THE CONVEYANCE OF PRODUCE 147 



formed by such power is afforded by the following 

 statement by Messrs Lobjoit of what their three tractors 

 have to do. ' ' Two markets are served ; Covent Garden 

 every day, and Brentford on Mondays, Wednesdays, and 

 Fridays. All three tractors go to Covent Garden on 

 Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. One always 

 makes an extra journey on Saturdays to bring home the 

 wagon left there in the early morning and the empties. 

 They frequently make a journey on Saturdays with goods 

 ordered for the West End. Each Monday one tractor 

 washes out, and the third on alternate Wednesdays. 

 Two manure contracts are kept clean averaging about 

 30 tons a week. The tractors draw all their own coal 

 from the station, the corn for 35 horses employed on 

 the land, and the coke for the greenhouse furnaces (about 

 120 tons a year)." 



Other examples could be given, for similar trials have 

 been made in many places, but those cited will suffice for 

 our purpose, which is chiefly to show that, notwithstanding 

 the expense, the disappointments with some of the earlier 

 machines, and the constant care demanded, practical 

 results of a sufficiently satisfactory character can be 

 obtained by those in the position to make the most of 

 this form of power. As improvements are developed, 

 and machines capable of being equally utilised on the 

 land and for traction are secured at more moderate prices 

 a distinct advance may be expected in the solution of the 

 main problem for large producers, i.e. increasing the 

 speed and diminishing the cost of distribution. 



Conveyance by Rail 



The greatest distributing agencies are necessarily the 

 railways, and until some fundamental alteration is made 

 in our systems, land cultivators will be as dependent 

 upon them as other producers who cannot reach all 



