FARMERS' REGISTER— LABOR OF HORSES. 



629 



for the day's work ol' a horse is usually eight 

 hours; biU it is certain, ti'om experience, that some 

 advantage is gained by shortening the hours ol 

 labor; and we have observed, that a horse is least 

 injured by his h\bor, where his day's work is per- 

 formed in about six hours; where the same quan- 

 tity of labor is pcrjormed in less than six hours, 

 the ovor-exerlion in time shows itself in stiffened 

 joints, while the Avearying effects of long-con- 

 tinued action become apparent, it the duration of 

 the day's work be prolonged much beyond eight 

 hours. Indeed, under tlie management of a good 

 driver, a full day's work may be completed in the 

 time before mentioned — six hours— ^with benefit to 

 the,.health and vigor of the animal.' 



We may be permitted, however, to abandon 

 the idea of improving the health of the animal, or 

 of rendering his business a j)leasure to liim — an 

 attempt, the success of whicii is, we should think, 

 very questionable, and content ourselves with en- 

 deavoring to chcdc the barbarous practice of work- 

 ing horses to death either by overdriving or over- 

 loading them; and we shall, as is generally the 

 case, consult our own interests and follow the dic- 

 tates of humanity at the same time, bj^ not injuring 

 so useful an animal: and we think experience 

 proves there will be no danger of doing this by 

 working eight or nine hours a day. B}^ referring 

 to the table above, we see that the maximum ve- 

 locity of the average of horses corresponding to 

 eight hours' work is five miles and a lialf per hour, 

 consequently, the rate at which he would travel 

 when loaded is a little more than two miles and a 

 half per hour. There is no doubt that some horses 

 could conveniently travel faster; but as the speed 

 must generally he governed by that of otiier 

 horses, the average ia, in this case, the rate to be 

 adopted. The force exerted under these circum- 

 stances depending upon the quality of theliorse, it 

 is very difficult to obtain even an approximate 

 value of it, unless the experiment be made upon 

 each individual horse: it is fortunateh', liowever, 

 of no great consequence in practice, because if we 

 feel sure that we are employing all the power we 

 can coiffmand to the greatest advantage, it is not 

 of any very great importance that we should know 

 the exact amount of that power. 



In comparing animal horse power Avith that of 

 the steam-engine, we estimated it at about 125 

 lbs., but we believe that, with tolerably good 

 horses, it may generally be taken at more than 

 that. 



We have thus far confined our attention to the 

 cases where velocity, as well as duration of labor, 

 was left to choice; this is far from being always the 

 case. In stage-coaches, or other conveyance for 

 passengers, speed is absolutely necessary, and it 

 only remains to learn how that speed can be ob- 

 tained with the greatest economy. The following 

 table, extracted from Tredgold, will show the 

 great reduction in the effect jiroduced by increasing 

 the velocity. 



The first column being the velocit)- or rate per 

 hour, continued for six hours per day; the second 

 represents the force of traction of which tlie ani- 

 mal is capable; and the third, the comj)arative ef- 

 fects produced. A force of traction of 125 lbs. 

 continued for six hours at the rate of three miles 

 per hour being taken at the standard, and consider- 

 ed equal to the arbitrary number 1000. 



If, however, the hours of labor be lessened, taking 

 the velocity corresponding to the greatest useful 

 efiect, the results will be nmch greater, and the 

 velocity may be raised much higher, as will be 

 seen in the following table. 



Here the first column is the length of day's 

 work, the second the best velocity corresponding 

 to that time, or half the limit of velocity shown in 

 table (1,) and the third column the comparative 

 eflt:H-t produced, the force of traction being in each 

 case 125 lbs. 



Duration of la- Velocity, miles Effect 



bor in hours. per hour. produced. 



2 5^ 578 



3 4+ 709 



4 3| 813 



5 31 909 



6 3 1000 



7 2| 1063 



8 2f 1110 



To attain higher velocity, it is necessary still fur- 

 ther to reduce the load, and the next table is cal- 

 culated upon the supposition of the strain being 

 only one-half the last, viz., 02^^ lbs.; this is about 

 the average exertion of each horse in a four-horse 

 heavy stage-coach. 



Duration of labor, Efiect 



hours per day. Velocit3-. produced. 



4 5.^ 613 



3 6 1 534 



2 7i 434 



1 11 307 



In mails or light coaches, Avhereten, eleven, and 

 even eleven and a half or twelve miles an hour is 

 attained, the average strain of each horse is bare- 

 ly 40 lbs., and the efiect produced, or value of 

 work done, not much more than one-half the 

 above. 



It must be remembered, that these tables are all 

 calculated upon the supposition of the road being 

 good, and the work such as not to cause any im- 

 mediate injury to the animal, and is adapted only 

 to the average ([uality of horses. They are not 

 therefore at once applicable as data for calculations 

 in all ordinary cases, but only serve to show the 

 comparative forces which may be exerted under 

 different degrees of speed. The results or effects 

 of this force will always be inflaenced by the qual- 

 ity of the resistance as we have already observed 

 in the cases of slow travelling, but in rapid travel- 

 ling the power is much more ex])ensive, owing to 

 the great loss which we see by the tables is sus- 

 tained by increased velocity; and it is, therefore, 

 the more imjiorfant to study well the means of ap- 

 plying the power in question. 



In this rapid travelling, the bad consequences of 

 a unilbrm and constant strain is still more felt by 

 the horses, and the necessity of occasional relief is 

 still more urgent than at low velocities. It is uni- 



