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 ficld. This assertion 
is not too bold. The thing, indecd, 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 scen on the roads, 
travelling considerable distances, and in no wise impeded 
by steep gradicnts ; 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 clumsicst, most awkward, and, 
consequently, unprofitable description? Yet it is ran, 
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 smokcless, 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 dircction is absolutely stopped 
by the Acts of Parliament regulating agricultural engines. 
