The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1920-05-07
TRACTORS AND MOTOR
TRUCKS RAPIDLY TAKE
PLACE Of HORSES

A.lh more Than $4,000 COO acres
aw~vsed exclusively to The raising of
TOGO for horses in thus country. it can
hardy be- SAID eHat the motor truck
mas replaced thc horse 81. although
the horse is slid large factor in
,r-sf,ep oess,.on and has played q great
pa; IN the development Of civlliza
.lo4 modern industry aud commerce
ate demanding more eiheten, mo
II ine and motor trucks and good
loads mean the passing Of the horse
rs medium q transportation.
As one truck replaces four horses
Al the very least and 1t requires h4e
acres 10 seed one horse. each trus s
used in lieu OF horses means twenty
acres on which to grow feed for ma
man beings
"ship by truck TINS slogan is
sounding All over the land and the
iucreas ed agitation for better high
ways indicates that motor vehicles
are to dominate the future transpor-
tation.
In the city there is no question mat
iu a very short time The motor truCk
win be used for practically ali trans
portation In fact Denver. Colo has
already passed legislation limiting 81
prohibiting borse-drawn vehicles on
the streets This ~ not alone from
an efficiency standpoint, but also
matter Of health. because with the
truck there are no stables with their
breeding places for thousands of flies
aud grats
IN the rural districts the horse IS
much stronger competition to the
trucks and the advent OF trucks re
placing horses VIII be much slower
THIS is lie 10 many reasons. one OF
which, is the neglect OF good roads
in America
Then again the horse is used in
many other capacities on the farm
other than as a medium OF transpor-
alton And as long as the farmer
nas more acreage than he can cult
vate he is apt to argue the horse up
keep does not cost him anything
whereas the truck must he furnished
with purch based fuel
The tractor Is reyolut.onizing agri-
culture. The average farm is smaller
in size today and the average farmer
IL cultivating more and leaving less
N pasture. The tractor popularity IL
due 10 the acute labor shortage on
The farms and the increasing demands
on farms for foodstuns. with Ia
Dor shortage of 100000 men this
year the demand is not only for
enough food for America but also "A
large quantity for Europe. This task
Is impossible without the tractor and
NJ otor truck
The United States department OF
agriculture has compiled some signifi
can't figures as to the motor truck and
the agon on the farm The average
daily work throughout the United
states during the year of 1919 showed
that the motor truck made ga round
rips of ia miles. while the wagon
made 2 round trips Of miles and
the cost Of hauling the commodities--
corn, wheat and cqtton--per ton
mile was 100 per cent more by wagon
than by truck In some states where
the roads were particularly good the
margin Of the truck over the wagon
was much greater than the average
cited above. In short. the utility OF
the truck depends largely on the Kind
Of roads il travels over
The above figures were based on
hgpres in 1918, when figures also
show the majority OF the trucks used
on farms were ton and one half
models. Today with the increased
use of larger. trucks on the farm the
figures in fayor OF the truck would be
much larger