Philadelphia to Burlington; but on her arrival there, when success seemed to have crowned his exertions, the boiler sprung aleak, and became useless. The boat was towed back, repaired, and again commenced running. In October, a passage was made to Burlington in three hours and ten minutes, and others at nearly the same rate. His below Reading. In blowing rocks, a fragment, || it; begin to be in no small degree atoned for, by DEFENCE OF THE PURITANS "Sparks' American Biography," in the North A-well and his associates were faithless? Miserable merican Review, for January : sesses Still, on the whole nothing was gained on Extracted from a notice of the fourth volume of shades? the men who were faithful when Cromthe rate of land travel, and in this respect the result was a failure. In June, 1789, a prudery! Why do we not boldly and roundly, larger cylinder was tried, but still without The time cannot be distant, when that whole without strain or qualification, vindicate ther much improvement in speed. In disgust, Fitch abandoned the management of the chapter of English history, the age of the puritans fame, defend their characters, and assert that their will be written with new perceptions of its connexvy faults were the instruments, with which Proconcern, and threw the responsibility upon on with the great cause of free government, of vidence vouchsafed to accomplish this great work? Voight, retaining only the place of assist-liberty of conscience, and political reform. No"They were dark and austere;" they needed to ant and adviser. In 1790 the boat was thing can be narrower, less generous, less philoso-be; the children of sunshine would have drooped again altered, and the 12th of April ano-phical, than the tone, in which those lofty spirits and fainted under the terrors and gloom of the enther trial was made. She performed well, have been alternately assailed and defended. The terprise. "They persecuted those who diff red and the business of the summer was tolera- English of the present day, who owe it to the Puri- from them." They had a right to do that, tans that they are not tossed, like a shuttlecock, which is falsely called persecuting those who bly prosperous. In the mean while, Fitch from the pikes of an enraged populace to the bay-differed from them, was principally engrossed in legal proceed-onets of a military police, as their neighbors in The man, who pesthe power at home, and ings for the securing of a patent. persccu os France, hurry over the history of the common- is brother who differs from him; the man who at claims were contested by Rumsey, who wealth with a kind of compassionate or supercilious home will not let his neighbour live in peace and maintained that to himself belonged the non chalance; and even we, we, to our shame be idie in his bed, because he differs from him, is a tyhonor of priority in applying steam to the said, we, descendants of that noble stock, we, rant, Bu. the victims of persecution, the men who propelling of boats. What were the real sprung from the best blood of that high-souled race, have given up native land, and home, and forefa merits of Rumsey, we shall not undertake to we are eternally tasking our wits to find apologies ther's graves to those who will not tolerate their determine. A boat constructed on his plan and excuses for our fathers. Apologies for the as- iifference, and crossed the awful deep, and found out a place of refuge in the horrid wilderness, was tried in London, and failed. Fitch Serters of the liberty of co science; excu es fo: the men that invented representative government; where hardships and danger are their constant at gained his patent, but it was never attend-and broke the iron yoke of feudalism! Exquisitet ndance, those men have a right to their own way, ed with any pecuniary advantage. The degeneracy; dainty unworthiness of our origin! in their own desert. They have a right to be un company continued together another year; What, could Burke himself, loyal to the core, disturbed by sights and sounds and doings and saybut with so little profit, that in April, 1791, with the streaming horrors of the French revolu-ings, which shock their sense of religious decency. a meeting was held, and a proposal made to tion before his eyes, and wrought by them to a po- No wandering, melancholic, or fanatic opinionist has abandon the enterprise. Others, still san-litical, and almost to a physical phr nzy, could even right to invade their place of voluntary exile, and guine, were in favor of another trial, with a "whilst they attempted or affected changes in the society, for his own annoying peculiarity. The he say of the leaders of the great English rebelnon,m the toleration and protection of the banished new boat, and improved machinery. This commonwealth, they sanctified their ambition, by utmost he can demand is a right to do what they project, however, was not executed. The advancing the dignity of the people whose peace have done, quit them in peace, and seek a wilderness last struggles of the PERSEVERANCE termi- they troubled. They had long views. They were stil more remote, where he, in his turn, may claim a nated in the year just named, and she was men of great civil and military talents, and if the right to worship God according to his own peculiariconsigned to a neglected old age in Ken- terror, the ornament of their age. The compli- ty. "But the puritans were cruel, and hung persons sington docks. Fitch died, under great pe- ment made to one of the great bad men of the old charged with witchcraft ;" and what should we do? cuniary embarrassment, in 1793. He had stamp, (Cromwell,) by his kinsman, a favorite poet if we honestly believed, as they honestly believ of that time, shows what it was he proposed, and ed, that the wretched victims of these delusions, filled several small MS. books with person- what indeed to a great degree he accomplished, in were in personal league with the enemy of man; al and general narrative more or less con- the success of his ambition: if we saw the incarnate principle of Evil where nected with his great scheme, which he bethey saw it; if the state of philosophy, of public queathed to the Philadelphia Library, with sentiment, of popular theology, was to us what it the proviso that they were to remain closed was to them, and we believed ourselves to be fightfor thirty years. He seems to have been ing a perilous battle, amidst the flashing fires of the opening pit; are we quite sure, that we should go Finds no distemper, while, 'tis changed by you; d determined that one generation should pass These disturbers were not so much like men usurf into the ghastly contest, with soft and ele ant pha ses on our lips, and mild and placid affections in before he again submitted his reputation to ing power, as asserting their natural place in societhe tribunal of human opinion. The books, ty. Their rising was to illuminate and beautify which were opened in due time, contain a the world. Their conquest over their competitors was by outshining them. The hand, that, like a minute account of his perplexities and dis- destroying angel, smote the country, communicated with our own liberality; our own abhorrence of appointments, written in a manner which to it the force and energy under which it suffered!" persecution, which in us would be our crime; but shows that these had not left his temper Abstract from this splendid eulogium, the qualia let us not judge great and honor. ble names of other unruffled, or inspired him with very kindly cations manifestly attached to the praise, to the days, by a standard either of opinion or duty, feelings towards mankind. There are in-end that the praise might be forgiven by himsen which does not apply to their age, their circumterspersed in the narratives many shrewd and his age, and what a tribute remains!-Crom-stances, or their vocation. Do not let us quarrel with the noble and massy edifice, because it was the remarks, and even humorous sallies, but well and the men with whom and by whom he their general tone is desponding and que ambition by promoting the dignity of the State, who laid the foundation did not carry up the head subverted the British monarchy, sanctifying their work of successive generations; because it did not rise like an exhalation from the soil; because they rulous. His mind, naturally strong and men of great civil as well as great military talent, original, seems to have received from the the ornament of their age; proposing as they rose stone. Let us not murmur at the oak, because it circumstances in which he was placed an to elevate their country with them, and to a great in a single night. Let us not impeach the wisdom did not shoot up from the acorn like a mushroom, unhappy bias; and the tone of expression degree effecting what they proposed; not so much of our forefathers for not bringing to perfection in in which he appears to have indulged, the usurpers of the places of other men, as assera day, the system of social institutions, which remust of itself have been an obstacle to his ers of their own; illuminating and beautifying th world, as the rising sun illuminates and adorns the quired for its perfection that it should not be the success. Of the boldness of his concep-heavens; outshining not trampling down their comwork of a day; which required precisely, more tion, and the perseverance with which he petitors;-and if they smote their country like than every thing else, the operation of successive followed it up, there can be but one opin- destroying angel, umparting to it at the same time, years, the seasoning of long time, the discipine of ion; and had fortune seconded his efforts, the force and energy of the destroyer, to smite down experience, the rectification of errors by their reand his means been equal to the accom- and blast its enemies! And shall this be said o sults, the preparation for one stage of advancement in the training of a former stage, the enthusiasm plishment of his designs, there can be no Cromwell and his peers,-this by Burke ;-this a caught from prophetic glimpses of a gradually undoubt that he would now hold undisputed the neight of the panic of the French Revolution; the honor of having given to the country clamantis, to rouse England and Europe into a folding future. this in a discourse intended as a warning cry, a vox this most noble and useful invention. crusade against revolutionary France! And shal The above wood cut conveys a correct we, the cluzens of a free republic, founded by the idea of Fitch's boat, as originally planned; ong suffering puritans, the inhabitants of a mighty but in the one actually constructed, he so continent, by their nerve and counsel added to the far modified this plan as to place the pad-ivilized world; shall we who live in an age when dles of the boat astern. A dreadful accident occurred on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, on the 13th inst, three miles a We are informed that Major General Scott, accompanied by several subaltern Officers of he Army, will leave Washington his morning, or to-morrow, for the south to join the U. S. troops in Florida.— Naval and Military Chronicle.] ven the heaven defying horrors of that French re- A CARD. TO THE SUBSCRIBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD JOURNAL, MECHANICS' MAGAZINE, NEW-YORK FARMER, AND APPRENTICE'S COMPANION; All of which publications have been delayed nearly a month, in consequence of the destruction by the late conflagrution of the press and materials with which they were printed. The Editor and Proprietor desires to say, that they will all be again regularly issued in a few days, and forwarded with care and punctuality. In consequence of the heavy loss sustained by the fire, including not only nearly all my printing materials, but also nearly all my stock of back volumes, sheets, and numbers of the different publications, and all of my stereotype plates of five volumes of the Mechanics' Magazine, I am compelled to ask the indulgence of their patrons for a few days, until I can get a new office arranged, so as to present the works to them improved both in appearance and in matter-and as I have relinquished the management of the business department of the New-York American, for the purpose of devoting myself exclusively, hereafter, to my publications, I hope to render them more interesting and more useful than I have heretofore been able. I am also induced by my losses, which amount to over eight thousand dollars, to request each friend of my publications to aid in extending their circulation, and of each present subscriber the favor to remit the balance due, if any there be, and in advance for the year EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX, that I may be able to make the works worthy of increased patronage, and useful to community. D. K. MINOR, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. NEW-YORK, January 15, 1836. The follow ng publications are issued by the subscriber, at No. 13 NASSAU STREET, New-York, viz: RAILROAD JOURNAL, Devoted to INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, and the Improvements in Machinery-in weekly numbers, of 16 quarto pages each-price FIVE DOLLARS a year, in advance. MECHANICS' MAGAZINE, AND REGISTER OF INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS, Devoted to the interests of Mechanics and the Arts-published monthly, in large octavo form, of 64 to 72 pages each number— price THREE DOLLARS, in advance, or four copies for ten dollars. NEW-YORK FARMER, AND AMERICAN GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and Floriculture-published in monthly parts, of 32 to 40 quarto pages each—at THREE DOLLARS-in advance-per annum. QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANICS, AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, Which will contain the choice articles of the above three publications-price THREE DOLLARS per annum, in advance-or four copies for TEN dollars. A small work, in monthly parts, of 16 pages each, designed for APPRENTICES-price FIFTY CENTs a year, or eleven copies for five dollars. The volumes of the above works all commence with January. All letters or communications designed for either of the above works, should be addressed, post paid, to D. K. MINOR, No. 13 Nassau street, New-York. AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL, AND ADVOCATE OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT NO. 13 NASSAU STREET, NEW-YORK, AT FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. D. K. MINOR, EDITOR.] CONTENTS: Editorial Notices.. Sixth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Gra- .... On the Teazle Plan:; Management of Pumps in 17 18 27 31 32 SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1836. notice which the members will have, and the difficulty of attendance to others, and especially of this city. It seems to us, that the 1st of May would have been a better time, as then travelling would have been good, and business will call many of those interested to Albany and this city. A meetLANGSING ONE ing however is called, and will, we hope, be well attended-and at that meeting measures should be taken to expedite the construction of a better means of travelling between this city and Albany, as well as in many other parts of the State. AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL. NEW-YORK, JANUARY 16, 1836. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT CONVENTION.We publish in this number, not withstanding a part has before been given, the entire ICE BOAT.-It appears by letters from Philaproceedings of the late Internal Improve-delphia, that on Thursday 18th, the Ice Boat ment Convention, held at Albany. The ob- of the Camden and Amboy Railroad was ject of the Convention is to promote and ex-still crossing, though the ice was so strong tend the work of Internal Improvement in as to interrupt every other sort of navigation. the State, and beneficial results must necessarily flow from the intercourse of intelligent gentlemen, from all parts of the State, who are interested in the extension of such works. The association of such gentlemen with such views, will necessarily be the means of diffusing useful information, and in that alone which is necessary to insure the progress of a general system of useful improvement. As an evidence of the good which will result from the Convention, we refer with great pleasure to the Report herewith given, made by the Committee, of which Mr. Joseph Blunt was Chairman, in relation to the Common Roads and Bridges of this State. It shows a state of things, an expenditure to little purpose, of which few, very few, persons are aware. It should be widely circulated, and generally read. At the Convention, it will be perceived that a State Society was formed, to promote the object, for which the Convention assembled, and a meeting of that Society has, we understand, been called for the 11th inst. at Albany. A circumstance, we apprehend, to be regretted, in consequence of the short In reply to several inquiries from subscribers, whether we shall be able to supply missing numbers of the last year, we will say to all, that we hope to be able to supply most of them; at present, however, we are unable to say how many, as the numbers which were saved have not yet been assorted and arranged, for want of room to do so.-A few days, however, or as soon as we can get a suitable place, will enable us to forward such numbers as we have on hand. "First come first served," is an old rule, and every request for numbers is registered, and will be answered at the earliest possible period-especially those accompanied by a remittance for the Journal. We have also a copy of the Report of the Canal Commissioners of Pennsylvania, in relation to the Canals and Railroads of that State, from all which we shall make such readers of the Journal. The communicaextracts as we may deem of interest to the tion of CLINTON, and of SMEATON, are at hand, and will appear in our next. AVERY'S ROTARY ENGINE.-We gave in No. vol. 4, of the Journal, a description of this engine, accompanied by a drawing of one we then had in use. The account we then gave was founded upon the performance of other engines of the same description, one of which we had several times seen in operation, and not upon the performance of our own, which was in several respects different from any other which had been in use, and which we were then putting in operation, with a To SUBSCRIBERS AND POST MASTERS.-boiler upon a new plan, constructed for an. It sometimes occurs that numbers of this thracite coal, and the first of the kind which periodical are returned by a subscriber, or had been made. In the construction of this boiler it was Post Master-without writing upon it the Post Office, or name of subscriber, and designed to try an experiment, and to ascer. therefore we cannot tell whose to stop.-tain if a certain amount of labor, the driving In all cases of returning a number, we of a double cylinder registering printing mashould be much obliged by having the name "chine, (which required three men to turn it about seven hours a day,) could be per-places it passed through a snow and ice of With this boiler, and a furnace of 16 inches long, by 9 broad, and 18 high, the coal resting upon one of Dr. Noit's revolving grates, we were able to drive our machine eight hours, constantly, and steam blowing off much of the time, with one hundred and fifty lbs. of Schuylkill coal,| and we doubt not, but that, with some trifling improvements which were in course of preparation, and would have been com. pleted within one week, we should have been able to drive two such machines with 200 lbs. of the same kind of fuel. We regret exceedingly the want of an opportunity to try the power of the engine fully, with a given quantity of fuel and water, as we are confident that the results would have been so highly satisfactory to all parties interested, and a statement of them an answer so satisfactory to the numerous inquiries by letter, and verbally, which we had omitted to answer, until we could give positive statements of actual performances, which we intended to do, as soon as we could speak positively. The loss, however, of the engine and machine, and every thing connected with them, has put it out of our power, for the present, to give such a statement as our entire confidence in the value of the engine prompts us to. This much we can say, and feel confident that future results will bear us out in the assertion, that a Rotary Engine of this description, with a boiler of five to fifteen horse power, will cost less, require less fuel, less expense of repairs, and of attendance, and perform as much labor, as any other engine with which we are acquainted, with the same boiler. Other engines of the kind are in use in different parts of the country as well as in this city, of which we shall have more to say anon. For the Railroad Journal. New-York, Jan. 28, 1836. Sir, Having several times been stormstayed upon Railroads, and obliged, at two different times, to remain out all night, in consequence of snow being on the track, I take peculiar pleasure in witnessing the operation of any apparatus or contrivance for clearing snow or ice from the rails. Being at Newark on Monday last, I had the pleasure of witnessing the performance of a very simple contrivance of L. A. Sykes, the Engineer of the New Jersey Railroad, which far surpassed any thing of the kind I ever before saw, both in regard to its simplicity and its effective operation. I saw it clear the rails perfectly of a very tenacious sleet and ice four or five inches deep, without causing any apparent diminution in the speed of the engine, and was told that in some INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT STATE CONVEN TION. At an adjourned meeting of the Internal The following were delivered to the Sec- Alleghany.--John Griffiin, Calvin T. Cham- Daniel S. Dickinson and Ashburn Birdsall. Marvin, Chenango. Niagara.-Hiram Gardner, A. H. Porter, John Beach, Bates Cooke, Seymour Scoville Ames S Tryon. Oneida.--Samuel Farwell, David Wager, Charles P. Kirkland, J. A Spencer, Horatio Seymour, W. Crafts, S. P. Lyman, A. Hutchinson, N. Deveraux, T. F. Faxton, Alvan Stewart, P. S. Root, John Dean, Ebenezer Robbins. Orange. Robert Sly, Thomas Van Et. ten, Charles Borland, jr. Otsego.-Levi Beardsley, Albert Benton, Sumner Ely, L. J. Walworth, Ivory Hol H. Phinney, Wm. Baker, E. Crafts, Hiram land, J. O. Morse, I. E. Crary, F. A Lee, Bostwick, Luther C. Saxton, Seth Chase. Rensselaer.-R. P. Hart, G. R. Davis, J. P. Cushman, Stephen Ross, Daniel Gardner, Isaac McCorniche, R. D. Tillman, L. G. Carman, Amos Briggs, R. J. Knowlton, A. Walsh, Elias Parmelee. Saratoga.-Henry Granger, Earl Stimson, Lee Benedict. St. Lawrence.-Jabez Mills, Preston Ring, Switzer, L. B. Searl, Ziba A. Leland. Sutton, Tioga.-- Warren.-William Griffing, William Mc Donald. Assembly Chamber, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 1836. Convention met pursuant to adjournment. Mr. Spencer, from the Committee appointed to nominate officers for the Convention, made the following report: For President, Hon. SAMUEL CHEEVER. Vice Presidents, SUMNER ELY, CHARLES BORLAND, jr. Secretaries, DAVID C. COLDEN, FLETCHER M. HAIGHT. Dutchess.-Thomas Taber, Obadiah Ti. Franklin.-Luther Bradish, Asa Hascal Greene. Jacob Haight, Isaac Van Loon. The report of the Committee was adoptand the officers named took their seats. On motion, it was Resolved, That the following gentlemen, delegates from the State of Connecticut, be invited to take seats in this Convention: Aaron Seely, E. T. Hoyt, Alex. H. Holley and Samuel I. Robbins. On motion of Mr. Jordan, the proceedings of the Convention at Utica were read by the Secretary. The report of the Committee appointed at the Convention held at Utica, to collect information as to the cost of the county and post roads, was presented and read, and on motion of Mr. Jordan, laid on the table. ROADS AND BRIDGE REPORT. Montgomery.-David Spraker, Henry V of the several towns in the State, request- the traveller by walls and fences to an artifi- Such are the results of the present sys- 416,271 The amount of money annually expended in addition for the same purpose, $23,931 The length of turnpike roads is 579 miles. Among these we are induced to assign the foremost place to the incapacity and inefficiency of the agents appointed to carry the road laws into effect. After a full trial upon the roads of Eng land, MacAdam came to the conclusion that no stone should be used in covering a road that could not be passed through a ring 2 1-2 inches in diameter. Stones of greater size do not cement with the others, and remain to break up the surface of the road. Another difficulty to be overcome grows out of the action of the elements upon the road. Moisture and frost are the great destroyers of roads, by alternately softening and breaking the surface. To prevent this the road, while its surface should be hardThe path-masters do not seem to have ened so as to prevent the moisture from the least knowledge as to the true princi- penetrating, it should be so formed that the ples upon which roads should be construct- water will readily run off to the sides, where ed. Instead of properly locating, grading, there should be ditches connected with the ditching, and constructing a road of hard natural water courses of the country. The materials, they content themselves with lay-road will thus be kept dry, and the frost ing out a road, not according to the face of will have comparatively little effect upon the country, but so as to suit the views of its surface. The best shape of a road of 30 the owners of land upon the route; and the feet breadth is a segment of a flat ellipsis, grading, ditching, and providing the ma- with the side channels about nine inches terials is one operation-consisting of drag- below the surface in the middle. This ging earth and generally vegetable mould shape facilitates the passage of the water The whole number of towns in the from the sides to the centre of the space ap-to the sides, and when the surface is properState is 791, and the towns making returns propriated for the road, to be levelled, grad-ly constructed will keep it dry and hard.are about one-third of the whole, but the po-ed, and packed by the wheels of the wagons The ditches should be sufficiently deep to be below the bottom of the metal or matepulation returning is scarcely two-sevenths passing that way. of the whole population, and the returns therefore may be fairly estimated at that ratio. According to that rule we have the following results: ing the same The number of bridges The annual expense of repairing the same Length of all the public roads in the State $9,816 1221 $32,962 road. Roads of this description, made by heap-rials used in making the road to serve the ing up mud from the sides, must necessari- purpose of draining, and in April and Octoly be muddy in rainy weather. There is ber they should be cleared out so as to afno charm in the action of the carriage ford an easy passage for the water from the wheels to prevent the earth taken from the 69,734 miles ditches from becoming mud on the road as well as on its sides. It consequently is soon carried from the road to fill up the side ditches, and the whole becomes in the fall of the year a quagmire, where there is no choice between the road and the ditches. The least reflection as to the nature of roads will show, that no other result could be ex-large expenditure made in their construcpected. tion is amply repaid by their greater effi ciency and durability. 1,456,948 sums ex The draining under the present system requires a complete reform, as it is of the greatest importance, and requires no great expenditure. With a surface constructed of broken stones cemented into one mass, and with good drains, roads are enabled to resist the action of the elements, and the A road is an artificial contrivance or machine for facilitating the transportation of In some parts of the State, however, as, heavy loads, and its efficiency depends up- where clay predominates, there is a difficulon the perfection of its construction. Forty in procuring stones of the kind used in instance, upon the common roads in their constructing roads. This does not often present condition 30 bushels of grain are happen, and when it does there is an abun considered a load for a pair of horses, while dance of material to supply the deficiency. upon a Macadamised road the same team Bricks may be used, as in Holland, to form can transport with the same exertion 75 good roads, and when of suitable form and bushels. united with mortar, they will make a covering for a road equally capable with broken stones of resisting the action of the elements. These bricks should be much larger than the ordinary building bricks, burnt hard and placed in mortar upon a surface properly shaped and graded, so as to form a covering for the ground impervi ous to water. The obstacles to be overcome are friction and gravitation, which are increased, the first by the softness of the road, and the second by its deviation from a level line. The number of days' work assessed for their repair The additional money expended for the same purpose $84,258 The number of public bridges 4,274 The anuual cost of keeping them in repair $115,363 Estimating the value of each day's work at 75 cents, and the assessed labor will amount to the sum of $1,092,711, to which the sum of $34,258 must be added, and we have the enormous sum of $1,176,969 annually expended in the State of New-York for repairing common roads, besides $115,363 annually expended for the repair of public bridges, besides double that sum in constructing new ones. This, too, it must be recollected, is independent of the pended for turnpikes and toll bridges. If this vast sum expended in each year had produced results proportionate to its amount; if it had effected any visible or permanent improvement in the condition of the com- The proper remedies for these difficulties mon roads, the public might be reconciled are to lay out the road as far as practicable to the burden thus annually imposed. through a level country, and to construct it It is manifest, however, that no such im- of hard materials, so cemented together provement is to be found. On the contrary, that they present a smooth and level sur- It has also been suggested that in those the public roads in this State have not visi- face for the wheels to move upon. The parts of the State where lumber is cheap, bly improved for years. Their condition in former remedy can be applied by any sur-that good roads might be economically made those seasons of the year when good roads veyor who will take the pains to examine by using wood to cover their surface. are required is intolerably bad. No epithet, the face of the country through which the This may be done either in the mode ahowever strong, can properly character se road is to pass, with the view of selecting When the snow has a practicable route. The other remedy is covered them in the winter, and when the more difficult of attainment. Where stones summer's sun has dried and improved them, can be procured, it is necessary that they they are passable; but when these natural should be broken to a size that they can agents cease to exert their beneficial influ- unite with the body of the road, and thus ence, and their improvement is left to man, form one mass, Large stones only serve judging only from the results, we should to break up the road, and to render it rough onclude that his solo object was to confine and impassable. their wretched state. dopted in Russia, by placing square blocks upright upon the ground, and so closely packed together as to present a smooth and compact surface; or the track may be covered with planks raised a few inches from the ground, united together like a continuous bridge-the planks being placed across the road where undulating, and lengthwise where level. |