WAGGON. 



occafionally fixed to the axle of the fore wheels, according 

 as it is intended to be drawn by an ox or a liorfc-team. 

 This light waggon is thought to be deferring of a place on 

 almoft every large farm in the kingdom. 



But the writer of the rural economies of the different 

 counties of the kingdom, who has attended much to tlie 

 fubjcft, thi iks that thofe which are employed in the county 

 of Gloucelkti" are to be preferred to any others in the coun- 

 try ; as by means of crooked fide rails, bending archwife 

 over the hiiid wheels, the bodies or frames of them are kept 

 low, without the diameter of the wheels being much leffened. 

 The bodies are likewife, it is faid, made wide in proportion 

 to their fhallownefs, and the wheels run fix inches wider than 

 thofe of moft other waggons, whereby advantages in carry- 

 ing top-loads are, it is faid, evidently obtained. Mr. Rudge, 

 too, in his account of the agriculture of the fame diftrift, 

 has remarked that, in many parts of it, waggons are the prin- 

 cipal carriages employed in getting in the hay and corn, and 

 are either full-bedded or with three-quarter beds. That the 

 former have the advantage of a greater length of bed, but 

 are not fo convenient for turning ; and that the latter, though 

 diminiflied in fize, have the convenience of locking the fore 

 wheels, and turning in almoft as narrow a compafs as a 

 chaife, in confequence of the bed being hollowed out on 

 each fide near tlie middle, to admit the exterior part, or fel- 

 loes of the fore wheels. Both tiiefe forts of waggons are 

 capable of carrying nearly, it is faid, the fame weight, though 

 the former, as being deeper in the bed, is fomewhat better 

 adapted, it is thought, for the carriage of heavy articles, 

 fuch as bags of corn, and other fuch materials. For the 

 purpofc of carrying hay and ftraw, or of harvefting, their 

 length and width are, it is faid, increafed by light lad- 

 ders before and behind, and of fimilar contrivances, called 

 " rathes," the whole length of the fides. The ladders are 

 put on and taken off at pleafure in both kinds, but the fide 

 additions are generally fixed ; except in the ftraight-headed 

 fort, which are in ufe, it is faid, on the weftern fide of the 

 Severn, in this county ; in thefe they are made removeable, 

 fo as to leave the bed quite naked. 



Another fort of waggon, which partakes, in fome mea- 

 fure, of the properties of both the waggon and cart, on 

 which account it has been appropriately denominated the 

 hermaphrodite, is, it is faid, frequently made ufe of in the 

 county of Norfolk, when the pair of fore wheels and fliafts 

 are occafionally attached to a common cart by a pole con- 

 nefted with the axle, to which are added the ladders. This 

 is, it is faid, a light, cheap, and convenient fort of waggon, 

 which is capable of carrying nearly as much hay or ftraw as 

 that of the Berkfliire. 



As it has been obferved, that from its having been long 

 a complaint among large farmers, and others, whofe bufinefs 

 requires the conftant ufe of carts, and only tlie occafional 

 ufe of waggons, that the waggon, however well prtferved 

 by a (hed or other fuch building, is daily decaying and get- 

 ting worfe while out of ufe, particularly the iron work of 

 it, which is fhortly deftroyed by ruft ; and that, in like 

 manner too, with thofe whofe concerns re<|uirc the almoft 

 conftant ufe of waggons, and but the occafional ufe of carts; 

 the latter, while unemployed, bear a very -joiifiderable pro- 

 portion to the wear and tear of carts which are in conftant 

 ufe : thefe circumftanccs and effefts have led and induced a 

 Mr. Rood to dcvifc and bring to pcrfeClion, at a very confi- 

 derable expcnce, a ctHitrivaucc of this particular kind, by 

 which the fame carriage may, in a few minutes, be made by 

 the carter into two complete tip carts of ihe common ilimen- 

 fions, and applicable to all the ufes of carls in general, or 

 into one waggon, fo complete, that a narrow infpedioa i», it 



6 



is faid, [ncceffaty to diftinguifh it from a common waggon. 

 And that there is no complication of parts in this waggon, 

 the whole being fo contrived, that none of its parts are ever 

 out of ufe, confequently not liable to be miflaid or loft. 

 The carts, too, when it is formed into them, have a contri- 

 vance by which to render them more fafe and eafy to the 

 horfe in going down a hill, and have moveable fide ladders, 

 which will, it is faid, be found of great ufe in carrying corn, 

 bark, and other fuch materials. It is noticed, that it may 

 be conftrufled by the wheelwrights of any county or dif- 

 trift with perfeft cafe and facility, and that its ihape and 

 particular dimenfions are capable of being fuited to the 

 wifties of the owner, or to the local fafhion of the neigh- 

 bourhood in which he lives. That the refult of confideiable 

 experience and enquiries enables the inventor to ftate that 

 it maybe completed, in any county or diftrift, for about five 

 pounds more than the coft of two common carts. It is ad- 

 mitted, however, that it is fomewhat more clumfy than a 

 common waggon. 



It is united and held together by four ftrong pius, which 

 are to be removed when it is difunited and ufed in the fepa- 

 rated ftate. 



A reprefentation of it may be feen in the fecond volume 

 of the " General Diftionary of Agriculture and Huf- 

 bandry." 



In the county of Norfolk, Mr. Douton, of Brandon, 

 according to the writer of the correfted report on the agri- 

 culture of that diftrift, has found a confiderable faving by 

 the ufe of light caravan waggons for two horfes abreaft, 

 with which he carries, it is faid, a chaldron and half of coals, 

 and other loads in proportion ; and that, it is thought by 

 him, every man, who reduces the teams of any county or 

 diftrift, will be fure to do this until he arrives at perfeftion 

 in a one-horfe carriage. 



In moft counties, however, ilill much too heavy carriages 

 of the waggon kind are in ufe for the bufinefs of farming as 

 well as road purpofes. In Kent, the carriages of this fort 

 employed in conveying the corn to market and other places 

 are large, and called hutches, being drawn by four horfes ; 

 and generally loaded with not more than from feven to 

 twelve quarters of corn, according to its weight, and the 

 diftance it is to be carried. They are thirteen feet long, are 

 made crooked at the fides, the width cannot however be 

 pofitively afcertained ; but they are generally three feet 

 wide before, and four behind at the bottom ; and about 

 fix or eight inches wider at the top, being twenty inches 

 deep : they are boarded at the fides and ends clofe enough 

 to carry fand. If made with wooden axle-trees, they coft, 

 it is faid, about twenty guineas : if with iron, twenty-five. 

 Such waggons arc, however, quite unfit for many farm 

 ufes. 



In Staffordfhire, it has been obferved by Mr. Pitt, that 

 the reduflion of the weight of waggons, in moft cafes, but 

 particularly to thofe who are common carriers, is highly be- 

 neficial, being a gain of not lefs than fifty pounds a year by 

 each team conftantly employed on the road ; and that if it 

 be made with good materials a light waggon will laft as long 

 as a heavy one. The coft of a narrow-wheeled waggon 

 there is twenty-fix pounds ; fix inch, thirty-fix ; the axle- 

 tree is moft commonly of wood. 



The aulluir of the " Prefcnt State of Agriculture and 

 Hufl)aiuhv in Great Britain," remarks that waggons arc 

 chiefly ufed in getting in the hay and corn liarvefts, carrying 

 the hay and grain to market, and bringing manure and 

 coals from a diftance. That they are generally drawn by 

 the whole team on the farm, where one only is kept, what- 

 ever number of animals it may confift of, and that two men 



and 



