In 1890 the Scottish agricultural implement makers had an industry association – The Scottish Agricultural Engineers’ Association – which looked after their interests. The association held an annual meeting at the time of the Highland Show. The following is an account of its meeting in 1890. It provides information on their activities, membership, as well as progress made in recent decades.
“This Society held its annual meeting in the showyard of the Highland and Agricultural Society at Dundee last week. The annual report was laid before the meeting by the secretary, who reported that the Society had, financially, made good progress during the year. In the election of office-bearers, Mr W. Anderson (of Ben Reid & Co., Aberdeen), was re-appointed president, and Provost Marshall (of Jack & Sons, Maybole), was elected vice-president. A special resolution was passed, expressed regret at the resignation of Mr J. M. McLeod from the office of vice-president. Mr McLeod, who has been so long and honourably connected with the form of Messrs Nicholson & Son, of Newark, retires having been recently appointed secretary of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, London. He carries with him the good wishes of all the members of the Scottish Agricultural Engineers’ Association, in whose interests he has faithfully laboured since its foundation.
The annual dinner of the Association was held on Tuesday, 29th July, in the Queen’s Hotel, Dundee. About forty gentlemen sat down. The chair was ably occupied by Mr W. Anderson, of Ben Reid & Co., president of the Association, and Mr J. M. McLeod was croupier. Amongst others present were-Mr Wm Wallace (Glasgow), Provost Marshall (Maybole), Mr J, D, Allan (Dunkeld), Mr Duncan (Murray & Blake, Banff), Mr Baxter (Aberdeen Lime Co.), Mr Turnbull (Carnock), Mr Elder (Berwick), Mr Hunter (Maybole), Mr Sinton (Jedburgh), Mr Pollock (Mauchline), Mr Jones (of J. & F. Howard, Bedford), Mr Du Pont (Walter A. Wood, London), Mr Samuel Edwards (Crowley & Co.), Mr W. Mather (Nicholoson & Son), Mr Harrison (Leigh), Mr Woodroffe (Rugeley), Mr Segar (Hornsby & Sons), Mt Barlord, Mr Waide (Leeds), Mr J. D. Sims (Ipswich), Mr Holden (Leigh), Mr Hattersley (Aylesbury Dairy Co.). Mr Thomas Smith (factor on Cluny estates), Mr R. Macdonald (factor on Ailsa estates), Mr C. Anderson, of N.B. Agriculturist. Following the usual loyal toasts, the Chairman (Mr W. Anderson) proposed “The Scottish Agricultural Engineers’ Association”. He alluded to the fact that he felt popular pleasure in giving this toast, as he had been connected with the Association from its formation, twenty years ago, and during that time he had attended the shows of the Highland and Agricultural Society without a break. He rejoiced to say that the Association had done good work, and he looked forward to greater achievements in the future. The progress and improvement in machinery had been marvelous, and he would take the opportunity of reminding the members that special interest attached to their visit this year to Forfarshire, which was the cradle of that most valuable invention in agricultural machinery – the reaping machine. After a few remarks as to the use that agricultural journalism has rendered to manufacturers of machinery, he threw out the suggestion which, he trusted, would be well received by the members of the press, that the trade in Scotland should have a journal specially devoted to their interests. He felt sure that implement makers would willingly support a monthly periodical which would be exclusively confined to the discussion of matters in which they were interested. In proposing the toast of their Association, he would couple it with the name of Mr McLeod.
Mr Mcleod, in replying, said he did not think he merited the honour of responding to this toast, and presumed that it fell to him to do so merely from his position as croupier. He was always glad to meet so many good friends from all parts of the country; and it always gave him pleasure to be present on these occasions. He then briefly touched on the work of the Association, and took the opportunity of informing the uninitiated that their affairs were continuing to prosper.
Provost Marshall, of Maybole, proposed, “The English Agricultural Engineers’ Association”. He humorously alluded to the respective merits of English and Scotch makers, and rejoiced that they all met together on such occasions in a friendly and brotherly spirit. Mr Samuel Edwards, of John Crowley & Co., briefly replied on behalf of the English manufacturers. Mr William Wallace, of Glasgow, proposed the important toast of the “Highland” and other Societies”. He strongly deprecated the site which the Society had selected for this year’s show, and trusted their Association would represent the matter to the Society in a forcible manner. He then pointed out the large field open to such a Society as the highland in furthering plans for benefitting the condition of the agricultural labourer, especially in the direction of having proper accommodation for labourers with large families. He coupled with the toast the name of Mr Ranald Macdonald, factor on the Cluny estates, who replied at considerable length, giving interesting details as to the position of the crofters whose families at one time supplied many agricultural labourers for the lowlands. Mr Woodroffe of Rugeley, in a few witty remarks, proposed “The Ladies”, to which Mr Sims, of Ipswich, replied.
Mr Du Pont, of the firm of Walter A. Wood, in a highly laudatory manner, proposed “The Press”, and pointed out the benefits that such Associations as the Scottish Agricultural Engineers derived from skillfully conducted agricultural journals. Mr C. Anderson, of Messrs C. and R. Anderson, proprietors of the N.B. Agriculturist, briefly returned thanks for the very flattering remarks that had been made, and trusted that in the future they would continue to merit the good opinion they had held in the past. At intervals throughout the evening Messrs Jones, Marshall, Dupont, Edwards &c, favoured the company with some admirable popular songs and the singing of “Auld lang Syne: concluded a very enjoyable meeting.”
The 1970s saw a number of major industrial strikes in Britain. These included Ford.
The Ford strikes of 1973 and 1975 had an impact on the supply of tractors in Midlothian and other parts of Scotland. One the tractor dealers reported the impact on their business in each of these years in their annual accounts which are now in the National Archives of Scotland.
For 1973, they wrote: “During the first half of 1973 trading was very good, but following the Ford plant shut-down for three weeks holiday, and the Ford strike for 5 weeks immediately after, coupled with the strikes at Girling and Lucas factories, the supply of vehicles and spare parts from the factory were cut by approximately 50% with the result that trading in the latter part of the year was not as anticipated.“
In 1975 they wrote” “Following the annual shut down at Ford Motor Co. in August, the supply of new Ford vehicles virtually dried up due to strikes and industrial disputes at the various Ford plants, the result of which was no specific allocation of cars being made to dealerships during the latter part of the year.”
What do you remember about the Ford strikes of the 1970s and their impact on tractor supply?
The photographs were taken at the Deeside Rally, August 2017.
In the mid nineteenth century the name of Crichton was associated with Lonmay, Aberdeenshire. The millwright business of James Crichton grew into a thriving and very successful business. By 1919 James Crichton took the step to re-locate his business to Strichen. He had a number of reasons for doing so. As the Aberdeen weekly journal noted in its columns in June that year:
“Mr James Crichton, millwright, who was compelled to shift the site of his engineering works from Lonmay to Strichen owing to the growth of the business, the lack of accommodation for workmen, and the lack of accommodation for workmen, and the necessity for the works being in a more central position, has now got the works in full swing. As a considerable number of men are employed, this new industry should add to the prosperity of the village”.
By 1919 his business was a well-known one. For the 1921 Highland Show, James advertised his business as a “well-known-maker”, also with “a large selection of the latest and most up-to-date threshers all in motion”. He had agents throughout Scotland, all of whom were well known implement and machine makers or machinery agents: Inverness (James Ferries & Co.), Perthshire and Forfarshire (Ford & Paterson, Broughty Ferry), Glasgow (P. & R. Fleming, 16 Graham Square), Linlithgow and surrounding district (A. Newlands & Sons, Ltd), and the Lothians (W. R. Storie, Kelso). By 1922, the business had a depot at 60 Princes Street, Perth; by 1924, it was located at Horse Cross, Perth.
The business incorporated in 1925 to become Crichton’s (Strichen) Ltd, Strichen, and Perth. However, this change was short-lived, as it was voluntarily wound up from 1927. However, by April 1928 James Crichton had established himself as “James Crichton, engineer, Glasgow Road, Perth”, a name and address that continued to be known until at least 1931.
There were further changes. From 1934 James Crichton appears at as a millwright and engineer in Turriff. In the following year he advertised himself as “James Crichton Turriff … threshing machinery the outcome of 70 years’ experience”. By 1948 the business was referred to as “James Crichton, millwright and engineer, Chapel Street Works, Turriff, Aberdeenshire”. It was to move premises, and by 1953 the works were known as “Station Street Works”. That connection with Perth was not, however, lost. In 1949 the business was looking for business premises in Perth. By that time it had a number of long-service employees, such as William Finnie.
James Crichton died in September 1952. The displenishing sale of the stock and plant at the Station Street Works was held on 17 and 18 March 1953, also marking the closing down of the business. But that was not the end of the business or its name.
William Finnie, who had been the works manager for the last ten years acquired the Station Works and permission to carry on business from these premises as a millwright and engineer under the firm name of “James Crichton”, as well as the right to manufacture and supply spares to “Crichton” threshers. By 1969 the company was advertising as “James Crichton, millwrights, bodybuilders and engineers, Turriff”. Next time you see a Crichton threshing mill, you will see a long-established part of the Aberdeenshire tradition of threshing mill making.
The photographs were taken at Davit Vintage Rally, September 2019.
In 1890 Ben Reid & Co., Aberdeen, opened a new premises in Aberdeen to enable it to grow its business and to undertake its work more efficiently and effectively. The North British Agriculturist sent one of its journalists to visit the new factory. It is worth quoting at length for the amount of information it provides on the company and its activities:
“We had the pleasure of recently inspecting the famous Bon Accord Implement Works of the Messrs Ben Reid & Co., Aberdeen. This well-known firm, whose enterprise and excellence of workmanship have made the Bon Accord implements known and highly prized not only in this country, but wherever there are crops to be sown and harvests to be reaped, has for many years consisted solely of two gentlemen-Mr William Anderson and Mr Robert Garvie. The former gentleman is invariably found at the head of the firm’s stand at every agricultural gathering of any consequence in the three kingdoms; while the latter is found with equal regularity at the head of that garrison of industry, where the implements are produced by which the conquests of the firm are year by year extended. Mr William Anderson is the beau ideal of the implement exhibitor, as he is fully equipped not only with the suaviter in modo, but also with the fortiter in re. His naturally genial disposition is mated with a robust confidence in the dignity of his calling, and the very important use which the implement maker renders to the agricultural community. He pushes the sale of his goods on the invulnerable principle of giving good value for a good price; and the cheap-jack who wants to beat down the price, and buy first-class implements at the current rate for scamped work, invariably gets short shrift at his hands. He has always stood boldly out for the exhibitors of implements receiving more generous recognition from the leading agricultural societies than they have hitherto had, and his efforts in this way have been rewarded with considerable success. It is not surprising, therefore, that even his keenest competitors in the same line of business should have united, as one man, to honour him by appointing him president of the Society of Scottish Engineers, a position which he has held for the last three years. His partner, Mr Garvie, is not so well known to the outside public, on account of his sticking so closely to the factory work; but by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance he is justly esteemed as a high-souled knight of labour, whose ‘scutcheon is graved with numerous honours won on the field of engineering science.
The praise occupied by this firm are splendidly equipped, though by no means so extensive as one would have expected considering the amount of manufactured goods which are turned out every year, and the quantity of timber that has to be stored in order to be thoroughly well dried and seasoned. This apparent deficiency of accommodation, however, is due to the fact that machinery specially designed and specially constructed is here used to a quite unusual extent for the manufacture of the reapers, seed drills, &c. Just as in the latest product of dairy science, the Instantaneous Butte Maker, the new milk us fed in at the one-end and butter-milk come out at the other, or, as in the case of the fabled pig-dressing machines in Chicago, where the pigs are put in at the one end, and the hams, sausages, and bristles done up into brushes come out at the other, so here the wood and steel are fed into the machines and come out, not finished reapers or mowers certainly, but parts which are executed with the nicest mathematical precision, and only require putting together to complete the Bon Accord product. Most of these manufacturing machines, whose use saves time and labour to such an extent, and also ensures that each and every part shall be the exact counterpart of another, have been conceived and produced in the brain of either Mr Anderson or Mr Garvie. The greatest care is taken to ensure that none but wood and steel or iron of the very best quality shall be fed into these manufacturing machines, which, automatically as it were, turn out all the separate parts of the machines produced at the Bon Accord Works. The Bon Accord reapers and mowers, seed drills, and broadcast sowing machines produced by this firm are too well and favourably known to require description outside the Dark Continent. So, too, is their sharpener for reaping-machine blades, which is now justly regarded as an indispensable requisite on every farm. Every scythesman knows how tiresome it is to cut with a blunted blade, but when there was only the old plan of using the file to fall back upon, the ploughman were only too apt, to forget that the cutting with a blunted reaper blade was heavy on the horses as upon the scythesman. By the way, in these days when everything must be brought up to date, it might be a good plan for some enterprising firm like that under notice to bring the Nineteenth Century Art up to date by depicting Old father Time with a self-binder and a chronometer, instead of such out of date appliances as a hook and an hour-glass.
In addition to the purely agricultural implements by which the firm has become so well known, a large business is also done at the Bon Accord works in the production of garden railings and gates. This branch of the business is also conducted in a most exhaustive way, and all kinds of railings and gates are produced, from the humble railing and wicket that encloses the garden of the cottage villa, up to the costly railing and gorgeous gates that form a fitting off-set for the mansion of the peer. So greatly has this part of the business at the Bon Accord works, that a skilled artist is constantly employed in producing and elaborating designs for such railings and gates.
The implement works of Messrs Reid & Co., are the only works of the kind in the Granite city. This is not surprising considering the standing which this firm have acquired in the implement trade. At the same time, the north-east of Scotland is far from being a preserve of theirs any more than the rest of the country is. Indeed, it is probable that their constituents are as numerous in any other part of Scotland as they are in Aberdeenshire, and their foreign trade is also a vast as well as a growing one. Altogether, it may be safely said, alike as regards the quantity and quality of the products turned out by this firm, and the unique position which the partners hold in the estimation of the agricultural public, the Bon Accord works are an institution of which the city of Bon Accord may be justly proud.”
An informative account on a great Aberdeen company!
In a number of posts we have looked at threshing machines that were housed at the farm steading. Portable threshing machines were also also popular in some districs of Scotland, as also England.
Henry Stephens, the well-known agricultural writer, wrote about the use of portable threshing machines. He makes an interesting comparison between the threshing system in Scotland and England. His account is worth quoting at length:
“The portable form of threshing-machines prevails in England. As a rule, there is no threshing-machine of any kind in English farm-steadings. The threshing is done by traveling machines owned by companies or individuals, who may have several machines at work in different parts of the country at one time. Several leading firms of implement-makers have given much attention to the manufacture of portable threshing-machines, and now the farmer has ample choice of machines of the highest efficiency. These portable threshing-machines are usually worked by steam traction-engines, which also draw them from one place to another. In some cases portable steam-engines are employed in working the machines, but then horses have to be used in taking the machine from farm to farm.
In a modern portable threshing machine, the operations of threshing, dressing, and bagging, all going on simultaneously. The machine is supposed to be working in the stackyard. The stacks of grain as they get filled have to be conveyed to the granary-but that is easily done. The disposal of the straw entails more labour. It is usually formed into a large stack at the rear of the threshing-machine, and the conveyance of the straw from the shakers to this stack is, in most cases, accomplished by means of elevators, which can be lengthened and raised in the pitch as the stack increases in height.
The number of persons required to work these portable threshing machines varies according to the operations performed and the speed of the machine. Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies, point out that the economy of threshing must depend in a great measure on the proper distribution of the hands employed, and state that the force, when straw-elevators are not used, should consist of eleven men and boys, to be engaged as follows: “One to feed the machine; two to untie and hand the sheaves to the feeder; two on the corn-stack to pitch the sheaves on to the stage of the threshing-machine; one to clear the straw away as it falls from the straw-shaker; two to stack the straw; one to clear away the chaff from underneath the machine, and occasionally to carry the chobs which fall from the chob-sprout up to the stage, to be threshed again; one to remove the sacks t the back of the machine as they are filled; and one to drive the engine. The feeder, on whim very much depends, should be an active man, and should have the control of the men stationed near the machine. He should endeavour to feed the drum as nearly as possible in a continuous stream, keeping the corn uniformly spread over the whole width. The two men or boys who untie the sheaves should stand on the stage of the threshing-machine, so that either is in a position to hand the feeder a sheaf with ease, but without obstructing the other. The men on the stack must keep the boys or men on the stage constantly and plentifully supplied with sheaves, which must be pitched on to the stage, so that the boys can reach them without leaving their position. The main who removes the straw from the end of the shaker should never allow it to accumulate so that it cannot fall freely. The man whose duty it is to clear away the chaff and cavings from underneath the machine must not allow these to accumulate so as to obstruct the free motion of the shoes; he must watch the basket under the chob-spout, and as soon as it is full, empty its contents on to the stage, in a convenient position for the feeder to sweep the same, a little at a time, into the drum to be threshed over again. The man who attends to the sacks must remove them before they get so full as to obstruct the free passage of the corn from the spouts, otherwise the clean corn may be thrown out at the screenings-spout.
When a large quantity is being threshed at one time, additional hands may be required to take away and stack the straw. It is better to cart the sheaves to the threshing-machine than to shift its position in the stackyard. The engine-driver, during threshing, should be as prompt as possible in attending to the signals for stopping and starting, and he should carefully attend to the bearings of the drum-spindle and other spindles of the threshing-machine.
Steam or oil-engines are fast taking the place of horse-power in working threshing machines. Where the supply is plentiful, water still holds its own, and will continue to do so, for it is the cheapest of all motors for the purpose. But the horse-wheel is gradually disappearing, and, for threshing purposes, the windmill may be said to have gone.
The steam engine, in its various forms is suitable for farm work. Steam power possesses two important advantages: it is always at command and can be completely controlled. By the use of steam the threshing may proceed continuously as long as may be desired; while, except in the rare cases in which the force of running water is sufficient to drive the mill-wheel, the threshing for the time ceases with emptying of the “mill-dam”. Experience has abundantly proved that threshing machines dependent on water derived chiefly from the drainage of the surface of the ground, frequently suffer from a short supply in autumn, and late in spring or early summer, thereby creating inconvenience for the want of straw in the end of autumn, and the want of seed or horse-corn in the end of spring. Wherever such casualties are likely to happen, it is better to adopt a steam-engine or oil-engine at once.
The other advantage is also important. Water or horse power cannot be so nicely governed as steam or oil, and, as a consequence with these powers, irregularities in feeding-in the grain or variations in the length of the straw are apt to make the motion of the corn-dressing appliances irregular, which, of course, causes imperfect dressing.”
What a great account! It would be interesting to note what were the districts in Scotland where the travelling mill was prevalent.
The photographs were taken at Farming Yesteryear, Scone, September 2017.
Who were the English companies that exhibited reapers at the Highland Show in the late 1850s until 1910?
There were 58 English exhibitors that displayed reapers at the Royal Highland Show from 1858 to 1910. A significant number of them exhibited at only one or two Shows and show districts. This gave them a local to a regional presence in Scotland. Some also attended the Show over a longer period, also visiting a number of show districts. Some 16 exhibitors attended more than 6 shows. One of them, R. Hornsby & Sons, Grantham, did so for 39 shows. Those exhibitors that exhibited in all 8 districts sought out and established a national presence in Scotland: they were manufacturers that had a national and international reputation for their reapers including H. Bamford & Sons, Uttoxeter, Brigham & Bickerton, Berwick on Tweed, Harrison, McGregor & Co., Leigh, Manchester, R. Hornsby & Sons, Grantham, and Picksley, Sims & Co., Leigh, Manchester and Samuelson & Co., Banbury.
The English exhibitors’ use of the show districts provides an insight into how they made their machines available in Scotland. While they had a distinct pattern of exhibition throughout them, it differs in many respects from the pattern used by the Scottish exhibitors and the ranking of the show districts set out by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. These differences can be attributed to a number of factors. The most important was the geography of the country and the distance of the show districts from the Scottish-English border. The Inverness Show District was the least frequently visited show district by the English exhibitors: it was located furthest from the Scottish-English border; it was also principally a stock rearing county and had the smallest implement department of all the Show Districts. The Stirling and Perth shows, located centrally in central Scotland, attracted an average number of English exhibitors. Even more accessible were the Edinburgh and Glasgow Show Districts, also the most successful ones, which also attracted the highest number of exhibits in the implement department, as also throughout the Show as a whole. The Edinburgh Show District had the largest number of English exhibitors of reapers, though the Glasgow Show District had the third highest.
The show districts adjoining the Scottish-English border – Kelso and Dumfries – each had large numbers of English exhibitors and were ranked second and fourth for the exhibition of reapers by English exhibitors, higher than those for the Scottish exhibitors of reapers, and those assigned by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. They were the most easily and readily accessible districts, as exhibitors located in the north of England had only a short distance to travel to exhibit their machines. Some of them also used the Show as part of their circuit of agricultural shows during the summer months, and did not make recourse to it in any other year: Andrew Thompson, Berwick on Tweed (1863), and Moffat & Robertson, Cornhill on Tweed (1880), only exhibited at the Kelso Show while William Trotter, Newcastle (1860), and Thomas Reay, Carlisle (1903), only exhibited at the Dumfries Show.
The English exhibitors obtained their reapers from a number of sources. More than half of them, including the largest and leading manufacturers, manufactured their own machines, while a further 4 also manufactured machines from a patent or another design. They also displayed machines from other English manufacturers, and as with the Scottish exhibitors that displayed machines from other Scottish manufacturers, their numbers were also small. That practice was also limited to the 1860s and 1870s, and by exhibitors in the north of England, of which five of them were from Berwick on Tweed, Carlisle and Liverpool, and for machines procured from a limited number of manufacturers. Only one exhibitor had a machine from a Scottish exhibitor: Brigham & Bickerton, Berwick on Tweed, displayed one from John Watson, Ayr, at the Kelso Show in 1872.
Despite the growing importance of American and Canadian machines, especially from the 1890s, only 16 English exhibitors displayed their machines. They did so for a small number of manufacturers, exhibiting their machines at a few shows exhibited American machines at only one show). The Canadian and American manufacturers were to pose a significant challenge to the English manufacturers. Only the English companies could compete with the American makers up to the 1880s, when they too were driven out of the market’. Their pattern of exhibition contrasts with the 76 Scottish exhibitors of these machines.
The photographs were taken at the Strathnairn Rally, September 2016.
The last time that steam ploughing was carried out in Perthshire was at the Morris Leslie vintage event at Balbeggie, Perthshire, at the weekend. Before that the county probably had not seen steam ploughing for at least a century. In Fife the contractor Sam Hird, originally from Kincardineshire, had purchased engines in 1925 and were amongst some of the last pairs in Scotland. Others were recorded in Ayrshire in 1925 for a couple of years. In East Lothian there continued to be some steam ploughing into the 1950s.
In Perthshire there was not a strong tradition of steam ploughing. Its practice can be traced back to the beneficial work of Lord Kinnaird of Rossie Priory who saw the benefit of it when it was becoming an economic proposition. He introduced it into his estates for the benefit of his tenants. The first engine he purchased was one in 1863 which was rebuilt three years later. He is also recorded as having purchased engines in 1872.
There were a small number of other farmers who worked with steam ploughing in the county: James Playfair of Coupar Angus in the early 1870s. That family was noted for its enterprise, and”business character”. There was also James Adamson of Blairgowre, in the mid 1860s.
The purchase of these engines and their arrival in the districts where they worked was noteworthy and attracted the attention of the local press. On 4 October 1872 the Dundee Courier noted that: “James Playfair esq of Isla Bank, having some time ago got one of the above machines from Messrs Fowler & Co, Leeds, it was on Tuesday for the first time put to work on a field in the Haughs. Being the first machine of the kind in this district, it attracted the attention of a goodly number of onlookers during the course of the day. The plough did its work very satisfactorily. The agriculturists who were present expressed themselves highly pleased with the quantity and quality of the work performed by the machine.”
Even in the early 1880s James Playfair continued to add to his steam ploughing tackle. He purchased a subsoiler which he could use for reclaiming land. In 1884 he purchased a grubber and an elevator from the recently defunct Kincardineshire Steam Ploughing Company Limited, the most successful steam ploughing company in Scotland.
While we do not know when Playfair’s tackle was sold, we do know that the last set of steam ploughing tackle in the county was sold in 1893. This was a set sold at a displenishing sale at Maggotland, adjoining Inchture Station, tenanted by Mr John Scott, formerly and for many years the manager to the late Lord Kinnaird. The Dundee courier records on 4 August 1893 that “a speciality of the sale was a set of steam tackle, specially adapted for carse farming. It was first offered in the sump, but the final offer being considered inadequate, it was decided to sell the material in lots, The engines brought from £27 to £31, and though the gearing, ploughs, harrows, grubbers &c were sold at low prices the lot brought more than double what was offered for them in the sump”.
Steam ploughing took a long time to return to Perthshire. The engine was Master, an 1918 John Fowler & Co (Leeds) Ltd engine, owned by the Cook family of Leven, Fife. This engine and its partner Mistress can be seen at the Scottish National Ploughing Championships at Bowhouse, St Monans, Fife, 26-27 October.
The photos were taken at the Morris Leslie vintage weekend, 20-21 September.
If you were a farmer in Perthshire or the surrounding counties from the 1930s to the early 1950s and you wanted to purchase a Caterpillar tractor you might have thought about purchasing one from L. O. Tractors Ltd of Perth.
L. O. Tractors of St Catherine’s Road, Perth, were already operating as an agricultural tractor distributor in 1938; they continued in business until at least the end of 1950. Local directories also record them in 1939 as an engineer, iron founder and millwright, as well as an agricultural tractor distributor. Their agencies included Caterpillar and John Deere.
In 1948 they exhibited at the Royal Highland Show a range of Caterpillar track type tractors, as well as equipment for them made by The Birtley Co. Ltd, Birtley, Co. Durham, tractors and agricultural machinery manufactured by Deere & Co., Moline, Illinois. They also sold the “Angus” single and double row potato diggers, also sold by Jack Olding & Co., Herts.
If you are looking through old issues of the North British Agriculturist and the Scottish Farmer, you might notice the distinct adverts of L. O. Tractors. The company was also one of the small number of advertisers in the Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. (http://archive.rhass.org.uk/…/transactions-of-rhass-…/610883) Powerful adverts to advertise powerful tractors!
American makers of harvesting machinery started to play an increasing role on the Scottish harvest field from the late 1860s. By the 1890s there were some large names present in the Scottish fields: W. A. Wood, New York, McCormick Harvesting Machine Co., Chicago, Plano Manufacturing Co. Chicago, Johnston Harvester Co., Batavia, New York, D. M. Osborne & Co., New York, Adriance, Platt & Co., New York, W. Deering & Co., Chicago. In the first decade of the twentieth century another name appeared: International Harvester Co.
Scottish makers of reapers and mowers started to sell American machines, usually binders, to augment or replace their own lines which were losing popularity. In the 1890s they included Thomas Brown & Sons, Duns, Auchinachie & Simpson, Keith, and Alexander Jack & Sons, Maybole. By the following decade they also included J. D. Allan & Sons, Dunkeld.
Some the Scottish makers had more than one dealership of American makers, sometimes changing over the years. Alexander Jack & Son, Maybole, had four between 1888 and 1910: Walter A. Wood (1888, 1891); Adriance, Platt & Co (1895, 1896, 1897); Deering Harvester Co., (1898, 1899, 1900); and McCormick (1901, 1902, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1910). The large maker and dealer A. & J. Main, Glasgow, had two between 1873 and 1910: Walter A. Wood (1873 to 1893) and William Deering & Co., Chicago, from 1894.
Some of the American companies had a small number of dealers. between 1897 and 1910 Adriance Platt & Co., had 8 dealers: they ranged from large businesses such as John Wallace & Sons, Graham Square, Glasgow in 1893-94 to small, localised ones, such as John Robertson, implement maker, Conon Bridge, Ross-shire in 1901. All were located in significant grain growing areas, or agricultural centres such as Errol, Stirling, Maybole, Lockerbie, Conon Bridge, Dundee, and Glasgow.
One of the more popular American companies was W. Deering & Co – Deering Harvester Co., Chicago. Between 1895 and 1910 it had 17 agents in Scotland. Perhaps the most important was A. & J. Main & Co., Ltd, Corn Exchange Buildings, Edinburgh, agent from 1894 to 1910. Andrew Pollock, Mauchline, was agent from at least 18897 to 1910. Alexander Jack & Son, Maybole, was agent from 1895 to 1900. A good number were agents for only short periods of time.
American makers of combine harvesters were to play an important role in the Scottish harvest field. They included Allis-Chalmers and McCormick. There are still a few of these “vintage” combines around. One of these is to be seen at the Strathnairn vintage rally, usually held at the end of September.
The photographs were taken at the Strathnairn Vinatge Rally, Daviot, September 2014.
Accounts of the Highland Show are helpful in describing in great detail the implements and machines that were available to the Scottish farmer in any particular year. Some of the older accounts were especially detailed. The national press carried extensive and detailed accounts. They were written by their agricultural correspondent who had a great deal of knowledge of agriculture and its implements and machines. They knew what was innovative, what developments had been made and what was of note for the Scottish farmer.
The following is an account of implements and machines at the Highland Show from the Scotsman in July 1875.
“The display of implements is the largest ever held under the auspices of the Society-the catalogues showing 2220 entries, as against 1344 at the last Glasgow show, 900 at Edinburgh in 1869, and 1161 at Inverness last year. Of novelties in agricultural machinery there are comparatively few; but many improvements are shown in the most important implements of husbandry, calculated to have an effect a saving in the wear and tear of horses, or to render the machines themselves more durable-both important matters, especially to the smaller class of farmers. A notable feature in the exhibition-and it is one which has been gradually but surely assuming large proportions-is the number, not only of American inventions for the saving of labour in the economy of the farm, but of other goods manufactured in America, and offered here at prices equally low with those of home construction. For a time this kind of competition was confined, for the most part, to reaping and mowing machinery, but now we find neatly and tastefully made haymakers, spades, turnip-slicers, &c, apparently of solid workmanship, offered at rates sometimes lower than those demanded by British manufacturers. On the present occasion, as in former shows, there are many articles exposed for inspection, and, we suppose, sale, which are connected with agriculture only in a remote degree. Such are the sausage-machines and sewing machines, the washing and golfering machines, and a score of other domestic knick-knacks, which command a large share of attention, especially from blooming country lasses and buxom matrons, expectant or actual mistresses of goodly “farm touns”. Fortunate exhibitors in the other sections of the show will no doubt find their account in making a selection from the elegant silver cups and medals displayed on the stand of Mr James Aitchison, Edinburgh, silversmith to the Society. The stand is an attractive one in every sense of the term, the valuable goods being disposed in ebony and gilt cases, with plate-glass fronts. The Auto-Pneumative Gas Machine Company exhibit a set of their apparatus for making gas. The machine consists of a cylinder, which is partly filled with the spirit called gasoline, distilled from mineral oil. In the interior is a pair of fanners, which draw in atmospheric air and thoroughly mix it with the vapour of the gasoline. The supply of the gas thus simply made being regulated by the consumption and by a system of weights which form the motive power in driving the fanners. The gas burns with great brilliancy, and has no offensive smell, and the apparatus, one would suppose, must prove a great boon in isolated farmhouses and mansions. Dobbie & Forbes, Glasgow, exhibit a series of new kitchen ranges; but of more interest to the bucolic mind are the very handy portable boilers for preparing and steaming feeding stuffs for cattle. These are built on light carriages, and can be run into stables and byres, thus effecting a great saving of labour at a time of the day when that will be most welcomed in a steading.
To the farmer now-adays artificial manures are an important matter for consideration, enabling him, as they do, to raise crops commensurate with the high rents demanded. Not the least important stand in the yard, therefore, to the enterprising agriculturalist, is that of W. & H. M. Goulding (Limited), Dublin and Cork. Here are displayed in neat cases specimens of bones in a variety of prepared forms, corn and grass manures, and superphosphate of lime, an element in the soil whose necessity for raising profitable crops is now being fully recognized. The raw materials from which these manures are manufactured are also shown; while specimens of agricultural produce grown with the assistance of the manures are tastefully arranged as a background to the cases. Among the latter samples are pease eight feet high from Dumbartonshire, wheat and oats six feet high from the Earl of Claremont’s farm at Castle Bellingham, Louth; mangolds from Lord James Butler’s farm at Drumcandra Castle; turnips from the Marquis of Bute’s home farm. A useful thing on all farms where so much iron-work is subjected to constant breakages is a handy forge; and the portable forges exhibited by Andrew Handyside & Co. (Limited), Glasgow and London, seem well adapted to casual work. The leading feature in the stand of Harrison, McGregor & Co., of Leigh, are the mowing and reaping machines. These show improvements in the shape of a malleable iron mowing shoe, with steel plate, which prevents wear in rough ground, and an arrangement for tipping the points of the fingers of the knife bar when these encounter stones. The same firm shows a large collection of chaff cutters and turnip slicers of neat and sound workmanship. James Henderson & Co., Glasgow, exhibit a large collection of waggonettes, landans, omnibuses, and broughams, fitted with patent spring balance and improved lever drags. Considering that by the recent heavy rains some crops must be considerably laid, farmers will examine with special interest an apparatus for lifting the corn to the reaping machines exhibited by Mr A. Hughes, Brampton Ash. This lifter being screwed on to the knife-bar and hung on a steel spring, raises the corn to the knife by means of steel pointed fingers. Glasgow may be considered the centre of an extensive dairy district; and accordingly the yard would have been incomplete without an exhibition of dairy utensils. Mr A. Jenkinson, Princes’ Street, Edinburgh, has, on one of the largest and most elegant stands in the yard, an assortment of tidy milk pans, coolers &c, in china and stone-ware. As a set off to these useful articles, he has arranged a series of handsome table decorations, in Minton, Worcester, Sevres, Chelsea, and Dresden china, comprising swans, cupids, and boats on mirror lakes.
But perhaps the most important part of the stand is that devoted to the exhibition of a new Scottish industry-the Valerie pottery made at Dunmore. This manufacture was established by the Earl of Dunmore on his estate about eighteen months ago, and during the past year a great advance has been made in the quality of the articles produced. In addition to the brown glazed ware which became so fashionable, they have succeeded in securing various fine tints of green and blue; while designs in the form of rustic baskets for flowers, tea sets for garden parties, &c, have been furnished by the Countess of Dunmore, who, with her noble husband, takes great interest in the pottery. Macnie & Baird, engineers, Stirling, exhibit, among other articles, a “feed water heater”, invented by Mr Robert Baird, which utilises the exhaust steam of an engine in heating the water up to 212 deg. Before it enters the boiler. The result, of course, would be a great economy in fuel. As regards extent of ground occupied, the stand of Francis Morton & Co. (Limited), Liverpool, is about the largest in the yard, and here are displayed specimens of the wire and bar fencing with which the name of that firm has been so largely identified. The novelties embrace an opening stile, consisting of two firm iron pillars, which, on touching a spring in the crown of one of them, fall apart so as to admit of the passage of one person at a time. Portable iron hay and corn barns deserve attention in this uncertain season, and so do corrugated iron tiles, for use on agricultural buildings where clay tiles are not made and slates are not to be had.
The principal new agricultural invention to be seen in the yard is Jurgenson’s weeder, exhibited by Ord & Maddison, Darlington. This machine is designed to destroy the weeds which grow amongst corn, such as the yellow mustard, which has proved so troublesome in some parts of the Lothians this year. It is just possible to destroy these weeds without injuring the crop, because the weeds arrive at maturity before the corn. Hitherto hand hoeing has been considered the only safe method. Mr Jurgenson’s invention consists of a horizontal cylindrical drum, hung upon two wheels much in the same way as a reaping-machine. Another new invention, exhibited by Penney & Co. (Limited), Lincoln, consists of an adjustable rotary corn-screen, with a metallic cleaner in lieu of a brush. Should this cleaner not bruise the grain, it can hardly fail to prove a great saving to farmers in dressing corn for the market or for seed. Mr John Richardson, Carlisle, has long been famous for his dressing appliances, and here he exhibits various patterns of improved winnowing and combined corn and seed-dressing machines. On the stand of John G. Rollins & Co., London, may be found an extensive assortment of American agricultural implements. A glance at these shows their extreme lightness combined with strength at all the wearing parts. The Hollingsorth horse rake, for instance, seems well worthy of notice. The machine has some twenty-five compound spring teeth, the upper parts of which play upon a spiral spring, thus preventing any strain on the machine when the teeth are caught upon a stone or stump. Then there are specimens of American hand rakes, hay and manure forks, and pumps of the most ingenious and simple construction. The thermometer churns afford a certain index to the dairymaid, in summer and winter, of the temperature of the milk to be churned, and guide her in adding to the outer casing cold or hot water, as the case may be, in order to bring the milk up to the proper degree of heat. Samuelson & Co., Banbury, have brought out a combined mower and reaper, specially adapted to the hilly land of Scotland, the improvement upon their old machine being a “leading wheel”, which bears the weight of the pole, and thus relieves the horses in going uphill. Mr Wm Sinton, Jedburgh, exhibits a large variety of his now well-known barrel churns, and Thomas & Taylor, Manchester, a collection of hexagon-eccentric churns.
In the section of “implements partly under cover” there are some fourteen stands, for the most part containing articles of a lighter description. Perhaps the most imposing display, numerically speaking, is that of Thomas Gibson & Son, Edinburgh. Variety is one of the chief features of this stand, which shows plain and ornamental wirework, iron gates of all descriptions, horse rakes and garden appurtenances. Those interested in matters pertaining to the laundry will find something attractive in the stand of Mr William McFarlane, Cambridge Street, Glasgow. Here are wringing machines, with improvements for preventing injury to the clothes; while mangles presenting some new features are also shown. The well-known northern makers, G. W, Murray & Company, Banff, have, as usual, a large display of ploughs and reaping machines. In addition to these, their stand presents a novelty in the shape of threshers which can either be worked by horse power or by hand, and which seem likely to prove useful machines. This firm also has a new chain pump for horse power, which appears capable of advantageously lifting large quantities of water, and which we believe is being successfully used on the Nile for irrigation purposes. It is in chaff cutters that Messrs Picksley, Sims & Co (limited), Lancashire, present a novelty. These machines differ from the kind now generally in use, in so far as they are fitted with patent recessed side plates and solid rollers, and double-cut and reverse-motion gear, while the feed is regulated by springs instead of lever weights. A well contrived double-action hay-making machine is shown by Mr Adam L. Pringle, Edinburgh and Kelso. This is the patent of Joseph le Butt, and comprises a slow and fast motion, so that it can be used for long and short grass, while it can also be lowered for the spreading of dung. Richmond & Chandler, Salford, Manchester, have a number of chaff-cutters, varying in size from the small hand machine to such as can be driven by horse or steam power. Articles for the culinary department abound in the collection of Smith & Wellstood, Glasgow, London and Dublin, along with farm boilers and kitchen ranges of the most recent construction. This firm exhibits a new patent pressure water heater capable of being connected to the kitchen range, or other boiler, for supplying warm water throughout the house for bath and other purposes.
As might be expected, the “implements not under cover” occupy a large proportion of the ground. At the stand occupied by Richard Bickerton & Sons, Berwick on Tweed, several reapers and mowers, with some features of novelty, are to be found. There is also a machine for the thinning of double drills or turnips. It is worked by a small wheel to which are attached a couple of suspended arms, intended to move from left to right across the top of the drills. A conspicuous display of fire-clay goods and drain-pipes is exhibited by Robert Brown & Son, Paisley, besides a variety of other implements, Mr James P. Cathcart, Ayr and Glasgow, shows a one-horse combined mower and reaper, made by W. A. Wood. This machine, which gained the first prize at Renfrew a few days ago, is of strong and simple construction, and seems well adapted for small farms. Prominent in the collection of Mr Willaim Craig, Old Meldrum, is a self-side delivery reaper, the invention of Mr G. T. Yull. The main wheel of the machine shows no gearing or spur wheel; the bevel pinion is separately placed on the inside, driving the rakes direct, as well as securing a horizontal throw of the knife, and avoiding all jolting and knocking, while the ears are prevented from being cut off, and the height is regulated by the driver. Something like a couple of hundred garden and farm appliances, all of them more or less known, are exhibited by P. & R. Fleming & Co., Argyll Street, Glasgow. The two firms of George Gray & Co., and John Gray & Co., Uddingston, are, as usual, large exhibitors of ploughs, grubbers, harrows &c. Attention is invited by Haughton & Thompson, Carlisle, to several improvements on their mowers, reapers, and rakes. Mr Charles hay, North Merchiston House, Edinburgh, shows a potato planter and digger, which are both new and ingenious in design. In the stand adjoining, Richard Hornby & Sons, Ironworks, Grantham, have a number of self-raking reaping machines, ploughs &c. Mr Wm Hume, Buchanan Street, Glasgow, occupies a considerable space with iron and wire fencing, ornamental iron fencing, &c. Mr Thomas Hunter, Maybole, shows numerous double-drill turnip thinning machines, potato digger, land rollers, turnip cleaners, brake and zig zag harrows &c in addition to a new turnip-lifting machine, which appears to possess some advantages over the ordinary implement.
In the collection of Alex Jack & Sons, Maybole, is a self-acting side-delivery reaper, which has been improved by making the platform more convenient for traveling. The stand presents a variety of useful agricultural implements, amongst which figure largely the “Buckeye” combined reaping and mowing machine, and Messr Jack also show a rather nice cart, spring van, and light lorry. Murray & Nicholson, Stirling, come next with a somewhat similar collection, embracing, among other things, an improvement which has bee made on their “Waverley” reaper and mower. Mr William Lillie, Tweedmouth, Berick on Tweed, shows two improved “Imperial” reaping and mowing machines, and a horse grubber and hay collector, as also a newly-invented “disc” harrow and a “disc” turnip sower. Logan & Elder, Tweedside Implement Works, Berwick on Tweed, exhibit their reaping and mowing machines with patent spring washers for taking shake off nuts; also a very good double drill turnip and mangold sower, which differs from most other machines of the kind in the mode of delivering the seed, and is adapted to sow eight different quantities of turnip seed, besides rape, mangold, and carrots. Geo McCartney & Co., Cumnock, have a neat double-sole cheese press, with screw and screw wheels, a lever with index, and a friction strap to prevent breakage. On the next stand we encounter a new portable automatic hay drier, invented and made by Mr W. A. Gibbs, and shown by Mr henry Macdowall, yr, of Garthland, Lochwinnoch. The hay is placed in the opposite end of the drier in a furnace for heating air, which is carried up through a duct in the centre. The hay is placed at the opposite end from the furnace, and by means of forks and an oscilating floor it moves along the whole length of the dryer, receiving in its way the benefit of the heated air which is allowed to escape from the central duct. The dryer can be worked either by an engine or a pair of horses. A large variety of useful and ornamental fencing, in wire, is shown by A. & J. Main & Co., Scott Street. Port Dundas, Glasgow, as also a self-delivery reaper, horse rakes, double furrow plough, corn mill, &c. Robert Mitchell & Son, Peterhead, exhibit a turnip drill-sowing machine, which possesses the advantage that it distributes an equal quantity of seed, whether the boxes be full or nearly empty. It is of slight construction, and suitable for light land. The same firm also show a newly invented corn drill, eight feet wide, which sows with four, six, and eight inches between the rows. Mr Jas Pattison, Darnley Mill, Hurlet, Glasgow, has two simple but ingenious articles, the one a sleigh for collecting, building, carrying, and discharging ricks of hay, and the other a wagon to carry and deliver loads of hay without the use of the fork or the necessity of upsetting the load.
Robert Peddie & Co., Tynecastle Ironworks, Edinburgh, have a miscellaneous collection, including park and field gates and pillars in wrought iron, harrows, ploughs, turnip-sowers &c; while T. Pirie & Co., Kinmundy, Longside, Aberdeenshire, show some novelties in self-delivery reaping machines and mowers and reapers; also a three-horse grubber, with twisted cast-steel breasts to prevent choking, and an adjustable turnip thinner. Ben Reid & Co., Bon Accord Works, Aberdeen, in a large collection of articles, exhibit the well-known “Kirby” mowing and reaping machine, comprising the Kirby self-delivery combined machine. These machines are peculiar in construction, being formed of two independent frames, one of which acts upon the other freely, giving an easy motion over rough ground. Mr John Scoular, Crook Implement Works, Stirling, has several brake harrows, the advantage of which consists in their diagonal shape, each time cutting its own rut. Geo. Sellar & Son, Huntly, have a goodly assortment of useful implements, including a rather ingenious five-furrow stripper, which saves both time and labour, and which gained a medal at the Aberdeen Show on Thursday last. Eglinton Engine Works, Glasgow, send a number of cart, platform, and sack weighing machines; while Somerville & Morrison, exhibit waterproof covers, roof felting, packing tarpaulin, &c. P. & W. McLellan, Glasgow, show three improved rock drilling machines, which appear to be not only portable but ingenious and useful; and Mr Marsden, Soho Foundry, Leeds, exhibits two of Blake Marsden’s stone-breakers, mounted on wheels, besides a double-action lever machine for hand power. Robey & Co., Lincoln, show several engines, noticeably amongst which is a twelve horse power double cylinder horizontal engine and locomotive boiler combined, with an enlarged fire box for burning sawdust and refuse wood.”
