ON REAR WINGS.

IN N the sixth report of the board of education inserted in your 26th number, (p. 173) I observed the following words, "another wing was intended in the rear of the hospital." Not knowing of any fowl whose wings are in its rear, I request to be informed, by some of your correspondents; 1st, whether a wing in the rear is not properly a tail, and 2dly, whether a thing whose wing is a tail, is not a bull. Your obedient servant,

Appendix, No. 11.

COCKNEY.

TO THE FIRST REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPROVEMEET OF ROADS AND CARRIAGES.

rather than common ones by four Further experience has however convinced me, that in proportion as the draught is lessened the power is increased, until perfection is attained in a one-horse cart.

The most general farmer's carriage in this kindgom is a waggon drawn by four horses, in which is conveyed corn, hay, wood, &c. But not dung or earth, which are usually moved by carts or tumbrels drawn by three or four horses: carriers use almost universally broad-wheeled waggons, drawn by eight horses.

In France the draught is very generally large two-wheeled carts, drawn by three, four, or five hor

carriages.

* BY ARTHUR YOUNG.

F it was not much more liberal to

of amazement that I found a tool, which, in the eyes of a man accustomed to waggons, was not much better than a wheel-barrow, clear

one, I might perhaps have been induced to attempt, by every means, to establish a practice which expefience has not sufficiently founded; One of the first pieces I'venturned, many years ago, to the eye of the public, was a memoir in the Museum Rusticum, on the use of broad-wheeled waggons, d awn by eight horses, From his Annals of Agriculture, vol,

18, P. 178.

-

pedition nothing equivocal. The inferiority however to a one horse cart is great.

So enlightened as the professors of husbandry are in England, it is a bold undertaking to find fault with any practice that obtains very generally among them; yet in this point of employing waggons, and various works large carts, for the that are to be do cheaper with

one-horse carts, the Scotch and I rish system is, beyond all question, preferable.

Of this I received, in Ireland, so entire a conviction that on my return from that kingdom in 1779, and taking into my own hands, in 1780, a part of the farm I occupy at present, built at London two carts, on which I relied entirely, never having had either waggon or tumbrel from that hour to this. The rule by which I built these first carts was to make them of a capa city proportioned to the Suffolk waggons I had been accustomed to, which contain in the buck 96 cubical feet, being 12 long, 4 broad, and 2 deep. To give one horse the 4th of the load of 4, I made the carts of 24 cubical feet space, or 4 feet by 3, and 2 deep. But in the observations 1 had very soon an opportunity of making, I found the power of a horse so much greater when working single, than when united in a team, that in the next carts I built, I enlarged them to the following dimensions, to which I have adhered in all I have built even since both for myself and others.

Buck Length, 5 feet 1 Inch.

62,952

Breadth, 3 feet 7 Inches. Depth, 2 feet. Cubical feet, 35 and a fraction (an error.) These dimensions of Mr. Young give 364 cubic feet 62,649 cubic inches In regard to the use of these cares, I have found them equal to all the business of my farm; I have five of them, and should not add more than one to the number if I was to increase my business to 4 or 500 acres they cart hay, corn in the straw, faggotwood, billets, dung, clay, marl, lime, bricks, &c. and carry out 9, and even 10 combs of wheat, and I never put more than one horse or ox in them.

But farms vastly more considerable

than mine have the work entirely performed by means of them. Ĭ have seen in Ireland 500 acres of corn, aud 300 of hay, and 10,000 barrels of lime, carted in a year, all done by one-horse carts or cars. And I am informed, that Mr. Culley of Northumberland, conducts all the business of his immense farm with such carts.

But the principal inquiry is, whether this system is, or is not preferable to the common one of employing both waggons and tumbrels: the former for corn in sacks, and in the straw, and for hay, &c? Let us examine this matter more in detail.

1. Price and Repairs.-The first object to consider is the original cost; the expences of stocking with carts I know exactly; the whole of my farm, which is about 350 acres, must be reckoned, for woodlands come heavily into the account of carriage, I do all the business with five carts, and it is not trifling; from 800 to 1,900 cubical yards of compost per annum, the earth or marl in which is twice carted into and out of the yards. As I shall however build another cart, I will calculate on six to 350 acres, which at £lo. 10s. each, are £63. I know of no farm of the same size, in an arable county, that has less than three waggons and three tumbrels, but they have generally more; the waggons new (as I take the new price of carts, I must do the same in the other case), at £22. to £25. and the tumbrels at £11. there is always a light cart besides, which may be estimated at £6. or £7.

And this proportion will be about 40 per cent. in annual repairs. Here then there is no comparison to be made.

II. The next inquiry is, the power of a horse or ox, whether greater in a cart, or in conjunction with three other horses in a waggon?

The loads which I commonly carry in my carts are such as will resolve this doubt the instant they are named. I have horses (which 10 years ago would not have sold for more than £5.) that draw nine coombs of wheat from 7 to 10 miles, .with some hills in the road. I have had 10 coombs drawn by one ox; this is the prop rtion of 18 quarters in a waggon of four horses, and 20 quarters for four oxen. From the inquiries which I have made, 20 coombs of wheat are the common load of four horses, and 25 coombs the most that is carried in narrow-wheeled waggons; I may suppose the load of 9 to that of 25 to be as 9 to 6; call it 9 to 6, and the superiority must be admit ted to be great. But there is something in the horses, for the average of farmers horses are abundantly better than mine; fine horses are a farming luxury which I never indulged; but there is none more common among farmers; and if good teams are in contemplation, the comparison would be absurd: the difference should then be reckoned as 9

to 5.

These carts of mine, having for more than ten years been objects of much farming ridicule, I have more than once been diverted with the objections that have been made to them; a considerable farmer was holding them very cheap, when I offered him a bet, which his confidence in waggons would not allow him toaccept. I offered to wager him that he should load a waggon until five borses could not stir with it, let the

BELFAST MAG. NO. XXXI.

driver exert his whip as he might; and that I would with four of the same horses in my carts carry away that load with ease. There are ma ny farmers, however, that have observed the loads which poor men in towns carry of coals in carts, drawn by one horse or a couple of asses, that are inclined to admit in this respect the superiority of carts.

III. Hay and corn in the straw.-But the gentlemen who are willing to allow that, condemn them utterly for the work of hay-time and har vest.

It is not easy to suppose upon what principles; for when the ladders are fixed, these carts spread an oblong square of 8 feet 4 inches by 5 feet 9 inches, or 47 square feet and a fraction. Now a Suffolk waggon extends, ladders included, 15 feet by 5, or 75 square feet; these horses as commonly used, have to each horse therefore 25 square feet; even suppose but two horses, yet it will be no more than 37 square feet, instead of 47; in any way therefore I have a broader basis on which to build a load; and if a man be kept constantly pitching to one cart, or two pitchers to two carts, it seems demonstrable that as much will be carried by one machine as by another; for in such the pitchers can be no more than constantly employed, whatever size the waygon or cart may be of; celerity is the great point, and this must, in the nature of things, be with the smallest machine and the smallest load; it would be strange indeed if a little empty cart could not return as speedily as a waggon. In two respects there are advantages of some consideration; in loading the cart is bound, that is, the loads fastened with ropes in one fifth of the time of a waggon; indeed it is done effectually in one minute; and in unloading at the beginning of a hay or stack, the load may be shot down as

dung or earth is, the hind ladder is made to draw out easily by a man placing his hack to it, and taking hold of it with his hands beside him; this is the Irish way from the first to the last of a stack; but the benefit is not much after it is raised to some height. In this method, one active confidential man to pitch, can drive on all the rest, for he can have to wait, which is sometimes the case in the common method*. If he keeps his gang at work, they are sure to keep him so.

never

But i have in point of this inquiry, a fact which ought to weigh, if nothing else did; I always put out my harvest by the acre, the men to reap, bind, stuck, cart, drive, stack, mow, heap cart, &c. I find them no assistance, keeping no house servant for the farm of any sort; and if there were a disadvantage in the work being done with carts instead of waggons, I should not fail to hear of it annually, and be forced to pay the men accordingly. The first year I used them, I not only heard of it, but most violently, and found a waggon at work one morning which my men had borrowed of a tenant; this I put a stop to after that day, converting it to an experiment, by making them note the ground they cleared, and assuring them, that if they convinced me they lost for want of a waggon, I would allow them for such loss. I never had the claim of a farthing; I heard no more of waggons from that time till this, and my harvest is executed every year partly by new hands, but the use of carts is perfectly established with

I have often had in contemplation an improvement in unloading, which is to spread a rope-net in the cart, or else on the barn-floor, for the cart to shoot the load on to, and to hoist the whole at once by a mechanical power, on to the goff or stack; it could be casily done, and would save much time.

me. Here follow the terms on which my harvest is done, which are the same as given by my neighbours.

Beans and wheat, reaped and finished in stuck, 5s. an acre. Barley and oats, mown and stacked, or barned, 4s. an acre. If turned in swarth, 3d. an acre more. Daywork, if taken off, 2s.

Harvest to be no less than £3. a man, if less, to be made up at 25. a day; or by humling at 2s. 6d. an acre, and thrashing seed-wheat at 6d, a bushel.

Three bushels of malt, and seven shillings each man, in lieu of ernest gloves, hawky (harvest home supper), and christmas dinner.

If these terms are examined, they will not, I believe, mark any disadvantage attending the use of carts; but on the contrary, establish clearly the fact, that they are as effective

as waggons.

IV. Labour.-The labour of driving these carts has been urged to me as a point in which they are deficient; I will not assert, that in ail cases whatever the expence of driving is not greater; I will venture no further than the assertion, that it has not been so with me. The attendance with a waggon varies, in this respect I have been equal. [ have sent out four carts with two men, also with one man and two boys, three with one man and a lad; 2s. 6d. in labour has driven 36 coombs of wheat. If there is a difference, it is too inconsiderable for notice.

a

be

as 2s. for a man to drive two or three horses. However I state the fact as it is, and leave reasoning to those who love it.

With dung, earth, &c. it is just the same;-stop any tumbrel in the country, and ask the driver what his pay is; and what his load in cubic yards or tons? My cart will be driven away cheaper than tumbrels; a boy can drive a tumbrel, but he cannot unload it; and the proportion between the pay of my driver and another is greater than that of our loads. In harvest 1s. drives that load which is laid upon 47 square feet; it is surely a very simple comparison to know if a man at 2s. drives the double? and the same with dung, &c.

V. Accidents-If one wheel of a waggon breaks down, the whole team is stopped, and a considerable loss ensues; if one wheel in six or eight carts breaks down, the load is divided among the rest, and the loss is trifling.

VI. In examining more particularly into the fact, it has been thought by some that my carts have a disadvantage in the narrowness of the wheels, which are only 2 to 3 inches wide: but this is a great error, as 24 inches for one horse equal 20 inches for eight horses, instead of which the load for that team is drawn on wheels of no more than nine inches. If for four horses the wheels were nine inches, still mine are proportionally wider.

I

VII. The division of draught alone, without regarding any circumstance relating to the carriage drawn, is I conceive, the principal utility. have in travelling, conversed with the drivers of many waggons, that are drawn by eight horses, and the most intelligent among them have informed me, that no skill in driv

ing, nor any attention whatever, is equal to making the horses in a team draw exactly an equal share; one or two are always idle, not saving themselves usefully in order for exertion when exertion is wanted; but unfairly because unequally; there will always be some horses freer in drawing than others, and the attention of the driver must be for ever awake to keep all to an equal share of the load. Whatever demands much attention is imperfect, for many drivers will be careless and not give it, and in such cases the teams suffer; but when each horse has his load given him distinctly, he is forced to draw his fair share; and a very little attention once given in loading, to divide the total to be drawn accord. ing to the ability of the different horses, will make it equal and fair to all.

Vill. The height of the wheels of a cart, gives an advantage un attainable in common waggons, and adds greatly to the power of the horse. The four wheels of all the English waggons I have seen are made much lower than the hind ones, for the conveniency of turning; this places the shaft-horse alone, of all the team, in the right position, where false chains are not provided; in all the Suffolk teams, the trace horses not drawing in a right line to the centre of the wheel, but making an angle with the points of the shafts, their force draws a great weight on the back of the thillhorse; it is however, by means of faise chains, remediable; but the height of the wheel is not; and no wonder that horses, acting by means of a five-feet wheel, should have power unknown to those that draw a four-feet one.

(To be Continued.)