dig an excavation about three feet deep, as if they were going to make
a canal. On the bottom are thrown heavy blocks of stone through which
the water can filter, and occasionally there is a little drain to
carry it off. Upon this is a layer of smaller stones, and then still
smaller, until the surfacing is reached, which is macadam of pounded
slate, mixed with gravel and stone.

During the winter the farmers have to keep their several sections free
from snow, but to do this it is necessary for them to co-operate, for
it would be impossible for one family to handle the heavy plows
that are necessary. Six, eight, and ten horses are often hitched to
them--all the horses in the neighborhood--and it is often the work of
weeks instead of days to get the roads opened up for travel, but when
it is once done, it is as clear and smooth for sleighs as a city
boulevard.

Norway has only one mile of railway for every one hundred square miles
of land; but the mountainous character of the country, the heavy
snowfall during the long winters, and the thin, scattered population
make railway construction almost prohibitive. Nevertheless, the new
kingdom has made a commendable beginning, and the state has plans for
enormous extensions during the next twenty-five years. There are
now nine railway lines in the country, with a total mileage of one
thousand five hundred and eighty-four, but half of which is
broad gauge. The state railways have been constructed partly by
subscriptions taken in the districts interested in the construction of
new lines, and partly at the expense of the national government.

The leading railway lines radiate from Christiania to Stockholm,
Goteborg, Trondhjem, Gudbransdal, Telemarken, and the Valders. The