Philadelphia to Burlington; but on her ar-|| below Reading. In blowing rocks, a fragment, || it; begin to be in no small degree atoned for, by rival 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. Still, on the whole nothing was gained on the rate of land travel, and in this respect the result was a failure. In June, 1789, a larger cylinder was tried, but still without much improvement in speed. In disgust, Fitch abandoned the management of the concern, and threw the responsibility upon weighing 300 lbs., fe.l on a shanty, crushing in i course to the ground floor, the wue and child of a Mr. Jno. Boyle, blacksm th, employed by Mr. An derson, the contractor. The death was instantane ous and the bodies were horribly mangled.- [Mercantile.] DEFENCE OF THE PURITANS Extracted from a notice of the fourth volume of "Sparks' American Biography," in the North American Review, for January: the civil regeneration of feudal Europe to which it gave the impulse; shall we, while the whole civilized world, struggling on triumphant, wih joyous trides or convulsive starts, is shaping is stilu.c toss of c. vil polity more and more upon the pine ciples first practically set forth and exempted by our puritan fatters;-shall we, being what we are, and whence we are, and where we are, shall we basely qualify the homage due to these illustrious shades? the men who were faithful when Cromwell and his associates were faithless? Miserable prudery! Why do we not boldly and roundly, without strain or qualification, vindicate the r fame, defend their characters, and assert that their The time cannot be distant, when that whole chapter of English history, the age of the puritans will be written with new perceptions of its connex-vry faults were the instruments, with which Proion with the great cause of free government, οι 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 en ther trial was made. She performed well, and the business of the summer was tolerably prosperous. In the mean while, Fitch was principally engrossed in legal proceedings for the securing of a patent. His claims were contested by Rumsey, who maintained that to himself belonged the honor of priority in applying steam to the propelling of boats. What were the real merits of Rumsey, we shall not undertake to determine. A boat constructed on his plan was tried in London, and failed. Fitch gained his patent, but it was never attended with any pecuniary advantage. The company continued together another year; but with so little profit, that in April, 1791, a meeting was held, and a proposal made to abandon the enterprise. Others, still sanguine, were in favor of another trial, with a new boat, and improved machinery. This project, however, was not executed. The last struggles of the PERSEVERANCE terminated in the year just named, and she was consigned to a neglected old age in Kensington docks. Fitch died, under great pecuniary embarrassment, in 1793. He had filled several small MS. books with person al and general narrative more or less connected with his great scheme, which he bequeathed to the Philadelphia Library, with the proviso that they were to remain closed for thirty years. He seems to have been determined that one generation should pass before he again submitted his reputation to the tribunal of human opinion. The books, which were opened in due time, contain a minute account of his perplexities and disappointments, written in a manner which shows that these had not left his temper unruffled, or inspired him with very kindly feelings towards mankind. There are interspersed in the narratives many shrewd remarks, and even humorous sallies, but terprise. "They persecuted those who diff red trom them." They had a right to do that, which is falsely called persecuting those who differed from them. The man, who possesses the power at home, and persecues is brother who differs from him; the man whoat home will not let his neighbour live in peace and die in his bed, because he differs from him, is a tyrant. Bu the victims of persecution, the men who have given up native land, and home, and forefather's graves to those who will not tolerate their difference, and crossed the awful deep, and found out a place of refuge in the horrid wilderness, where hardships and danger are their constant att ndance, those men have a right to their own way, in their own desert. They have a right to be undisturbed by sights and sounds and doingsand say have been alternately assailed and defended. The English of the present day, who owe it to the Puritans that they are not tossed, like a shuttlecock, from the pikes of an enraged populace to the bayonets of a military police, as their neighbors m France, hurry over the history of the common wealth with a kind of compassionate or supercilious non chalance; and even we, we, to our shame be in said, we, descendants of that noble stock, we, sprung from the best blood of that high-souled race, we are eternally tasking our wits to find apologies and excuses for our fathers. Apologies for the asserters of the liberty of co science; excuses fo the men that invented representative government: and broke the iron yoke of feudalism! Exquisite degeneracy; dainty unworthiness of our origin! What, could Burke himself, loyal to the core,with the streaming horrors of the French revolu-ings, which shock their sense of religious decency. tion before his eyes, and wrought by them to a political, and almost to a physical phra nzy, could even he say of the leaders of the great English rebelton, "whilst they attempted or affected changes in the commonwealth, they sanctified their ambition, by advancing the dignity of the people whose peace they troubled. They had long views. They were men of great civil and military talents, and if the terror, the ornament of their age. The compliment made to one of the great bad men of the old stamp, (Cromwell,) by his kinsman, a favorite poet of that time, shows what it was he proposed, and what indeed to a great degree he accomplished, in the success of his ambition: "Still as you rise, the State, exalted too, These disturbers were not so much like men usurf ing power, as asserting their natural place in society. Their rising was to illuminate and beautify the world. Their conquest over their competitors was by outshining them. The hand, that, like a destroying angel, smote the country, communicated to it the force and energy under which it suffered!" Abstract from this splendid eulogium, the qualia cations manifestly attached to the praise, to the end that the praise might be forgiven by himsen and his age, and what a tribute remains!-Cromwell and the men with whom and by whom he subverted the British monarchy, sanctifying the ambition by promoting the dignity of the State, No wandering, melancholic, or fanatic opinionist has a right to invade their place of voluntary exile, and elbim the toleration and protection of the banished society, for his own annoying peculiarity. The utmost he can demand is a right to do what the y have done, quit them in peace, and seek a wilderness stil more remote, where he, in his turn, may clama right to worship God according to his own peculiarity. "But the puritans were cruel, and hung persons charged with witchcraft;" and what should we do? if we honestly believed, as they honestly beliered, that the wretched victims of these delusions, were in personal league with the enemy of man; if we saw the incarnate principle of Evil where they saw it; if the state of philosophy, of public sentiment, of popular theology, was to us what it was to them, and we believed ourselves to be fighting a perilous battle, amidst the flashing fires of the opening are we quite sure, that should go into the ghastly contest, with soft and ele ant ph ses on our lips, and mild and placid affections in our bosoms? No, no. Let it suffice us to selves tolerant and merciful. Let us be content with our own liberality; our own abhorrence of persecution, which in us would be our crime; but let us not judge great and honorable names of other days, by a standard either of opinion or duty, which does not apply to their age, their circumstances, or their vocation. Do not let us quarrel with the noble and massy edifice, because it was the work of successive generations; because it did not rise like an exhalation from the soil; because they who laid the foundation did not carry up the head stone. Let us not murmur at the onk, because it did not shoot up from the acorn like a mushroom, men of great civil as well as great military talent, the ornament of their age; proposing as they rose to elevate their country with them, and to a great in a single night. Let us not impeach the wisdom their general tone is desponding and que success. degree effecting what they proposed; not so much Of the boldness of his concep- heavens; outshining not trampling down their com the honor of having given to the country clamantis, to rouse England and Europe into this most noble and useful invention. The above wood cut conveys a correct idea of Fitch's boat, as originally planned; but in the one actually constructed, he so far modified this plan as to place the pad. dles of the boat astern. A dreadful accident occurred on the Philade phia and Reading Railroad, on the 13th inst, three miles of our forefathers for not bringing to perfection in a day, the system of social institutions, which required for its perfection that it should not be the work of a day; which requined precisely, more than every thing else, the operation of successive years, the seasoning of long time, the discipine of experience, the rectification of errors by their results, the preparation for one stage of advancement in the training of a former stage, the enthusiasm caught from prophetic glimpses of a gradually unfolding future. 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.] crusade against revolutionary France! And shal we, the citizens of a free republic, founded by the ong suffering puritans, the inhabitants of a mighty continent, by their nerve and counsel added to the ivilized world; shall we who live in an age when ven the heaven defying horrors of that French reFirst Lieutenant. R. P. Parrott, of the 3d Artilvolution begin to be partly forgotten, in the brillery, has been nominated to the Senate as Captain of ant development of powerand talent which it oc- Ordnance, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the casioned; begin to be in some measure excused, death of Captain R. Bache. - [Naval and Military for the ages of crying oppression which preceded Chronicle.] : 1 1. A CARD. TO THE SUBSCRIBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE RAILROAD JOURNAL, MECHANICS' MAGAZINE, NEW-YORK 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 inatter-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 : : Devoted to INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, and the Improvements in Machinery-in weekly numbers, of 16 quarto pages each-price 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- NEW-YORK FARMER, AND AMERICAN GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANICS, AND Which will contain the choice articles of the above three publications-price THREE DOLLARS per annum, in advance-or four 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. Snow on Railroads; Internal Improvement State Sixth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Gra- Letter L.-The Far West..... Concklin's Revo.ving Press Harrow........ AMERICAN RAILROAD JOURNAL. NEW-YORK, JANUARY 16, 1836. 17 27 SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1836. notice which the members will have, and the difficulty of attendance to others, and 18 especially of this city. It seems to us, that the 1st of May would have been a better 30 time, as then travelling would have been good, and business will call many of those 33 interested to Albany and this city. A meeting 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. 32 ICE BOAT.-It appears by letters from Phila INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT CONVENTION. We publish in this number, notwithstanding a part has before been given, the entire proceedings of the late Internal Improve-delphia, that on Thursday 18th, the Ice Boat ment Convention, held at Albany. The ob- of the Camden and Ainboy 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 neces sarily flow from the intercourse of intelli gent 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. 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. [VOLUME V.-No. 2. 1 of the subscriberand Post Office written upon the margin or cover--but much better pleased at receiving the money for a year in advance. PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. - We are indebted to C. W. Wever, Esq., of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for a copy of the 9th Annual Report of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. Also to J. E. Bloomfield, F. B. Cutting, and Holmes Hutchinson, Esqrs., for the Annual Report of the Canal Commissioners, for the past year, and their Report of 26th January, under the act of 11th May last, in relation to the Enlargement of the Erie Canal. 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 extracts as we may deem of interest to the readers of the Journal. The communication 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 boiler upon a new plan, constructed for anthracite coal, and the first of the kind which had been made. In the construction of this boiler it was TO SUBSCRIBERS AND POST MASTERS.At the Convention, it will be perceived It sometimes occurs that numbers of this that a State Society was formed, to promote periodical are returned by a subscriber, or the object, for which the Convention as- Post Master-without writing upon it the sembled, and a meeting of that Society has, Post Office, or name of subscriber, and we understand, been called for the 11th inst. therefore we cannot tell whose to stop.- tain if a certain amount of labor, the driving at Albany. A circumstance, we apprehend, In all cases of returning a number, we of a double cylinder registering printing mato be regretted, in consequence of the short should be much obliged by having the name "chine, (which required three men to turn it designed to try an experiment, and to ascer. WHA about seven hours a day,) could be per-places it passed through a snow and ice of formed with a given quantity of fuel. The ten inches in depth. I understand that it was boiler, however, on trial, was found insufficient, and another one, one of Dr. Nott's tubular boilers, was obtained from the Novelty Works of this city, which was put into successful use a few days previous to the destruction of our office, press, and engine, by the great conflagration. 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 Ibs. of Schuylkill coal, and we doubt not, but that, with some trifling improvements which were in course of preparation, and would have been completed 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 designed principally to clear the rails of ice and sleet, but is equally beneficial in clearing off a light snow. The apparatus consists simply of a pair of bars or levers attached to the front end of the engine, and standing nearly in an upright position, and operated upon by a rope or chord. It is used without the least possible danger, even at the greatest speed, and is so small that it can be conveniently carried at all times upon the engine or tinder car, and can be easily attached or detached, at any time, in one or two minutes. Railroad managers or superintendents will do well to call and see the contrivance, as it is certainly a very valuable improvement. Yours, &c., A TRAVELLER. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT STATE CONVENTION. At an adjourned meeting of the Internal Improvement Convention of the State of New-York, at the Capitol in the City of Albany, on Monday the eleventh of January, 1836, the Hon. SAMUEL CHEEVER was ap. pointed President, and A. J. PARKER, Esq., Secretary. The following were delivered to the Sec retary as the names of gentlemen selected by the different counties, and of those who appeared as delegates to the Convention. Albany. Samuel Cheever, Thomas W. Olcott, Jesse Buel, John V. L. Pruyn, John C. Schuyler, Daniel Dorman, Augustus James, Jared L. Rathbone, James Savage, Ezra P. Prentice, Henry L. Webb, Joel B Nott. Alleghany.--John Griffiin, Calvin T. Chamberlin, Luther C. Peck, Walter S. Church. Broome. George Park, Judson Allen, Daniel S. Dickinson and Ashburn Birdsall. Cataraugus. Andrew Mead, D. M Day, C. J. Fox. Chautauque.-Walter Smith, Richard P. Marvin, Campbell, Benjamin Walworth. Chenango.- - Mead, - Knowlton, Augustus C. Welch. Clinton.-James B. Bradshaw, Lemuel Steltson. 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 Etten, Charles Borland, jr. Otsego. Levi Beardsley, Albert Benton, Sumner Ely, L. J. Walworth, Ivory Hol. land, J. O. Morse, I. E. Crary, F. A Lee, Lee, H. Phinney, Wm. Baker, E. Cr Crafts, Hiram 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, William S. Paddock. Steuben. George Huntington, Hervey Switzer, L. B. Searl, Ziba A. Leland. Sullivan.--John P. Jones, S. G. Demmick, P. Pelter, Friend Wheelock. Columbia.-Ambrose L. Jordan, She aonpointed to nominate officers for the Conven Miller, Ayres M. Stebbins. Cortlandt. Cephas Comstock, Chauncey Reed. Delaware. John Griffiin, Jas. W. Knapp. Amasa J. Parker, Noadiah Johnson, Samuel Gordon, Stephen C. Johnson. tion, made the following report: For President, Hon. SAMUEL CHEEVER. Vice Presidents, SUMNER ELY, CHARLES BORLAND, jr. Secretaries, DAVID C. COLDEN, FLETCHER M. HAIGHT. The report of the Committee was adopt Dutchess. Thomas Taber, Obadiah 'Ti. tus, Joel Benton, George W. Slocum, Daniel D. Aikin, Taber Belden, Alexander H. ed, and the officers named took their seats. of the several towns in the State, request- || the traveller by walls and fences to an artifi Grant, James M. Abbott, Samuel Pugtley Franklin.-Luther Bradish, Asa Hascal Greene. Jacob Haight, Isaac Van Loon. Lewis. Thomas Baker. Livingston. Charles H. Carroll, William Montgomery.-David Spraker, Henry V New-York. Joseph E. Bloomfield, Davic C. Colden, Philip Kearney, Morgan L Smith, Samuel Sherwood, Dudley Selden. speed of the engine, and was told that in some Philip Hart, - Redfield, Wm. Howard 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. The Committee appointed at the Convention lately held at Utica, on the subject of Common Roads, beg leave to report, that, pursuant to the resolution of the Convention, a circular was addressed to the clerks ing information as to the length of the public and turnpike roads, and the number of bridges in their respective towns, together with the annual cost of keeping them in re pair. Answers have been received from 266 towns, and at the time of making the report answers are daily coming in, so that hopes are entertained of making a complete statement of the annual cost of the roads of the State from actual returns. The results of the answers already received show that in 266 towns, having 523,488 inhabitants, the length of public roads is 19,924 miles. The number of days' work an nually assessed for their repair is 416,271 The amount of money annu them in repair $115,363 cial ditch, and so prevent him from availing Such are the results of the present sys- 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. The path-masters do not seem to have the least knowledge as to the true princi ples upon which roads should be constructed. Instead of properly locating, grading, ditching, and constructing a road of hard 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 hardened so as to prevent the moisture from penetrating, it should be so formed that the water will readily run off to the sides, where there should be ditches connected with the natural water courses of the country. The materials, they content themselves with lay-road will thus be kept dry, and the frost Roads of this description, made by heap- no charm in the action of the carriage to the sides, and when the surface is proper The ditches should be sufficiently deep to be below the bottom of the metal or mate rials used in making the road to serve the purpose of draining, and in April and October they should be cleared out so as to afford an easy passage for the water from the road. 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 large expenditure made in their construction is amply repaid by their greater efficiency and durability. In some parts of the State, however, as, where clay predominates, there is a difficul Estimating the value of each day's work at 75 cents, and the assessed labor will A road is an artificial contrivance or maamount to the sum of $1,092,711, to which chine for facilitating the transportation of the sum of $34,258 must be added, and we heavy loads, and its efficiency depends uphave the enormous sum of $1,176,969 an- on the perfection of its construction. Forty in procuring stones of the kind used in nually expended in the State of New-York instance, upon the common roads in their constructing roads. This does not often for repairing common roads, besides $115,- present condition 30 bushels of grain are 363 annually expended for the repair of considered a load for a pair of horses, while public bridges, besides double that sum in upon a Macadamised road the same team constructing new ones. This, too, it must can transport with the same exertion 75 be recollected, is independent of the sums ex- bushels. pended for turnpikes and toll bridges. The obstacles to be overcome are friction and gravitation, which are increased, the happen, and when it does there is an abundance of material to supply the deficiency. Bricks may be used, as in Holland, to form good roads, and when of suitable form and 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 impervious to water. If this vast sum expended in each year had produced results proportionate to its amount; first by the softness of the road, and the if it had effected any visible or permanent second by its deviation from a level line. 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 surIt 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 dopted in Russia, by placing square blocks their wretched state. When the snow has a practicable route. The other remedy is upright upon the ground, and so closely covered them in the winter, and when the packed together as to present a smooth and summer's sun has dried and improved them, can be procured, it is necessary that they compact surface; or the track may be cothey are passable; but when these natural should be broken to a size that they can vered 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 road is to pass, with the view of selecting agents cease to exert their beneficial influ- unite with the body of the road, and thus where level, |