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To take another example. A transportation problem which faces every
farmer is that of rapid door-to-door delivery. To-day, especially in
such countries as Canada, what do we see? We see chain-tracked machines
used for agricultural work, but we seldom see movement of the produce
grown carried out save by horse-drawn vehicles, which can negotiate
cultivated land if it be fairly dry.[7] Two horses cannot pull much more
than a ton over a heavy field to the farm itself. At the farm, which may
be fifty miles from a railway, the produce has either to be transported
by cart to the station, which may take three days and two to return, or
loaded into a lorry which, unless the roads are good, will take one day
each way. The loss of time is considerable, and the roadless vehicle
would appear to be the only practical solution. It can be loaded at the
extremity of a field in any weather and condition of ground, and moved
direct to the railway either by road or across country at a normal lorry
speed, and carrying from three to ten tons according to size. Delivery
is from door to door, and the only limitation as to load would appear to
be the factor of safety of the bridges which may have to be crossed.
Footnote 7:
In Canada, snow offers a serious difficulty to movement by wagon or
car during the winter months; there should be no great difficulty in
producing a roadless vehicle which will cross snow almost as easily as
grass land.
In waterless, as well as roadless areas, such as exist in Australia,
wagons and lorries are frequently useless, and the roadless vehicle is
again the solution, for it does not require a road to move along, or a
well at which to seek refreshment. It carries its own roadway and its
own water supply, and, if necessary, water for man and beast in
districts where water is scarce.
In mining countries, such as Chili and South Africa, and in
oil-producing countries, such as Mexico and Persia, the need for a
weight-carrying, roadless vehicle is much felt, and in these countries,
where again roads are few and bad, and water frequently scarcer, it
would prove as useful as in agricultural lands.
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