376 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



friction most injurious to the road, and which also 

 increases the draught. 



The ordinary mode of making a coach-wheel is 

 as follows : The piece of elm for the nave is turned 

 in a lathe to the proper size and shape, and has a 

 hole driven through it to receive the axle ; it is then 

 fixed in a vice and holes are chiselled out of it to 

 receive the ends of the spokes. There is nothing but 

 the practised eye of the workman to guide him in 

 making these holes in the proper position for pro- 

 ducing the dishing of the wheels ; half of the spokes 

 are near one end of the nave, and half near the 

 other, and the holes have to be regulated accord- 

 ingly. The pieces of oak for the spokes are shaped 

 by hand, by a small cutting tool called a spoke- 

 shave ; every one who is acquainted with carpentry 

 or joinery knows what a spoke-shave is like, and 

 there is no carpenter or joiner who does not make 

 use of one frequently in his trade. 



In wheels the felloes are dowelled together, 

 and are further secured by inserting wedges in the 

 ends of the spokes, and by the iron tire. It is 

 undoubtedly a fact worth recording, and it has been 

 proved, that iron tires of a narrow width, wheit 

 passing over bad roads, whose surface is soft and 

 impressionable, sink deep into the ground, get wedged 

 into ruts, from which the horses have to drag them,, 

 which without doubt increases their labour, and 

 greatly fatigues them. In every case it should be 

 remembered that large wheels possess an enormous 

 superiority over small w^heels, not only when con- 

 sidered mechanically, as acting like a lever to overcome 

 obstacles that retard progression, but their friction upon 

 the axle is far less than small wheels, since they turn 

 less often ; at the same time the weight upon them is 



