o run down the
middle of the road. Every wheel track on an inclined roadway becomes a
channel for carrying down the water, and unless the curvature is
sufficient these tracks are quickly deepened into water courses which
cut into and sometimes destroy the best improved road.

In order to prevent the washing out of earth roads on hills it
sometimes becomes necessary to construct water breaks; that is, broad
shallow ditches arranged so as to catch the surface water and carry it
each way into the side ditches. Such ditches retard traffic to a certain
extent, and often result in overturning vehicles; consequently they
should never be used until all other means have failed to cause the
water to flow into the side channels; neither should they be allowed to
cross the entire width of the road diagonally, but should be constructed
in the shape of the letter V. This arrangement permits teams following
the middle of the road to cross the ditch squarely and thus avoid the
danger of overturning. These ditches should not be deeper than is
absolutely necessary to throw the water off the surface, and the part in
the center should be the shallowest.

Unfortunately farmers and road masters have a fixed idea that one way to
prevent hills, long and short, from washing is to heap upon them
quantities of those original tumular obstructions known indifferently as
"thank-you-ma'ams," "breaks," or "hummocks," and the number they can
squeeze in upon a single hill is positively astonishing. Quoting Mr.
Isaac B. Potter:

"Side ditches are necessary because the thousands of tons of
water which fall upon every mile of country road each year,
in the form of rain or snow, should be carried away to some
neighboring creek or other water channel as fast as the rain
falls and the snow melts, so as to prevent its forming mud
and destroying the surface of the road. When the ground is
frozen and a heavy rain or sudden thaw occurs, the side
ditch is the only means of getting rid of the surface water;
for no matter how sandy or porous the soil may be, when
filled with frost it is practically water-tight, and the
water which falls or forms on the surface must either remain
there or be carried away by surface ditches at the sides of
the road.

"A side ditch should have a gradually falling and even grade
at the bottom, and broad, flaring sides to prevent the
cav