The value of an average load of wool ranges from $500 to $900 and allows for a high cost to get it to the shipping point, and even the cost of 71 cents per 100 pounds for the county reported in Arizona and the five counties in Oregon is not too large in proportion to the value of the load. . . .

The farmers' longest hauls. The conditions of hauling from farms over the longest routes reported for each product are given in Tables 23 to 40.1 While there may be longer hauls for farming communities in the United States in the cases of some or all the crops mentioned in these tables, the instances as reported here serve to illustrate extreme costs of wagon transportation. It is not to be supposed that all or any considerable number of these great costs of hauling permit the products in question to be sold profitably at prices which would prevail in a large commercial center.

Potatoes hauled 70 miles over Colorado roads at a cost of 84 cents per bushel, as given in Table 23, could be sold only at some local market where prices were far above those in most parts of the United States; and the corn, rye, and vegetables carried over the Georgia mountains from the extreme northern part of the State down to Gainesville, a distance of some 60 miles, do not represent a considerable portion of the general supply of those products in Georgia, and their extensive production under such great costs of delivery is out of question.

1 [Only Table 23 is here reproduced, in which is indicated the one longest haul reported for each of the crops mentioned - Ed.J

By taking on the same load with grain or vegetables a considerable amount of poultry, eggs, and butter, a farmer can make his long trip to town pay, so that the total cost of hauling the load falls but slightly upon the less valuable part of it. A half-ton load of produce taken from farm to local market or shipping point at a cost of $16 might easily contain, in addition to several bushels of grain or potatoes, enough poultry, butter, and eggs to make the total value of the load from $30 to $50.

Table 23 - Costs Of Hauling Products In The United States From Most Remote Farms To Shipping Points, As Reported.

a Not reported.

Methods of hauling. In the North Central States much of the grain hauled from farms is taken in bulk, and the size of load is determined by the capacity of the wagon box. Additional sides and end pieces are put on when it is desired to haul larger loads, especially when such a light grain as oats is taken. "When a farmer intends to load a car with grain, and it is necessary to haul from ten to twenty wagonloads within a day or so, he often will be helped by a number of neighbors. He in turn will aid them when they haul.

It is a common practice to haul wheat and other small grain direct from thrasher to car. The grain is loaded as rapidly as thrashed and each wagon in turn is driven to the shipping point, where a wagon dump is often used for unloading the grain. This dump is a platform, on which a loaded wagon is driven, the end gate of the wagon box removed, and the parts of the platform upon which the hind wheels of the wagon rest are lowered so that the grain falls into a space below. It may be received into a bin under the platform for temporary storage, or may be conveyed immediately by mechanical means to cars or up to bins in an elevator.

Corn also, in some places, is handled in a similar way, the wagons receiving their loads from the machine on the farm as the corn is being shelled.

The use of large wagons with broad tires and teams of four, five, and six horses enables farmers of certain parts of the United States, notably in the hill country of Maryland and the adjoining counties in Pennsylvania, to carry their products to shipping points and local markets in loads of two or more tons each. Since one of these large wagons holds at least twice as much as an average two-horse wagon, one driver performs with the larger outfit twice as much service as he can with the smaller one. Where wages are high the economy in the use of the four-horse wagon is considerable. . . .

The general use in the far "West of regular freight wagons owned and driven by persons other than the owner of the products carried has already been mentioned. ... In order that one driver may take charge of a large amount of freight, two or more wagons are often coupled together and the entire train is drawn by a number of horses, mules, or ponies. The loads taken by a freight wagon, with its trailers, are said to weigh at times as much as seven tons, and as many as twelve or fourteen horses are sometimes used in one team. Since the freight wagon carries goods also on its return trip, its earnings do not depend solely upon hauling farm products. ...

Total costs of hauling done in 1905-6. The quantity of all farm products hauled to shipping points in the United States in a given time is not to be obtained with much accuracy from present sources of information, but for twelve crops the quantity hauled from farms may be estimated approximately. . . . The total weight of twelve products hauled from farms ... is about 43,000,000 tons, and the total cost of hauling this amount was $73,000,000. The average cost per ton was $1.80.

The weight of wheat and corn hauled from farms in 1905-6 was 31,000,000 tons, while cotton and nine other surplus products weighed altogether only 12,000,000 tons. The heaviest crop, and the one costing most to haul to shipping points, was corn, and next in order was wheat. The barley crop, less an allowance for seed retained, was heavier than the cotton crop, but cost about one-half as much to haul to shipping points.

The relatively low price of corn made it cost 9.6 cents to market a dollar's worth of this grain, while a dollar's worth of wheat was taken to shipping points for 7.2 cents, a dollar's worth of cotton for 1.4 cents, and a dollar's worth of tobacco was hauled for as little as 1.2 cents.

The high rate per 100 pounds (44 cents) for hauling wool amounted to only 2.7 per cent of the value of the article as given in the Twelfth Census. The average cost of hauling from farms to shipping points for the twelve articles mentioned was 5.2 per cent of their value. . . .

As this bulletin treats only of hauling from farms to shipping points, the quantity of wheat hauled to local mills for grinding is not included in the total of 24,246,000,000 pounds as given. The entire wheat crop of 1905 amounted to 692,-979,489 bushels. Allowing 1 1/2 bushels per acre for seed, the quantity used on the 47,305,829 acres sown in the fall of 1905 and spring of 1906 would equal 71,000,000 bushels. This amount together with the quantity shipped out of county where grown being subtracted from the total crop, there remains about 6,500,000 tons of wheat, which may be taken as approximately the quantity hauled from farms for the use of local mills. With this home-ground wheat added to the total weight of traffic as given above, the sum would be over 49,000,000 tons. And the cost of hauling this wheat to local mills, if computed at the same rate as the cost of hauling to shipping points, would amount to $11,700,000. This, added to the total cost of hauling to shipping points as given above, would equal $33,521,000 for wheat and $84,684,000 for all crops mentioned.