table shows the load, including the weight of the wagon, that could be carried under such a regulation on varying sizes of tires:

For vehicles provided with suitable springs the allowed load could properly be increased one-third.

It will be seen, therefore, that wide tires are not only lighter in their draft than narrow ones under nearly all conditions, but they cut up roads very little; in fact, when 6 inches wide they tend to make the road better continually.

OPINIONS OF CORRESPONDENTS.

G. A. Roullier, C. E., Flushing, N. Y., says:

I have followed with interest the operation of the wide-tire law since its first passage in this county and cheerfully place at your disposal such facts as I have.

The original law, calling for a 5-inch tire, had to be amended a number of times before it became acceptable to the people. Not so much on account of any special opposition to the wide tire, but owing purely to practical difficulties.

As the districts traveled over by our farmers on their way to and from market abound in street-railroad tracks, it is a necessity that the wagons should have the same gauge as the tracks; it was found that owing to the peculiar construction of our farm wagons, it was impossible to widen the tires to 5 inches and still maintain the gauge to 4 feet 8 inches, as the wagon bodies would not allow the wheels to be brought sufficiently close together; in other words, there was not space enough between the wheels and body to admit of such a wide tire. Hence the law was changed to 3 inches.

The reason given above is of course purely local, and is only mentioned to explain the somewhat narrow limit adopted.

Those who have complied with the law are well pleased with the result, and are urgent about others following it.

I gather from conversation with farmers who have to travel over earth roads before reaching the improved ones that they realize the benefit that the wide tire is to them and that their new wagons are likely to be built so as to admit of 4 and 5 inch tires, so that in a comparatively short time I expect to see really wide tires in very nearly general use.

When I purchased the road-repairing outfit for Flushing, I had 5-inch tires placed on the sprinkling carts and on team wagons and 4-inch ones on the one-horse carts. These were the first wide tires seen in this vicinity, and I was subjected to considerable ridicule for a time, but the local contractors were not slow in appreciating the benefits resulting from such tires and of their own volition they adopted 4-inch ones throughout.

The benefits that will result to the roads is unquestioned, but the law having gone into effect only last fall, the time has been too short to allow of a practical demonstration of those benefits.

From experience here I believe that in localities where serious opposition is developed against the "wide-tire law," a gradual application of it will eventually produce the desired result. It is simply a question of convincing the community; once self-educated they will go beyond the limits set by the law,

The Jamaica road is holding out well and is carrying without injury to itself a very large and heavy traffic that has developed since its construction.

As a matter of interest I will state that the construction of that road has thrown the heavy traffic above mentioned on some 4-inch roads, built within the village limits at a time when the improvement of the Jamaica road was not thought of, and that these thin roads have borne the traffic without injury.

I do not wish to be understood as advocating such thin roads for heavy traffic, but I wish to show that under favorable conditions much thinner construction can be used than is generally considered necessary.

Sterling Elliott, editor Good Roads Magazine, says:

Of course everyone is familiar with the Michigan wide-tire law. I have a number of reports from that State, showing that it is giving very good satisfaction except where they still retain, in some parts, the old method of "working out" the tax. Queens County, N. Y., has a law which calls for tires not less than 3 inches in width for loads of 2,500 pounds and upward, excepting wagons "used by occupants of farms in and about the said farm work."

Youngstown, Ohio, has a wide-tire law which was to have taken effect to-day. Rock Island, Ill., has a wide-tire law. Also Moline, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa. Kingston, N. Y., has a wide-tire ordinance and is enforcing it, having recently fined a prominent firm $50 in two instances for violation of the ordinance.

It would seem to me that much of the trouble which they are having in New York State over the wide-tire question is due to their attempt to make the time limit too short.

Rochester, N. Y., has also passed a wide-tire ordinance which is to take effect with the beginning of the new year.

Some agitation has begun in Providence, R. I., but so far as I know no definite action has been taken.

We, of Massachusetts, are trying to get into shape a wide-tire law, and get sufficient backing to carry it through the present legislature. We have not, as yet, drawn up any bill, but a number of propositions are being considered. Personally, I believe, as I have often stated, that the tire question should be regulated by a system of taxation without antagonizing teamsters at first with the idea that they will be compelled to change their wagons whether they wish to or not. I think if we can encourage a tendency in the direction of wide tires, and get those who are quick to learn to adopt them, and thus prove that they are an advantage to the teamster as well as to the road, that after a few years it will be very easy to get legislation which will entirely prohibit the use of narrow tires.

W. C. Nones, president of the Kentucky Wagon Manufacturing Company, says:

We can not,

The demand for wide-tire wagons seems to be increasing each year. without too much delay, undertake to state just the number of wagons with tire 3 inches or wider that we have manufactured in each of the past two years, but at a rough estimate, would say that about one-tenth of our entire output would come under the above-mentioned class, somewhere from 1,500 to 2,500 wagons each year.

In our judgment these wide-tire wagons are an improvement upon those with narrow tires in those sections of the country in which wagons are used on dirt roads, and they are also better adapted for miscellaneous hauling in general farm use,

Robert J. Neely, dealer in farm machinery, Paris, Ky., says:

I have sold quite a number of wide-tire wagons in the past three years. The sale of them is steadily on the increase. I believe that a few more years will see them used almost altogether. The turnpike companies in this county offer a reduced rate of toll to all persons, farmers and teamsters, who use wide tires. Aside from this, the farmers like the wide tires better than the narrow strictly for farm use, as the wide do not cut into the ground so readily as the narrow ones. There are probably 40 or 50 wagons with 2 and 3 inch tires in use now in this county.

Robert Seabury, clerk board of supervisors, Queens County, N. Y., says:

In regard to the Queens County ordinance regulating the width of tire and its enforcement, from what I learn it is receiving more and more as time progresses the favorable opinion of many who were opposed to its adoption. I have heard a number of farmers who objected to it largely on account of the expense attending the change of tires, after having met the expense and used the wagons, express their approbation, and I believe it is now likely to be accepted by the people at large who use the roads as well as those who are taxed to maintain them.

NEWSPAPER NOTES.

M. J. Lewis, the well-known wheelman, and who is an advocate of good roads, said yesterday: "I took a ride over the country roads on Thanksgiving Day and found them hard riding. In my wanderings I came upon wagon tracks made by 6-inch tired wheels. These tires made the country roads where they had traveled almost like a pavement, and I followed the tracks until I found the owner of the wagon, who, in conversation, said he could haul heavy loads with such tires when the roads were in a very bad condition."

On soft roads where these tires have gone over, it makes it an easy matter for cyclists to spin over the country. Mr. Lewis spoke to several farmers regarding these wide wheels, and they are soon to use them.-Youngstown, Ohio, Indicator, December 6, 1894.

A law was made by our legislature about fifteen years ago requiring all lumber wagons to be used in our county to be of wide tire, and this was to be within twelve months' time, but the law fell dead on the statute book, as it was found impracticable to fix wide tires on the old wagons within the time required if at all. But public opinion was educated through the Santa Clara Grange in favor of the wide tire, and it is now a rarity to see an old-time wagon on the road. -I. A. Wilcox, member of Santa Clara Grange, California.

By an experiment recently made in Ohio University, it was found that a double team could draw, upon an ordinary wagon with the 3-inch tires, just twice as heavy a load as upon a wagon with the usual narrow tires, the trial having taken place upon an ordinary earth road. It has been found also that the wide tire helps to keep earth roads in order.-Kelly, Ga., News, July 7, 1894.

Within the past year the Ulster County Road Improvement Association has been formed to remedy the evils resulting from years of bad management. So far the Saugerties road with the exception of 1 mile has been put in good shape. Teamsters who cart building stone have found out this fact and are hauling over this road. These teamsters usually draw from 4 to 6 tons on narrow-tired wagons, making deep ruts and ruining the road. Sometime ago a plea for the enforcement of the widetire law was presented to the board of aldermen and referred to the committee on streets, where it died. To-morrow evening a similar request will be made, and it is hoped that it will meet with a better fate than its predecessors. It is useless to repair the roads and allow narrow-tired wagons to again ruin them.-Kingston, N. Y., Leader, August 9, 1894.

It is reasonable to hope that the attention of our next general assembly will be again called to the necessity of more legislation for the improvement and preservation of the country roads akin to the wide-tire bill which died in the last legislature mainly because the farmers were against the Naval Reserve and the shore-town representatives retaliated on the subject of roads, though it would seem that their own nose must have been injured by the spiteful bite. Something of the kind ought to go through this time, and when it comes to choosing candidates it will be a good plan to find out how they feel on this subject.

A country correspondent expresses the idea with good Yankee plainness when he says: "Farmers want common-sense laws founded on common-sense principles. They believe that the best means to preserve the roads in good condition is to have wider tires on wagons drawing heavy loads. All roads on which wagons with wide tires are used you will find smooth and free from ruts, but roads on which narrow tires are used will be rough, with deep ruts, which make them very bad for light vehicles and sometimes impassable."

Petitions have been sent to the legislature from time to time asking that a law be passed requiring wider tires on all wagons heavily laden which are run on public highways.-Willimantic, Conn., Journal, August 31, 1894.

At the last meeting of the road commissioners a resolution was passed recommending the adoption of wide-wheel vehicles for general use in Macon and Bibb counties. By "wide-wheel vehicles" is meant vehicles with tires 3 inches wide that are now coming into use throughout the country and are being made by all leading wagon manufacturers.-Macon, Ga., Telegraph, October 8, 1894.

The agitation for good roads is having an effect. The Pullman Tribune is pleased to see the number of wide-tired wagons that have come into use this season, and it wisely adds: "Next to macadamizing the roads, which will be impossible for several years, wide tires will do the most good."-Oregonian, Portland, October 26, 1894. Upon the topic of good roads Mr. A. C. Sisson says: "I suggest as a starter that farmers adopt the 5-inch tire and shorten the forward axle. Wherever this is tried it is found that the tire helps the road, whereas the narrow tire cuts into and spoils the road. This they can do without changing the tire, by going to a blacksmith and having an extra tire put on over the other one."-Baltimore American, November 28, 1894.

It is to be hoped that the first legislation looking to the improvement of the roads of the country will be in the way of encouraging the use of wide tires, for one narrowtired wagon will do more damage than a dozen with wide tires if the roads are at all soft. No one disputes the philosophy of wide tires, and no one seems to have any good reason to offer why they should not be used. Our farmers simply follow precedent, and go on using narrow tires because their fathers did before them. Lumbermen and freighters use wide tires almost universally, and save money by it.-Baltimore American, December 10, 1894.

The committee of the board of supervisors would also recommend the use of wide tires on heavy wagons. In wide tires we have a roadmaker instead of a road breaker. We believe the matter should be brought before the legislature this winter and an act passed making it compulsory throughout the State for all heavy wagons to use wide tires, and when the change is made we believe the State should pay a bounty. Under the act passed in 1894 boards of supervisors are empowered to enact county laws in relation to wide tires being used in a county.

Your committee would not recommend the passage of a county law. We think the law regulating the width of tires on heavy wagons should be universal throughout the State.-Rochester, N. Y., Post Express, December 18, 1894.

Davenport, Iowa, has adopted a wide-tire ordinance providing that any teamster who hauls a load heavier than a specified weight shall be fined. A Davenport man,

in speaking of this law, says: "How are you going to tell whether a teamster has an illegal load on a narrow-tire wagon or not? You can't arrest him on the supposition that he has, for if he should be within the limits he would make it hot for you on the charge of false imprisonment. Neither can you compel that man to go and get his load weighed. There is one way to get around this difficulty: Levy a tax of $5 on every wagon that is equipped with wide tires, 3 or 4 inches, say, and a tax of $20 a year on all that have narrow tires, and arrest and fine everyone who does not pay his tax within a reasonable time."-Farm Implement News.

WIDTH OF TIRES PRESCRIBED IN VARIOUS FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

[Consular report.]

AUSTRIA.

All wagons built for a load of more than 2 tons must have wheels with rims at least 4 inches in width (Styria and Carinthia), and if built for more than 4 tons (in Styria) or more than 3 tons (in Carinthia), the rims of the wheels must be at least 6 inches broad. In lower Austria a width of wheel rim of 44 inches is required for loaded wagons drawn by two or three horses, and in Bohemia the same regulation is in force.

FRANCE.

Every freighting and market cart here is a roadmaker. Its tires are from 3 to 10 inches in width, usually from 4 to 6. With the few 4-wheeled freight vehicles used the tires are rarely less than 6 inches in width, and the rear axle is about 14 inches longer than the fore, so that the rear or hind wheels run in a line about an inch outside of the level rolled by the fore-wheel.

GERMANY.

The act of April 16, 1840, prescribes that wagons for heavy loads, such as coal, brick, earth, and stone, must have a width of tire at least 4 inches. The same act provides that all vehicles must have a flat and not rounded surface of the tire. All light vehicles must have a width of tire of at least 24 inches.

SWITZERLAND.

Wagons must be provided with wheels having tires of a width proportional to the largest loads admissible. Two or more horse wagons shall have a width of tire not less than 1 inch for each draft animal. Vehicles for transportation of heavy objects which can not be taken apart must have a tire not less than 6 inches wide.

CANADA.

In Ontario the department of agriculture advises that with wagons without springs, the tire should never be less than 24 inches in width for a load of from 500 to 1,000 pounds on each wheel. For loads of from 2,000 to 3,000 pounds to the wheel each tire should have a diameter on the face not less than 6 inches. This recommendation will be adopted in Ontario this winter.