Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1895 — The Best Country Road. [ARTICLE]

The Best Country Road.

The reports of several investigations conducted by experts of the agricultural department have been submitted to Secretary Morton. The inquiry as to the best roads for farming and farmers was conducted by General Roy Stone, who pictures the road that best ’meets the farmers’ needs as a solid, well bedded stone road, so narrow as to be only a single track, but having an earth track alongside. “A fine, dry, smooth dirt track,” the report says, “is the perfection of roads, easy on the horses/ feet and legs and free from noise and jar. The stone roads, on the other hand, wear more' in- warm weather than in wet. Practical experience shows that the junction of the stones and earth sections of the roads can be kept even, and there is no, difficulty in the meeting and passing of loaded teams, two points which have been raised in the discussion of construction methods. No rutting of the earth roads results.”