CARTS AXD WAOOOtfS. 



CABUM CARUI. 



, .. 



or among tree* tad rock* ; especially whn MM nun has tho charge of 

 several can, or the honei are permitted to find their way home by 

 their own sagactty. Then i* a oonaiderable inconvenience in turning, 

 M the wheel* do not turn separately, and one of them must be dragged 



i ..-. :. 



along, while the other forms the centre round which the car turns. 

 This description relates wholly to the agricultural and quarry and 

 general goods cars. In the improved passenger or jaunting cars, the 

 wheels are made to turn separately on the axles, by which this incon- 

 venience is obviated. The wheels of the carriages on railroads are 

 constructed on the principle of those of the Irish car. The axle turns 

 with the wheels in a bush or box fixed to the carriage. This gives 

 greater facility for keeping a constant supply of oil to the box by 

 means of a fixed reservoir ; and the carriage not being required to 

 turn round, no inconvenience arises. Some of the remarkable circum- 

 stances connected with the establishment of Mr. Bianconi's car traffic 

 in Ireland will be found noticed under STAGE CARRIAGE. 



The common cart differs from the car chiefly in the circumstance 

 that the body rest) on a fixed axle between tho wheels, which turn 

 upon the axle by means of boxes in the centre of the naves. Tho 

 simplest cart is that used by carriers in France and Germany. 

 (Fiy. 1 and 8.) It consists of two strong poles of ash or beech, 

 resembling those of the drag-cart described above, but stronger, and 

 fashioned with more care, so as to have considerable strength at the 

 place where they rest on the axle-tree. One end forms the shafts, and 

 the whole is equally poised on the axle. The wheels are often nearly 

 six feet in diameter, and narrow at the tire ; they are slightly dished, 

 but run nearly perpendicularly to the road. On these carta very great 

 weight* are transported, so as to require five or six horses to draw 

 them. On paved roads they may have some advantages ; but there is 

 much loss of power when many nones draw at length ; and the horse 

 hi the shaft* u oft. n ii.ii.-li distressed by the weight suddenly thrown 

 on his back, and by the striking of tho shafts against his sides. It 

 would be Impossible for the shaft-horse to bear the weight in going 

 down steep descent*, or to keep his footing up steep hills (h. 

 well the cart may be poised), if it were not for an ingenious con- 

 trivance) by which the load is shifted at pleasure backwards or 

 forwards on the axle. In ascending, the centre of gravity is moved 

 nearer to the horse, and, in descending, farther back, so as to be 

 always nearly perpendicularly over the axle. Another contrivance is 

 a mode of retarding the motion of the wheels in descending. This is 

 dn by forcing a pole against the outer rim of the wheel, one end 

 being fixed to the shafts of the cart, and the other drawn, by mean* 

 of a rope, tightly against the side of the wheel, which rubs hard 

 against it. The object is thus obtained ; but the wheels are soon 

 worn away, and the polo requires to be carefully looked to, because it 

 often wears through and breaks, when the whole load conies suddenly 

 against the hont and throws him down. Another equally rude and 

 extremely noisy mod* U to cut a tough branch, a little longer than 

 the distance between the wheels, and place it horizontally between 

 the spokes, so that it project* about an inch or two on each aid*. 

 The wheel, in turning round, bends the branch until the end* escape 

 from one spoke and strike the next; thus a constant retardation of 

 the wheel takes place at toe expense of the spokes, which are soon 

 won out. A better contrivance Is a piece of wood or iron in the form 



of a small segment of a circle, of the same diameter as that of tho 

 lich Is made to press more or less on the rim of the wheel* 

 of a leva- to which it is attached. It is regulated by a 



wheel, which U made to 



screw turned by a winch, which gives the exact pressure requisite to 

 overcome the downward tendency of the load, and may be so nicely 

 adjusted that it requires only a slight exertion in the horse to draw 

 the cart down. By some of these contrivances many of the incon- 

 veniences arising from the use of carts are obviated. Where the road* 

 are level and hard, waggons are much to be preferred to carts; but in 

 hilly countries and bad' roads, carts have many advantages. 



For agricultural purposes, various kinds of carts have been invented. 

 The capacious tumbril for carting earth and dung, with broad wheels 

 to prevent their sinking in soft ground, is too generally known to 

 require description. The best constructed carte have iron axle* with the 

 ends or arms turned smooth, and very slightly conical. The boxes in 

 the naves of the wheels, which receive the arms, are made of cast iron, 

 and ground smooth, so as to require only a small quantity of grease or 

 oil to make the wheels run easily, without allowing any play < 



It is usual to give the axle a bend at the place where it 

 enters the wheel, by which means the planes of the wheels are made 

 to diverge from each other and give more room for the body < 

 cart. But this is decidedly wrong. It i clearly proved th.it tliu 

 draught ie least when the arms are quite horizontal, and if the 

 are slightly dished, that is, if the spokes are driven into the nave 

 obliquely so as to throw the rim a little Iwyond the perpendicular, tho 

 lower spokes in each wheel will slightly diverge, and give greater 

 steadiness to the whole. When the axle u bent, the rim of a broad- 

 wheeled cart must bo slightly conical, in order that it may rest flat on 

 the ground; and it is easily proved that in this case the load is 

 dragged on the ground at every revolution, along a space equal to the 

 difference between the greater and lesser circumference of the rim of 

 the wheel, giving unnecessary work to the horses, and greatly injuring 

 the roads. The light Scotch cart, drawn by one horse, is justly con- 

 sidered as the most advantageous for transporting earth, lime, or 

 dung, especially in hilly countries. It is low and short, so that the 

 horse draws very near the centre of gravity ; and there is little power 

 lost by obliquity. The loads may be so adjusted as to bear more or 

 less on the horse, according to the declivity ; and experience baa 

 proved that more weight can be transported by a given number of 

 horses, when each in attached to a single Scotch cart, than when three 

 or four draw together, except it be on very level and hard roads, or 

 when the horses move at a quick pace. The objection made to single- 

 horse carts, that each requires a man to drive it. is obviated in 

 Scotland, where the horses are trained to follow each other, and one 

 man can attend to several carta and horses. In England this is not 

 allowed on the roads for fear of accidents. 



The Scotch cart is made to carry hay and straw by means of a light 

 frame, which is laid on it, and projects over the body and the wheels 

 in every direction. At harvest it is found that this arrange! JH nt 

 enables the farmer to collect the sheaves of corn and carry them to the 

 stack or barn more rapidly than could be done by a waggon. A good 

 horse will walk faster, when he has a load on his back, than he could 

 do if he were merely drawing ; and although this exertion, if continued 

 long, would exhaust him, he soon recovers his breath, if he has only 

 been urged for a short distance, and then returns with a light empty 

 cart. 



To avoid the weight resting on the back of the horse, carta have 

 been invented with three wheels, the small additional wheel being 

 made to turn in front It is only in the case of moving earth down a 

 declivity, and returning with the empty cart, that it has any advantage 

 over the two-wheeled cart; it is therefore seldom used for general 

 pur)>osea. The additional wheel adds to the weight which the horse 

 has to draw, and Is an incumbrance in a ploughed field. 



The addition of springs to carta and waggons is a very great 

 improvement, and shoul ' in every case where they are much 



used on the roads. The additional weight and cost of the springs 

 are greatly overbalanced by their advantage : they lesson the draught, 

 and, by preventing jolting and shaking, add to the durability of the 

 vehicles. Where a light active kind of horse is used which can trot 

 with a moderate load, it will bo found that thero is a great advantage 

 in occasionally increasing the pace at which empty carts and waggons 

 are made to move. In Holland and Flatulent, the waggons are always 

 driven at a smart trot when going empty to the field in harvest or 

 hay-making, and much valuable time is saved by this means. 



For a notice of the remarkable modern improvement* in apriru]. 

 tural carta, enabling them to supersede in great measure the heavy 

 waggons, see Af.i The chief vehicles for 



passenger traffic, such as hackney -coaches, cabriolet*, stage-coaches, and 

 Irish jaunting-cars, anil the legislative arrangements relating to 

 are '.treated under STACK CARRUUES. The manufacture of coaches gene- 

 rally IH described under COACH MAKIXU, and that of wheels under 



i \i;r.\i i;n|,. [CARAWAY, On. OP.] 



( \l!l KN. |< MtAWAT, OIL OF.] 



UM CAKUI (Comma* Carawayn) Medical Propertut of. 

 This umbelliferous plant is indigenous in most parta of the south of 

 Europe, where it* root* are used in the same way as those of the par- 

 snip and canot, and it* fruit*, incorrectly termed seeds, are collected 

 as aromatic stimulant*, for a variety of purposes. It is cultivated in 

 England, chiefly in Krnex, for the fruit alone ; but much of what in 

 used in this country is imported from Germany, where it is in exten- 



