In some towns in England bituminous or asphalte macadamised roadways are made. This consists in mixing ordinary coal tar with the road metal ordinarily employed for macadamised roads, only it must be borne in mind that the metal employed must be limestone or some other soft material, otherwise it will not wear down evenly with the tar, and thus a lumpy surface will be produced in course of time. The method of mixing is by heating the stone, which has of course been previously broken to the required size, and then thoroughly mixing and incorporating it with the tar. This is then carried to the roadway, is spread in the ordinary manner and well rolled to the proper contour, a surface being afterwards given to it by a coating of about 2 inches thick, composed of a similar mixture, the stones of which are of much smaller size. Another method is to place about 6 inches of the broken metal described above upon the necessary foundation. Upon this a boiling mixture composed of about 50 gallons of creosote oil and 1 ton of pitch is poured until every interstice is filled with the mixture. Whilst this is still warm, a thin layer of small broken stone is spread upon the surface and well rolled; more small stones or chippings are added, and the whole is rolled until the surface of the roadway has attained its proper contour and presents a perfectly smooth and clean appearance, little inferior to that of real asphalte. Dry weather is essential whilst this class of roadway is in course of construction, and they require careful watching, as, upon the skin becoming broken, the whole roadway soon breaks up. They have, however, many advantages over ordinary macadamised roadways when finished, not the least of them being their imperviousness to moisture, and the ease with which they are cleansed. [12] The first road “engineer” in this country was John Metcalf of Knaresborough, who was born in 1717, and who, although totally blind, was the first person to introduce a methodical system of road repairs. _Vide_ ‘Roads and Road Makers,’ by Henry Alexander Glass. [13] _Vide_ ‘A Treatise on Roads,’ by Sir H. Parnell (1833). [14] The total width of roadway being thirty feet. [15] It is necessary to give a new roadway more convexity than it will have when finished, for however carefully it is raked or attended to when being rolled, the top is sure to flatten and spread towards the haunches. [16] Instead of parallel lines it is sometimes well to place these stones diagonally from centre to kerb or “herring-bone” fashion, thus greatly facilitating the under drainage. [17] In metalling a road it is better to put on the coats gradually, than to give the whole thickness of metal at once.