234 FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 



country, and may be said practically to pass every man's 

 door. Upon these a goods train may be run to every 

 farm, and loaded at the gate of the field. This assertion 

 is not too bold. The thing, indeed, is already done in 

 a manner much more difficult to accomplish than that 

 proposed. Traction engines, weighing many tons — so 

 heavy as to sometimes endanger bridges, and drawing 

 two trucks loaded with tons of coal, chalk, bricks, or 

 other materials — have already been seen on the roads, 

 travelling considerable distances, and in no wise impeded 

 by steep gradients ; so little, indeed, that they ascend 

 the downs and supply farms situated in the most ele- 

 vated positions with fuel. What is this but a goods train, 

 and a goods train of the clumsiest, most awkward, and, 

 consequently, unprofitable description ? Yet it is run, 

 and it would not be run were it not to some extent use- 

 ful. Anything more hideous it would be hard to con- 

 ceive, yet if the world patiently submits to it for the 

 welfare of the agricultural community, what possible ob- 

 jection can there be to engines so formed as to avoid 

 every one of the annoyances caused by it ? It may be 

 asserted without the slightest fear of contradiction that 

 there are at least fifty engineering firms in this country 

 who could send forth a road locomotive very nearly 

 noiseless, very nearly smokeless, certainly sparkless, 

 capable of running up and down hill on our smooth and 

 capital roads, perfectly under control, not in the least 

 alarming to horses, and able to draw two or more trucks 

 or passenger cars round all their devious windings at a 

 speed at least equal to that of a moderate trot — say eight 

 miles an hour. Why, then, do we not see such useful 

 road trains running to and fro ? Why, indeed ? In the 

 first place, progress in this direction is absolutely stopped 

 by the Acts of Parliament regulating agricultural engines. 



