On the Reduction of Horse Labour by single Carts, 87 



number harnessed together ; but the amount of difference I have 

 never proved by actual experiment. Mr. Culley, in his Report of 

 the three Enghsh border counties gives an instance (page 192) in 

 which the advantage is as 3 to 4 (see also page 272, and the 

 Middlesex Report, pages 108 and 526) ; and another, in which, 

 with a horse of 16 hands, 24 cwt. was the load, on the hilly road 

 from Hexham to Newcastle. I am in the regular practice of 

 sending out to any distance, on a turnpike however hilly, 5 qrs. 

 of wheat, which, with the cart., 8 cwt., seldom amounts to less 

 than 30 cwt. It is also considered universally that the nearer a 

 horse is to his load the easier will be the draught, but to what 

 extent I have also never proved. 



2. The misapplication of power caused by a heavy carriage is 

 often enormous, there being sometimes, especially by waggons in 

 harvest, double the weight of timber moved, in going backwards 

 and forwards, to that of produce brought home ; for instance, a 

 common harvest load^ except at a great distance from the home- 

 stead, seldom exceeds 1 ton, and 1 ton more or less is the weight 

 of a waggon : at any rate, 1 to ] is the common proportion of the 

 carriage to the harvest load. 



It is admitted that there is no perceptible difference between 

 the size of my neighbours' loads and my own : the weight of my 

 harvest cart I have stated is about 6 J cwt., therefore my propor- 

 tion is I to 3 ; and under less favourable circumstances than mine, 

 it need never, with a similar carriage, be less than 1 to 2 ; and 

 this goes a very considerable way to explain why I am able to 

 perform the same work with half the strength, and without strain- 

 ing the powers of my horses. In the dung-carts the case is not 

 quite so strong in my favour, as there is not so large a dispropor- 

 tion in their weight. 



3. It is certain that a horse can exert his powers with greater 

 ease and effect by himself than when incommoded by the diverse 

 pulling of companions, and also that a sluggish animal must draw 

 his own share. In turning, one horse is much more handy than 

 a string ; and no comparison can be made between the turning of 

 a two and four wheel carriage. I have never practised trotting. 



* I had occasion to send ray skeleton cart with 15 cwt. of hay up the 

 steepest hill (Cuddesden) in this part of the country, and directed a very 

 intelHgent labourer to go with it and report; his statement was, that besides 

 observing at a steep descent that the breeching was tightened more than 

 the backchain, on stopping on the sharpest ascent he found the breast-band 

 tolerably slack, and that the horse drew the load up this sleep point (1 in 

 7) without difficulty ; and he thought he might have managed a ton. " The 

 horse, however, had a knack of thwarting the road,"" — a method of easing 

 the ascent horses are very ready at in the north : in a waggon they cannot 

 do it. His opinion also was, that four horses, with 2 tons on a waggon, 

 would have very tight work at this part of the hill. 



