Figure 1. Eight Horses with Multiple Hitch, Pulling Three Bottom 42-Inch Gang Plow. One Man, with Percheron Horses, 
Can Plow 8V2 Acres Per Day, or 50 Acres Per Week, Where Fields Are Half a Mile Long. Angle of Traces on 
All Teams the Same 
Multiple Horse Hitches 
E. A. White, University of Illinois, Urbana, HI. 
In our remarkable agricultural development of the 
past three decades the horse has played such an impor- 
tant part that this noble animal has justly earned the 
right to be considered the standard prime-mover for 
farm work. In fact until very recently the horse was 
the only motor suited to generating power for the opera- 
tion of tractive machines and implements. In the field 
or on the road, wherever loads are to be moved, there 
the horse is found. From the utilitarian standpoint the 
horse is a motor converting the energy stored in his feed 
into mechanical energy which is used to plow the fields, 
sow the grain, cultivate and harvest the crops. By using 
the horse in this manner, man has been relieved from 
much of the drudgery which was formerly necessary to 
produce food. Horse-labor has been substituted for 
man-labor. In former times (not so long ago either) 
the amount of food which one man could produce was 
limited by the amount of land which he could cultivate 
with his own hands ; today it is limited by the amount of 
power which one man can control. Almost within the 
memory of men now living, we have passed from the 
2-horse team to the use of 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 horses while 
in the far West 33 horses are worked on the combined 
harvester and thresher. In this development the prob- 
lem has always been : How can the horse be used more 
efficiently as a motor? The efficient use of the horse 
involves a large number of important problems. This 
discussion will be limited to a consideration of the prob- 
lem of securing efficient hitches whereby the pull may 
be equally distributed between the various draft animals, 
the horses enabled to work under favorable conditions 
and the hitch so adjusted that the load will be pulled 
with the smallest expenditure of effort consistent with 
good work. 
The hitch question has always been a perplexing one ; 
and the difficulties have multiplied as the number of 
horses which are used has increased. At the present 
time we are chiefly concerned with the more efficient use 
of the horse on soil preparation machines, (the plow and 
disc harrow), and in hauling work. The proper prepa- 
ration of a desirable seed-bed is slow, hard work requir- 
ing the expenditure of a large amount of power. Not 
only is it desirable to plow and harrow as rapidly as pos- 
sible but an abundance of power is also necessary if the 
vitality of the work animals is not lowered, and the 
quality of work such as is demanded today. The hauling 
problem is becoming more important as the bulk of 
material to be moved increases. Larger crops mean more 
grain to haul to market and more fertilizers to bring 
onto the farm. From every important standpoint better 
farming means an abundance of horse power efficiently 
used. 
In designing any hitch due consideration must be 
given to the following points : 
Number of horses required for good work ; 
Equalizing the pull between the horses; 
Method of driving the horses ; 
Securing favorable conditions for the horses to work 
under ; 
Elimination of "side-draft." 
Each one of these problems can best be considered 
in reference to the various implements and will be taken 
up at the proper time. 
Equalizers for the Plow 
The moldboard plow is not only the most important 
of all the soil-preparation implements, but also the most 
perplexing to operate properly. Undoubtedly over one- 
half of our present plow troubles are due to improper 
hitches. The plow is a very unique implement. It works 
a narrow strip of soil and makes, relatively speaking, a 
very heavy load. The draft of a 14-inch single-bottom 
plow varies with the type of soil, depth, and conditions 
of plowing from 150 to 1000 pounds. Under what might 
be considered average conditions, plowing at a depth of 
6 inches, the draft varies from 300 to 400 pounds, and 
when this same soil becomes dry the draft may increase 
to 700 pounds or even more. It is generally assumed 
that a horse working at the rate of 2.5 miles per hour, 
(normal plowing speed), can exert a pull of 1-10 of its 
weight. Under the most favorable conditions then it 
will require 2, 1,500 pound horses or 3, 1,000 pound 
