woman with hand on hip
While the term “roadblocks” might conjure up a pleasant image of apple trees growing alongside a bucolic country road, the truth is much uglier. This term is used in American regional slang to refer to horse manure, a substance only remotely related to apples. Written evidence suggests that people began referring to horse manure as road blocks in the mid-20th century.
The term refers to the fact that the manure from a healthy horse looks like a small apple, in the sense that it is round. When horses were used as the primary means of transportation, they deposited their manure on the road, and one could be forgiven for mistaking a pile of horse poop for a pile of apples, when viewed from a distance. At the same time, horse droppings littered many roads around the world; in some countries today, horses must use special bags to collect their droppings when on the road, to avoid mess.
Now that you know what roadblocks really are, it might be helpful to learn about some of their uses. Horse manure is a great material for mulch and fertilization, and can also be used as fuel or as a source of building material. Historically, horse manure has been mixed with mud and clay to make adobe, for example, since it is basically perfectly chopped straw.
When roadside apples were left to fall where they belonged, some people took up the profession of collecting them for their various uses. Many cities have promoted this, allowing people to make a profit while cleaning up the roads to make them more enjoyable for everyone. In areas where there was too much manure or it wasn’t used right away, things could get a little gross. The streets of 19th-century New York City, for example, were sometimes littered with horse manure, among countless other unsavory substances, making travel a dangerous proposition.
The term “blocks from the road” has also been used to refer to touring actors. In that sense, it’s presumably a reference to the manure generated by the actor’s horses as he travels down the road, though it could also be a disparaging comment on acting ability.
You may see apples on the road from time to time, especially if you live in a rural area. Many riders take short cuts on roads with minimal traffic and their horses may occasionally leave a deposit on the trail. Road blocks can also be seen on well-traveled trails and byways, and are of course a ubiquitous feature of the barn and barnyard.