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VILLAGE IMPROVEMENTS
AND
FARM VILLAGES.
By
GEO. E. WARING, JR.
CONSULTING ENGINEER FOR SANITARY AND AGRICULTURAL
WORKS.
BOSTON:
JAMES R. OSGOOD AND COMPANY,
(Late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co.)
1877.
COPYRIGHT, 1877,
BY GEO. E. WARING, JR.
FRANKLIN PRESS: RAND, AVERY, & CO.,
BOSTON.
The following papers on Village Improvements and Farm Villages are
reprinted, with some amendments, from "Scribners Monthly." These
constitute the more practical part of the book, so far as villages are
concerned.
It has, however, been judged appropriate to add to them a paper on
Eastern Farming, which originally appeared in "The Atlantic Monthly,"
and which continues the discussion of the question of village residence
as a means for mitigating some of the hardships which beset the lives of
isolated country families.
The wide-spread and growing interest in the topics considered makes it
seem worth while to give these short essays a more permanent form.
G. E. W., JR.
NEWPORT, R.I., June, 1877.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
VILLAGE IMPROVEMENTS 11
VILLAGE SANITARY WORK 69
FARM VILLAGES 114
LIFE AND WORK OF THE EASTERN FARMER 159
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
FIG. 1.--DRAINAGE OF HILL-SIDE FOOT-PATH 31
FIG. 2.--SECTION OF ROAD WITH DRAINS 44
FIG. 3.--PIPES RESTING ON THEIR SHOULDERS 73
FIG. 4.--PIPES RESTING ON THEIR FULL LENGTH 73
FIG. 5.--GREASE-TRAP 79
FIG. 6.--FIELD'S FLUSH-TANK 80
FIG. 7.--THE EMERSON VENTILATOR 86
FIG. 8.--DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING MANNER OF SEWAGE
DISPOSAL AT LENOX, MASS. 97
FIG. 9.--SETTLING BASIN 102
FIG. 10.--ARRANGEMENT OF ABSORPTION DRAINS, 105
FIG. 11.--DIVISION OF FOUR SQUARE MILES WITH
CENTRAL VILLAGE 124
FIG. 12.--DIVISION OF THE CENTRAL VILLAGE 126
FIG. 13.--DIVISION OF THE CENTRAL OPEN SPACE
OF THE VILLAGE 131
FIG. 14.--PRESENT DIVISION AND SETTLEMENT OF
TRACT IN RHODE ISLAND 133
FIG. 15.--THE RHODE ISLAND TRACT WITH ITS
BUILDINGS GATHERED TOGETHER INTO A COMPACT
VILLAGE 135
FIG. 16.--PROPOSED ARRANGEMENT OF THE RHODE
ISLAND FARM VILLAGE 139
VILLAGE IMPROVEMENTS.
It may be because the newness of our country and the fragile character
of our early structures have prevented the accumulation of inferior,
ugly, and uncomfortable houses, as the nucleus around which later
building has crystallized; it may be from circumstances which have
prevented the isolated residence of the better classes of our people; or
it may be the result of accident. Whatever the reason, it is beyond
dispute that the United States is _par excellence_ a land of beautiful
villages. North, south, east, and west, there are plenty of hideous
conglomerations of poor-looking houses, with an absence of every element
of beauty; but there are thousands of other villages scattered all over
the land, which are full of the evidences of good taste in their
regulation and in their management.
As a rule, these more attractive features are very much modified by the
presence of badly-kept private places or neglected public buildings, and
by a general air of untidiness. Still, the foundation of attractiveness
is there; and nothing is needed beyond a well-organized and well-guided
control of public sentiment, to remove or to hide the more objectionable
features, and to permit such beauty as the village may possess to
manifest itself.
The real elements of beauty in a village are not fine houses, costly
fences, paved roadways, geometrical lines, mathematical grading, nor any
obviously costly improvements. They are, rather, cosiness, neatness,
simplicity, and that homely air that grows from these and from the
presence of a home-loving people.
To state the case tersely, the shiftless village is a hideous village,
while the charm which we often realize without analyzing it comes of
affectionate care and attention.
There are villages in New England, in Western New York, and all over the
West, even to the far side of Arkansas, which impress the visitor at
once as being homelike and full of sociability and kindliness; which
delight him, and lead him almost to wish that his own lot had been cast
within their shades. These are chiefly villages where the evidences of
public and private care predominate, or are at least conspicuous. A
critical examination would, in almost every case, develop very serious
evidence of neglect, unwholesomeness, and bad neighborhood.
Within a few years, beginning, I believe, in Massachusetts, the more
thoughtful of those whose affections are centred in their village homes
have united in organized efforts to make their villages more tidy, to
interest all classes of society in attention to those little details the
neglect of which is fatal, and to make the village, what it certainly
should be, an expression of the interest of its people in their homes
and in the surroundings of their daily life.
The first of these associations of which I have any knowledge (though,
as such work is unobtrusive, there may have been many before it) was the
"Laurel Hill Association" of Stockbridge, Mass. It takes its name from a
wooded knoll in the centre of the village, which had been dedicated to
public use. The first object of the association was to convert this
knoll into a village park. Then they took in hand the village
burial-ground, which was put in proper condition and suitably surrounded
with hedge and railing. Then the broad village street was properly
graded and drained, and agreeable walks were made at its sides.
Incidentally to this, the people living along both sides of the streets
were encouraged to do what they could to give it an appropriate setting
by putting their own premises into tasteful condition and maintaining
them so. The organization worked well, and accomplished good results.
The Rev. N. P. Eggleston, formerly of Stockbridge, in a paper on village
improvements written for the "New York Tribune," thus describes the
collateral work and influences of the Laurel Hill Association:--
"Next followed the planting of trees by the roadside wherever trees
were lacking. The children, sometimes disposed in their
thoughtlessness to treat young trees too rudely, were brought in as
helpers of the association, while at the same time put under a
beneficial culture for themselves. Any boy who would undertake to
watch and care for a particular tree for two years was rewarded by
having the tree called by his name. Other children were paid for
all the loose papers and other unsightly things which they would
pick up and remove from the street.
"Gradually the work of the association extended. It soon took in
hand the streets connected with the main street. Year by year it
pushed out walks from the centre of the village toward its outer
borders; year by year it extended its line of trees in the same
manner; and year by year there has been a marked improvement in the
aspect of the village. Little by little, and in many nameless ways,
the houses and barns, the dooryards and farms, have come to wear a
look of neatness and intelligent, tasteful care, that makes the
Stockbridge of to-day quite a different place from the Stockbridge
of twenty years ago. Travellers passing through it are apt to speak
of it with admiration as a finished place, and, compared with most
even of our New England villages, it has such a look; but the
Laurel Hill Association does not consider its home finished, nor
its own work completed. Still the work goes on. Committees are even
now conning plans for further improvements. By itself, or by
suggestions and stimulations offered to others, the association is
aiming at the culture of the village people through other agencies
than those of outward and physical adornment. It fosters libraries,
reading-rooms, and other places of resort where innocent and
healthful games, music and conversation will tend to promote the
social feeling, and lessen vice by removing some of its causes."
No one can drive through this beautiful old place without realizing the
effect of some influence different from that which has usually been at
work in country towns. One feels that it is a village of homes; that the
people who live in it love it, and that it has no public or private
interest so insignificant as to be neglected.
I have cited this instance somewhat at length, because it was the first,
as it is the most complete, that has come to my notice. In other places,
more serious work of improvement has been undertaken in the direction of
sewerage, gas-lighting, &c. In fact, the present writing was suggested
by frequent requests for information and advice on the more practical
parts of the subject.
At the outset it is to be said that the organization and control of the
village society is especially woman's work. It requires the sort of
systematized attention to detail, especially in the constantly-recurring
duty of "cleaning up," that grows more naturally out of the habit of
good housekeeping than out of any occupation to which men are
accustomed. Then, too, it calls for a degree of leisure which women are
the most apt to have, and it will especially engage their interest as
being a real addition to the field of their ordinary routine of life.
The sort of enthusiasm which has led to marked success in the Dorcas
Society and other organized action outside of the household, for which
American country women are noted, will find here a new and engaging
object. This, however, is only a suggestion by the way, and one which
may or may not be appropriate under varying circumstances.
If we assume, which is not altogether true, that the main purpose of
village improvement is to improve the _appearance_ of the village, we
must still understand that the direct object of the society should not
be alone nor chiefly in the direction of appearance.
What it is especially desirable that a village should appear to be is: a
wholesome, cleanly, tidy, simple, modest collection of country homes,
with all of its parts and appliances adapted to the pleasantest and most
satisfactory living of its people. All improvements should therefore
have this fundamental tendency, and every element of adornment, and
every evidence of careful attention, should be only an outgrowth of the
effort to obtain the best practical results. Costly park railing where
no railing is needed, width of roadway greater than the needs of the
community require, formal geometric lines and surfaces where more
natural slopes and curves would be practically better, elaborate
fountains or statuary out of keeping with the general character of the
village, (the gift of a public-spirited, ambitious, and pretentious
fellow-townsman,) and isolated examples, as in a church or schoolhouse,
of a style of architecture which would be more appropriate for a
city,--all these are obtrusive and objectionable, and are consequently
in bad taste. In so far as these or any other elements of improvement
are unsuited to the conditions in which they are placed, they are
undesirable; and it would be well for those having the interest of the
village in charge, to adopt an early resolution to accept no gifts, and
to allow no work of construction or embellishment, which is not, first
of all, appropriate to the modest character of a well-regulated country
village.
If every public building is sufficient for its uses and suggests no
undue outlay for show alone; if the roads and walks are such as the uses
of the people require; if the fountain suggests a tasteful ornament and
centre of freshness and coolness, rather than a monument of some
citizens liberality and ambition; if the village green or park is a
proper pleasure-ground for old and young; and, in short, if every thing
that is done and every dollar that is expended has for its object only
the improvement of the conditions of living,--then there will be needed
only the element of careful keeping to maintain always the best sort of
beauty that is possible under the circumstances.
No satisfactory result can be attained without organization. The work
will necessarily require much money and more time in order to avoid an
undue tax upon individuals. It is desirable, too, that, so far as
possible, every member of the community should be interested in the
work, and should contribute in labor or in money according to his means.
This general interest can be secured much better through the influence
of an organization in which all are interested, than by any individual
effort.
The association should become the distributor, not only of the moneys
accruing from membership fees, &c., but of contributions made by
citizens, or subscriptions raised by combined effort for general or
specific works of improvement. It should be, in fact, not only the
inciter of public spirit, but the director of public effort.
The precise form of constitution for such an association must
necessarily depend more or less on circumstances; and I sketch only as a
basis for discussion, the following form suggested by the regulations
governing the Laurel Hill Association of Stockbridge:--
ARTICLE I.
This Association shall be called "The Village Improvement
Association of ----."
ARTICLE II.
The object of this Association shall be to improve and ornament the
streets and public grounds of the village by planting and
cultivating trees, establishing and maintaining walks, grading and
draining roadways, establishing and protecting good grass plats and
borders in the streets and public squares, securing a proper public
supply of water, establishing and maintaining such sewerage as
shall be needed for the best sanitary condition of the village,
providing public fountains and drinking-troughs, breaking out paths
through the snow, lighting the streets, encouraging the formation
of a library and reading-room, and generally doing whatever may
tend to the improvement of the village as a place of residence.
ARTICLE III.
The officers of this Association shall be a President, two
Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, who shall constitute
the Executive Committee. These officers shall be elected at the
annual meeting, and shall hold their offices until their successors
shall have been elected.
ARTICLE IV.
It shall be the duty of the President, and in his absence of the
senior Vice-President, to preside at all meetings of the
Association, and to carry out all orders of the Executive
Committee.
ARTICLE V.
It shall be the duty of the Secretary to keep a correct and careful
record of all proceedings of the Association, and of the Executive
Committee, in a book suitable for their preservation; to give
notice of all meetings of the Association and of the Executive
Committee; to make all publications, and to give all public and
private notices ordered by the Executive Committee, and to attend
to all the correspondence of the Association.
ARTICLE VI.
It shall be the duty of the Treasurer to keep the funds of the
Association, and to make such disbursements as may be ordered by
the Executive Committee.
ARTICLE VII.
It shall be the duty of the Executive Committee to manage all the
affairs of the Association, to employ all laborers, to make all
contracts, to expend all moneys, and generally to direct and
superintend all improvements which in their discretion, and with
the means at their command, will best serve the public interest.
The Executive Committee shall hold a meeting at least once in each
month, and as much oftener as they may deem expedient.
The Executive Committee shall have power to institute premiums to
be awarded for planting and protecting ornamental trees, and for
doing such other acts as may seem to them worthy of such
encouragement. They shall also encourage frequent public meetings
of the Association and of citizens generally, both with a view to
maintain an interest in their work, and for the general
encouragement of the habit of meeting for discussion and amusement.
ARTICLE VIII.
Three members of the Executive Committee present at any meeting
shall constitute a quorum for transacting business; and the vote of
a majority of those present shall be binding on the Association.
ARTICLE IX.
No debt shall be contracted by the Executive Committee beyond the
amount of available funds within their control to pay it; and no
member of this Association shall be liable for any debt of the
Association beyond the amount of his or her subscription.
ARTICLE X.
Every person over fourteen years of age who shall plant and
protect a tree under the direction of the Executive Committee, or
who shall pay the sum of one dollar annually, and shall obligate
him or herself to pay the same for three years, shall be a member
of this Association; and every child under fourteen years of age,
who shall pay or shall become obligated to pay as before the sum of
twenty-five cents annually for three years, shall be a member of
this Association.
ARTICLE XI.
The payment of ten dollars annually for three years, or of
twenty-five dollars in one sum, shall constitute a person a member
of this Association for life.
ARTICLE XII.
The autograph signatures of all members of the Association shall be
preserved in a book suitable for that purpose.
ARTICLE XIII.
An annual meeting of the Association shall be held at such place as
the Executive Committee may direct, on the fourth Wednesday of
August, at two o'clock, P.M. Notice of such meeting shall be posted
on each of the churches and at the post-office at least seven days
prior to the time of holding said meetings, and a written notice
shall be sent to all non-resident members. Other meetings of the
Association may be called by the Executive Committee on seven days'
notice as above prescribed.
ARTICLE XIV.
At the annual meeting, the Executive Committee shall report the
amount of money received during the year, and the source from which
it has been received; the amount of money expended during the year,
and the objects for which it has been expended; the number of trees
planted at the cost of the Association; the number planted by
individuals, with the location, the kind of tree, and the name of
the planter; and generally all of the acts of the Committee. This
report shall be entered on the record of the Association.
ARTICLE XV.
Any person who shall plant a tree under the direction of the
Executive Committee, and shall protect it for five years, shall be
entitled to have such tree known forever by his or her name.
ARTICLE XVI.
This Constitution may be amended by the Executive Committee with
the approval of the majority of the members present at any annual
meeting of the Association, or at any special meeting, the notice
of which shall have been accompanied by a copy of the proposed
amendment, with the statement that the amendment is to be voted on
at such meeting.
I have provided, in the above draft of a constitution, for an executive
committee of only five members; for the reason that, while it will be
comparatively easy to secure the services of this number, the duties and
responsibilities of a larger committee would be so distributed that
there would be too often occasion for the application of the old adage:
"What is everybody's business is nobody's business." The Laurel Hill
Association has an executive committee of fifteen, in addition to seven
officers. This large committee (twenty-two) serves to secure the
interest of a larger number of citizens; but the same thing may be as
well accomplished by inviting the co-operation of citizens in the work
of sub-committees, the chairman of each of which would be a member of
the regular executive committee. In Easthampton, Mass., there is a board
of fourteen directors, and there are committees on sanitary matters, on
setting out trees, on sidewalks and hitching-posts, &c. It would be
prudent to restrict the number of members of these sub-committees to
three; one from the executive committee and two from outside.
Besides special executive work, a vast deal has been done wherever
improvement societies have been organized, in the way of stimulating
citizens to adorn their private grounds, or at least to keep their
grounds and fences in good order, removing weeds and rubbish from the
sidewalk, keeping the grass well trimmed and free from litter and
leaves. What most detracts from the good appearance of any village is
the slovenly look which comes from badly hung gates, crooked fences,
absent pickets, and general shiftlessness about private places; and it
is by encouraging citizens to take a pride in attention to these minor
details, that the association will do its best work. This result may be
accomplished almost entirely without the expenditure of money. It is in
attention to little things and in securing the co-operation of private
owners,--a co-operation which will call for an inappreciable amount of
labor,--that the most telling work of the officers of the society is to
be done.
So far as these details are concerned, it is hardly necessary in a paper
of this sort to do more than to call attention to them. They are within
the capacity of every citizen, and they will naturally suggest
themselves to any person who would be likely to undertake the direction
of an improvement association. There are other and really more important
objects looking to a certain amount of landscape gardening and
engineering, on which specific instruction may be desired, and often in
cases where it will be impracticable to employ professional assistance.
These are as follows:--
1. The construction of sidewalks.
2. The construction and care of roadways.
3. The supply of water, and the construction of drinking-troughs.
4. The laying-out and adornment of public squares and other open spaces.
5. The establishment of a system of sewerage or sanitary drainage,
including the removal of excessive soil moisture.
SIDEWALKS.
No one thing has more to do with the comfort of those living in country
villages than sidewalks which are good at all seasons of the year. Those
fortunate villages which are built on a gravelly soil, with a perfect
natural drainage, need little more in this direction than such a
conformation of the surface as will prevent water from standing on the
footway when the ground is frozen. At all other times it sinks naturally
away into the earth. It is much more often the case that the character
of the soil or subsoil prevents a settling away of water, or that
subterranean oozing from higher ground keeps the earth throughout the
spring and autumn, and after heavy rains in summer, damp, and often
sloppy. Wherever the ground is of such a character as to prevent the
rapid sinking to a considerable depth of all excessive moisture, there
is sure to be a disagreeable condition of the footway whenever the lower
soil is locked with frost, and the surface is thawed. Even with the best
drainage, natural or artificial, this condition will exist for a short
time while frost is coming out of the ground; but with good drainage it
is of so temporary a character as hardly to justify any expensive
finishing of the surface, except perhaps in the case of the most
frequented walks.
To overcome occasional sloppiness where the difficulty is not
deep-seated, there is no cheaper nor better device than to dress the
surface with coal-ashes. Indeed, if these are used to a sufficient
thickness, they are practically as good as concrete or the best gravel.
When first applied, they are dusty and unpleasant; but the first wetting
lays the dust, and they soon settle to a firm consistency, and make a
very pleasant walk, with the great advantage of being entirely barren,
and preventing the growth of weeds and grass. If the ashes of a village
are collected and screened, the cinders being used at the bottom, and
the surface being smoothly dressed with the finer material, they will
make as satisfactory walks, even where the use is considerable, as any
other material. The color is unobtrusive, and the surface soon becomes
hard enough to bear sweeping. Those who are more ambitious for effect
may prefer a walk made of tar-and-gravel concrete; and this, if well
made, is good, durable, and satisfactory. So far as the improvement
association is concerned, it can find many ways for expending the
difference of cost between ashes and concrete, which will accomplish a
much more telling result.
If gravel can be obtained without too much expense, it may be used with
excellent results to a depth of from one to three inches, according to
the porosity of the subsoil,--more being needed where the ground is
inclined to become soft. In using gravel it is best either to screen it,
using the coarser parts below and the finer parts at the surface, or,
after applying it, to add a thin layer of earth, barely sufficient to
fill its spaces,--to "bind" it so as to give it a firm and solid
consistency. Loose and rattling gravel makes a handsome walk to look at,
but an unpleasant one to walk upon. Nothing is more agreeable than
well-trodden, dry, root-bound earth, as where grass has been worn away
by frequent use; but this becomes at once objectionable on being
saturated with rain or moistened by melting frost.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
It is a common impression, that all thoroughly good foot-paths must be
dug out to a considerable depth, filled with loose stones, and dressed
at the top with some good finishing material; but this is not necessary
even for the best work. The great point is to secure a thorough draining
of the sub-stratum, so that there shall be no rising of ooze-water from
below, and so that the ground shall be free from such saturation as to
cause heaving during frost. This condition may be secured by a suitable
draining of the ground immediately under the walk, and by the use of a
well-compacted and tightly-bound surface covering of such form as to
shed or turn away rain-water. Figure 1 (p. 31) shows the cross section
of a foot-path six feet wide on slightly sloping ground, where we have
to apprehend an oozing of subsoil water from the land at the highest
side. The centre of the walk is slightly crowning,--say one inch higher
than the sides,--so that rain falling upon it will flow readily toward
the grass-border at either side. To prevent the ponding of water at the
sides when the ground is frozen, the surface of the walk at its edges
should be well above the level of the adjoining ground; but it may be
necessary under some circumstances to furnish, here and there, a channel
or surface-gutter across the walk, to allow the accumulation at the
higher side to escape. Rarely will deep gutters at the sides be
necessary or desirable. If the walk is laid at a sufficient height to
turn water on to the adjoining ground instead of receiving water from
this, it will be easy to keep it dry. We will assume that the path in
question is to be made over a tenacious clay soil, with a considerable
oozing from the hillside,--the most unfavorable condition that can be
found, especially in cold climates. The first thing to be secured is the
cutting-off of the subsoil water from the hill. This may be done by
digging a trench as narrow as possible,--six inches will be better than
more, as requiring less filling material,--to a depth of three feet. In
the bottom of this drain lay a common land-tile drain, with collars at
the joints if these can be procured, and, if not, with a bit of paper
laid over the joints to prevent the entrance of loose material, and to
hold the pipes in place during construction. The ditch should then be
filled with cinders, gravel, or coarse sand. If stones are to be used,
they should be broken to a small size,--not more than one inch in
diameter,--and the loose bits should be mixed with them in the filling.
Very small interstices will be sufficient to allow water to pass freely
through, while if large stones are used, with large interstices, there
will be danger of a washing-in of earth sufficient in time to obstruct
both the stonework and the tile. The smaller the tile, so long as it is
sufficient for its purpose, the better; for lengths of five hundred feet
or less, an interior diameter of an inch and a quarter will be
sufficient; from this to one thousand feet, use an inch and a half bore.
If possible, before exceeding this length, secure an outlet for the
water in the roadside gutter or some other channel of exit. The
tile-drain, at a depth of three feet, will remove all subsoil water from
under the walk, and all that may be delivered into the loosely filled
trench at its side. The loose filling of the trench should not be
carried nearer than within six inches of the surface of the ground, and
should be covered with fine and well-packed earth to prevent the
entrance of _surface_-water which would soon carry in silt enough to
stop its action. Whatever covering is adopted for the walk itself, it
must be of such a character as to prevent any thing like a free
admission of surface-water. Concrete will do this perfectly; and either
ashes, or gravel dressed at the top with ashes, if well raked and rolled
at the outset to a smooth surface, will soon become so bound together as
to shed pretty nearly all rain falling upon it. The difference in cost
between a walk made in this way, and one dug out for its whole width to
a depth of two feet, and filled first with stone and then with gravel
and a suitable surface dressing, will be very important; and it is safe
to say that the cheaper will be at least as good and durable as the more
expensive method. In all construction of sidewalks, whether public or
private, regard must be had to the surface conformation, and some device
must be adopted for preventing the flow of water upon the walk from the
adjoining ground, and for the easy delivery of storm-water falling upon
the walk itself.
ROADWAYS.
The great expense of Macadamizing or Telfordizing puts these systems
almost out of the reach of small communities. Wherever the original
expense can be borne, the subsequent cost of maintenance will be so
slight, and the result generally will be so satisfactory, as to make it
always a good investment. The circumstances under which these costly
forms of construction may be adopted will be greatly extended if we can
overcome the prevalent American prejudice in favor of _wide_ roadways.
Against wide _streets_ there is, as a rule, no objection, though
exceptional narrow and well-shaded lanes have a rural charm that will
always commend them to persons of taste. A wide street, that is, broad
spaces between fences, by no means implies a broad roadway. All we need
in the principal thoroughfare of a busy village is such a width as will
allow of the easy passing of vehicles in the middle of the road, and the
standing of one vehicle at rest at each side. This will be accomplished,
even in the business street of a village, by a width of roadway of
thirty feet. Under most other circumstances twenty feet of roadway will
be ample. This will allow of the moving of three vehicles side by side,
and will give a leeway of six feet between two vehicles passing each
other.
On both sides of this roadway, except for the necessary sidewalks, the
whole space to the fences should be in well-kept grass, which is the
cheapest to secure, the most economical to maintain, and the most
agreeable to see, of all ground covering. It is not unusual in country
towns to find a width of from sixty to eighty feet devoted to a muddy,
dusty, and ill-kept roadway. From one-half to two-thirds of this width
is waste space, which must either remain an eyesore, or entail an undue
cost for maintenance. When both sides of the street are occupied by
places of business, it may be necessary to provide for some occasional
driving close to the buildings for the delivery of merchandise; but this
occasion will rarely be so regular as to cause any serious damage to
grass. If the line of hitching-posts is placed within fifteen feet of
the centre of the roadway on each side, it will be seldom that any one
will drive over the bordering grass, especially if there is, as there
generally should be, a well-defined gutter or well-kept grass with a
curbstone border at each side.
In considering the width to be given to roadways, it should be
understood that every form of road is more or less costly to make and to
keep in order, and that the cost of both items is in direct proportion
to the width. If to the cost of making and grading an ordinary roadway
sixty feet wide, we add the capital sum whose interest would be
necessary to keep this width in good repair, we shall have an amount
that would go far toward the construction and maintenance of a road of
the very best quality only thirty feet wide. Furthermore, while it is
impossible to estimate such items exactly, and while the amount thus
saved cannot be controlled for the road-making account, the saving in
the wear and tear of vehicles, and in the team force needed to move
heavy loads, constitutes an important argument in favor of the best
construction. The amount thus saved in the short streets of the village,
where the principal traffic is over rough country roads, would not be
very great, but it would enable the road authorities of the township to
realize the advantage of first-rate roads and the degree to which the
narrowing of the roadway cheapens construction. As a result, there would
soon be an extension of the improvement over the more important highways
into the country; where a well-metalled width of twelve feet would
accommodate nearly the whole traffic, and where the proper application
of a cheap system of under-drainage would make well-metalled roads
extremely cheap to maintain.
In the island of Jersey, there are many excellent roads only six feet
wide. These are provided with frequent little bays or turn-outs to allow
teams to pass each other. Although such extremely narrow roads are not
to be recommended, the difference in comfort and economy of teampower
between these and the average American dirt road is enormously in their
favor. The widest roads in Jersey, leading from a busy town of thirty
thousand inhabitants into a thickly settled farming region where
business and pleasure travel is very active, and where "excursion cars"
carrying thirty or forty persons are constantly passing, are only
twenty-four feet wide; often only of this width between the hedge-rows,
the road itself being an excellent footpath for its whole width. Nowhere
else in the world is the rural charm more perfectly developed than in
Jersey, and no element of its great beauty is so conspicuous and so
constantly satisfactory as its narrow and embowered lanes and roadways.
This, however, by the way, and only as a suggestion, for the sake of
variety. As a rule, we may at least accept much less width than is now
usual for our country and village 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 subsoil generally is of an impervious character,
and where the road is more or less wet and weeping after long rains, a
continuous system of under-drains is required. If the trouble is local,
here and there in spots, and is obviously caused by the breaking up of
springs from the road-bed, such partial work may be adopted as will tap
the sources of these springs, and lead their water harmlessly away.
Gisborne, one of the best agricultural writers of England, put the case
tersely and well when--objecting to the system of circumventing
springs--he said, "_Hit him straight in the eye_, is as good a maxim in
draining as in pugilism." It is best not to pass up at the side of a
spring, and so creep around behind it to head off its water; but to
drive the drain straight through it, and far enough beyond it to tap and
lead away at a lower level the water which causes it. These drains, as
well as all others intended simply to remove subsoil water, and not to
cut off a weeping stream, are best made with common drain-tiles laid as
before directed, and covered immediately with well-packed earth. Water
enters an under-drain, not from above, but from below; that is to say,
as water, from whatever source, fills the subsoil, it rises therein
until it reaches the floor of the drain, when it enters and is led away,
just as water falling into a cask which stands on end flows off at the
under side of the bung-hole when it reaches its level. Even if the cask
be filled to the top with earth, the rain falling upon it will descend
perpendicularly to the bottom, and will flow off at the bung only when
the soil to that level has become saturated. It will descend through the
soil by the straightest course, and will raise the general level. It
will not violate the laws of gravitation, and run diagonally toward the
point of outlet, as seems to be the general supposition when the
perplexing question, "How does water get into the drain?" is first
considered. When we drive a drain through a spring and into the
water-bearing stratum which feeds it, we simply make it easier for the
water to escape by the drain than to keep on at the higher level, and
break out at the surface of the ground.
As in the case of the sidewalk illustrated in Figure 1, in cutting off a
continuous weeping or ooze from higher land, it is best to introduce a
vertical filling of porous material through which the water will descend
and enter the drain; but, excepting this single instance, all that we
need to do, so far as subterranean work is concerned, is to furnish an
easy and sufficient channel for the removal of subsoil water.
What constitutes a sufficient drain is something very much less than
what is generally supposed. In ordinary agricultural drainage, where the
lines of tiles are forty feet apart, a well-laid tile an inch and a
quarter in diameter is sufficient for a length of one thousand
feet--that is, it is sufficient to remove the water of filtration from
an acre of land. If laid with only an inclination of six inches in one
hundred feet, its delivery will be so rapid as to amount to more than a
heavy continuous rain-fall upon this area. In road drainage, the same
rule would hold true; but, as the soil offers a certain resistance to
the rapid descent of water, it is best to give a means of outlet at
smaller intervals; and for the best work in roads thirty feet wide or
more, three drains could be used with advantage. In no case, however,
need the size of pipes be larger than above indicated, if the form of
the tiles is true, and if they are well joined together at their ends.
Tiles of less perfect form had better be an inch and a half or even two
inches in diameter; but, as a rule, they should not be of a larger size,
for the reason that the amount of water that they may be expected to
carry will not be sufficient to keep them prop erly freed from silt
unless the flow is concentrated within a narrow channel.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Figure 2 shows the cross section of a country road thirty feet wide,
with three lines of tile-drain laid at a depth of about three feet below
it. Except in case of necessity, these drains should have an inclination
of not less than six inches in one hundred feet. There is no objection
to their having more than this wherever the lay of the land permits or
requires it. They may often have considerably less in case of need; but,
the smaller the rate of inclination, the greater the care needed in
securing a true grade. The water of these drains should be collected
into a single drain, and led away at intervals of from five hundred to
one thousand feet. It may be delivered into a roadside gutter, or into a
collecting under-drain, according to the requirements of the situation.
It is now possible to procure drain-tiles at reasonable cost in almost
all parts of the country; and these are not only very much better than
any form of stone drain, but they are also much cheaper in
construction,--the labor of preparing and handling the stone, and of
excavating the wider trench that stone requires, amounting to more than
the cost of the tile, even with a high charge of transportation added.
Incidentally it is proper to say that where tiles cannot be had, a mass
of gravel or fine cinders, six inches wide and six inches deep, placed
at the bottom of the drain, and _covered with well-packed soil_, is
preferable even to broken stone or any other form of channel that would
permit of the rapid running of water and the washing into the drains of
even a slight amount of silt.
The removal of excessive subsoil moisture being secured, attention
should next be given to the surface of the road, which should be
finished with the firmest material at hand,--with the common earth of
the subsoil where nothing better can be afforded,--and which should be
brought to a true grade, with a _very slight_ slope from the centre to
the edge. For a road thirty feet wide, the elevation of the centre
above the level of the edges should not be more than four to six inches,
and the grade should be made on a straight line rather than on a curve.
If the road is made as flat as the turning-off of surface-water will
permit, it will be travelled upon in all its parts; while if it is
crowned to a high arch, as is often the case, it will soon be found that
the best place to drive is in the middle of the road, and foot-tracks
and wheel-tracks will soon form slight channels or ruts which will lead
water lengthwise along the road, and which will cause an undue amount of
wear and washing. A road may be actually flat to the eye, and equally
convenient for travel at every part of its width, and still have enough
lateral slope to cause water to run off from it.
It is especially desirable that no surface-water flowing from the
roadside (above all, when frost is coming out of the ground in the
spring) be permitted to run on to the road. This should be effectively
prevented by the formation of sufficient gutters, with such outlets as
will prevent ponding at the sides of the road. When it is necessary to
carry the water of the gutters from one side of the road to the other,
culverts should be provided; and wherever the slope of the road is
sufficient to cause water to flow along it lengthwise,--that is,
wherever the inclination is more than about one in fifty,--there should
be frequent slight depressions from the centre diagonally toward the
gutters to carry the flow away before it can accumulate sufficiently to
form a washing current.
If it can be done without hauling additional material, it is always well
to raise the road-bed somewhat above the level of the adjoining land,
and this may usually be accomplished by throwing upon it the subsoil of
the gutters. In no case should surface-soil sods or fine road-mud be
used for repairs. The most serious objection to the absurd system of
road-mending so common in this country lies in the fact that the annual
repairing is little more than the ploughing up and throwing back upon
the roadway of the soft and unsuitable material which has been washed
into the gutters.
What is said above applies especially to country roads; but it is
appropriate, so far as it goes, to the better-made and better-kept roads
of a village. In the case of these latter, except where the soil is
naturally dry and firm, some attention should be given to the
improvement of the surface; and it is to be considered whether to adopt
the expensive process of covering with broken stone road-metal, or to
use gravel. One or the other of these is desirable in all cases where
there is much tendency to sloppiness in wet weather; but any form of
artificial covering is so costly that the early efforts of the
improvement association will produce a more telling result if applied in
other directions. The necessary cross-walks may be satisfactorily made
with coal-ashes.
It is even more easy in a village than in the country, to have the
grades of all roadways so regulated as to shed rain-water falling upon
them, and to have them so furnished with side gutters so as to prevent
water from the roadside from running on to them. The simplest way to
effect this, and the neatest way too, is to make gutters outside of the
line of the road, say six inches deep and eight feet wide, these being
at once sodded or sown with grass and grain to give an early protection
against washing; made on such a shallow curve, they will afford no
obstruction to any system of mowing that may be adopted, while their
great width will give them sufficient capacity to carry away the water
of considerable storms.
The work of construction having been duly attended to, it is no less
important to provide for regular and constant care. Any rutting that
comes of heavy traffic in bad weather should be obliterated either by
raking, or, better still, by filling the ruts with gravel or ashes. If
such work is attended to immediately on the occasion for it arising, the
amount of labor required will be very slight; for it is especially true
with reference to roads, that "a stitch in time saves nine." If the
filling of ruts and wheel-tracks be done in time, the serious damage
that comes from guttering flows of water lengthwise along the road may
be almost entirely avoided.
The mere cleaning work of both the roadway and roadside grass spaces, it
will be easy to induce children to perform for slight rewards and
encouragement. The daily removal of bits of paper and other rubbish will
have an excellent effect on the general appearance of the village. In
the autumn the removal of the fallen leaves will call for something
more than children's work; but ordinarily this source of cheap labor
will be found sufficient if properly directed.
PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY.