Road Suggestions

The annual report of Henry I. Budd, oommissioner of public roads in New Jersey, is a document of general importance, inasmuch as New Jersey is conceded to bo the model state iu road building. One of the most interesting and valuable chapters iu the report is that of ' "Instructions to freeholders, engineers, supervisors and others interested iii building and repairing roads," made necessary by the frequent change in tilCSO officials. Some of tlie RmnroBfinnc are: "The hardest and toughest stone or rock procurable at a reasouable cost should be selected. "All stono should bo as near cnbical as possible, and none should be over 1 % nches cach way in diameter. "The earthen baso .should be thorraghly drained, the water taken out and kcpt out, then rolled until the roller eases to make any iuipression on it and made to conform to the samecurvatures as the finished roadbod. There is no bctter base than dry, fircn earth, riot even a telford foundation. The metal should be spread at a uniform depth orer tho whole anrface, tlien partially cousolidated by rolling, thentliorougiily wateied before the roller, ■vvhich wetting causes the pieces to glide more ruadily together aud to be more flrmly bonded without cruahing. Any depressions causee! by rolling to be repiedied by pickmg np with a piek and adding sufflcient stone to briiig tho surface xip to the proper lovel. For this purposo on macadam and tolford roads a stearu roller of 10 or 12 tons weight is best suited and most economical. "For gravel or earth roads a horse roller of froru six to ten tons is sufficient. If the metal is well rolled and ed, the bed will be impervious to water, and the earth below will tlien be .so dry it will not freeze, uplift and . disintegrate the bed. Dry stone, gravel or earth does not readily compact. Therefore in the spring, after the frost is well ont and the ground is ruoist, tho whole surf ace should be rollcd with a heavy roller. There is nothing which gives better returns for the money invested than free application of the roller to the surface. "Dnring the dry scason the roads should be frequeutly watercd or covered with a slight coat of loainy gravel. "Iu short, a perfectly good road must have a firru and unyielding foundation, good drainage, a hard and compact surface free from all ruts, hollows or pressions, tiie siirraco neithor too flat to allow water to stand uor too cohvex to bc inconveuieut to the trafile, and freo from looso stxmes. " "To make a good road, " I sioner Budd says, "isoiio thing; tokeep ' it in good repair is quite nnother. The j fine roads of Enropc are the result of a splendid repair system, where every defect is reinedied before it has time to cause serious dainage to the higlnvay. " The lessou that la-s come out of the Bix years' experience is that anykind of earth, well draiued and rolled, is the very best foundation for stoue or other material. "Eight luches, properly laid and rolled upon a solid carth foundation, vill su.stuin as heavy a load without depresaüigáfi 18 iuchcs. The expericnce of tko northern counties is that 4 inches of ruacadani on a well draiiied surfaco nuswers most of their requircmcuts, and (j iuclies is the maximum thoy require. Iu tJie middlo couuties they will have no greater depth (lian 8 ches. But in ti lower cóuníieS, wtóre the söil is flrier BïJd preseut.s tlie most desirable foundation, they iusist on roads 10 to 14 nches iu deplli, üíajdrig tJiecostsogreat :hat tuxpayers are ippallcd. " _ -