mends that all roads should have a ditch about four feet deep on each side, outside the fences. In particularly wet places the road-bed should be thoroughly subdrained. For use in cities he names asphalt, stone blocks, wooden blocks, and brick as suitable pavements, giving the advantages and disadvantages of each. He states that a concrete foundation, which need not be very rich in cement, should be provided for any of these. For country roads Mr. Irwin is convinced that the Telford-Macadam system is by far the best, and he says that it is not much more costly than a sufficiently deep simple Macadam. He then goes on to tell what stone should be chosen for the road-metal, how it should be broken and laid on, and how the surface of the road should be finished. While urging the general use of macadamized roads, he does not omit to tell how gravel and earth roads can be improved. Under the head of maintenance Mr. Irwin touches on cleaning and repairing the surface of roads, and cleaning out drains. Under economic features, he gives figures that show how much loss farmers suffer from bad roads. "A farmer who might send produce into market for two hundred days in the year, using a pair of horses to draw a load of about a ton on a poor gravel road, could, if the road were well macadamized, dispense with one of the horses. Supposing that the horse cost him forty cents per day (including interest on first cost), he would save on this single item eighty dollars per annum." Then there is the wear and tear of wagons and harnesses to be considered, and the loss in the price of produce from not being able to get it into town when it is wanted, or not fast enough, if the roads happen to be deep in mud at that time. From the Engineering News of February 22, 1890, is quoted a "statement made by Captain Brown, manager of Hollywood truck-farm in Virginia, to the effect that a pair of horses can draw fifty-five barrels of produce over the roads on that farm, which are in excellent condition, whereas on the ordinary country roads they can only draw twelve barrels." As to road legislation, Mr. Irwin recommends that control over all public roads and bridges should be given to a council in each county. The council should appoint, an engineer, assistants, and clerks, whose tenure of office should be permanent. He also recommends the employment of convicts in cleaning and repairing county roads, or in breaking stone at the jails.
The writer of the second-prize paper, David H. Bergey, B. Sc, M. D., devotes considerable space to general discussion of the subject. His recommendations and statements agree generally with those of Mr. Irwin, though he prefers the Macadam to the Telford road. The third-prize essay, by James B. Olcott, of South Manchester, Conn., is quite similar to the preceding. One thing that he protests against is the putting of a layer of broken stone, by contractors, over the surface of a road for the public to wear it down by the wheels of their vehicles. Five papers that had received honorable mention are also published. The writers of these, without reference to order, are Edwin Satterthwait, President of the Cheltenham and Willow Grove Turnpike, Jenkintown, Pa.; Charles Punchard, of Philadelphia; George B. Fleece, C. E., Memphis, Tenn.; Frank Cawley, B. S., Instructor in Civil Engineering, Swarthmore College; and Francis F. McKenzie, C. E., of Philadelphia. A digest of the main suggestions in the other papers that were submitted, and a review of all the essays by Prof. Lewis M. Haupt, the secretary of the committee that arranged the competition, follow the above. A list of brief rules, published by the Road Improvement Association, of London, is appended. The committee intends to publish also a draft or drafts of a model legislative bill for a road law.
This subject is one which profoundly affects the interests of farmers, and will return ten times as much for money, time, and effort expended on it as the ordinary political schemes which promise to do so much for the farmer in return for his support. The above-described volume should have a wide circulation, and should find a place in every public and school library in our farming communities.
Studies in Psychology. By S. G. Burney. Nashville, Tenn: Cumberland Presbyterian Publishing House. Pp. 535.
The author of this work is Professor of Systematic Theology in Cumberland University, and is author of a book on moral science and some works in theology. The volume contains the substance of his class-lectures,
