EXPERIENCE WITH MOTOR TRUCKS. 



9 



is the principal advantage of a motor truck for farm use? " is given 

 in Table III : 



Table III. — The principal advantage of a motor truck as given by 112 farmers. 



Principal advantage. 



Number 

 reporting. 



Per cent 

 of total. 



Principal advantage. 



Number 

 reporting. 



Per cent 

 of total. 





635 



32 



17 



6 



89 

 4 

 2 

 1 



Better market 



4 

 18 



1 





Other 



3 





Total 







712 











Nearly 90 per cent of the owners report that the saving of time is 

 the principal advantage. There are other advantages, of course, but 

 in the minds of these farmers this is the principal one. While only 

 four of these men report that the principal advantage of the truck 

 is that it enables them to go to a better market, more than a fourth 

 of the total number are going to better markets now than before the 

 purchase of their trucks. Going to a market which is farther from 

 the farm is simply a matter of taking more time for marketing, 

 and a considerable number of the men who say that saving of time 

 is the principal advantage find that the truck saves them sufficient 

 time to enable them to go to the better market. Reducing shrinkage 

 when marketing live stock, which is often mentioned as one of the 

 big advantages of a motor truck, is also largely a matter of reducing 

 the time required for getting the stock from farm to market. 



The fact that such a small number consider the saving of horses, 

 the reducing of expense, and added convenience, as the principal 

 advantages of the truck, indicates that the amount of time which the 

 motor truck will save, which may incidentally result in reaching a 

 better market or getting live stock and crops to market in better con- 

 dition, is the item which should be given paramount importance when 

 considering the purchase of a motor truck. 



The disadvantages of a truck should be considered as well as the 

 advantages, and these men were asked what they had found to be the 

 principal disadvantage. A summary of 413 answers to this question 

 is given in Table IV. Of the remaining 418 farmers 261 did not 

 answer the question, and 157 stated that they knew of no disadvan- 

 tages in owning a truck. 



Table IV. 



-Tlie principal disadvantage of a motor truck as given ~by Jj.18 

 farmers. 



Principal disadvantage. 



Poor roads 



Cost of operation 



First cost 



Soft ground 



Mechanical trouble 



19133°— 21 2 



Number 



Per cent 



reporting. 



of total. 



299 



73 



46 



11 



33 



8 



10 



2 



6 



2 



Principal disadvantage. 



Incompetent driver 

 Other 



Total 



Number 

 reporting. 



413 



Per cent 

 of total. 



