age roads. Wherever it is intended to
build expensive stone roads, those having the work in charge will
naturally employ a competent engineer, or will at least appeal to Prof.
Gillespie's work on road-making, or to some other authority. Space need
not be given here to engineering details, which would require a lengthy
elucidation. There is, however, a sort of road-making materially more
costly at the outset than that now in vogue, but much less costly in the
long-run, if we consider the element of practical value and the cost of
maintenance. It depends more on fundamental principles of construction
than on special processes of finishing, and will be more or less
satisfactory according to the character of the soil and of the covering
material available.

The great enemy of all roads is excessive moisture; and the chief
purpose of all methods of improvement is to get rid of this, or to
counteract its effect. As in the case of foot-paths, wherever the porous
character of the subsoil, and the absence of higher-lying wet lands, is
such that no accumulation of water upon or under the roadway need be
feared, the greatest difficulty is at once set aside. Roads lying on
such a soil may be over-dusty in dry weather. When the subsoil is
temporarily impervious because of its frozen condition, they may become
unduly muddy, or, when the situation is such as to lead hill-water upon
them, they may be badly washed; but they are free from the great
difficulties that beset all roads which for a large part of the year
are underlaid by an over-saturated, compact subsoil. Where such natural
drainage is secured, no artificial under-drainage will be needed. In
many more instances, all that will be required in the way of draining
will be to lead away the sources of wet-weather springs, which break
through the road-bed and cause deep sloughs. Where incomplete or partial
artificial under-draining is needed, the need is absolute; and whether
we consider the durability of the road, or the degree to which its
traffic is interfered with by its wet condition, we may be confident
that every dollar spent in well-directed under-draining will be invested
to the very best advantage. The varying conditions of wetness, and the
different sources of surplus water, must be regarded in deciding
precisely how much of this work is needed, and how it should be done.
Details cannot be fully considered here; but as a general rule it may be
said, that where the subsoi