and country towns, was in vogue here. Eleven
highway surveyors were chosen annually in town-meeting, who had
charge of the roads in their respective districts; and although the
town appropriated money liberally for highway repairs, the roads
seemed to be continually growing worse, owing to the superficial
manner in which the repairs were made. In 1877 the town adopted an
entirely different plan for doing the work. The plan was to choose
one surveyor for the whole town, who was to have charge of all the
roads, and the town to purchase suitable teams and implements to be
kept at the town farm. This is now the ninth year in which this
system has been in practice, and the result of the change has been
most satisfactory. The advantages are that the surveyor is chosen
for his especial fitness for the work. The men under him are mostly
employed by the month and boarded at the town farm, where the teams
are also kept. A force now costing the town ten dollars per day will
accomplish more and better work in one week than would be ordinarily
accomplished by a surveyor under the old system in a season. And the
reason is obvious. The men and teams are accustomed to the work; the
best implements and machinery are employed, road-scrapers doing the
work where the nature of the soil will permit; and what is still
more important, the work is directed by the surveyor to the best
advantage. In the winter season the teams break out the roads after
heavy snows, and in fair weather cart gravel on to the roads as in
summer. And although we have an extraordinary length of road to
support,--namely, two hundred and seventy-five miles, being more by
twenty-five miles than any other town in the State,--there has been
a marked and continual improvement in their condition.

"When this plan was first presented to the attention of the town, it
met with sharp opposition, and passed by only a small majority; but
the favor with which it is now regarded may be judged by the fact
that since its adoption it has met with almost universal approval,
and we should now as soon think of going back to the school-district
system or to support the churches by taxation as of returning to the
old method of repairing our roads."

This method is undoubtedly better than the old district system; but
the system of the future will not include a road-scraper except for
the building of new roads. Any system is radically defective which
scrapes the dust and worn-out soil of t