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clay, but these cases come under the head of road construction rather than road repair. If it is insisted that they belong to the question of repair rather than construction, then the answer must be that the exception proves the rule. All practical road work demonstrates the invariable rule upon which we are insisting, and if this bulletin but emphasizes the absoluteness of the principle, like repair for like surface, and assists in leading to its adoption by those having charge of road repair in the state of Ohio, this bulletin shall have accomplished an important

result.

An almost universal condition prevailing on the roadways of Ohio as well as other states, is a border of sod and weeds along each side of the traveled way and between it and the ditches. The horse manure is carried by rains toward the sides of a properly crowned road, and supplies the fertilization for the surface that produces a rank growth of grasses and other vegetation on the strip between the traveled track, where grass cannot grow, and the ditches. This strip or border of turf acts as a sieve on the surface washings of the road, checking the flow and allowing the water to pass slowly through, but at the same time collecting among the blades and stalks the solid material of the wash. This process slowly but certainly builds up a berme higher than the traveled surface of the roadway. This berme prevents the prompt passage of rainfall latterly from the surface and forces its flow along the road on grades, washing the material away and destroying the bond of the surface. The result on level roads is the retention of the moisture on the surface until removed by the slow process of evaporation, resulting in a wet, soft surface that will not resist the action of wheels even under light loads. This condition is the most prevalent of the many causes that tend to keep all kinds of roads in bad condition and destroy their value for comfortable and economic travel.

The attempt is often made to remedy the above condition by cutting trenches through the berme so formed, to allow the flow of water from the road. This, in a measure, is a remedy for the faulty condition, but is only temporary and in the nature of a makeshift. Constant attention should be given to the cutting away of this line of sod and its removal from the space within the bounds of the ditches. Where there are fills, the removed sod may be judiciously used on their face to increase their width and add to the permanency of their slope, but there is no other proper place for depositing the sod inside of the ditch limit.

In many places where the modern road machine is used in working the roads and where the necessity of removal of the border of sods is recognized, the machine is used for cutting away the sod border, which is very proper, as it does the work very effectively, especially when the sod is moist. The mistake, however, is most frequently made of carrying the, sod to the center and allowing it to remain on the traveled way in order to provide better crown and remedy the ditch shape of so many clay roads. The surface of any road is an improper place for the deposit of any waste product, especially vegetable matter, and violates the rule to use only the same kind of material, on the surface of the road, of which the surface was originally constructed.

The same result occurs where the silt, sod, trash and refuse that inevitably accumulate in road ditches are deposited on the surface of the traveled road to improve its crown and condition. There is often a deceptive but temporary effect produce upon the surface of a clay road by deposits of vegetable matter, th has led superficial observers.

to the belief that such a covering is a benefit. There is no doubt that the incorporation of a small amount of vegetable matter in the surface of a clay road gives, for a short time, a tenacious condition that is for the moment an improvement to its carrying power, and prevents moderately-loaded wheels from cutting quite so deeply into the road. This improvement is but transient and after the lapse of a short time is a great detriment to the road.

All repair of clay roads should be made early in the season in order that during the summer and fall the alternate rainfall and sunshine, together with the travel, shall compact and firm the surface. The alternate kneading of the moist clay by hoofs and wheels, and baking of the kneaded clay by the sun, firms and cements the surface in such a manner as to form a cover that sheds rain and supports travel much more effectively than clay in its natural condition. If wide tires are used so that deep cutting is prevented, the process of compacting the surface is much more effectively accomplished.

Every farmer conversant with the tillage of clay soils soon recognizes the process of firming a clay soil by alternate tillage, when wet, and exposure to the sun. Clay soils plowed or cultivated when wet, especially late in the season when the sun has acquired a considerable baking power, become obdurate, cloddy and difficult of treatment to such an extent as to largely lose their fertility. In many instances clay fields by one year's mistreatment in this respect assume an obdurate condition that can only be remedied by years of proper tillage. I have in mind one fairly fertile field, by wet tillage during one season, that was put in such condition that the effect of the bad treatment was noticeable for twenty-five years. The kneading process when wet, alternating with exposure to hot sun, packs and kneads the material of a clay field until the air is prevented full access and the field becomes unproductive. The same process on the surface of a clay road tends to make its surface impervious to moisture and advances it one step in the progress to the typical road whose surface is a perfect roof, that prevents the passage of rain downward to the foundation to destroy its burden-bearing capacity.

When vegetable matter is placed upon the surface of a road in the process of repair, so that it is incorporated therein by travel, the vegetable matter interfering with the kneading process of wheels, prevents the clay particles from being forced into close contact and also by decay during the whole season, produces an unstable condition the opposite of that which is secured in the absence of this matter foreign to the clay.

A short time ago, in conversation with an ardent good roads advocate, he insisted that in one case under his observation great benefit had been derived by the treatment of a road by a deposit of sod on its surface. It came out, however, later in the conversation, that when the road was treated with the surfacing of sod, it had been thoroughly rolled with a heavy roller. The real cause of the improvement was thus brought out. There is not the remotest doubt but that if the rolling had been done, and addition of sod omitted, the improvement would have. been much more marked. The evident benefit came from the rolling and the permanent effect would have been greater if the sod had been omitted.

The decay of the sod but loosens the surface and prevents the full effect of the compacting process of rolling, as well as the same compaction, resulting from alternate kneading of travel and baking by the sun. Let any one take two balls of clay, one in which there is mixed

grass and roots, and the other pure clay; thoroughly moisten and knead each one and expose them to the hot sun for a few days, and it is very easy to determine which becomes the most compact and resistant.

The importance of repairing roads early in the season arises from the same conditions and processes as are referred to in the discussion above. In spite of all the instruction and experience of the past, a great proportion of the work of repairing of country roads is performed after the season of alternate rain and hot sun has passed. The dry season of the late summer and fall does not provide the frequent rains necessary to the effective kneading process, and the fall rains come after the sun has lost its power. The result of early work is that the greatest benefit to clay roads provided by nature is made use of, that is the climatic conditions in Ohio in June and July. The clay used in the repair of roads in August and September is, during the dry season, pulverized into powder that later in the season acts as a sponge to absorb moisture and transmit to the rainy season a porous surface, that is just the opposite of the surface resultant from early repair, followed by the natural conditions in mid-summer that leave the road surface the best, short of articficial covering, for acting as a roof to the road and keeping the foundation dry.

In considering the repair of clay roads, I desire to refer to one method that on the one hand is lauded as the universal cure-all for roads; that at slight expense is to give us highways that are in the highest sense good roads and is to solve the country road problem for a song. On the other hand, this method is held up to ridicule and considered by some road authorities as unworthy of consideration. I refer to the split-log method, called by some the clay and comb method. I do not think the method will fulfill all the predictions made for it by some of its advocates, but I believe it is worthy of consideration and will do much in the way of improving purely rural roads. The much-discussed machine may be described as follows: A log nine or ten feet long is split in halves. The halves, with the flat face front and edge down, are fastened firmly together by cross bars so as to be two and one-half feet apart. A chain hitch is so secured as to drag the affair over the road at an angle of forty-five degree, so that the front corner of the drag is toward the side of the road and the rear corner toward the center. By weighting the machine and dragging it over the road, when the road is in a moist condition, using two or three horses, the edges of the split log acting as side-wipe scrapers, cuts off the tops of ridges formed by wheels, and any bumps or clods, and forces them sidewise and forward into depressions. This not only fills up the holes and hollows in which water will remain after a rain, softening the surface, but also moves the material toward the center of the road. This process accomplishes two results. First, producing and increasing crown of the road, and second, filling up depressions that hold water and prevent the rapid drying of the surface. Although the process is slow, the result tends to proper crown and smooth, dry surface, and also to the destruction of vegetable growth. Another action takes place. The movement of the drag over the wet surface of the road has a puddling and compacting effect that adds materially to the improvement of the surface as to shedding rain. These results may all be accomplished by the use of the modern road machine in forming, and the roller in compacting the surface. From the above it will be seen that the split-log drag acts along the same lines and to the same end as the road machine and roller.

The greatest argument for its use is its very modest first cost. There

is no question that if persistently and judiciously used that it may become an effective instrument in the improvement of the condition of country roads that are subject only to light travel. As to its being a substitute for the more expensive process of improving the condition of roads subject to heavy travel, is not to be considered; neither on the other hand should it be held up to ridicule. Its action is along the lines of and in line with, methods that must be followed in all good road improvement, that is, securing proper crown, compact surface and prompt drainage.

In the maintenance of the clay road surface, the most effective results are secured by doing the work early in the season, by the use of the modern road machine in giving proper crown and smooth surface, and where any amount of material is added, the use of a roller to firm and compact it into a solid and resistant condition.

The method so widely prevalent of working out taxes when there is nothing else to do, making the annual road work an occasion for a sort of picnic or holiday, and the tendency to feel disposed to vote for the fellow for supervisor who allows an easy time and ineffective work, rather than for the man who in an honest and business-like way endeavors to secure the best roads possible from the means at command, cannot but continue conditions that now so widely exist and are so universally deplored. The proceeding is but a minor form of graft, and although insignificant in detail is very considerable in the aggregate.

Ditches and drains on all kinds of roads need constant attention in order that they may be effective in carrying off the water. Ditches, when neglected, soon fill up with silt and weeds and, unless prompt attention is given. fail to carry away the moisture which is retained to soak and destroy the foundation and surface.

From the fact that there are thousands of miles of clay roads within the State of Ohio that show no attempt at drainage, the first and foremost condition necessary to good roads of any kind, special pains should be taken in their repair to provide drainage; that must be the first step toward securing roads that can be traveled with comfort at any time, and are at all passble during the muddy season.

The method of constant attention, by which obstructions and defects are immediately removed, is a much better plan than to allow.neglect to such an extent as to require heavy and expensive repair. On every kind of road the lack of prompt attention to drainage is the cause of the greatest damage, and eventually leads to a much larger measure of expense than will result from following the principles embodied in the old expression, "A stitch in time saves nine."

The lack of public spirit in many of the people who reside along our public highways is a very lamentable condition. Instead of taking pride in the appearance of the highway through the farm, many owners make it the dumping ground for waste materials and clog the ditches with trash, stones and brush cast over the enclosing fences as the easiest way to dispose of the waste.

The lack of interest of teamsters, who should have the greatest personal interest in the condition of the public highway, evidenced by their destruction of the good condition of the roads they travel, is a most lamentable fact. Many times this assumes a more aggravated phase than mere neglect, when teamsters, by persistent and improper driving, apparently indicate that they have ro thought of the importance of care on their part, and by their methods, lead one to judge that they in

tentionally counteract and destroy the efforts of road authorities in keeping the highways in good condition.

IMPROVED ROADS.

Sometimes the expression is used that permanent roads, if really permanent, should not need repair. This absurdity arises from the misconception of what is meant by permanent improvement. Not only roads nor any material structure can be classed as permanent in the sense that such view implies. Modern road building accomplishes permanent results as compared with the old methods displaced thereby, but not permanent in that conditions provided are not subject to change. When we speak of permanent roads we refer to the manner of construction, as compared with old methods that secured merely temporary results.

The moment the improved road passes from the fininshing touches of the builder, the destructive forces of nature begin their work and result in loss of the material of the road and change in condition of its surface. First Loss results from chemical action. This loss is constant and ever varying in its process, although in its results it is very slight as compared with some of the forces mentioned below.

Second: Loss results from climatic action. This loss is moderate in well-constructed and well-drained roads, and considerable in those that are poorly constructed. In all cases loss from climatic action is considerably increased where extremes in temperature are great and frequent, especially when these changes pass many times during the season from above to below the freezing point and the reverse.

Third: Loss results from abrasion or wear by hoofs and wheels. Sufficient abrasion to provide a certain amount of binder from the material of which the surface of the road is constructed is necessary to its permanency. If this binder is not provided the surface of the road will ravel, a word used by road builders to designate the loosening effect of travel on a road surface that has not sufficient cementing quality. This raveling of road material that is deficient in cementing quality is often observed in dry weather. There is, therefore, a certain amount of wear necessary for the best maintenance of the road surface in good condition, that amount depending on the quality of the material itself. In and near cities the loss from abrasion, wearing of surface and destruction of material from locked wheels and heavy traffic is very great. Rural roads, exempt from heavy travel, especially heavy travel during inclement weather, have but slight loss from traffic, the proportion of loss due to abrasion being of small amount when compared with the loss that results from the cause described next below.

Fourth: The greatest loss, and especially to purely rural roads, is from the washing effect of violent rains, particularly on grades, removing the finer material that binds the larger pieces together and results in the destruction of the solidity and smoothness of the surface.

"The maintenance of a roadway," it has been said, "is the keeping of it nearly as practicable in the same condition as it was when originally made. The repair of a roadway is the work rendered necessary to bring it up to its original condition after it has become deteriorated by neglect to maintain it."

There is a wear that cannot be provided for by what is termed maintenance alone. Any architectural or engineering structure will, with the lapse of time, develop defects incident to insufficient care in con

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