14 DEPARTMENT BULLETIN 12-54, TJ. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE. 
that it was necessary to do such hauling at times when the roads 
would not permit the use of their trucks. Of the balance, about an 
equal number stated their reasons for using horses for road hauling 
was that their truck bodies were unsuitable for carrying the particu- 
lar material they desired to haul, or that their trucks were too light. 
The latter reason, however, was not advanced by any of the owners 
of trucks over 1 ton in size. 
A small percentage of the total number stated that they used their 
horses when their trucks were busy, and others said that as it was 
necessary to keep some horses anyway, they were used for some of 
the road hauling: at times when otherwise thev would have been idle. 
EFFECT OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF ROADS ON USE OF MOTOR 
TRUCKS. 
Poor roads, given by such a large percentage of truck owners as 
the greatest disadvantage connected with their use, are in a large 
Fig. 8. — A road which may be impassable for several weeks of each year. 
measure responsible for the continued use of horses for part of the 
road hauling done by truck owners. The 1920 questionnaire asked 
each truck owner to state the kind of roads over which his truck 
usually traveled, and the length of time during the preceding year 
that the condition of the roads had prevented him from using his 
machine. The replies to these two questions should give the pro- 
spective purchaser a definite idea of the difficulties he is likely to en- 
counter. 
Twenty-nine per cent of the men replying stated that their trucks 
usually traveled on dirt roads, 46 per cent on roads that were part 
dirt and part improved, and 25 per cent on wholly improved roads, 
such as macadam, gravel, or better. 
The 1920 reports showed that on the average there 1 were about two 
months in the preceding year when the roads were in such condition, 
because of mud, snow, etc., that the trucks could not be used. This 
does not mean, however, that horses were always used for road haul- 
