STEAM ON COUNTRY ROADS. 235 



The Act in question was passed at a time when steam 

 was still imperfectly understood. It was in itself a per- 

 fectly judicious Act, which ought to be even more 

 strictly enforced than it is. But it was intended solely 

 and wholly for the regulation of those vast and monstrous- 

 looking engines which it was at once foreseen, if left to 

 run wild, would frighten all horse traffic off the roads. 

 The possibility of road locomotives in the reasonable 

 sense of the term was not even in the minds of the 

 framers. Yet, by a singular perversity, this very Act 

 has shut off steam from one of its most legitimate func- 

 tions. 



It is quite possible that the depression of agriculture 

 may have the effect of drawing attention to this subject, 

 and if so it will be but tardy justice to the rest of society 

 that the very calling whose engines now block the roads 

 should thus in the end open them. We should then see 

 goods trains passing every farm and loading at the gate 

 of the field. Such a road goods train would not, of 

 course, run regularly to and fro in the same stereotyped 

 direction, but would call as previously ordered, and 

 make three or four journeys a day, sometimes loading 

 entirely from one farm, sometimes making up a load 

 from several farms in succession. Besides the quick 

 communication thus opened up with the railway station 

 and the larger towns, the farmer would be enabled to 

 work his tenancy with fewer horses. He would get 

 manures, coal, and all other goods delivered for him 

 instead of fetching them. He would get his produce 

 landed for him instead of sending his own teams, men, 

 and boys. In a short time, as the railways began to 

 awaken to the new state of things, they would see the 

 advantage of accommodating their arrangements, and 

 open their yards and sidings to their competitor. In 



