v'OL. LXin
INDIANAPOLIS, AUGUST 1, 1908.
NO. 31
GRAVEL ROADS IN DANGER.
Damaging Effects of Rapidly Driven Motor Cars.
Recent observation aiyl experiment
have shown that automobiles are a serious menace to stone and gravel roadways. In some states, particularly New
York, civil engineers and road experts
have made an extensive study of the ef
feet of self propelled vehicles upon the
road beds in the country districts, and
in reports recently issued by them they
unanimously declare that the damage
caused by these rapidly driven cars is
far greater than one wonld surmise at first
thought.       One report says:
"In the past three years the increase in
'the number of automobiles and in their
weight and speed has made their effect
very noticeable. The fragments and
powder formed by the grinding action of
traffic, which serve as a necessary binder
to the stone of the macadam, are lifted
by the broad rubber tires of a rapidly-
moving automobile and scattered."
The broad, elastic tires of an auto are
pressed down by the great weight of the
machine and then lifted with such quickness tint the loose particles of dust and
grit are literally jerked into the air, having
the effect ini time of practically removiug
this important part of the road's surface.
Most people are familiar witli the appearance of a gravel or macadam road after it
las been washed across by a swollen
stream. . All the lighter material is gone,
sand and dust are carried away, the bin-
der is cleaned out and the road is visibly
slamaged. Something of the same sort of
(fleet is caused b.v the automobile. The
process is not so rapid, but it is going on
s'ay after day and has already caused
s> much damage in many states that the
question of preserving the roads from this
peril is puzzling the experts.
Mr. C A. Kenyon, an engineer of this
city, has investigated this questiou in
Europe. In an interview iu the Indianapolis News he says:
"Ten years ago countries like France
and England boasted of thousands of
n iles of the finest permanent macadam
i( ads, as smooth as a floor, clean aud
sightly, easily and cheaply kepi in repair
vithsmt being a great burden to the tax-
rnyer. Great Britain alone had nearly
•jO.OOO miles of such roads. The advent
of the motor car and the motor trucks,
nnsj their marvelous increase in numbers
las produced such a stupendous change
iu the conditions of their roads and streets
as to create a feeling almost of panic
among public officials and engineers, as
well as to tax-payers upon whom will fall
• he burden of meeting these new conditions. The beautiful and cheap macadam and gravel surfaces must be abandon-
fd. The rubber tires suck the fine material out of the road and throw it iuto the
"it" in great clouds, and the road or street
Pavement is soon destroyed. The most
liberal appropriations of the local author-
'lies for road maintenance and repair aa-o
so soon exhausted, that taxpayers have
become alarmed, and those in charge of
the upkeep of such streets and roads are
m despair. Thousands of miles of road*
that for fifty years have been considered
"* ideal are going to pieces nuder these
now conditions and every one at all interested is inquiring. What are we going ts;
do about it? How are we going to
R.eet it? I heard eminent engineers estimate that if the motor traffic continues
tc incrense in the rate that it has in the
h st teu years, all of the main roads iu
the United Kingdom will have to be reconstructed within another ten years, entailing au expense of over $700,000,000."
wagon, the horses walking, raised no
dust at all, while a rapidly moving automobile trailed a cloud of dust that hid the
lields from sight.
THERE IS QUITE A DIFFERENCE.
A Farm Wagon  Packing Down   the  Road   Surface.
Au Automobile Throwing the Road Surface Over the Fence.
There is another phase of the problem
that is of vital interest to farmers, and
that is the damage to crops caused by the
clouds of dust thrown into the air and carried over adjoining fields. We have seen
fields of timothy so covered with grit and
dirt in this manner that one could hardly
tell the color of the grass.
The subject of the motor car and the
roads demands serious attention. The
auto has come to stay. Also, we trust,
1he roads will stay, but if so plans must
be devised whereby the motor car and the
road can get along better together than
they have been doing up to this time. The
il-ustrations on this page are from photographs taken a few days ago along the
old National Road, a gravel "turnpike,"
just east of Indianapolis. The pictures
were taken within a few minutes of the
snme time and under exactly the same
ct nditions.       It will be seen that a farm
%xp£vi*,ut6 Sdxartmeut
SUCCULENT FEED FOR WINTER.
Keeps  up  the Milk Flow.
lst Premium.—Succulent foods are
quite essential for profitable winter dairying. By succulent food is meant roots
end ensilage. Cows are machines for
convertiag foods into milk. To have them
produce the largest amount of milk they
must be fed the foods that are best adopted to this purpose. Green grass is the
natural and ideal food for the cow, but
cannot be provided the year round, and
the best substitutes for it are roots and
ensilage. With a good supply of either
ii will be possible to keep up as big a
milk How through the wiater as during
the early summer when the grass is at its
best.       In fact cows fed on ensilage and
a good grain ration will not increase the
milk flow appreciably when turned on
grass, whereas if they have been fed ou
dry food they will show quite an increase.
Roots and ensilage have a good effect
on the digestive tract, toning up the system and keeping the bowels in good order.
The question naturally arises, which is
I.est. cools or ensilage? The results obtained indicate that there is not much difference, and that the slight difference is in
favssr of the ensilage. The ensilage is
also cheaper, as it can be more cheaply
raised and stored. Corn is used almost
exclusively for putting into the silo. It
can be improved by putting in some soy
beans, say two parts corn to one of soy
beans, but the beginner had better put in
the corn alone. The silo is the cheapest way of preserving winter food, and
the ensilage is in a most convenient form
for feeding.
Some seem to think that ensilage taints
the milk. Careful handling will avoid
this. The eows should  not be fed tbe
ensilage before milking, nor should any
ensilage be left lying in the bam, as the
milk takes up the ensilage odor from the
air  and  not  through  the  cow. In ex-
pjeriments that have been made iu giving
people milk from ensilage fed cows and
bi»y ted cows, the consumers not knowing
how the cows were fed, usually select
the milk from the ensilage fed cow as
having the better flavor. So that from
the standpoint of good milk yield, cheapness of producing and storing, convenience
of feediug, and health of the cow, ensilage has advantages over dry feed.
Roots, as mangels, sugar* beets and
parsnips, are about as valuable as ensil-
r.ge, but the cost of growing and storing
them is at least twice as great. The
most successful dairyman makes provision
for winter feeding by having well filled
silos. X. Y. Z.
Makes Winter  Like Summer.
2d Premium.—It is well understood that
the cows arc at their best when on good
pasture and that their flow of milk is
greater under these conditions than when
on dry feed. Nothing, in my estimation,
equals clover pasture both for keeping the
cows in condition and for the production
of butter of good quality and texture.
This being true, in order to keep up the
flow of milk in the winter the conditions
at this time should be made to conform as
nearly as possible to those of the summer
months. This can best be done by supplying silage, roots and other green stuff
tc take the place of the grass and to neutralize the dry ration which it is necessary
to feed at this season.
Silos are not numerous in this county,
since this is not considered a dairy district. (One explanation of this, however, may be the absence of the silo.) We
sometimes wonder why a greater interest
is not taken in root crops, since they
are so easily raised and the yield is so
enormous where conditions are favorable.
I often think of our first experience in
raising roots. This was several years
ago, when a small plat was planted as
an experiment, and when they were harvested we had beets and turnips by the
ton, instead of b.v the bushel as had been
expected. ,
There are two conditions, perhaps,
lhat tend to discourage the production of
roots. One is the lack of facilities for
storing them and another is the tedious-
Continued on page 5.