CART, a species of carriage with two wheels, in which respect it differs from the ordinary wagon that has four wheels. There are different kinds of carts, according to the nature of the goods or articles to be carried, and they also differ considerably in different countries. The C. is little seen in England, where• the heavy and more capacious wagon takes its place. It is, however, used for agricultural and other pur poses in Cumberland and adjoining northern counties. There, it differs only in a slight degree from the C. universally used in Scotland. The Scotch C. is an exceed ingly convenient form of carriage for general merchandise, or for agricultural pro duce, and well adapted for being drawn on roads in a billy country. A material advantage consists in its weight, being about only half a ton, while its usual load is from a ton to 22 cwt.; from which circumstance it is a particularly handy vehicle for comparatively light loads, and so far is superior to the English wagon, which is best adapted to carry huge loads of from two to three tons. In carrying hay, straw, or grain from the harvest-field, Scotch farmers employ a peculiar kind of C. without sides to admit of a bulky load; but they also, as occasion serves, use for a similar purpose an ordinary C., on which they place a movable frame. All grain for market is carried in the one-horse C., and a driver takes charge of two carts. The following advantages of one-horse carts are well enumerated by lord R. Seymour: "A horse, when he acts singly, will do half as much more work as when he acts in conjunction with another; that is to say, that two horses will, separately, do as much work as three conjunctively. This arises, in the first place, from the single horse being so near the load he draws; and in the next place, from the point or line of draught being so much below his breast, it being usual to make the wheels of single-horse carts low. A horse harnessed singly has
nothing but his load to contend with; whereas, when he draws in conjunction with another,. he is generally embarrassed by some difference of rate, the horse behind or before him moving quicker or slower than himself; he is likewise frequently incon venienced by the greater or less height of his neighbor: these considerations give a decided advantage to the single-horse cart. The very great ease with which a low C. is filled may be added; as a man may load it, with the help of a long-handled shovel or fork, by means of his hands only: whereas, in order to fill a higher C., not only the man's back, but his arms and whole person must be exerted." To these just observa tions it need only be added that in many parts of England there is a wasted expendi ture in horse-power, a pair of horses being often set to draw a clumsy wagon to market, containing a load which could with the greatest ease be drawn by one horse in a less ponderous machine.
The one-horse C. is employed by carriers all over Scotland, the load being usually piled high in a square form, and covered in with a woolen wrapper, in Which state the C. is drawn 18 to 20 miles a day. See CARRIERS. In France and Germany, the carrier's C. is a more gigantic machine. Long in the body, very strong in construction, and poised on two high wheels with broad rims, this continental C. carries enormous loads, almost equal to what are seen in the large wagons of England. The ingenious manner in which the load is adjusted to rest exclusively on the wheels, and so relieve the single horse in the shafts, is matter of surprise to all strangers. All carts, whatsoever, in Great Britain, must bear the name and address of the owner, painted conspicuously on them, according to statute 1 and 2 Will. IV. c. 22. See WAGON.