ot exceed five or
six feet rise in one hundred feet; where hills cannot be reduced to this
grade without incurring too much expense, the hill, if possible, should
be avoided by relaying the road in another place.

Wherever stone roads have been constructed it has been found that those
using them for drawing heavy loads will increase the capacity of their
wagons so as to carry three or four times the load formerly carried.
This can easily be done where the road has a maximum grade of not
greater than five or six per cent, as before stated; but when the grade
is greater than this the power to be expended on such loads upon such
grades will exhaust and wear out the horses; thus a supposed saving in
heavy loading may prove to be a loss.

In the preparation of the road it is necessary to have the ditches wide
and deep enough to carry all the water to the nearest natural water way.
These ditches should at all times be kept clear of weeds and trash, so
that the water will not be retained in pools. Bad roads often occur
because this important matter is overlooked.

On hills the slope or side grade in construction from center of road to
side ditches should be increased so as to exceed that of the
longitudinal grade; that is, if the latter is, say, five per cent, the
slope to side should be at least six per cent and over.

Where the road in rural districts is on rolling ground and hills do not
exceed three or four per cent, it is an unnecessary expense to cut the
small ones, but all short rises should be cut and small depressions
filled. A rolling road is not objectionable, and besides there is no
better roadbed for laying on metal than the hard crust formed by
ordinary travel. In putting on the metal, particularly on narrow roads,
the roadbed should be "set high;" it will soon get "flat enough." It is
better to put the shouldering up to the stone than to dig a trench to
put the stone in. If the road after preparation is about level from side
to side and the stone or metal construction is to be, say, ten inches
deep, the sides of the roadbed to receive the metal should be cut about
three inches and placed on the side to help form the shoulder; the rest
of the shoulder, when suitable, being taken from the ditches and sides
in forming the proper slope. The foundation to receive the metal, if the
natural roadbed is not used and the bed is of soft earth, should be
rolled until it is hard and compact. It should also conform to the