Look At The Map, And Place The Finger On Any Of The Spaces Between The
Lines Of Rail.
Take, then, the case of a farmer in the midst of that
space, not more than five or six miles from the metals, and able at times
to hear the distant whistle of the engines, but not less than eight from
a station.
This present season he finds his wheat damaged by the rain
after it was cut, and he comes to the conclusion that he must supplement
his ordinary crops by some special culture in order to make his way. On
the last occasion he was in a large city he was much struck by the
quantity of fruit which he found was imported from abroad. The idea
naturally occurs to him of setting aside some ten or twenty acres of his
holding of four hundred or five hundred for the culture of fruit. He goes
to his landlord, who is only too willing to give him every facility,
provided that no injury be done to the soil. He faces the monstrous
injustice of the extraordinary tithes, and expends fresh capital in the
planting of various kinds of fruit.
In places at that distance from a station labour is dear relative to the
low profit on the ordinary style of farming, but very cheap relative to
the possible profits on an improved and specialised system. The amount of
extra labour he thus employs in the preparation of the ground, the
planting, cleaning, picking, and packing, is an inestimable boon to the
humbler population. Not only men, but women and children can assist at
times, and earn enough to add an appreciable degree of comfort to their
homes. In itself this is a valuable result. But now suppose our
enterprising farmer has the fortune to have a good season, and to see his
twenty acres teeming with produce. He sets as many hands on as possible
to get it in; but now what is he to do with it? Send it to London. That
is easily said; but trace the process through. The goods, perishable and
delicate, must first be carted to the railway station and delivered
there, eight miles from the farm, at most inconvenient hours. They must
be loaded into slow goods trains, which may not reach town for
four-and-twenty hours. There is not the slightest effort to accelerate
the transit, and the rates are high. By the time the produce reaches the
market its gloss and value are diminished, and the cost of transit has
eaten away the profit. The thing has been tried over and over again and
demonstrated. One need only go to the nearest greengrocer's to obtain
practical proof of it. The apples he sells are American. The farmers in
New York State or Massachusetts can grow apples, pack them in barrels,
despatch them two thousand eight hundred miles to Liverpool, and they can
then be scattered all over the country and still sold cheaper than the
fruit from English orchards. This is an extraordinary fact, showing the
absolute need of speedy and cheap transit to the English farmer if he is
to rise again. Of what value is his proximity to the largest city in the
world - of what value is it that he is only ninety miles from London, if
it costs him more to send his apples about ninety miles than it does his
American kinsman very nearly three thousand?
As we have in this country no great natural waterways like the rivers and
lakes of the United States, our best resource is evidently to be found in
the development of the excellent common roads which traverse the 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 elevated
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 useful.
Anything more hideous it would be hard to conceive, yet if the world
patiently submits to it for the welfare of the agricultural community,
what possible objection 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. The
Act in question was passed at a time when steam was still imperfectly
understood. It was in itself a perfectly 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.
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