And now I have a few words to say on Government wagons.  Government wagons, as now made, can be used for other purposes besides the army.  The large-sized Government wagon is, it has been proved, too heavy for four horses.  The smaller sized one is nearer right; but whenever you take an ordinary load on it (the smaller one) and have a rough country to move through, it will give out.  It is too heavy for two horses and a light load, and yet not heavy enough to carry twenty-five hundred or three thousand pounds, a four-horse load, when the roads are in any way bad.  They do tolerably well about cities, established posts, and indeed anywhere where the roads are good, and they are not subject to much strain.  Improvements on the Government wagon have been attempted, but the result has been failure.  The more simple you can get such wagons, the better, and this is why the original yet stands as the best.  There is, however, great difference in the material used, and some makers make better wagons than others.  The six and eight-mule wagon, the largest size used for road and field purposes, is, in my humble opinion, the very best adapted to the uses of our American army.  During the rebellion there were a great many wagons used that were not of the army pattern.  One of these, I remember, was called the Wheeling wagon, and used to a great extent for light work, and did well.  On this account many persons recommended them.  I could not, and for this reason:  they are too complicated, and they are much too light to carry the ordinary load of a six-mule team.  At the end of the war it was shown that the army pattern wagon had been worked more, had been repaired less, and was in better condition than any other wagon used.  I refer now to those made in Philadelphia, by Wilson & Childs, or Wilson, Childs & Co.  They are known in the army as the Wilson wagon.  The very best place to test the durability of a wagon is on the plains.  Run it there, one summer, when there is but little wet weather, where there are all kinds of roads to travel on and loads to carry, and if it stands that it will stand any thing.  The wagon-brake, instead of the lock-chain, is a great and very valuable improvement made during the War.  Having a brake on the wagon saves the time and trouble of stopping at the top of every hill to lock the wheels, and again at the bottom to unlock them.  Officers of the army know how much trouble this used to cause, how it used to block up the roads, and delay the movements of troops impatient to get ahead.  The lock-chain ground out the wagon tire in one spot.  The brake saves that; and it also saves the animal’s neck from that bruising and chafing incident to the dead strain that was required when dragging the locked wheel.