Prairie Roads.

The article on prairie roads in The Prairie Farmer of March 1st, 1884, by A. G. H., of Champaign county, was good, and I would like to see more on the same subject. If we get any better roads, we must keep the ball rolling.

The great objection to the Ross plan, or any plan of road-tiling here, is this. When tile is laid in the roadway the teams will travel right over it, and the black soil gets packed and puddled until it is as impervious to water as clay, and the water can't get into the tile. And on the clay hillsides, if the tile is covered with clay, the water can't get into it. This has been well tested here, for we have been road-tiling for six years.

The question seems to be to get the water into the tile. The answer is simple enough. We must provide sink holes for it. We must fill the ditch over the tile with sand, gravel, or anything that will let the water in, a yard in length, say, once every rod. Then I think the Ross plan would be perfect.

As to the cost, well, $750 per mile seems large, but to take an average of the roads in our county one-half that sum would answer, for it is only the worst places would need the full Ross plan.

In a good many places, one string of tile with gravel sinks would do, and others with the laterals to drain all to one side, thus saving the cost of one string of tile, or more than one-third of the whole cost.

Now, if we get the commissioners to commence the work, we must vote for men who are in favor of road-tiling as commissioners. There is where the battle must be fought. Buckle on the armor comrades and see that the work is done.

W. H. S. McLean Co., Ill.