The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-03-12
From the \. Y. Sunday Sun.

wagons.
From the y. Y. Sunday Sun.
Fairly in January 1896 series Of ex-
periments to determine the influence OF
width of tire on draught Of wagons was
begun at the agricultural experiment
station of the University of the State OF
Missouri, at Columbia. Mo. Two kinds
of wheels were used, one being the ordi-
nary farm wagon wheel with Il tire | ]
inches wide and the other an iron wheel
with tire six inches wide. These wheels
were placed alternately on the same wagon.
and the load was in all cases ,, 900 pounds
With Il recording dynamometer to show
the strain the load was hauled over ma
cadam, gravel, and dirt roads under all
varieties of conditions known to the climate
and soil of the region; also over meadows
and pastures and stubble and plouehed
lands under the varying conditions due to
the difference III seasons. The expert
ments were continuous until the end of
September, 1897. in all a period Of about
twenty months. and the results have been
published in the university bulletin So
an illustrated pamphlet of forty four pages
IL is likely that no more instructive pam
phlet for those interested in wagon trans
portation has as yet been given to the pub
lie Being on the whole record of plain
facts and devoid of mathematical calcula-
tions, it is especially guide for the ordi-
nary farmer and teamster
For the first trial hard, smooth. and
nearly level macadam street. free from dirt
and loose stone or sand was chosen. 1t
was probably as good a stretch Of that kind
of road as can be found in the nation
The load was hauled 400 feet up and back
again over the route. For the narrow tire
the average strain required was 80. 4
pounds. Then the wide tire was used and,
contrary to general expectations, the
broad tire pulled lighter on the hard, in
elastic, and smooth surface of the rock
road. The strain was but 10 pounds.
or 3D. per cent in favor of broad tires. :
Next came experiments with gravel
road with hard surface and no ruts, but
with some loose stones of the size Of black
walnuts. The narrow tires required an
average power of PISA pounds and the
broad only 1873 pounds, or 1913 per
cent. in favor Of the broad tires. With a
large quantity of sand mixed with the
gravel, the road being dry and free from
ruts, the narrow tires needed power Of
239. and the broad only l56. Z pounds.
or 49, per cent. in favor Of the broad
tires. With new unused dry gravel road
the difference between the two tires was
69.4 pounds. or 26.6 per cent in favor of
broad tires
After this condition Of gravel road was
chosen where water covered the surface
and loose sand from one to two and a half
inches deep was found Here the wide
tire forced the slushy mixture out of the
way, and required power of 268.
pounds, while the narrow tire cut its way
along with power of 1852. 3 pounds. An
other trial under similar circumstances
showed difference of nine pounds in favor
Of the narrow tire. But it was noted that the
broad tire did no injury to the road, while
the narrow tire cut through to hard pan,
and SO stirred up and destroyed the sur
facing material
From the gravel roads the wagons were
sent to the ordinary dirt road as it is found
in Missouri, and for that matter through
out the greater part of the United States.
1t was road that if fenced in and ploughed
would have yielded good crops of corn or
any other farm product known to the corn
Loit of the United States. AT times. as
readers know, these roads are as hard and
smooth to the eye as a bed of macadam.
After some use the dust begins to accumu-
late, and eventually it becomes from two
to three inches deep-a fine, smooth
powder that fills the air as the wheels
move along. Then comes rain to turn
the dust to mud which the ordinary wagon
wheels deepen by cutting ruts from four
to six inches deep, while the subsoil be-
meath the ruts remain hard and unyielding.
But when the rains of spring are falling
the bottom of these roads seems to drop
out altogether, and the wheels 60 grinding
along hub deep with the spaces between
the spokes packed as full as brick mould.
Then comes the dry weather, when the
surface crusts over deeper and deeper until
the ruts in the road form dry V-shaped
bitches three or four inches wide and of a
depth that may reach a foot.
With the black soil roads NAV be found
those over stiff blue clay, which are much
like the soil roads, save only that in the
mud season they are too thin to support
anything, and yet so thick as to hold fast
whatever is SO unfortunate as to get mired
IN them. To test broad and narrow tires
IN conditions varying from a smooth. hard
surface down through all sizes of ruts and
all degrees and depths of mud was the task
the Missouri university undertook.
Three sets of hauls over the smooth
road showed result of interest outside of
the relative value of broad and narrow
tires, for they proved beyond question that
the dry, hard, smooth dirt road was but
little inferior to macadam road. When
one considers the vast extent of country
where no stone can be found for macadam-
ising roads, and where dirt roads are and
must for an indefinite period remain the
only kind of roads, it is important to know