NEW METHOD OF MAINTAINING STATE ROADS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13908, 8 November 1919, Page 1

NEW METHOD OF MAINTAINING STATE ROADS.

STATE CULTURE OF LUCERNE. it is long since that America discovered the value of alfalfa, known here its lucerne, as a fodder jilaivt. Now there conies from Albany, U.S., an aniiouncenit'iit that the idea has been'hit upon turning it to account in the maintenance of State roads. Says a message from Albany to the New lork '"""The beautification and preservation of the highways of the State by planting on both sides of them fruit and nut tries has been decided upon by State Commissioner of Highways Frederick Stuart Greene. If _ the co-operation of the State Commissioner of Agriculture is obtained Commissioner Greene will t. xperiment in the raising of alfalfa' along the State roads. Commissioner Greene believes the State should make an effort to beautify the highways. Shade trees, he says, aid in prolonging the life of a road by saving it from quick changes m temperature which crack and destroy road mixtures. In addition to planting productive trees along the highwavs at intervals of twenty to forty feet, Commissioner Greene would plant alfalfa on at least 4000 of the 8000 miles cf improved State roads. He estimates that the receipts from the hay would pay the cost of maintaining a considsfable part of the State highway system. .Speaking of Ins crop programnic, Com-' niissioner Greene said: "If the law did not prevent the highway department from becoming merchant and actually, selling material, we might .find a way to make our highways pity <1 considerable part of tlie maintenance costs and to do this not at a detriment to the highways themselves but with actual benefit to them. "To maintain the shoulders which border bcth sides of the pavements of our roads now costs the State a considerable sum. These shoulders could be improved nnd bp made a source 01 revenue bv being planted witlx alfalfa. As is well" known, it is not unusual to get three crops of alfalfa during the season, and if our shoulders, which arc about the width of the blade of a mowing machine, were made to produce alf-. alfa. we could get more tons of good hay from them than the average person supposes. "I am not a farmer, nor have I gone into the of alfalfa- to any great extent, but I have been told that probably 4000 of our 8000 miles of improved roads run through land Suitable for the raising of alfalfa. This would mean that we would have, counting both shoulders, a field of alfalfa- eight miles long by three feet wide; equalling , approximately 3000 acres. I do not have : to point out how economically a crop which can be cut with the wheels -of a mower running along a- hard pavement I can be gathered. I believe it- would be at least 25 per cent, cheaper to harvestalfalfa from -the shoulders of our roads t-lian it would be to get the same amount- from an ordinary field. . "In addition to planting the shoulders, I would also like to plant fruit and nut bearing trees along both sides of our highways. The productive fruit or nuts from these trees would be ripened at just about the time we now lay off our patrolment or repair gangs, and instead of laying these men off they could be used to harvest- the crops which the trees produce, and with the number of trucks which the Government is now turning over to the", department these crops could be quickly and economically transported to markets. "The yield from trees planted along our highways represents but a small part of their value to the State. There aro few things we can do toward lengthening the life of a road moro effective than the planting of trees, so that the pavement is shaded. On some of our midsummer days it is not unusual to'find a temperature of from Ho to 125 degrees on the pavement itself where it is subjected to the direct rays of the sun. whereas the same pavement under the shade of a tree will show at the same time not more than 90 degrees of heat. "It is during these hot days that we - most frequently get our sudden showers. The temperature of the water from one of these showers runs from about 65 to 70 degrees, or 55 full degrees. On a. pavement protected by the shade of trees we have a drop of from 90 to 00 degrees, or a total of 30 degrees, just one-half the change in temperature of an exposed pavement. • "The stress and amount of shrinkago set up in a pavement which is subjected to the sudden change of 55 uegrees are a- detriment to any type of road- Further than this, with an unexposed * pavement /this . sudden change in temperature is more gradual, due to the fact that the leaves of the trees retard the water to some extent and the pavement does not get the full rainfall at. one blow. "I think this is a subject that is well ]£prtli looking into. If the State can not go into the business of raising and celling liav or products from trees wt might- at least consider leasing certain parts of our rot.ls to farmers living iilom' i ll.' m. 'M we might consider encouraging the fa -mer to p ! anr frees i long our roads, allowing him to have i he crops of these trees for his'trouble, fn some localities where it is impossible io raise alfa Ifa we might'raise Timothy jr, clover. "This idea is not so new as many people might- suppose. Both in Germany and France the roadsides are utilised to produce productive crops. In '/ranee a great deal of the firewood used by the inhabitants is secured from highway trees. These are trimmed up ' very high and each fall the new shoots which have appeared during the summer arc cut and collected into fagot bundles. This is uone under the supervision of the National JTorest Service jf the country:"