274 O ur Farming. 



was for use on the roads. The price paid was fifty cents a ton. 

 By putting on 3,000 pounds, which was a fair load, one could 

 earn $3 a day, by making four trips. Most of the teamsters put 

 on 4,000 pounds and made $4 a day, but it was a wet time, and 

 the roads bad from so much heavy hauling, and they overworked 

 their horses. I had signed a contract and would lose if I failed 

 to fulfil it ; but I did not want to work for $3 a day. For some 

 days I held off, while the road was full of teams and everyone 

 was growling because they could not make anything. At last, I 



had it studied out and went to the 

 wagonmaker once more with drawings, 

 and stood over him while he made the 

 double pole shown in Fig. 5. By tak- 

 ing out a single rod, the two-horse pole 

 is removed and this put in, taking but 

 a moment. By putting one horse in 

 between the poles and one on each side 

 and using a pair of three-horse eveners, 

 you have a direct draft. With this rig 

 I drew 5,000 pounds of gravel every 

 single load, instead of 3,000, and with 

 the same ease to horses and made $5 a 

 day. Had I driven only two horses, the 

 third would have been idle. As it was, 

 he made me $2 a day. I have drawn 

 my entire crop of potatoes twelve miles 

 to Akron, some years, alone, with this 

 three-horse arrangement, and one fall I 

 got caught with four car loads on hand 

 when constant rain made roads almost 

 v impassable. But, by taking my light- 

 ID est wagon and three horses, I never 

 needed to draw less than fifty bushels 

 to a load. It would have been an ex- 

 pensive job for me to have gone with 

 two two-horse teams and a man to 

 drive. Don't you see, I did about as 

 much alone. I drew 3,000 pounds of 



load, or 4,000, wagon and all. This was 1,333 P er horse. A 

 two-horse team would have been able to draw 2,666 pounds. 

 Taking out the wagon, this would be 1,666 pounds of load, 

 or 1 66 pounds more than half of what I drew. Of course, 

 we do not mean to be caught this way, but when we do, the 

 three-horse pole comes handy. I have driven this rig into the 

 smallest yards in town, and through the most crowded streets in 

 Cleveland, without trouble. The poles are about the size of a 

 large carriage pole. Being two, they do not need to be as heavy 

 as a single wagon pole, as the strain is divided between them. 



