Red Hot Road Sense

( 'ir country roads are a di.-grace to civIllzatioo. While we prideoumlves upon onr ntelligence, enterprise and progressire spii it as a people, we lack in a marked dogree wliat was one of the tests applied to older civil'Zations - the chiracter oftheir roads. This may b partfially aecounted for by Mie mimber and extent of our rallroadft, but cminot wliolly excuse U9. Some of the taxes against wliieti the farmer grumbles are u'terly in?IgnlllCAnt n comparisoD wlth the tax he puts upnn hlmself in ex crable lie is obliged to use. The woi k on tlieno ií done, as a rule, ha[!n:ad, without care nr 8jt;m. Last spring the roads were well-nigh Irapa.ssíible, and continued so until the lieat of the sunimer min gradudly dried up the mui', rendering them, for a short time p.iMable. Then comes tlie intellisrent road-mender and ru'us tliem. Ttie mud ai d earth in theditches were seraped luto t he midille of il.c niads and ]-ft to be ploughfd throufih until the r;iins come ajjaiii and once inore they are practically i ni [ias-ah]d and so it goes from year to vcur. Tne economie valué of i;ood roads does not stem to be understood. If our farmers real'zed whut the truth is, tliat food rouds on wblch to t a isport thelr produce to depot and markets encance iheVilue of tlinse producís very much more than the cost of making the roads tliey would eertainly tvince far greater interest thaii tliey dow do lo the matter. 1 therefore regard C)I. Pope, who some time iig hequealhed a large suin of money to a M issachusetts institute to provide a tund for instruclion in road-inaking to 'lave been a wise man and a public benefactor. He must have clearly comprehended the fact that what was needed was instruction and enlightenment of the musscs in regard to the great value to the Qomcrjunlty, and to the land owner especiallj', of good roads, and that we as a people, were woefully deficiënt in the art of roud making. This is a matter In wliicli farmers are vitally interested, and which the farmers' organizations might discuss with great prolit to themselves and the eommunity at large. We do not need law tiukering, with respect to roads, so much as practical instruction in the art of m iking good roads.