EARTH ROADS: HINTS ON THEIR CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR. EARTH ROADS IN DIFFERENT STATES. CALIFORNIA. The Technical Society of the Pacific Coast, in a paper prepared by Messrs. Streidinger and von Geldern, gives the following instructions for building earth roads: CONSTRUCTION. In constructing new dirt roads all stumps, brush, vegetable matter, rocks, and bowlders should be removed from the surface and the resulting holes filled in with suitable material, carefully and thoroughly tamped or rolled, before the road embankment is commenced. No perishable material should be used in forming the permanent embankment. Wherever the subgrade soil is found unsuitable it should be removed and replaced with good material rolled to a bearing. The roadbed having been brought to the required grade and crown should be rolled several times to compact the surface. All inequalities discovered during the rolling should be leveled up and rerolled. On the prepared subgrade the earth should be spread, harrowed if necessary, and then rolled to a bearing by passing the ûnballasted road roller a number of times over every portion of the surface of the section. In level countries and with narrow roads enough material may be excavated to raise the roadway above the subgrade in forming the side ditches by means of road machines. If not, the required earth should be obtained by widening the side excavations, or from cuttings on the line of the new roadway, or from borrow pits close by, elevating graders and modern dumping wagons being preferably used for this purpose. When the earth is brought up to the final height it is again harrowed, then trimmed by means of road levelers or road machines, and ultimately rolled to a solid and smooth surface with road rollers gradually increased in weight by the addition of ballast. No filling should be brought up in layers exceeding 9 inches in depth. During the rolling, sprinkling should be attended to wherever the character of the soil requires such aid. The cross section of the roadway must be maintained during the last rolling stage by the addition of earth as needed. On clay soils a layer of sand, gravel, or ashes spread on the roadway will prevent the sticking of the clay to the roller. As previously explained, the finishing touches to the road surface should be given by the heaviest rollers at hand. Before the earth road is opened to traffic the side ditches should be cleaned and left with the drain tiling in good working order. DRAINAGE. With wet or clayey roadways surface drainage alone is not sufficient. Without underdrainage the crown of such roadways will dry only by the slow process of evaporation, during which time the topping becomes more and more rutted by the passing traffic. A subdrain in such soils will not prove efficient for more than about 12 feet on each side; hence, two lines of longitudinal subdrains are needed on those parts of our California country roads that pass through wet places, low-lying lands, or clayey soils. They should have an average fall of about 1 in 100; minimum fall, 1 in 1,000. At short intervals, say from 36 to 100 feet apart, are placed cross drains to discharge the water into the side ditches. These cross drains receive a greater fall, say up to 1 in 30. Generally 2 to 3-inch pipes are sufficient. It is advantageous to bed these tiles in well-rammed brick fragments and to cover them with road metal. Be certain that the tiles are correctly laid and that nothing interferes with their free discharge. As said before, unglazed round tiles, about 3 inches in diameter and under certain conditions jointed with loose collars, are most suitable for subdrains. The bottom of the tiles should be laid both to the proper grade and below the frost line, after which the tile trench is filled up to subgrade with clean gravel, small field stones, road metal, or broken bricks. The cross drains are also made of unglazed tiles, with the exception of their outlet sections, which should consist of vitrified culvert pipes. Regular branch pipes should connect the longitudinal and cross tiles. On level reaches the lateral roadway slopes for surface drainage should not be less than 1 in 24, and side ditches should be provided, if necessary, as previously indicated. Finally, a rapid discharge of the side ditches, if required, through adjacent lands is of the utmost importance to roadway preservation. Trees should not be allowed on the sides of dirt roads, because they impede the drying action of the sun and wind. Again, their water-seeking roots are apt to creep into the drains and thus obstruct, if they do not prevent, the junction of the tiles. REPAIRS. Dirt roads are readily repaired by a judicious use of road machines and road rollers. Ploughs and scoop scrapers should not be used for this purpose. Repairs should be attended to particularly in the spring of the year, and whenever the roadway becomes rutted, subsequently. It is best to commence by lightly scraping at the side ditches, and operating towards the middle of the roadway, following the work up and finishing it with the heaviest road rollers. Holes which are not thus filled should be leveled up with gravel, or other suitable material, and then well compacted with rollers. If possible, these repairs should be executed during damp weather, or at least after a good road sprinkling. The average cost of the better California country road is $800 per mile, the price varying between $400 and $2,000. VIRGINIA. Capt. Orris A. Browne, of Cape Charles, Va., says: I have been requested to give my experience in making roads, and I do so that I may add my mite to a cause in which I am so much interested. This experience has not been gained in the highest, but, on the contrary, in the lowest grade of roadmaking, namely, in the making of cheap, well-kept dirt roads. Other materials have been used upon them, but in such homeopathic doses that they have not risen above the plane of dirt roads. My efforts have been those of a farmer trying to supply his own wants, and not those of an engineer. My experience is also very limited in area, having been confined to the eastern shore of Virginia-the two counties belonging to that State east of Chesapeake Bay. The soil of this locality is fortunately so mixed with sand and clay that it forms a very good roadbed, and a little sand on the top of it makes a lasting cushion to take the wear of travel, and when the water is properly drained off an excellent cheap country road is the result. When the soil has too much clay it is easily corrected with sand, and it is surprising how little it takes; the reverse of this treatment is also a success. When the proper combination is made, the road |