618 



Report to H.R.H. the President 



trials of its powers of cohesion. Every slight alteration of position of the 

 horse which elevates or depresses the shalts of a cart, gives a tendency to 

 the load to slide off either before or behind, which is not the case in a 

 waggon, where no part of the weight rests on the horse's back. If, there- 

 fore, as is commonly the case, the harvest frame consists of two or three 

 horizontal and parallel bars, it is found requisite to take small loads, or to 

 bind the load very firmly together with ropes, either of which expedients 

 causes a waste of time, which can ill be spared during harvest ; and in 

 spite of such precautions accidents frequently occur. To remedy this 

 fault, some makers have constructed harvest frames with one bar only at 

 the front and back, strengthened by iron stays, as is the case in Morton's 

 harvest cart, exhibited by Messrs. Stratton. This is a considerable im- 

 provement upon the two or three bars above-mentioned, inasmuch as the 

 sheaves are bent over the single bar by the weight of the load, and thus 

 obtain a firmer hold; but the desired object is more surely and efficiently 

 obtained by the harvest frame attached to Busby's cart, where the ends 

 and sides all slope towards the body, so as to condense the load by the 

 motion of the cart. The fact that raised ends have a tendency to condense 

 the load was first pointed out by the judges of carts at the Norwich Show 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1849 ; and in Mr. Busby's cart these 

 suggestions have not only been adopted, but improved upon, by raising 

 the sides as well as the ends. 



Another important point is, that carts should be low, not only for the 

 sake of diminishing the labour of loading, but to lower the centre of 

 gravity of the load, and thereby lessen the great inequality of pressure on 

 the horse which is experienced in high carts when going up or down hill. 

 It also diminishes the danger of an upset in rough ground or on a hillside. 

 So long, however, as the shafts of carts were attached in the ordinary way, 

 it was found that when carts were much lowered, a slanting direction was 

 given to the shafts, which caused a top load to slide backwards ; and this 

 tendency it was scarcely possible to counteract when going up a steep 

 hill. The mode of attaching the shafts observed in Busby's cart, viz., of 

 fixing them to the side, very much diminishes this difficulty, as, when once 

 the plan is abandoned of making the shafts a prolongation of the sole, 

 their position is no longer dependent on that of the body of the cart, but 

 may be varied to suit the objects for which it is built, or the size of the 

 horses employed by the owner. By this arrangement for preserving in a 

 great measure the horizontal position of the shafts in carts with low bodies, 

 together with the form of harvest frame pointed out above, these carts 

 are enabled to carry corn or hay with as great safety as any Jour-wheeled 

 vehicles; and this point being once established, it is clear that there is no 



Jiusbv s Cart, 



