MOTOR TRUCKS ON EASTERN FARMS. » 



There has evidently been a tendency on the part of some of these 

 men to purchase trucks which experience has shown to be too small 

 for their needs. While 444, or 64 per cent, prefer the size they now 

 own, only 13 of the entire number prefer smaller sizes and 239 prefer 

 larger sizes. However, the 1-ton size is preferred by nearly three 

 times as many men as any other size, and only about 1 man in 25 

 prefers a truck of over 2 tons capacity. 



ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. 



There are advantages in the ownership of a motor truck, but just 

 how great these advantages are and which should be given the greatest 

 weight are questions unanswerable by the man who has not had 

 experience with a truck. A summary of the answers of 638 of these 

 truck owners to the question "What is the principal advantage of a 

 truck for farm use?" is given in Table II. 



Table II. — The "principal advantage" of a motor truck as reported by 638 farmers. 



Principal advantage. 



Number 

 reporting. 



Per cent 

 of total. 





577 

 19 

 15 

 13 

 9 

 5 



91 

 3 

 2 

 2 

 1 

 1 







Convenience 



Reduces expense 



Other 



Total 



638 









More than 90 per cent of the owners believe that time saving is 

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

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

 15 of the men report that the principal advantage of the truck is 

 that it enables them to go to a better market, a much larger number 

 are going to a better market now than before the purchase of their 

 trucks. Going to a market which is farther from their farms is 

 simply a matter of taking more time for marketing, and part 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. 



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, is the item which should be given paramount impor- 

 tance when considering the purchase of a motor truck. 



Disadvantages of the motor truck were reported by 283 men. 

 (See Table III.) Of the remaining 470 farmers 297 did not answer 



8335°— 20 2 



