but at all times when there is anything which
needs to be done to the roads. A few shovels of dirt and a little
labor in the nick of time will do more towards keeping a road in
good condition than whole days of ploughing and scraping once or
twice a year only. Every good housewife knows that there is a world
of truth in the old maxim, "A stitch in time saves nine." The
managers of all our well-conducted railroads understand this. They
have a gang of men pass often over each section of the roads.

What would be said of a mill-owner who should let his milldam wash
away once or twice each year, and then rebuild it instead of keeping
it in constant repair? The proprietors of the great turnpike road
from Sacramento to Virginia City in California, which runs mainly
over mountains a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and has an
annual traffic of seven or eight thousand heavy teams, have found by
careful experiment that the cheapest way to keep that great road in
good condition is to have every portion of it looked after every
day, and during dry weather every rod of it is sprinkled with water.
This continual-repair system was adopted in Baden, Germany, 1845. It
was soon found that it was less expensive and more satisfactory than
the old system of annual repairs. Other European countries soon
found it to their advantage to follow Baden's example in this
respect; and now the new system is in universal use in all the
civilized nations of Europe. As a consequence the roads in those
countries as a general thing are in splendid condition throughout
the year. They are on an even grade, and as smooth as a racing-track
in this country. The poorest roads in France, Germany, Switzerland,
or Great Britain are as good as the best of our own. They are nearly
all macadamized, and are kept in continuous repair by laborers and
competent engineers and surveyors, who give their sole labor and
attention to the roads as a business throughout the year.

But it is not necessary to go to Europe to prove the superiority of
the new system over the old. Many towns in this country, especially
those situated in the vicinity of the large cities, have adopted the
new system, and find by experiment that it is better than the old.
An intelligent citizen and town official of Chelmsford, Mass., Mr.
Henry S. Perham, thus describes the operation of the old and the new
system in that town: "Until 1877 the old highway district system,
common in the New Engl