The Little Book of Tractors is full of black and white and colour photographs tracing the history of mechanised farming. The story of the tractor begins with the development of steam power and early stationery or portable engines. It then moves on to large cumbersome and expensive traction engines, the first farming machines with a driver and powered wheels. But it is the development f mass produced machines that enabled the tractor to be affordable for the masses — and with this came a transformation to the way farmers worked and a complete change to the way the countryside looked.