Fortunately, too, the road dries faster than the farming land, so that the work on the roads can be completed before teams can, to advantage, be taken upon the farms to work.
Professor Ira. O. Baker of the University of Illinois, in an excellent article on the maintenance of roads in the Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. LXI., gives a description and also drawings of the split-log drag. His drawings are reproduced in Figs. [7], [8], and [9]. He describes the drag as follows:
“Farmers in different parts of the country for many years, have used various devices occasionally in smoothing the surface of the earth roads; but of all these, none seems to have devised a better form of machine or been more persistent and intelligent in its use than Mr. D. Ward King, of Maitland, Mo. Mr. King devised what he calls the split-log drag. A plan of the split-log drag as shown in [Fig. 7], and [Fig. 8] is a perspective view. The drag may be made from a log ten or twelve inches in diameter and from seven to nine feet long. A light wood, like elm, is preferable to a heavy one, like oak. The cross braces may be round or square sticks from three to four inches in diameter, the ends fitting into two-inch auger holes. A board, not shown in the cut, is laid upon the cross-pieces for the driver to stand upon. The drag may also be made of two pieces of plank, ten or twelve inches wide and from seven to nine feet long. The plank drag is shown in [Fig. 9]. It is wise to reinforce the wide planks with either a 1 by 6-in. or a 2 by 6-in. strip as shown in [Fig. 9].
The drag is drawn by two horses, and its length should be proportional to the weight of the horses. A drag seven feet long is about right for a team of 1200-lb. horses, and one nine feet long for two 1600-lb. horses. The driver rides upon the drag, and varies its effect by his position upon it. The drag does the best work when the soil is moist, but not sticky. If the roadway is badly rutted and full of holes, it is well to drag it when the surface is slushy.”
Common Mistakes With Drag.
Mr. King, the government expert on the split-log drag, says:[3] “Two mistakes are commonly made in constructing a drag. The first lies in making it too heavy. It should be so light that one man can easily lift it. Besides, a light drag responds more readily to various methods of hitching and to the shifting of the position and weight of the operator. *** A drag can be made heavier at any time by proper weighting.
The other mistake is in the use of square timbers, instead of those with sharp edges, whereby the cutting effect of sharp edges is lost and the drag is permitted to glide over instead of to equalize the irregularities in the surface of the road. ***”
Iron on Drag.
“A strip of iron about 3½ feet long, three or four inches wide and one-quarter of an inch thick may be used for the blade. This should be attached to the front slab so that it will be one-half inch below the lower edge of the slab at the ditch end, while the end of the iron toward the middle of the road should be flush with the edge of the slab. The bolts holding the blade in place should have flat heads and the holes to receive them should be counter-sunk.
If the face of the log stands plumb, it is well to wedge out the lower edge of the blade with a three-cornered strip of wood to give it a set like the bit of a plane.”