lay it aside; then the earth is wheeled to the outside of the embankment, which is always kept comparatively high, till all is brought to the required height. By this process the work is kept from slipping, which it must do if the earth is wheeled from the upper side and thrown promiscuously on the lower, and then left to settle. When one part of a road is excavated, and the earth removed to a lower part, for the purpose of bringing the surface to the required height or level, the natural surface of the base of the embankment is laid aside, as before, and the earth carted or wheeled to form the outsides, which are raised to the required height, leaving a valley in the centre to be filled up last. The outside slope is then lined with the reserved sods, which, taking root, form a good natural protection against the effects. of rain. When the earth-work is executed in this manner, the tendency of the mass is towards the centre, by which the liability to slip is a good deal diminished. When a road is much exposed to traffic, its surface requires to be renewed at least once a year. The wear and tear of a road is very seldom, if ever, uniform throughout, being most generally partial. When this is the case, the repairs might be effected by filling up the hollows with road metal. We would however observe, that partial repairs, though allowable at a distance from towns, from motives of economy, are by no means to be recommended, as a road thus partially repaired never possesses equal firmness throughout, which a thorough repair always insures. The best season of the year for doing the repairs of a road is about the month of October and November, before the frost and snow set in. But this being generally a very busy season, the summer months might be profitably employed in the improvement of the highways. In this season the necessary materials are more easily transported from one place to another, much more work done in a day, and the labour of men and horses procured in greater abundance. The scraping of the road is another duty which demands the particular attention of him who has the care of it. When mud is left for any time on a road, it prevents the water from flowing off, than which nothing could be more injurious. Persons bordering on the road would be repaid by employing the scrapings of the road as a manure, for which it answers well. When the road covering is limestone, the scrapings make an excellent manure; ground stone, almost of any kind, mixed with the refuse of horses, particles of iron from wheels and horse-shoes, answers well for many soils, especially for heavy clay grounds. In a district where no stone can be had, but in which gravel abounds, from motives of economy this is employed in preference to the former. After having prepared the foundation of the road in the manner recommended before, four inches of the strongest description should be first laid on; and to give it some degree of firmness, carriages should be allowed to roll over it for some time, due care being taken to fill in the ruts made by the wheels: then another coat of four inches deep should be put on, which should get sufficient time to consolidate before it received the next coat of equal depth; and in this manner the process should be repeated till the road is from sixteen to twenty inches thick in the middle, and from ten to twelve inches thick on the sides, according as the material may be found strong or weak. The middle fifteen feet should receive the strongest description, reserving the weaker sort for the sides. Every road should be supplied with mile-stones, which are both convenient and agreeable to the traveller, saving him the trouble of asking questions respecting distances as he proceeds on his journey, and receiving answers which often tend to mislead him. Mile-stones enable the coachman to keep regularly to his time, which he would find difficult without them: they are also convenient and useful to the road surveyor, in laying out and measuring his work. When a new line of road is determined on, there is a great variety of circumstances to be particularly attended to, both for the information of the part of the public interested in the road, and of those who superintend its construction. Drawings should be made, showing the section and plan of the natural surface of the line, with the longitudinal inclination of the proposed surface. The roadsurveyor should also be supplied with drawings, exhibiting the slopes of the cuttings and embankments, the form of the bed of the road and foot-path, also the number of coats to be put on, with the thickness of each; and finally, drawings should be made of all the intended bridges, culverts, drains, fences, depots for road material, &c. along the line. All these should be accompanied by a specification, explaining in detail the precise method of executing every part of the work to be done. These supply sufficient data to make out an estimate of all the expenses to be incurred. The following is an estimate for making a part of a new road: To removing 1765 cub. yds. of earth, at 9d £291 ... 39 8 6 441 15 0 To 1767 lineal yards of fencing, at 5s To drains The annexed plate contains a plan and section of a road, AB being the plan of the line, with all its turnings and windings, and A' B' the section with all its slopes. On the plan and section should be represented the natural surface of the ground, the latter shewing besides the surface of the proposed road. The figures at top shew the rise and fall in each particular length, and the figures written vertically shew the distance of each respective point in the proposed line, from the horizontal datum line A'B'. The figures written horizontally under the section shew the distance of each respective point, from the commencement of the line at A'. In this part of the road the excavations are not equal to the embank ments. This circumstance is due altogether to the nature of the substratum. Where the substratum is found to be so hard as to demand too great an amount of labour and expense, the cutting is not carried farther than is necessary to bring the surface within the limits prescribed by the angle of friction. The points a, b, and c would have been cut lower, if the difficulty and expense of cutting through the rocks at these points had not prevented it. A Road made wholly of Broken Stone.-In cross roads, where the traffic is not very considerable, the road may be wholly made of broken stone, which will answer very well. A level bed is first formed on the natural soil, and due provision made for drainage and fencing, as before directed: then successive layers of broken stone may be laid on, to the depth of twelve inches in the central parts, and six inches on the sides, giving sufficient time for each layer to consolidate before another is put on. This is an old plan recommended by men of eminence as road makers: when the traffic is considerable, it is found not to answer so well as the pitched road, being always too weak, and requiring large outlays for some years after its construction. A road made without pitching the bottom always yields under a heavy load, by which additional labour is imposed on the horses, being always obliged to draw up an inclined plane, though the road be ever So even. Frost is found to act with much more injurious effect on a road made wholly of broken stone, than upon one with a pitched foundation; as in the former case, the water must either rest among the working materials of the road, or on the clay under the road materials, till drawn off by evaporation; and should a hard frost come |