NEW 
“ TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND.” 
SERIES. 
VOL. III. 
ALBANY, APRIL, 1846. 
No. 4. 
THE CULTIVATOR 
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LETTERS FROM MR. HORSFORD.—No. X. 
VEHICLES OF GERMANY. 
Giessen, 1845. 
Mr. Tucker — I proceed to redeem my promise con¬ 
cerning the vehicles in this part of Germany. 
The Eilwagon, or Diligence, the letter and paper Post, 
the Familien wagon, or omnibus, the freight wagons, 
the farm wagons and carts, the barrows, and the car¬ 
riages, differ scarcely more from each other than from 
corresponding vehicles with us—in nearly all of which, 
naturally enough, it may be thought, the superiority is 
ours. 
Every morning at eight o’clock, the walls of all the 
edifices on Setters-berg* are made to echo the merry 
notes of the trumpet blown by the driver of a huge ob¬ 
long, high two roomed, oil-cloth covered establishment, 
called the Eilwagon. The driver is in a kind of uni¬ 
form, as indeed is every man holding any station con¬ 
nected with the government. His hat has a little 
cockade and a gay striped ribbon around. The buttons 
of his coat with the form of a trumpet, and from his 
neck, under one arm, is suspended the coiled instru¬ 
ment, from which, with the aid of one or two valves, 
he succeeds in playing a stirring air, much like that of 
a bugle. In an apartment immediately below him, is 
seated the director and two passengers, who look out 
both forward and on either side. Behind this apartment 
is another, containing six seats, from which only a win¬ 
dow in each door can be enjoyed. All the seats are 
numbered and taken in the order of payment, as I think 
I previously mentioned. The two middle ones are fur¬ 
nished with cushions and supports for the head. Be¬ 
hind these six seats is the room for baggage. It does 
not, however, contain in many instances, the half, most 
of it being placed on top, and bound down under oil¬ 
cloth covers. Children under a certain age are ex¬ 
cluded from this conveyance, and under no circumstances 
can a greater number than eight take places. Four 
horses, secured by rope tugs, draw this ponderous 
'* A gentle elevation upon which the Laboratory, Library Hos¬ 
pital, and a number of modern buildings are erected Though 
dignified with the appellation, one needs to be told of its exist 
cnee, as a visitor does of Constitution Hill, in London, or it would 
escape recognition. 5 
coach, at a rate, as I have already stated, I think, of 
about six miles per hour. 
The Rothchilds and Bethmans, of Frankfort, have 
established a letter post between Hamburg, of Northern 
Germany, and Basle, in Switzerland, that exceeds by 
much, in the rapidity of its movements, any other con¬ 
veyance here. The letter bag is carried in a springless, 
narrow, light, seatless, two-wheeled cart. The driver 
sits upon the bag, and in this comfortless way, drives 
his one horse through his stage, at a rate, I judge, from 
what I have seen, of some eight or ten miles an hour. 
Of all the vehicles for transport, none made upon 
me at first, so deep an impression, as the freight 
wagons. They are of various sizes, and the least are 
enormous. As Giessen is situated upon the main route 
from all the southern valley of the Rhine through Frank¬ 
fort to Hamburg, a great number necessarily pass here. 
I think I am safe in supposing it not less than twenty 
daily. Of one of the largest, drawn by six horses, I 
estimated, from what I could learn from the driver, that 
with wagon and freight, he had between six and seven 
tons. The horses walk as well down as up the mode¬ 
rate inclinations of the McAdam road, and the driver, 
without reins, accompanies them on foot—apprizing- 
them, and the residents along the road, of his presence 
by cracking his great whip. To prevent too rapid mo¬ 
tion down hill, a break, consisting of scantling, is 
pressed by a long screw upon the tire of the two hind 
wheels. This screw is a simple contrivance connected 
with the axletree, and worked by a long handle like an 
augur. Under the centre of the load is a long shallow- 
basket laden with provender, and a suit of apparatus 
for tarring, mending, &c.,—all of which swings at an ele¬ 
vation of some six inches from the ground. This can be 
conceived when it is recollected that all the roads are 
MeAdamized. A safeguard against ruts is provided in 
the law taxing the freight wagons. The tax is inverse¬ 
ly proportioned to the breadth of the tire. Above, the 
wagon is thatched, and some of them are not less than 
seventeen feet high in the middle. 
All the old private carriages, remind me of that of 
Napoleon, now exhibited at Madame Toussaud's, in Lon¬ 
don. They seem to have been made for war—capable 
of being shut entirely up—broad and strong. The 
modern carriages are many of them fine specimens of the 
art—and several, the property of Dukes, Princes, and 
some undefined dignitaries, would compare with the 
best I have seen either in England or America. 
Buggies are not quite unknown, but compared with 
other carriages are scarcely one per cent. In Frank¬ 
fort there are more. 
The ordinary farm wagons are wretchedly construct¬ 
ed, having, with good length of axletree, a narrow bot¬ 
tom, less in width by more than one half, than the 
length of the axletree. Some of them, such as are used 
for large loads, have a provision for supporting the rack, 
or upper part of the vehicle, which accompanies all or 
nearly all of the freight wagons. It is a vertical rod 
from the extremity of the axle upwards. 
There are many modifications of those thus far enu 
merated, which I can scarcely point out in such a letter 
as this, and yet I have alluded to the most prominent of 
the classes. 
Parallel to the Eilwagon there runs an Omnibus 
