TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE FACILITIES 589 



roads. When a grade exceeds a rise of 6 feet to the hundred feet in 

 horizontal measure it becomes an increasing hindrance to traffic. It 

 must always be remembered that the worst grade on any road tends 

 to limit the load that can pass over the entire road. 



The cost of hauling farm produce to market is probably not so 

 much increased by the presence of excessive grades as it is by the bad 

 conditions of road surfaces. The desirable road surface is hard and 

 reasonably smooth. Almost every road is fairly hard at certain times 

 in the year. Too frequently, however, at the season when it is desired 

 to use the roads, the surface is soft, and the consequent tractive 

 resistance is excessive and wasteful. The most frequent form of soft 

 road surface is the muddy surface. Many attempts have been made 

 to fix the relative weights which a horse can draw in an ordinary 

 wagon over level road surfaces of various kinds, and the following 

 figures are current and fairly reliable: On a muddy earth road the 

 amount varies from nothing to a maximum of 800 pounds; on a 

 smooth, dry earth road, from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds; on a gravel road 

 in bad condition, from 1,000 to 1,600 pounds; on a gravel road in 

 good condition, about 3,300 pounds; on a macadam road, from 2,000 

 to 5,000 pounds; and on a brick road, from 5,000 to 8,000 pounds. 

 These figures show that if the speed of travel is the same on all these 

 road surfaces a horse will haul on a good macadam road from three 

 to five times as many tons per mile in a day as upon a moderately 

 muddy earth road. This matter may be considered in another way 

 by admitting that one horse is capable of a certain fixed duty per day. 

 Then, with a given load, the effective radius of travel from a given 

 point on a macadam road is from three to five times the radius of 

 travel from that point on a moderately muddy earth road. The 

 trouble with unimproved earth roads is that they are moderately 

 muddy for many months in the year. 



C. Railway Equipment and Services 



185. METHODS OF HANDLING SHIPMENTS OF FRUIT AND 

 VEGETABLES 1 



BY FRANK ANDREWS 



Progress in methods of hauling perishable fruits and vegetables 

 is part of a general betterment of railroad service. The freight 

 carried on many railroads is divided into classes, based upon the kind 



1 Adapted from Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, 1911, pp. 167-75. 



