Month: December 2021

By the 1790s the “Agricultural Revolution” had been underway in Scotland for a number of decades. Fields were being enclosed and levelled, trees planted; the appearance of the landscape was being radically altered. With this change there started to be some technological changes in the tools and implements made. The most significant was the development of the iron plough – ploughs made all of iron rather than wood and wood and iron – which was drawn by the two horses rather than the team of oxen. 

During this “Agricultural Revolution” there emerged a small number of agricultural writers who commented on the process of change, their observations on the new practices and gave advice to farmers and landowners on the improvement process. The most noted was Lord Kames, Henry Homes, renowned for his book “The Gentleman Farmer: being an attempt to improve agriculture, by subjecting it to the test of rational principles”. It was first published in 1776. It was to become a best-seller, going through 6 editions from that time until the early 1800s. No other Scottish agricultural book managed that feat. In that book Kaimes shows himself to be a practical farmer and to have given great consideration to agriculture and developing a set of rational principles on which it could operate. His book includes accounts of the most well-used implements of the time. 

Kaimes was critical of some of the implements and machines, but he also provided a range of views on how to make them as good and effective as possible. For this reason, his accounts are worth quoting to show what was being used, what was seen to be effective and what changes could be made to them. 

The following is an account from Kaimes on the roller, published in the 1798 edition of his book: 

“The roller is an instrument of capital use in husbandry, though scarcely known in ordinary practice; and, where introduced, it is commonly so slight as to have very little effect. 

Rollers are of different kinds, stone, yetling, wood. Each of these has its advantages. I recommend the last, constructed in the following manner. Take the body of a tree, six feet ten inches long, the larger the better, made as near a perfect cylinder as possible. Surround this cylinder with three rows of fillies, one row in the middle, and one at each end. Line these fillies with planks of wood equally long with the roller, and so narrow as to ply into a circle. Bind them fast together with iron rings. Beech wood is the best, being hard and tough. It has a double pair of shafts for two horses abreast. These are sufficient in level ground: in ground not level, four horses may be necessary. The roller without the shafts ought to weigh two hundred stone Dutch; and the large diameter makes this greater weight easy to be drawn. 

With respect to the season for rolling. Rolling wheat in the month of April, is an important article in loose soil; as the winter-rains pressing down the soil may leave many roots in the air. Barley ought to be rolled immediately after the seed is sown; especially where grass seeds are sown with it. The best time for rolling a gravelly soil, is as soon as the mould is so dry as to bear the roller without clinging to it. A clay soil ought neither to be tilled, harrowed, nor rolled, till the field be perfectly dry. And as rolling a clay soil is chiefly intended for smoothing the surface, a dry season may be patiently waited for, even till the crop be three inches high. There is the greater reason for this precaution, because much rain immediately after rolling is apt to cake the surface when drought follows. Oats in a light soil may be rolled immediately after the seed is sown, unless the ground be so wet as to cling to the roller. In a clay soil, delay rolling till the grain be above ground. The proper time for growing grass-seeds in an oat-field, is when the grain is three inches high and rolling should immediately succeed whatever the soil be. Flax ought to be rolled immediately after sowing. This should never be neglected; for it makes the seed push equally, and prevents after growth, the bad effect of which is visible in every step of the process for dressing flax. The first year’s crop of sown grasses ought to be rolled as early the next spring as the ground will bear the horses. It fixes all the roots precisely as in the case of wheat. Rolling the second and third crops in loose soil, is an useful work; though not so essential as rolling the first crop. 

The effects of rolling properly used, are substantial. In the first place, it renders a loose soil more compact and solid; which encourages the growth of plants, by making the earth clap close to every part of every root. Nor need we be afraid of rendering the soil too compact; for no roller that can be drawn by two or four horses will have that effect. In the next place, rolling keeps in the moisture, and hinders drought to penetrate. This effect is of great moment. In a dry season, it may make the difference of a good crop, or no crop, especially where the soil is light. In the third place, the rolling grass-seeds, beside the foregoing advantages, facilitates the mowing for hay. And it is to be hoped, that the advantage of this practice will lead farmers to mow their corn also, which will increase the quantity of straw, both for food and for the dunghill.

There is a small roller for breaking clods in land intended for barley. The common way is to break clods with a mell, which requires many hands, and is laborious work. This roller performs the work more effectually, and at much less expence; let a harrowing precede, which will break the clods a little; and after lying a day or a day and a half to dry, this roller will dissolve them into powder. This however does not supersede the use of the great roller after all the other articles are finished, in order to make the soil compact, and to keep out the summer drought. A stone roller feet long, and fifteen inches diameter, drawn by one horse, is sufficient to break clods that are easily dissolved by pressure. The use of this roller in preparing ground for barley is gaining ground daily, even among ordinary tenants, who have become sensible both of the expense and toil of using mells. But in a clay soil, the clods are sometimes too firm, or too tough, to be subdued by so light a machine. In that case, a roller of the same size, but of a different construction, is necessary. It ought to be surrounded with circles of iron, six inches asunder, and seven inches deep; which will cut even the most stubborn clods, and reduce them to powder. Let not this instrument be considered as a finical refinement. In a stiff clay, it may make the different of a plentiful or scanty crop.”

What do you think of Kaimes’ advice on the roller in 1796?

The Ordnance Survey Namebooks provide information about place and building names at the time that the Ordnance Survey was undertaking its first edition maps between the mid 1850s to the mid 1860s. Each county was surveyed at different times within this period with those of East Lothian, Fife and Kinross being early ones and Inverness-shire, Aberdeenshire and Orkney being among some of the later ones. 

The Namebooks provide a snapshot at the premises of the Scottish agricultural implement and machine makers at a time when the sector was changing rapidly and the number of new businesses increasing rapidly. For some of them, it shows their trades and premises before they became closely associated with the making of agricultural implements and machines. 

The following are the agricultural implement works that were recorded in the Namebooks from the 1850s and 1860s across Scotland. Their small number is especially noticeable. Most were known by other names. 

Aberdeenshire – Agricultural implement works, Factory Brae, Huntly. A large block of buildings in which are manufactured ploughs, harrows, and various other agricultural implements. Messrs Sellar & Son, proprietors. 

Lanarkshire – Agricultural implement manufactory, near Townhead, Bothwell Parish. A large house of zinc and iron having skylights in the roof. There is a large yard connected with it & having tram road joining from the “Clydesdale Junction Railway”. Every description of agricultural implements are made here – both wood and iron. Locomotives are also made, but they are for agricultural purposes. Wrought by the proprietor in company with others – J. Gray & Co. 

Lanarkshire – Crofthead, Bothwell Parish. A superior house having several dwellings in the same property, as well as an agricultural implement manufactory, belonging to & partly occupied by Mr J. Waddell. The name is well known. 

Lanarkshire – Agricultural Implement Manufactory (Uddingston) – a manufactory for producing all descriptions of implements used in agriculture. The same factory was famous in the county for its style of implements under the late Mr Wilkie. It was partly burned recently & is at present idle. The property of J. Waddell & Sons, of Crofthead. 

Lanarkshire – Agricultural Implement Manufactory, Shettleston-long rows of houses used as workshops & having a yard attached. Every description of agricultural implements are made here, including ploughs, harrows, thrashing machines, shovels, spades &c. Also every description of wooden materials used for agricultural purposes. Engine boilers are also made, but only when specially ordered. The principal & almost sole trade being agricultural implements. 

The Name Books remind us of the importance of local history in looking at the Scottish agricultural implement makers and the need to link people and place. They also remind us of the need to look at the names of businesses and business premises. They also show us how well (or otherwise) the large scale making of agricultural implements was during the mid nineteenth century.

Henry Home, Lord Kaimes could be regarded as the most prominent agricultural writer of the eighteen the century. His “The Gentleman Farmer: being an attempt to improve agriculture, by subjecting it to the test of rational principles”, first published in 1776, was a best seller and went through six editions into the early 1800s.

Kaimes includes descriptions of the most widely used agricultural implements and machines. He was both positive but also critical of them. He made suggestions on how they could be improved.

Kaimes provided an extensive account of the ploughs used in Scotland. It is worth quoting at length to show some of the recent history of that important implement:

“This is the most useful implement that ever was invented. It is of more use than even the spinning wheel: for men may make a shift for clo[a]thing without that instrument, but a country cannot be populous without the plough.

The only plough used in Scotland, till of late, is a strong instrument, about thirteen feet from the handles to the extremity of the beam, and commonly above four feet from the back end of the head to the point of the sock. It is termed the Scotch plough, to distinguish it from other forms; and it needs no particular description, as it may be seen in every field. It may well be termed the Scotch Plough; for of all forms it is the fittest for breaking up stiff and rough land, especially where stones abound; and no less fit for strong clays hardened by drought. The length of its head gives it a firm hold of the ground: its weight prevents it from being thrown out by stones: the length of the handles gives the ploughman great command to direct its motion: and by the length of its head, and of its mouldboard, it lays the furrow-slice cleverly over.

The Scotch plough was contrived during the infancy of agriculture, and was well contrived: in the soils above described, it has not an equal. But in tender soil it is improper, because it adds greatly to the expense of ploughing, without any counterbalancing benefit. The length of the head and mouldboard encrease the friction, and consequently it requires a greater number of oxen or horses than are necessary in a shorter plough. There is another particular in its form, that resists the draught: the mouldboard makes an angle with the sock, instead of making a line with it gently curving backward. There is an objection against it no less solid, that it does not stir the ground perfectly: the hinder part of the wrist rises a foot above the sole of the head; and the earth that lies immediately below the hinder part, is left unstirred. This is ribbing land below the surface, similar to what is done by ignorant farmers on the surface. These defects must be submitted to in a soil that requires a strong heavy plough; but may be avoided in a cultivated soil by a plough differently constructed. Of all the ploughs fitted for a cultivated soil free of stones, I boldly recommend a plough introduced into Scotland about twelve years ago, by James Small in Blackadder Mount, Berwickshire: which is now in general request; and with great reason, as it avoids all the defects of the Scotch plough. The shortness of its head and of its mouldboard lessen the friction greatly: from the point of the sock to the back part of the head it is only thirty inches; and the whole length, from the point of the beam to the end of the handles, between eight and nine feet. The sock and mouldboard make one line gently curving; and consequently gather no earth. Instead of a wrist, the under edge of the mouldboard is in one plain with the sole of the head; which makes a wide furrow; without leaving any part unstirred. It is termed the chain-plough, because it is drawn by an iron chain fixed to the back part of the beam immediately before the coulter. This has two advantages: first, by means of a muzzle it makes the plough go deep, or shallow; and, next, it stresses the beam less than if fixed to the point, and therefore a slender beam is sufficient. This plough may well be considered as a capital improvement, not only by saving expence, but by making better work. It is proper for loams, for carse clays, and, in general, for every sort of tender soil free of stones. It is even proper for opening up pasture ground, where the soil has been formerly well cultivated.To finish an account of the plough, I must add a word about the sock. A spiked sock is used in the Scotch plough, and is essential in stony land. But a feathered sock ought always to be used in tender soil, free of stones: it cuts the earth in the furrow, and makes neat work. It is indispensable in ground where roots abound, as it cuts them below the surface, and prevents their growing. I esteem the feathered sock to be a valuable improvement.

The industrious farmer would even borrow money to clear his ground of stones, in order to introduce it: in a twenty-years lease, the profit of it would pay the expence tenfold.

Some ploughs are made with two small wheels running in the furrow, in order to take off the friction of the head; and this plough is recommended in a book, intitled, The complete farmer. But all complicated ploughs are baubles, and this as much as any. The pivots of such wheels are always going wrong; and beside, they are choked so with earth, as to increase the friction instead of diminishing it. If we look back thirty years, ploughs of different constructions did not enter into a dream. The Scotch plough was universally used, and no other was known. There was no less ignorance as to the number of cattle necessary for this plough. In the south of Scotland, six oxen and two horses were universal, and in the north, ten oxen, sometimes twelve. The first attempt to lessen the number of oxen, was in Berwickshire. The low part of that country abounds with stone, clay, and marl, the most substantial of all manures, which had been long used by one or two gentlemen. About twenty-five years ago it acquired reputation, and spready rapidly. As two horses and two oxen were employed in every marl-cart, the farmer, in summer fallowing and in preparing land for marl, was confined to four oxen and two horses.

And as that manure afforded plenty of sufficient straw for oxen, the farmer was surprised to find, that four oxen did better now than six formerly. Marling, however, a laborious work, proceeded slowly, till people were taught by a noted farmer in that country, what industry can perform by means of power properly applied. It was reckoned a mighty talk to marl five or six acres in a year. That gentleman, by plenty of red clover for his working cattle, accomplished the marling fifty acres in a summer, once fifty-four. Having so much occasion for oxen, he tried with success two oxen and two horses in a plough; and that practice became general in Berwickshire. Now here appears with lustre the advantage of the chain plough. The great friction occasioned in the Scotch plough by a long head, and by the angle it makes with the mould board, necessarily requires two oxen and two horses, whatever the soil be. The friction is so much less in the chain plough, that two good horses are found sufficient in every soil that is proper for it. And as good luck seldom comes alone more than bad, the reducing the draught to a couple of horses has another advantage, that of rendering a driver unnecessary; no slight saving at present, where a servant’s wages and maintenance are very smart articles. This saving on every plough, where two horses and two oxen were formerly used, will be the strictest computation be fifteen pounds sterling yearly; and where four horses were used, no less than twenty pounds sterling. There is now scarce to be seen in the low county of Berwickshire a plough with more than two horses; which undoubtedly in time will become general. I know but of one further improvement, that of using two oxen instead of two horses. That draught has been employed with success in several places; and the saving is so great, that it must force its way every where. I boldly affirm, that no soil stirred in a proper season, can ever require no more than two horses and two oxen, in a plough, even supposing the stiffest clay. In all other soils, two good horses, or two good oxen abreast, may be relied on for every operation of the chain plough.

A chain plough of a smaller size than ordinary, drawn by a single horse, is of all the most proper for horse ploughing, supposing the land to be mellow, which it ought to be for that operation. It is sufficient for making furrows to receive the dung, for ploughing the drills after dunging, and for hoeing the crop.

A still smaller plough of the same kind, I warmly recommend for a kitchen garden. It can be reduced to the smallest size, by being made of iron; and where the land is properly dressed for a kitchen-garden, and iron plough drawn by a horse of the smallest size will save much spade work. Strange is the effect of custom without thought! Thirty years ago, a kitchen-garden was an article of luxury merely, because at that time there could be no cheaper food than oat-meal. At present, the farmer maintains his servants at double expence, as the price of oat meal is doubled; and yet he has no notion of a kitchen garden, more than he had thirty years ago. He never thinks, that living partly on cabbage, kail, turnip, carrot, would save much oat meal: nor does he ever think, that change of food is more wholesome, than vegetables alone, or oat-meal alone. I need not recommend potatoes, which in our late scanty crops of corn have proved a great blessing: without them the labouring poor would frequently have been reduced to a starving condition.” What do you think of Kaimes’ account of the plough?

The photos were taken at BA Stores, May 2019.

Many of our readers will be familiar with the name of James A. Cuthbertson of Biggar (@James A Cuthbertson Ltd). Today Cubby’s make snow ploughs, spreaders and a range of other equipment for winter conditions But the name of Cuthbertson was also associated with innovative agricultural engineering through for example its Water Buffalo, draining ploughs and machines and its bracken cutter. 

The Biggar & Upper Clydesdale Museum is celebrating Cubby’s 85th birthday with an exhibition on the company, highlighting its development and the extraordinary man behind it. This free exhibition runs from 11 December to 27 March. Further information at: https://www.biggarmuseumtrust.co.uk

The company stated to trade in 1936 under the name James A. Cuthbertson, Biggar. It became a limited company in 1946 . In 1937 the company described itself as agricultural engineers. By 1946 it was also a general engineer, and in 1948 agricultural engineers and contractors. An advert in the Farming News on 15 December 1946 provides clues to the early specialities of the company. It described itself as “pioneers in mechanised draining”. The development and production of draining machinery and accessories was to become intimately associated with the Cuthbertson name.

In 1948 the company entered a drainage plough for the new implement award of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. It was awarded a silver medal for it. The company described the plough as thus:

“The plough will cut open drains to a maximum depth of twenty-two inches by a maximum width of thirty inches, at speeds varying from fifteen to thirty chains per hour, according to the nature of the ground, The plough consists of a simple sided mouldboard mounted at the rearward end of a box-girder beam, the whole being carried on a transport frame when not in operation and stabilised by a hinged sliding shaft whilst working. Beam and transport assembly are hinged about a steel rocker-pin, thus allowing the depth of the drain cut to be automatically controlled, irrespective of local undulations on the ground surface over which the transport wheels pass. Two steel cutter discs are pivotally mounted on the rocker-shaft, which is attached to the forward end of the beam, and a system of semi-elliptic springing allows the discs to rid over any obstruction and return to the pre-determined depth required. A hinged drawbar mounted at the extreme front of the beam gives a rough adjustment for depth control and has incorporated in it a shearing pin device which prevents damage to the implement should an immovable obstruction be encountered. The beam and components assembled thereon are raised into the carrying position by means of a steel cable, which should be operated by a suitable power winch mounted on the tractor. 

A spring-loaded catch is automatically engaged when the beam assembly has been raised to sufficient height and can be disengaged by the tractor driver without leaving the driving position. Any pre-determined depth of cut within the limits of the plough may be obtained by tilting the mouldboard by means of an adjusting screw situated at the extreme rear of the implement. This has the effect of altering the angle at which the share enters the soil in relation to the line of traction and so varying the depth of cut obtained. The spoil discharged by the mouldboard from the drain is removed a distance of one foot six inches back from the side of the drain by means of an adjustable, articulated pusher-blade which is mounted to the rear of the mouldboard.”

Another silver medal was to come for the company’s deep drainage plough with tile laying attachment in 1950:

“The Cuthbertson deep draining machine is designed to be hauled behind a heavy crawler tractor of 70hp to cut a drain up to a depth of 3ft, with a bottom width of 8in and a top width of 2ft 4in at the maximum depth, and to lay the tiles in perfect position, close and in line. The drain section is left ready to be covered in after the operation. The speed of the operation is 22 yards per minute.

The machine is a mild steel, electrically welded fabrication, except for the cutting share and wearing heel, which are of chilled cast steel. The machine consists primarily of a beam, transport frame and wheel, side and centre spring-loaded cutting discs, and a mould board tso shaped that it lifts the soil from the drain and deposits it on one side of the drain.

The tile laying attachment is attached directly behind the mouldboard, and the tiles are fed into this by hand from a trailer travelling alongside. The weight of the tiles being constantly fed into the attachment keeps the end butted closely together.
Automatic depth control is incorporated in the machine, as without this factor it would not be possible to lay the tiles directly behind the machine, as the bottom of the drain would require to be levelled by hand. The bottom of the drain is in “V” formation to facilitate the centralising of all sizes of tiles in the drain.
The machine is lifted from the working position to the carrying position on the frame by means by means of a wire rope connected to a winch on the tractor. The wire rope is not in use when the plough is actually working, as the wheels can rise and fall, following the undulations of the ground, without altering the level of the drain being cut.”

The company also invented a number of other key machines for reclamation and forestry work. They included a bracken cutter (which won a silver medal from the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland in 1949), a grass land rejuvenator and lime spreader in 1948, a double purpose forestry planting plough, double furrow, in 1949, and a lime spreading outfit in 1951. The company was also well known for the “Cuthbertson” half track for Fordson Major conversion, in 1951. It also invented and made the “Cuthbertson” trailer track in 1952.

The photos were taken outside the Biggar & Upper Clydesdale Museum on the opening day of the exhibition, 11 December 2021.

By the mid nineteenth century when Scotland was being intensively mapped by the Ordnance Survey, its surveyors were out and about on the land, visiting farms and other settlements, recording the names of every building and feature. In their accounts a number of them referred to the presence of thrashing mills as part of the farm steadings.

The OS name books record that in the county of Fife there were a number of steam threshing machines erected at the farm steadings. These include: 

Lochran, Cleish – A good farm house and steading including a thrashing mill worked by steam, and an excellent farm of arable land attached. Occupier Mr Tod, proprietor Mr Patrick Adam esq. 
Skeddoway, Dysart – A first class farm house having extensive and well constructed offices with a steam thrashing mill attached. 
Cuttlehill, Aberdour – A near country mansion delightfully situated on an eminence, commanding an extensive view. It is well sheltered with young plantings which are tastefully laid. A little north of the house are extensive out offices, a threshing mill (worked by steam) and [?] works. In the front of the mansion, or a little south, is a small wooded lawn, on the north west side of it a fruit and vegetable garden. The property of the heir of the late Robert Wemyss. Occupier Mr Burns, late factor of the estate. 
Carskurdo – This is a large farm steading with cottars houses. The thrashing mill driven by steam power. It is occupied by Mr David Yool, Blebo Mills, Dura Den, and the proprietor is Mr Gullane, Dunfermline. 
Nydie, St Andrews – This is a very large farm steading with dwelling house and garden. The thrashing machine is driven by steam power. The tenant is Mr Robert Walker and the proprietor is Captain Robert Bethune of Blebo. 

Blebo Mains, Kemback – This is a large and very convenient farm steading with dwelling house and garden. The thrashing machines is driven by steam. The farm is occupied by Mr Walker and the proprietor is Alexander Beaton esq, Blebo. 
Newbigging, Ceres – This is a large farm steading with dwelling house of two stories and small garden. The thrashing mill is driven by steam. The whole of the farm buildings are of recent erection, and occupied by Mr John Walker. The proprietor is J. A. Thomson esq of Charleton. Pittillock, Arngask – An excellent farm house with commodious outbuildings, and a steam thrashing mill attached. Occupied by Mr Clark. 
Rires – A large farm house and office houses all in good repair with steam power. Thrashing mill in good working order attached to these. Is a large farm of ground, the property of Mr James Sith (farmer). 
Dalniel Den – A large and well built farm house and office houses with a steam power thrashing mill all in good repair the property of General Lindsay of Balcarres & occupied by Mr Bogie, farmer. 

Letham, Scoonie – A farm house two stories with suitable offices and a farm of arable land containing about 400 acres attached. There is a thrashing machine propelled by steam power on the premises, the whole held under a lease of 19 years from George Simpson esq, Pitcorthie by Mr James Swan. 
Sunnybraes, Largo – A farm house two stories high with suitable offices and a farm of land containing upwards of 200 acres attached. There is a thrashing machine propelled by steam power on the premises and held under a lease of 19 years from the Standard Life Assurance Co. by Mr James Forgan. 
Kirkland Farm, Wemyss – A good farm house and offices with about 138 Scotch acres attached. There is a thrashing machine on the premises propelled by a steam engine of 5 horse power. It is the property of Admiral Wemyss of Wemyss Castle and occupied by Mr Andrew Lawrie. 
Cavelstone, Kinross – An excellent farm house with extensive outbuildings and steam threshing mill attached about a mile south of Kinross.