on while the road is in this saturated state, its effects must be very injurious, the water being expanded by the operation of freezing, with a force so great as to tare up and separate all the materials composing the surface. The materials being thus loosened and separated, yield to the smallest pressure when a thaw takes place, by which the whole surface is converted into ruts, requiring fresh repairs; but when the foundation of the road is paved, the water escapes through the crevices, and the frost being unable to penetrate through the pavement, does very little injury.

Having given the necessary directions for laying out, constructing, and repairing roads, it may be interesting to offer some account of the introduction of the im

proved system here pointed out. The attempts to improve the principal thoroughfares of England, may be dated from the beginning of the eighteenth century.

It was only about that period that persons began to feel the necessity of improving the highways, for the purpose of giving greater facilities of intercourse, by increasing the speed and shortening the time required to travel from one point to another. In order to effect these objects, various acts of parliament, termed turnpike acts, were passed for different districts in the neighbourhood of London, not however without a strong remonstrance from all the surrounding counties, against the extension of these turn-pike roads into the more distant parts of the kingdom; alleging as a reason, that these remote districts, from the cheapness of labour, would be able to sell their corn in the London markets at a lower rate than themselves, which, as they believed,

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would have the effect of reducing their rent-rolls, and ruining their cultivation; but which, however, had a contrary effect, as might naturally be expected from a free and expeditious interchange of commodities. Notwithstanding these remonstrances, which prove the blind and contracted views of the times, as compared with the rapid march of improvement in our own day, the turn-pike roads were extended into the remoter counties of England. But though the improvement of the roads received more attention at this time from the legislature than at any former period, the proper system of making a good road remained yet to be learned. Previous to this time, the roads were almost impassable in winter, and the improvement introduced for some time after, consisted merely in making the paths somewhat more level than formerly, and of filling up the ruts and holes with stones gathered from the adjoining field. In those days no pains were taken to break or sort the stones; all were thrown into the hole or rut, large and small, without regard to arrangement or evenness of surface, the only object sought being to prevent horses from sinking, paying little regard to the jolting of the carriages, which of course must have suffered severely, though ever so lightly laden.

Public attention having been once excited, every successive attempt at improvement must have been attended with more or less success. Engineers of skill began to consider the subject, and men of education and property, sensible of the great evil of imperfect roads, turned all their energies to the improvement of the highways; and foremost among these may be mentioned Mr. Macadam, whose name is now associated

with every good road in the united kingdom. What led Mr. Macadam to turn his attention to the mechanical principles involved in the construction of roads, was his having been appointed one of the trustees on some roads in Ayrshire; but having been otherwise engaged for many years, it was only in 1815, when he was on the borders of sixty, that he began to devote his whole mind to the business of road-making. It was he that first recommended to break the stones in the manner before described; but recommended to place them on the soil without any paving or pitching-the only particular in which we differ with him. To him are all the towns in Great Britain and Ireland, that have followed his plan, indebted for the substitution of broken stones on the streets, for the large blocks with which they used previously to be paved. Any one driving through our back streets which retain the old pavement, may easily appreciate the pleasure of driving through any of our Macadamised streets.

The expenditure of animal power, the wear and tear of vehicles, and the disagreeable jolting motion experienced on the old rough pavement, are considerably diminished by the Macadamised plan, which has rendered travelling easy and pleasant.

Mr. Telford improved upon the Macadamised plan of making new roads, by the introduction of what he calls pitching, which is now very generally practised by the most approved road makers.

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RAIL-ROADS.

The government of every country into which railroads are introduced, should have some controlling power, both in the laying out and subsequent management of the lines, whether they are actually formed by the state or by private individuals. We do not mean to point out here the extent of power that ought to be exercised by the state, in the management of railways constructed with private capital; but the conflicting interests of private companies having no unity of purpose except to make as much profit upon their individual outlay as they can, and the want of unity of plan so apparent in the English railways, most of which have been designed in short lines, prove how necessary it is to have them under the controlling power of the state. In offering this opinion, we are not to be understood as wishing by any means to check private speculation or commercial enterprise, being well aware that the rapid progress of the railway system in England, though by no means unexceptionable, is mainly due to the stimulating agency of both.

The evils inseparable from a system of railways not under the control of a duly qualified board, with sufficient power derived from the legislature, are felt by the company as well as by the public.

The share of the evil sustained by private companies may be estimated by a reference to four lines of railway with which the public are familar; namely, those issuing from London towards Liverpool and Manchester, and that connecting Dublin with Kingstown, and the one now in progress of construction from Dublin to Drogheda.

The enormous, and in many instances unreasonable exactions of landed proprietors and others, not limited by any scale in their demand for compensation, except that which is the measure of their own individual avarice, and the vexatious expenditure of capital in obtaining Acts of Parliament, are evils which might be obviated by a properly constituted board, appointed by the government of the country, with power to arbitrate between disputing parties relative to compensation, and to obtain, for approved lines, Acts of Parliament free of expense. We have heard of some cases in which landlords actually demanded and received fifty times the amount of their real loss, and in cases too where the road served to enhance rather than deteriorate the value of the property. Such selfish conduct is but ill calculated to advance the state of the country. We are happy, however, to have it in our power to state, that there are some noble exceptions to be found among the landed proprietors of Ireland, whose generous conduct in offering to make no demand for the lands on their respective estates occupied by, and for the use of, any line of rail-way that might pass through their properties, proves what a lively interest they feel in the advancement of any measure having for its object the improvement of their native country. In all cases where a projected line has been opposed, the parliamentary expenses to the company have amounted to £1000 per mile, and there are cases in which they have amounted to £2000 per mile. The restraint under which private companies are by the law, as relating to deviations and time especially, often obliges them to do every thing connected with the line in too great a hurry, which often