The only low cost road grader of value is the split-log road drag. It should be exactly what the name implies. It should be made from a light log about eight inches in diameter split through the middle with a saw. Plenty of road drags are made of timbers instead of split logs, but the real principle is lost because such drags are too heavy and clumsy. They cannot be quickly adjusted to the varying road conditions met with while in use. [Illustration: Figure 219.--Hog Trough. In a winter hog house the feed trough is placed next to the alley or passageway. A cement trough is best. A drop gate is hinged over the trough so it can be swung in while putting feed in the trough. The same gate is opened up level to admit hogs to the pen.] [Illustration: Figure 220.--Reinforced Hog Trough. The section of hog trough to the left is reinforced with chicken wire, one-inch mesh. The trough to the right is reinforced with seven 1/4" rods--three in the bottom and two in each side.] [Illustration: Figure 221.--Double Poultry Feeding Trough with Partition in the Center.] [Illustration: Figure 222.--Poultry Feeder with Metal or Crockery Receptacle.] The illustration shows the right way of making a road drag, and the manner in which it is drawn along at an angle to the roadway so as to move the earth from the sides towards the center, but illustrations are useless for showing how to operate them to do good work. The eccentricities of a split-log road drag may be learned in one lesson by riding it over a mile or two of country road shortly after the frost has left the ground in the spring of the year. It will be noticed that the front half of the road drag presents the flat side of the split log to the work of shaving off the lumps while the other half log levels and smooths and puddles the loosened moist earth by means of the rounded side. Puddling makes earth waterproof. The front, or cutting edge, is faced with steel. The ridges and humps are cut and shoved straight ahead or to one side to fill holes and ruts. This is done by the driver, who shifts his weight from one end to the other, and from front to back of his standing platform to distribute the earth to the best advantage. The rounded side of the rear half log presses the soft earth into place and leaves the surface smooth. [Illustration: Figure 223.--Split-Log Road Drag. The front edge is shod with a steel plate to do the cutting and the round side of the rear log grinds the loosened earth fine and presses it into the wagon tracks and water holes.] [Illustration: Figure 224.--Heavy Breaking Plow, used for road work and other tough jobs.]