270 [Senate 



3. The average time that horses so employed will last ? 

 Seven years. 



4. At vi^hat time is it considered safe to put them to such labor ? 

 Five years. Many are used at three and four years. 



5. What the average cost of shoeing each horse per annum 1 

 Fifteen dollars. 



6. What is the usual feed of kind and quantity, and to how many 



oats is it equivalent where oats are not used 1 

 Oats is the only feed in use. Four and a half bushels is al- 

 lowed per day for six horses. 



7. As to hay — is it in regular use on the road, or does cut straw, 



or what, take the place of it ? 

 Cut straw is not used. Hay is in regular use. 



8. What is the usual weight of their load exclusive of their wa- 



gons and what the weight of the wagons ? 

 The weight of loads varies from sixty to eighty hundred pounds ; 

 seventy hundred pounds is the usual weight ; wagon's weight 

 about 3,500 lbs. 



9. What is the first cost of wagon-harness per horse, and how long 



will a set of harness last ? 

 A wagon of the largest size used on the national road costs 



$250 ; harness per horse, $20 ; and will last six years. 

 10. What is the cost of a wagon in proportion to what it will carry — 



and about how long will a wagon last with ordinary care 1 

 A wagon that will carry 3,000 lbs. costs $150 ; 4,000 lbs. $160; 



5,000 lbs. $175 ; 6,000 lbs. $200 ; 7,000 lbs. and upwards, 



$250 ; and with ordinary care will last four years. 

 In support of the adaptation of the ox to the .road for heavy draft 

 and long journeys, the last authority which it is deemed necessary to 

 produce is one of unquestionable validity ; being no other than the 

 testimony of the late Timothy Pickering. Being called on for his 

 knowledge of tht employment of ox-teams for the transportation of 

 military stores during the revolution, when he acted as Quarter-Mas- 

 ter-General under General Washington, the following is extracted 

 from an interesting reply in which other views are embraced, con- 

 nected with other aspects of the subject to be presently considered : 

 "When in August, 1781, disappointed in the expected co-operation 

 of a French fleet against the enemy in New-York, the commander- 

 in-chief decided on the expedition against the British army under 

 Lord Cornwallis in Virginia, I received his orders to provide for 

 moving the troops destined for that service. The ox-teams effectually 

 performed the transportation of baggage and stores to the points where 

 they were relieved by water conveyances. From the head of Elk in 

 Maryland (sixteen miles eastward of the Susquehanna) to James' 

 River in Virginia, near three hundred miles, the ox-teams (without 

 loads) travelled expeditiously. The heavy artillery, shot, shells, &.C., 

 brought from the head of Elk by water, were landed on the shore of 

 James' River, I think at or near Jamestown, whence they were trans- 

 ported by the ox-teams to our camp before Yorktown, a distance, I 



