MOTOR TRUCKS ON EASTERN FARMS. 
13 
Table VIII.— Percentage of time which trucks of different sizes save in hauling different 
materials. 
Size of truck. 
Time saved in hauling. 
Crops. 
Milk. 
Feed. 
Fertilizer. 
^-ton 
Per cent. 
53 
60 
65 
67 
71 
71 
Per cent. 
52 
42 
57 
Per cent. 
35 
53 
62 
66 
75 
Per cent. 
a-ton 
57 
52 
63 
75 
11- tolVton 
2-ton 
If the men who own small trucks had hauled as large loads with 
wagons as the men with larger trucks did, the saving of time effected 
by the small trucks would have been much less. As shown in 
Table IV, the time per ton-mile required to haul crops with the 
J-ton trucks is 0.50 hour, while the time required per ton-mile by 
these same men in hauling with wagons before the trucks were 
purchased was 1.06 hours, the trucks thus saving 53 per cent of the 
time. The men who now own 1\- and 1^-ton trucks required only 
0.49 hours per ton-mile for hauling with wagons before purchasing 
their trucks. This difference is due entirely to the fact that the 
men who now own ^-ton trucks formerly hauled loads with wagons 
which averaged 1,505 pounds, while the men owning 1^- and IJ-ton 
trucks hauled loads which averaged 3,306 pounds. . 
RETURN LOADS. 
The percentage of time which a truck is run without a load has a 
direct influence on the cost per unit of hauling with the truck. If a 
farmer can arrange to haul a load of produce to market and bring 
back a load of supplies to the farm on the same trip, he will reduce 
the time required and expense for hauling practically 50 per cent. 
(See fig. 2.) The reports of these men show that they have loads 
both ways for their trucks on an average of about 26 per cent of 
their trips. Thirty per cent of the men, however, stated that they 
never have return loads. The dairy farmers and general farmers 
reported return loads a considerably larger percentage of the time 
than did the fruit, truck, and crop farmers. 
ROAD HAULING FOR WHICH TRUCKS ARE NOT USED. 
A majority of these men still use their horses to supplement their 
trucks in hauling on the road. While 516 men reported concerning 
their present use of horses for road hauling, only 193, or 37 per cent, 
stated that they did all their road hauling during the year preceding 
the time of reporting with trucks. Table IX shows the reasons 
