to $1,800.
The two lloor plans show interior arrang. inent and   convenience,  with   batlf room,
stairways,  closets,  bed   rooms,   etc.
two or three times in March or April,  it
will  show the effect all summer.
An iron-faced implement is not absolutely necessary. I lygan with a drag made
from an old post_ and a frost bitten pump
stook In-Ill togrJat wn-|| ]_to or three short
pieces of incljt carefully.01' otr top. It
went to piei before the:,lnm£ of the
second  year. cover  or   unevenly  drove
the team  "straddle"'-/ heat inside track,
and  over  the  other  w.. -.to's ling
back.       This broke the rim u* ,hat
rises on each side of the wheel track, leav
ing the road in goorl condition for tonm-
siers  to  "straddle"  the  ruts. I      used
to think I had tin- nicest road in the country. This road would now look very rough
to me, for if my present road does not
look as smooth as a raco track I expect
people to criticise it.
This road has been a means of education and has developed what is known in
onr neighborhood as the Maitland good
road   system. It   came   about   in   this
way. We  endeavored   to   get   all   the
farmers to  drag their roads,  but one  or
Ihe Forestry Rfeervat'on Act.
The act to encourage forestry, enquired
for by ii subscriber, was passed in March,
ISO!), ami provides that a portion of hi ml
not exceeding one-eighth of the total area
of the tract may be selected as a permanent forestry reservation, which shall be
appraised for taxation at .fl per acre. It
may be. an original forest with not less
than 170 trees on "an acre, or may be
planted and cultivated for three years
with same number of trees. Cattle, sheep,
etc., are not to be pastured on the reserved tract until the trees are four inches in
diameter. Not  more  than   one-fifth   of
the trees may be removed in any one
year. In the list of trees named for
the purpose Osage orange, sassafras and
catalpa are included, as well as the larger
forest trees. It wpnld take many years
for some of these to average 4 inches in
diameter.
The auditor of each connty must keep
a record of the forest reservations, and require owners or agents to take oatii as to
number of trees planted, condition, etc.
The last section makes it the duty of the
assessor to examine the reservations before appraising them at ?1 an acre.