than macadam. The less expensive stone is used
for foundations, and the best and more costly for surface only. In this
way the cost of construction has been greatly reduced.

In regard to the width, a road nine or ten feet wide has been found to
be quite as serviceable as one of greater width, unless it is made
fourteen feet and over. It is not claimed that a narrow road is just as
good as a wide road, but it has been found better to have the cost in
length than in width in rural districts. In and near towns, where there
is almost constant passing, the road should not be less than from
fourteen to twenty feet in width. The difficulty in getting on and off
the stone road where teams are passing is not so great as is supposed.
To meet this difficulty in the past, on each side of the road the
specifications require the contractor to make a shoulder of clay,
gravel, or other hard earth; this is never less than three feet and
sometimes six to eight feet in width, according to the kinds of soil the
road is composed of and the liability of frequent meeting and passing.
In rural districts the top-dressing of these shoulders is taken from the
side ditches; grass sods are mixed in when found, and in some cases
grass seed is sown. As the stone roadbed takes the travel the grass soon
begins to grow, receiving considerable fertilizing material from the
washing of the road; and when the sod is once formed the waste material
from the wear of the road is lodged in the grass sod and the shoulder
becomes hard and firm, except when the frost is coming out.

Another mode of building a rural road cheaply and still have room for
passing without getting off the stone construction is to make the
roadbed proper about ten feet wide, ten or twelve inches deep; then have
wings of macadam on each side three feet wide and five or six inches
deep. In case ten feet is used the two wings would make the stone
construction six feet wide. If the road is made considerably higher in
the center than the sides, as it should be, the travel, particularly the
loaded teams, will keep in the center, and the wings will only be used
in passing and should last as long as the thicker part of the road.

The preparation of the road and making it suitable for the stone bed is
one of the most important parts of road construction. This, once done
properly, is permanent. Wherever it is possible the hills should be cut
and low places filled, so that the maximum grade will n