CH. X 



ATTACHMENT OF THE HORSE 



I8 7 



resting-places. American roads, otherwise much 

 inferior, usually have, on the hills, places which are 

 level or of slight grade, anc { there can be no doubt 

 that it is much better for the horses, to have steeper 

 grades alternating with flatter ones than to have a 

 minimum average grade for the whole of a long dis- 

 tance. An objection sometimes made to such a plan 

 is, that if horses are stopped on a hill they are some- 

 times disinclined to start again, but often they have 

 to be rested on the regular grade, and are then much 

 more likely to refuse than if they have a short level 

 on which to start. 



As a matter of fact, the increase of grade, which 

 is the result of a location with short flats, is not 

 great. With a steady grade of 1 in 25, the rise is 

 2 1 1 feet in a mile ; if at every half-mile, a level of 

 200 feet long is made, the grade of the remaining 

 portion will be 1 in 23 instead of 1 in 25. With a 

 regular grade of 1 in 40, the rise 

 in a mile is 132 feet; a level place 

 of 400 feet in each mile will in- 

 crease the remaining grade to 1 



in 



7- 



Fig. 81. 



Attachment of the Horse. — 

 There are two ways in general use 

 of attaching a horse to the traces 

 by which he draws the vehicle. One is by the 

 breast collar (Fig. 81), or Dutch collar, as it is fre- 

 quently called, which was in almost universal use 



