16 BULLETIN" 931, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Fifty-six per cent of these men gave the saving of time as the 

 reason for using trucks for this hauling. The average length of 

 haul with trucks on the farm was about 235 rods. A truck will save 

 some time over horses on hauls of this length if there is no difficulty 

 in obtaining traction in the fields. It may also save time to use a 

 truck if only one or two loads are to be hauled and the horses and 

 wagons are not ready for use. 



Twenty-eight per cent use trucks for some hauling on the farm, 

 because they have found their trucks more convenient than horses. 

 When frequent stops must be made, or when the truck or wagon 

 must be left without attention for a considerable length of time, 

 the truck may be preferable, even though the horses are allowed 

 to remain idle, and the use of the truck does not save any time. 



The men whose trucks are equipped with pneumatic tires evidently 

 use them to a somewhat greater extent for hauling on the farm than 

 do the men whose trucks are equipped with solid tires. For instance, 

 252 owners of 1-ton trucks reported concerning the use of their 

 trucks in hauling on the farm. Forty-eight of them have solid- 

 tired trucks, and only 20 of these 48 used their trucks for any haul- 

 ing on the farm. One hundred and sixty-nine have trucks with 

 pneumatic tires in front and solids in the rear, and only 71 used 

 their trucks for any hauling on the farm. The remaining 35 have 

 pneumatic-tired trucks and 20 used them for some hauling on the 

 farm. Thus only a little over 40 per cent of the 1-ton trucks 

 equipped with solid tires and of those equipped with pneumatics in 

 front and solids in rear were used for work on the farm, while better 

 than 55 per cent of those equipped with pneumatic tires were used 

 for such work. 



CUSTOM HAULING. 



Although all of these men use their trucks primarily for hauling to 

 and from their own farms, about 40 per cent of them did some custom 

 work during the year preceding the time of reporting. Of 504 who 

 reported on this item, 295 stated that they had done no custom work. 

 One hundred and eighty-nine of the remaining 209 received on the 

 average $132 for such work during the year. The number who re- 

 ported hauling different materials and the price per ton-mile are 

 given in Table XIII. It is seen that most of this hauling was either 

 crops or live stock. On the average the men who hauled crops hauled 

 35 tons a distance of 9-]- miles during the year, and the men who 

 hauled live stock hauled 12 tons a distance of 18£ miles. 



About 35 per cent stated that the custom work which they did had 

 not been profitable. It was often stated that the principal reason for 

 doing custom work was to accommodate the neighbors, and in many 

 such cases the price was too low to make the work profitable. 



