10 



BULLETIN 910, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the question and 173 stated that they knew of no disadvantages in 

 owning a truck. 



Table III. — The "principal disadvantage" of a motor truck as reported by 283 farmers. 



Principal disadvantage. 



Poor roads 



Cost of operation . . . 



Soft ground 



First cost 



Incompetent driver 

 Mechanical trouble. 

 Other 



Total 



Number 



Per cent 



reporting. 



of total. 



168 



59 



48 



17 



25 



9 



15 



5 



14 



5 



8 



3 







2 



283 







It is seen that "poor roads" was given as the principal disadvan- 

 tage by 59 per cent of those who reported on this item. A large per- 

 centage of the reports stated that there is some time during the year 

 when the roads are in such a condition that motor trucks can not be 

 used. (See page 18.) The men who live on unimproved roads, of 

 course, have the greatest handicap in this respect, but even the best 

 of roads may be impassable for a truck because of snow at certain 

 times of the year in the region in which this study was made. After 

 poor roads, either the cost of operation or soft ground is considered 

 the greatest disadvantage, 17 per cent giving the cost of operation 

 and 9 per cent soft ground as the greatest disadvantage. First cost 

 is next in importance, 5 per cent considering it the most serious 

 disadvantage, and troubles due to incompetent drivers and mechan- 

 ical defects are considered prime disadvantages by 8 per cent of the 

 owners. 



ROAD HAULING WITH TRUCKS. 



All materials hauled to and from the farms were divided into five 

 general classes, viz, "Crops," "Milk," "Feed," "Fertilizer" (includ- 

 ing lime and manure), and "Other." An idea of the relative amounts 

 of these different classes of material hauled by the trucks may be 

 obtained from the fact that 444 farms reported hauling a total of 

 52,977 tons of crops during the year; 100 reported hauling a total of 

 10,371 tons of milk; 96 reported hauling a total of 2,847 tons of feed; 

 118 reported hauling 6,487 tons of fertilizer; and 159 farmers reported 

 hauling 14,599 tons of other material. The character of the crops 

 to be hauled depends, of course, upon the type of farming practiced. 

 All the crops raised on the different types of farms represented in this 

 study are included. 



Each farmer reported the size of load, length of haul, and the time 

 required for the round trip with the truck. Similar information was 

 given for hauling with wagons before the purchase of trucks. The 



