On One- Horse Cai-ts. 
159 
of moderate dimensions. I conceive it would not be generally 
useful to mention the time occupied in securing a given number 
of acres of corn with carts, as so much depends on the bulk of 
the crop, as well as the power of the men employed. I once 
accurately remarked the time of such an operation : it was in 
carrying a very heavy crop of 10 acres of mown wheat close 
to the homestead, which took with five carts four hours and a 
quarter from the first cart entering the field to the finishing oflf 
the rick with the last. Tlie longer the distance of the field from 
the rick the greater will be the advantage of carts. Supposnig 
each waggon to be drawn by two horses (three are frequently em- 
ployed), and that three carts will convey as much as two waggons, 
which I am certain will be more than borne out in practice ; then 
three horses will take as much in the carts as four in the waggons, 
and they will perform the distance in little more than half the 
time. It is supposed that an additional expense attends carts 
in the number of boys required to go with them : this is not 
the case ; the boys are younger and less expensive than those in- 
trusted with waggons, and the horses do not need any boy in the 
field, as when they become accustomed to their work they will 
walk steadily beside the cocks without being attended. There is 
an impression that carts will not answer in hilly situations ; we 
find, however, they are employed, to the exclusion of waggons, in 
some of the most hilly counties of England. I have certainly 
nothing very steep on my farm ; but 50 acres lie nearly two 
miles from the rest of my land, on which road there are two 
very sharp pitches, up and down which I am constantly taking 
loads, and have never found more inconvenience with carts than I 
formerly did with waggons. But, to prevent any possibility of 
accident, there is now to be had the self-acting drag, which re- 
tards the wheels in proportion to the descent : there is also a very 
simple method of moving the load forward by means of a screw 
* when going up hill, and backward in descending a hill. But I 
have Ibund the carts I have answer so well without these addi- 
tions, that I shall not go to the expense of either of these im- 
provements at present. In taking out corn in the sacks, carts 
will be found far preferable to waggons, as in all the other opera- 
tions carrying a greater weight with the same ease and in less 
time, each cart carrying 5 quarters of wheat. Nearly the whole 
of my wheat goes to a mill seven miles distant, on the road to 
which there are three steep hills. I always send two carts, carry- 
ing 5 quarters of wheat each, with one lad of eighteen or twentv, 
going twice a-day ; and in summer, when the roads are very good, 
I have put 5^ quarters behind each horse : thus two horses would 
deliver 22 quarters in a day. 
I have endeavoured to answer all the objections I have heard 
