Out and about – Page 59 – Scottish agricultural implement makers

A Banff name – Watson Bros.

If you were in the town of Banff in 1898 you would have been aware of a change in ownership in the Banff Foundry. It had been under the ownership of G. W. Murray & Co., a famous firm of implement and machine makers that was known not only throughout the north-east, throughout Scotland, Britain, and also the world. With the death of George, the business came to an end. A new business came to occupy the Foundry: that of Watson Brothers. In its first year of business it referred to itself as “Watson Brothers (successors to G. W. Murray & Co.) Banff Foundry, Banff”.

Watson Brothers were to occupy the Banff Foundry until 1924 when William Watson died. The brothers were renowned for their reapers, turnip drills, field rollers and harrows from at least 1905 until 1924. They traded as agricultural implement makers, iron founders, iron merchants, marine engineers, mechanical engineers and pump makers. The brothers also sold a wide range of other manufactures. In 1909 the Town Council of Aberchirder purchased a road roller and scraper from them.

In 1909 the brothers were reported in the local Aberdeen Daily Journal to have “had a rather busy spring, and the demand fro their standard implements, such as broadcast grain sowers, rollers, turnip drills, and horse hoes has been well maintained. In regard to harvest machinery the demand for the Milwaukee blunders was in excess of all previous years, while the Victory, which has been fitted with an improved cutting bar, has given an excellent account of itself. The export department has been particularly busy, the shipments to Rhodesia and Africa generally having been almost double those of the previous year. The iron punching nd shearing machines for the use of small engineers have been going off in quite large numbers. During the year six new drifters were fitted out with engines, and although there has been a lull in this department, a good few orders have been booked, the work to be carried out during the forthcoming spring. The firm’s moulding shop has been reproofed, and the fitting shop has been extended to the full extent of the available ground, which will permit of traction engines being taken under cover. A travelling crane is another of the improvements which is to be carried out at the works, and will enable heavy castings to be moved about with ease.” (30 December 1909)

Watson Brothers – an eminent name in reapers, turnip drills, field rollers and harrows!

The photographs of the chaff cutter were taken at the Highland Folk Museum, Newtonmore, May 2016.

Tractors for the Highlands!

If you were a farmer or a crofter in the Highlands looking to buy a tractor in 1956, you would probably have looked to buy a second-hand one.

New tractor dealerships were scarce in the Highlands in that year. Mackay’s Garage & Agricultural Co. Ltd, Central Garage, Dingwall, with branches at Thurso and Dornoch, was one such one. There was also James Ferries & Co. Ltd, Inverness.

You would have had to travel further afield, also depending on the make you were looking for. Into Aberdeen, there was Barclay, Ross & Hutchison, Ltd, with branches at Forfar and Perth, Harper Motor Co Ltd, William Elrick (Aberdeen) Ltd, and Geo. Sellar & Son Ltd.

In Aberdeenshire, there was Shearer Bros Ltd, Turriff, Commercial Garage, Turriff, James Duncan, Maud, W. & R. Murray, Alford and Cumming & Dempster, Banchory. In the north-east there was also Neil Ross (Elgin) Ltd, Elgin, and Elgin Central Engineers Ltd, Elgin.

Further south in Perthshire, there was Caledonian Tractor & Equipment Co. Ltd, Lairwell, and John Harper & Sons (Blairgowrie) Ltd, Blairgowrie, and Jack Olding & Co. (Scotland) Ltd, Coupar Angus.

You could have gone much further afield, but there was plenty of choice in the rich agricultural lands from Aberdeenshire to Perthshire.

The photographs were taken at the Highland Folk Museum Vintage Day, May 2016.

An Inverness name – Duncan Ross

If you were a farmer in the Inverness district until the mid 1920s you would have known the name of Duncan Ross, first associated with Academy Street in the 1870s and then Baron Taylor’s Lane, from at least 1889.

Duncan started his business in his own name by 1869. By 1899 it had become Duncan Ross & Co. His business changed over the years. In 1869 he was an ironmonger, and a few years later in 1873 an agricultural merchant, a term also noted in 1903. He was recorded as an agricultural factor in 1876. By 1889 he was making a number of implements and machines. From the 1890s he is recorded variously as an agricultural implement agent, agricultural implement maker, agricultural merchant, corn merchant, grain, hay and general merchant, machinery merchant, and seed merchant. Duncan was also a farmer at Hilton Farm, Inverness-shire. Quite a range of activities!

By 1889 Duncan had an extensive business. A local directory records him as “Duncan Ross & Co., agricultural factors and general commission merchants, inventors and patentees of farm implements and wire-fencing, New Buildings, Baron Taylor’s Lane; stores, Dempster Gardens. Every requisite for the estate, farmer, forester, keeper and gardener supplied.”

Duncan’s implements included a new or improved turnip topping and tailing machine, patented in December 1875. He exhibited at the Highland Show in Aberdeen in 1876 and Edinburgh in 1877. By 1877 it was described as “his improved self-adjusting turnip topping and tailing machine for single and double drills.” It was also sold by other implement makers such as Craig & Clark, Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire. It had won a minor silver medal from the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland in 1876.

An important aspect of Duncan’s business was the selling of implements and machines from leading makers to the highland farmer. In 1911 he stocked a range of them from makers in Scotland, England as well as internationally. They included A. & J. Main & Co. Ltd, Edinburgh, International harvester Co., London, William Reid & Leys, Aberdeen, Thomas Corbett, Shrewsbury, Follows & Bate Ltd, Manchester, and George Sellar & Sons, Huntly.

The company was disposed of in 1923. It was owned by Simon Mackay who traded as Duncan Ross & Company, agricultural merchants, Inverness.

If you see the name Duncan Ross, you will know that he was an important figure in the making and selling of implements and machines to farmers in the Highlands.

The photographs were taken at the Highland Folk Museum, Newtonmore, May 2016.

The Hunter Hoe

In the days of horse power one of the most well-known implements in Scottish agriculture was the Hunter hoe for cleaning drills, manufactured by Thomas Hunter & Sons, Maybole.

Thomas Hunter & Sons, Maybole, was one of the celebrated and well-renowned Scottish agricultural implement makers. In 1861 Thomas Hunter was a smith at Maybole. His business developed and flourished and by 1883 his address was given as the “Implement Works, Maybole”. He was joined in business by his sons by 1895. In 1905 the business was located in Alloway Road: the “Alloway Road Implement Works”. The business became a limited company by guarantee in 1920: Thomas Hunter & Sons Ltd. That company was short-lived, becoming Thomas Hunter & Sons (Maybole) Ltd in 1924; it was wound up in late 1927. By 1924 the proprietors were Alex Jack & Sons Ltd, a rival firm, and also another well-known implement and machine maker.

Thomas Hunter making its turnip drills, ploughs, harrows, mowers, reapers, turnip thinners in 1883. By 1890 his manufactures included turnip drill and thinners, ploughs, harrows, mowers and reapers. They were summed up as “drills and cultivating tools” in 1909.

Thomas was an award-winning implement maker from an early date. In 1873 he won a silver medal at the Highland Show for two patent turnip thinners and in 1875 a minor silver medal for his collection. At the Royal Agricultural Society of England meeting in 1870 he was awarded a highly commended for Dickson’s patent double drill turnip cleaner.

Thomas was a regular exhibitor at the Highland Show from 1864 onwards, quickly establishing a name for himself throughout the country as he visited all of the eight show districts. In 1903 he exhibited a wide range of implements including an improved self-acting double drill revolving turnip thinner (£12), improved self-acting single drill turnip thinning machine for hilly land (£6), an improved combined scarifier and turnip thinner, double drill (£9), a drill scarifier for cleaning all kinds of green crop, a turnip topping and tailing machine, double drill (£9), a combined mangold and turnip drill (£6 10s), improved drill plough with marker (£4 15s), consolidating land roller, with lubricating grease boxes (£11 10s), improved tennant grubber, on wheels (£7 10s), large field grubber, improved leverage (£8 10s), set Dickson’s patent double drill root cleaners, heavy (£3 10s), set saddle drill harrows (£2 5s), set zigzag harrows, 9 1/2 feet light (£3 5s), improved drill grubber, with ridging body, light (£3 15s).

Hunter – a name first and foremost for cultivating implements!

The photographs of the Hunter hoe were taken at the Scottish National Tractor Show, Lanark, September 2015.

Clark & Sutherland, an Aberdeenshire name in threshing mills and engineering

Clark & Sutherland of Smiddy Brae Works, Kingswells, Aberdeenshire, was established in 1947. In 1955 it described itself as millwrights and engineers, cartwrights and bodybuilders. In trade directories in that year the company was classified as agricultural engineers, machinery and equipment manufacturers, as well as threshing machine manufacturers. By 1975 it carried on as millwrights and engineers, cartwrights and bodybuilders, coach painters and signwriters.

The company was an active promoter of its manufactures, exhibiting them at the Highland Show from 1951, as well as advertising them in the Farming News and the Scottish Farmer.

The company has developed over the years. An important change in the business was the dissolution of the partnership of Clark & Sutherland in 1975 when one of the partners, Alfred Clark, retired. The remaining partners were William Sutherland and Peter John Wilson. It later became a company limited by guarantee.

Today it trades as Clark & Sutherland Ltd from Keith, Aberdeenshire.(http://clarkandsutherland.co.uk/about-us)

The photographs of Clark & Sutherland threshing machine and name plate were taken at the B.A. Vintage Country Fair, May 2016.

Distributing manure

One of the big names in manure distributors at the turn of the twentieth century was J. & R. Wallace Ltd, The Foundry, Castle Douglas. It had won the first prize of the ‘great Newcastle trials of the RASE’ (Royal Agricultural Society of England). This was quite an accolade as few Scottish implement and machine makers won prizes at the RASE trials.

If you wanted to purchase a manure distributor or sower you could have chosen one from a number of Scottish companies: Thomas Sherriff & Co., East Barns, James Gordon, Castle Douglas, Thomas Hunter & Sons, Maybole, John Wallace & Sons, Glasgow, Robert Wallace & Son, Whittlets, Ben Reid & Co., Aberdeen, and Robert G. Garvie, Aberdeen.

In 1912 Thomas Sherriff & Co. had a range. One was for drill or broadcast at a cost of £15. Another was attachable to plough with wheel marker for £3. Ben Reid & Co., had a 10 foot wide one for artificial manures at a cost of £16, a manure distributor and land roller combined, also for £16, and a manure distributor and drill plough combined, for £16. In the north-east another maker, G. W. Murray, Banff Foundry, had a manure distributor for £22.

New designs continued. In 1922 George Henderson, Kelso, entered as a new implement at the Highland Show a “manure distributor with enclosed rustproof and self-lubricating driving gears”. It worked in the following way:

“Distribution is effected by means of a series of star-wheels, each driven by worm gearing, entirely enclosed in dustproof cases, and run continually in grease. This obviates the necessity of lubricating by hand in the usual way, the great chambers being filled with sufficient lubricant to serve for several seasons’ work. The fertilisers cannot come in contact with the driving mechanism, thus clogging and deterioration of same is thereby prevented.”

You won’t see many manure distributors around the vintage rallies. When you do, have a look at the similarities in designs over the years, but a also the improvements to give a better and more even spread.

The photographs of the J. & R. Wallace manure distributor were taken at the Strathnairn Vintage Rally, September 2014.

Raking the hay

In the days before pick-up balers, hay making involved moving the hay around the field a lot of times to allow it to dry out. Hay rakes or horse rakes played an important role in moving the hay around the field. By 1900 they were considered to be an important labour-saving device, reducing the amount of forking by hand that was required to move the hay around the field.

In 1908 Henry Stephens described their use: “The rake is started at the side of the field first cut, and emptied at intervals, regulated according to the carrying capacity of the rake and the weight of the crop. The rows of gathered hay this formed are called “windrows”. In these rows the hay lies loosely, and in this condition, with favourable weather, it dies speedily.” While he described the use of horse rakes in connection with the English method of haymaking, Scottish farmers could purchase and were using horse rakes.

In 1912 Scottish farmers could purchase one from a number of makers throughout Britain. They included Martin’s Cultivator Co. Ltd, A. Newlands & Sons, Linlithgow, John Doe Ltd, Errol, Massey Harris Ltd, Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies Ltd, H. W. Mathers & Sons, Barclay, Ross & Tough, Aberdeen, P. & R. Fleming & Co., Glasgow, and John Wallace & Sons Ltd, Glasgow.

Newlands of Linlithgow, for example, sold two types of horse rakes. The first one was a self-acting horse rake with 28 steel teeth and 50 inch wheels (for £13 10s). The second one was a manual horse rake with 28 steel teeth and 50 inch wheels (for £11 10s).

If you were looking to purchase a horse rake during the tractor era (by this time they were called hay rakes), you could also purchase one from a number of makers. In 1952 all the makers were located in England and Ireland. They included well known-names in hay-making equipment: Bamfords Ltd, Uttoxeter, A. C. Bamlet Ltd, Thirsk, Davey, Sleep & Co. Ltd, Plymouth, Dening and Co. (1937) Ltd, Chard, Harrison, McGregor & Guest Ltd, Leigh, W. N. Nicholson & Sons, Newark, P. J. Parameter & Sons Ltd, Tilbury, Phillip, Pierce & Co. Ltd, Wexford, and Wexford Engineering Co. Ltd, Wexford.

There are not too many horse rakes or hay rakes around the Scottish vintage machinery rally fields today. However, there are still a few lying around behind dyke backs. I’ve seen a few at the end of drive ways as a decorative ornament to symbolise farming practices of yesteryear. They were certainly an important element in the mechanisation of the hay harvest.

The photographs were taken at the Fife Vintage Agricultural Machinery Club Rally, June 2014, and at the Scottish National Tractor Show, September 2015.

A Kinross trailer maker

Robert Kay of Milnathort is a name familiar to farmers in Fife and Kinross-shire from the mid 1920s.

By 1949 Robert Kay was joined by his son, and his business became known as Robert Kay & Son, agricultural implement makers and body buildings. There were further changes: in 1955 the business was known as “Kay Trailers (Robert Kay & Son)”. The focus on Kay trailers continued. In 1966 the business was known as “Kay Trailers, Cockamy Works, Stirling Road, Milnathort”. It was an agricultural implement maker, motor body builder, smith and tractor trailer builder.

The business was a regular exhibitor to the Highland Show from 1949 onwards and a regular advertiser in the Farming News and Scottish farmer from the late 1950s.

The photographs of the Kay trailer were taken at the Fife Vintage Agricultural Machinery Club rally, June 2015.

Steam ploughing at B. A. Stores Vintage Country Fair

It isn’t often that there are demonstrations of steam ploughing in Scotland. As a working practice, it continued on farms until the early 1950s. The last working sets appear to have been in East Lothian.

The steam ploughing at B. A. Stores uses the double engine system , with an engine at either end of the field. It became synonymous with John Fowler & Co. (Leeds), Ltd, the most famous ploughing maker of all, though not the only one. The plough is pulled between the engines, going backwards and forwards. One set of ploughs work one way; the plough is tipped up, and the other set work back the other way.

The two engines are from different sets of engines. At the top of the field is “Master” from 1918. His partner engine, “Mistress”, still survives in preservation in Fife – they were working at the 2014 Scottish Ploughing Championships. At the bottom of the field is a smaller engine “Sam Hird”, of 1925, named after its owner, Samuel Hird, a contractor of steam ploughing who lived for many years at Sauchenshaws, before moving into Fife, at Kincaple. That engine played a central role in the early days of the Scottish traction preservation engine movement, and was “saved from the cutter” by the newly established Scottish Traction Engine Society in the early 1960s.

Tattie planting in the 1990s

The use of stone and clod separation at tattie planting time brought a revolution in the way that the tattie crop was planted and harvested. It also brought a major change in the machines used for planting and harvesting activities. Rotavators were required to make a fine seed bed and one that would easily pass through the separator. New bed openers (with fertiliser attachments) were required to open sufficient ground to form a bed that could then be used to form drills. And then planters had to work in the width made by the beds. And if you were separating, there was a new or a second hand harvester.

All of this new technology required more horse power. That led to the change face of tractors on the farm and in some cases to new additions to the fleet (or tractor or two).

Stone and clod separation was a significant investment for farmers. But it let other aspects of the work on the farm also become mechanised as well: bigger tractors for ploughing, seed bed preparation for vegetables and harvesting the potato and other crops. It also helped remove a few stones! We had our monumental stone dump.

The photographs of planting tatties at Pilmuir Farm, Balerno, Midlothian, in the 1990s.