ONE-HORSE CARTS. 



ONE-HORSE CARTS. 



BY EDWARD BOWLY, SIDDINGTON, NEAR CIRENCESTER. 

 Prize Essay From the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 



Having had five years' practical experieuce 

 in the use of wagons, and nearly the same time 

 of one-horse carts, on a fann of 170 acres of ar- 

 able and 80 acres of pasture land, I have arri- 

 ved at a satistactory conclusion as to the com- 

 parative advantages of the latter. I will, as 

 briefly as possible, point out what I consider to 

 be those advantages. 



We must first consider the saving of capital 

 in entering a farm by employing one-horse carts 

 instead of wagons. From the great variety of 

 soil 't is difficult to form a just estimate of the 

 amount of horse-po%ver required to cultivate a 

 given quantity of laud. We may, however, to 

 a certain e.xtent do so by taking for our purpose 

 land of medium quality, of which description 

 my own farm consists. I have no light plow- 

 ing land, nor have I more than 20 or 30 acres of 

 very heavy land. I \vill, therefore, relate my 

 actual experience. In the employment of wag- 

 ons and the old broad-wheeled dung-carts, I re- 

 quired one v\-agon. one cart, and three horses to 

 everj' 50 acres of arable land. I also kept a 

 light cart for general purposes. Now that I am 

 employing carts, I find that I get through my 

 work much more easily with two horses and 

 two carts to 50 acres. The following is a fair 

 calculation of the first outlay under the two 

 systems : — 



I wn^on £25 



X dung-cart 15 



3 horses 60 



Extra harness 200 



Proportionate cost of the light cart to 50 acres. 3 



Total 105 



Two 4-inch wheel one-horse carts £25 



Twohorses 40 



64 



Balance in favor of carts 410 



Total,. .^ 105 



This shows a saving of upwards of Ifis. an 

 acre, which many young farmers would find ex- 

 tremely useful to expend in stock or imple- 

 ments. There is also .some annual saving in the 

 expense of the repairs under the cart system, 

 as well as that of tne keep of one horse to eve- 

 ry_ 50 acres. I believe there are those who 

 think this of little importance ; that tiicy can 

 keep hor.ses at a very small expense, say from 

 3s. to 53. per week ; and that if fewer are kept, 

 they must be fed more iiighly, and tlicreforo the 

 cost is much the same, forgetting that the more 

 horses are kept the greater number of hands 

 are required to attend them, whose time also is 

 wasted if the animals are not i)i a state to do a 

 good day's work ; nor is the manure nearly so 

 valuable as when the horses are kept in a better 

 (717) 33 



state. To estimate the saving of keeping one 

 horse less to 50 acres, I will make my calcula- 

 tions from my own method of keep. I have 

 not for years allowed my horses any hay. In 

 winter I give them 10 lbs. of corn, [meaning 

 oats or barley] 10 lbs. of carrots or swedes, and 

 a.^ much straw-chaft' as they will eat. per diem. 

 The corn I value at 6s. per week, the roots at 

 9d., and the straw with expense of cutting into 

 chaff Is. 3d., making in the whole 8s. per week, 

 which, with Is. for shoeing. <5cc., amounts to 98. 

 [or $2 25.] In the summer I give them greeu 

 clover or vetches, -without corn, which I value 

 at 5s. per week, making 6s. with Is. added tor 

 shoeing, &c. ; the average therefore for the 

 whole year will be 7s. 6d. each horse. It there- 

 fore follows that if we can save one horse in the 

 cultivation of 50 acres, it will amount to nearly 

 8s. per acre. 



I will now proceed to the working of the sys- 

 tem. It is, I believe, generally admitted that 

 one horse attached to a given weight, will move 

 it more easily than two horses attached to double 

 that weight. This arises not only from the ad- 

 vantage gained by having all the power of 

 draught close to the work, but also all the pow- 

 er applied at the same moment, which is almost 

 impossible where two or more horses, having 

 difi'ereut wills and steps, are attached to the 

 weight ; and for the same reason one horse will 

 travel more quickly singly. I have often heard 

 it remarked as teams have passed " how well 

 the horses pull together," when, perhaps, they 

 have been moving at something less than two 

 miles an hour ; but hasten them to four miles an 

 hour, and this steady working team will draw 

 very uneasily, one horse pulling to the right 

 hand, another to the left ; therefore a great sav- 

 ing of time is occasioned in the quickness of mo- 

 tion with one horse carts. When a cart is filled 

 there is no delay in attaching the trace horses, 

 during which operation the one hor.se would be 

 two hundred yards on the road. I know tliis 

 might be done more quickly by having men 

 ready to change tlie horses, as is the practice of 

 opposition coaches, but I am speaking of the 

 niattcr-offact working of the system. Then 

 again, when the load is deposited, the one horse 

 turns in much less time than the two or three. 

 Tliese facts are too self-evident to admit of con- 

 tradiction; indeed, I believe tlie economy of 

 carting luanure with one-horse carts is generally 

 allowed, but the employment of them in har- 

 vesting is much objected to. Im this respect, 

 however, I find them equally expeditious and 

 economical. My actual experience is that three 

 carts, with the harvest frames attached, will con- 

 vey as much hay or corn in the straw as two 

 wagons, and that they are bound with the ropes 

 in the same tima, therefore no time is lost in 



