8 DEPARTMENT BULLETIN 1254, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE. 
the use of these machines in farming operations can seldom answer. 
It should be helpful, therefore, for a prospective purchaser to know 
what men who have used these machines for a considerable period 
have found to be their advantages and disadvantages in actual prac- 
tice. These truck owners were asked "What is the principal ad- 
vantage of a motor truck for farm use? " and "What is the prin- 
cipal disadvantage?" 
Nearly 94 per cent of the owners replying to the first question 
stated that the time saved through use of their trucks was the 
greatest advantage, while in 1920 the same reply was given by 90 per 
cent of the men reporting. Other advantages mentioned, in the 
order of their relative importance, were the saving of horses, con- 
venience, the possibility of going to better markets, and reduction of 
expense. Long hauls to market over hard roads are more wearing 
than farm work on most farm horses. The use of a truck not only 
relieves the horses of this hard labor, but it also leaves them free for 
Fig. 
-Hauling with a truck permits the horses to remain at work on the farm. 
work on the farm while the truck does the road hauling. (See 
figs. 3 and 4.) 
Only 1 per cent of these truck owners stated that in their opinion 
the possibility of going to better markets was the main advantage in 
the use of motor trucks on their farms, although over one-fourth of 
the men who reported the distances to the markets used before and 
after they purchased their machines have changed markets, some 
of the new markets being twice as far from the farms as were those 
formerly used. It is probable that in many instances the saving of 
time effected by the use of the trucks gives their owners sufficient 
time to enable them to go to the better markets, and also to get their 
produce to market in better condition than was possible when horses 
and wagons were used. 
The fact that so few truck owners consider any advantage other 
than the saving of time as the principal one indicates that the 
amount of time these machines will save is a very important item 
to be considered by prospective purchasers. 
