Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 291, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 December 1916 — TO HARDEN EARTH ROADS [ARTICLE]

TO HARDEN EARTH ROADS

University of Missouri Bulletin Tells How to Overcome Soft Surface of Highway Columbia, Mo. —While a hard suriace is desirable, jood roads can be obtained by proper construction and maintenance of earth surfaces. Proper maintenance of earth roads can be accomplished in two ways, according to a bulletin on earth roads and the oiling of roads, issued by the Engineering Experiment Station at the University of Missouri. The first way is by the use of the road drag, which should be done soon after a rain, but not un til the ground has lost its stickiness sufficiently to allow the material to slide along the face of the, drag. Injury can be done to the road if dragged when either too dfy ,or too wet. A well dragged road will be free from mud and ruts In winter and from dust in summer,. The cost of maintaining < arth roads by dragging is about $2.50 per mile per year in the Middle West. The second way is by the proper selection and use of road oils. There are two types of oil on the market. One of these has an asphalt base which serves as a binder on the road as soon a.% the lighter oil evaporates. While the other has a paraffin base and is to all intents a lubricating oil. The latter ind is not binding and leaves the road musty and 'sticky. In applying the oil warm weather should be selected and the loose dust removed from sie center of the road by means of hands push brooms. Before applying the oil the road should be harrowed so as to loosen the surface, permitting the oil to saturate the roadbed. The loose dirt should then be spread over the oiled surface and the road rolled.