248 Improvement in the Mode of Attaching Horses to Waggons. 
A 
By reversing the instrument, still locked, the workmen would use 
it in the bottom of the drain. When not in use the cross piece would 
be detached, and the whole carried about as easily as a shovel or other 
working tool. 
Saml. H. C. Payne. 
Llanelly House, Carmarthenshire^ 
January 2, 1845. 
VII. — On an Improvement in the Mode of Attaching Horses to 
Waggons. By J. H. Grieve. 
Having observed amongst the topics proposed by the Society as sub- 
jects for prize essays, that of the use of one-horse carts, I thought it 
might be agreeable to j-ou to receive some remarks relative to different 
modes of traction which have been suggested to me by actual observa- 
tion, and which, so far as my knowledge extends, have as yet passed 
almost without notice. 
There is no mechanical reason why a single-horse cart should possess 
any advantage over a four-wheeled waggon; and if that opinion has 
gained ground in this country, it is wholly to be attributed to the de- 
fective manner of application of horse-power. 
In one-horse carts a part of the load weighs upon the saddle placed 
behind the shoulders of the horse ; and as the principal fulcrum upon 
which he acts is concentrated in his hind-feet, it may at first sight 
appear that the load upon the back would assist in the effort of traction, 
and I have no doubt that it does so to a certain degree ; but this small 
advantage is only gained at the expense of the muscular power of the 
animal, and has a natural tendency to exhaust and fatigue him. 
If the use of waggons has hitherto proved unsatisfactory, the cause is 
merely that no sufficient care has been taken to ensure the simultatieota 
effort of the horses, so that a great part of their power becomes in- 
efficient. 
