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The Highland Show or the general show of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, the national agricultural society, was the most important agricultural show in the farming calendar in Scotland. It was the focal point for the agricultural community in the district where it was held, enabling its members and exhibitors from further afield to exhibit their livestock and agricultural implements and machines. Each year until 1960 the show traveled around the country to a different show district, each of which focused on the main agricultural regions. These districts included the Dumfries Show District comprising the counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright and Wigtown, or the Dumfries and Galloway region. In the Dumfries show district the show was always held around or close to the town of Dumfries, at the heart of that show district and at ‘the centre of a wide agricultural territory’.

The implement department developed at a fast rate at the Dumfries Show. For Wellwood H. Maxwell, looking back over eight shows at Dumfries between 1830 and 1895, ‘perhaps in no department of the Show has there been a greater change than in that of implements. In the show of 1845 there were but 143 exhibits of implements. In 1895 the number was 2265.’ The rapid expansion of that department was also seen through the development of the ‘motion yard’ where machines were seen at work or in motion. In 1895 one observer commented that it ‘has perhaps made the most conspicuous advance during the past few years’. By 1910 it included some 50 of the 220 stands in the implement yard.

While the number of exhibits in the implement department increased significantly from 1830 until 1910, they also fluctuated between shows. They included the increasing importance of the show for the agricultural community, and the development of and changes to Scottish agriculture, including the increased mechanization of Scottish agriculture, especially from the 1850s and 1860s onwards, the development of the Scottish agricultural implement and machinery industry in these two decades, and the increasing range of manufactures made. By the 1890s larger scale makers of agricultural implements and machines were emerging which also acted as agents to provide a comprehensive range for the farmer and agriculturist. Wider economic conditions also had an impact: the 1860s and 1870s were favourable decades for Scottish agriculture (reflected in the significant increase in the number of implements at the Dumfries show and the large number of exhibits at the 1878 show). After 1879 British agriculture sank into a long-running agricultural depression that continued throughout the 1880s and 1890s, though it was not as severely felt in Scotland (reflected in the significant fluctuations in the number of implements at the Dumfries show). During such adverse economic conditions implement and machine makers were more reluctant to exhibit at the show as there were fewer opportunities of sales. That period of depression was followed by a more favourable period from 1906 until the First World War (and a slight increase in the number of implements exhibited as well as exhibitors).

Wellwood H. Maxwell was clear about the importance of the implement department for the farmer and agriculturist. He saw it as being ‘by far and away the greatest emporium for the display and sale of all sorts of agricultural implements, and particularly of such implements as tend to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of the labour of the farm’. For the 1895 show, he commented on their ‘varied and interesting collection’, also observing that ‘practically everything in the implement and machine way wanted on the farm is to be seen on one or other of the different stands’. In 1903, one reporter writing in the North British Agriculturist considered that ‘practically all classes of farm machinery’ were ‘represented’ in it. Another noted that ‘specimens of all classes of machinery in use on the farm at the present day’ were found. In 1910, there were:

“Close on 2000 exhibits, representing practically every department of commerce catering for those engaged in the cultivation of land or in the breeding of live stock. The requirements of the great landowner, the gentleman farmer, the practical agriculturist, and the small holder are all kept in view, and the shedding in this section are filled with machinery, implements, seeds and their produce, artificial manures, feeding stuffs, veterinary preparations and appliances, and the numerous other articles, seemingly of endless variety, required in the equipment of the modern farm and estate.”

The exhibitors in the implement yard at the Dumfries Show included businesses from that show district. They provided a core of exhibitors at the Dumfries Show. There were always 21 or more of them at a show. They were present in similar numbers at consecutive shows, such as those of 1860, 1870 and 1878 and also 1886 and 1895. However, their role generally declined as the overall number of exhibitors to the show increased, especially after 1860; they declined significantly after 1878.

The exhibitors from the Dumfries show district exhibited at varying numbers of shows in that district. As the show was held every 8 or more years, most only exhibited at one or a small number of them. Before 1870 most of them only exhibited at one show. The first year when they started to exhibit at more than one was 1870. Though the number of these exhibitors fluctuated in following years, there was a tendency for the exhibitors at the 1895 and 1903 shows to also exhibit at later ones. However, only a small number exhibited at three or more shows: there were ten at three shows, four at four shows and four at five shows. The first exhibitors to exhibit at three shows did so in 1860 and continued until 1886. However, it was more usual for them to start at a later date: two started in 1870, another two in 1878, a further one in 1886; four started in 1895. Those that attended four shows first did so in 1878, though more usually from 1886; they continued to exhibit until 1910. Those at five shows exhibited from 1870 until 1903 or 1910.

The most extensive exhibitors who exhibited at three or more shows had a distinct character. They were long-established businesses, also trading for a number of generations. As is revealed in their business names, they included a number of family members, usually a father and son or sons, though also other ones, as in the partnership of J. & R. Wallace, Castle Douglas. They included some of the best-known businesses in the district. For example, ‘no one was better known in the implement yard shows for many years’ than Thomas Turnbull who ‘never failed to exhibit at the Dumfries local shows’.

Most of the exhibitors from the Dumfries show district only exhibited at the Highland Show when it was held in Dumfries. They included ones that attended three or more shows: Andrew Boyd, Gavin Callander, William Cotts & Sons, James Gordon, Wellwood Herries Maxwell, and John Tweedie. However, some of them also exhibited at the show when it was held in other show districts. These could be shows held consecutively before or after the Dumfries show. Three exhibitors exhibited in this way, though for two of them their first show was not in their home show district. All of these show districts were in the south of Scotland, in the show districts of Perth, Stirling and Edinburgh. A further 11 exhibitors also exhibited in other show districts. These were either neighbouring ones, such as Kelso, or Glasgow, or a nearby one, always located in southern and central Scotland, such as Edinburgh, Stirling or Perth.

The exhibition patterns of the exhibitors demonstrate how they saw their businesses and how they promoted them and their manufactures. Exhibitors that only attended the show in the Dumfries show district focused on these aspects within that geographical area, acting as local businesses with a sphere of influence in the Dumfries and Galloway region. Ones that did so in two show districts had a wider sphere of influence, usually to a neighbouring show district or a nearby one in southern or central Scotland, though this was not always the case. Caldow & McKinnel, Maxwelltown, exhibited in three show districts that extended from the most northern one to the most southern: Inverness, Dumfries and Kelso in 1856, 1860 and 1863. Those that exhibited in six show districts had a much wider sphere of influence throughout most of the country. Ones that exhibited in all of them were national businesses with a national influence and standing. However, this latter type of exhibitor did not emerge until the 1890s.

The exhibitors from the Dumfries show district included the most important agricultural implement and machine makers in that district. James Gordon established his business at Castle Douglas in 1865. In 1893 the North British Agriculturist could state that ‘from his long-established reputation for turning out first-class material, there is hardly a steading of any size in the Galloway district where some of “Gordon’s” implements are not to be found.’ Another of the leading makers was Thomas Turnbull, Dumfries. In 1869 one observer notes that ‘no one was better known amongst the farming community’ than him. By 1918 ‘specimens of his good, sound, and reliable workmanship may be seen all over the county’.

Some of them were renowned for making important innovations and developments in particular implements and machines that came to be more widely used throughout Scotland and further afield. Two were especially important in the development of the milking machine. John Gray, Stranraer, ‘an old-established’ maker in 1910, was considered to be ‘the original inventor of the milking machine’. J. & R. Wallace, Castle Douglas, was described as ‘pioneers in the invention of the milking machine’. Other machines were also important throughout Scotland. Thomas Turnbull’s ‘turntable broadcast sower’, of 1870 ‘will for all time be best associated with his name in the implement trade and amongst agriculturists’. One observer considered that:
There are few counties in Scotland where the sower is not at work. It is extensively used in Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Wigtownshire, Berwickshire, and Ayrshire. Large numbers have been sold into the north, south, and midlands of England, into Ireland, and Wales, and a goodly number shipped to Australia, New Zealand, South African and America.
Thomas Payne’s patent adjustable scythe was widely used, with 900 being ‘sent out’ in 1860 alone. Mr Rome’s sheep dipping machine was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and later at the Highland Show in 1854, 1860, 1876 and 1878.

Some of the exhibitors were also award-winning agricultural implement and machine makers. They gained their awards from a range of agricultural societies, usually at their annual shows. They included local societies, such as those at Torthorwald and Ruthwell, county societies including the Union Agricultural Society, as well as ones from further afield, in northern England, such as the East Cumberland Agricultural Society, and the national societies, the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland and the Royal Agricultural Society of England. William Cotts & Sons, established by 1860, won two premiums, a bronze medal and one soverign, in 1860 for its tools for cutting field drains from the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. James B. A. McKinnel was another award-winner from that society, of a medium silver medal for his collection and his patent turnip drills, in 1870. In that year Thomas Turnbull also won a medium silver medal for his collection at the Highland Show. He won a total of six medals for his turntable broadcast sower, invented in 1870. James Payne, ironmonger, Kirkcudbright, secured three awards for scythes, including his patent adjustable scythe, in 1857, 1859 and 1860. J. & R. Wallace, Castle Douglas, was awarded a silver medal for its milking machine by the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1905; it was one of a small number of Scottish implement and machine makers to receive a medal from that society. Its manure distributor also won the first prize of the ‘great Newcastle trials of the RASE’, and in 1910 ‘still continues to enjoy that measure of success which such a unique honour implies.’

The status of these local makers was reflected in their presence in the Dumfries showground. The most important ones commanded large stands. In 1895, A. Thomson, Dumfries, had ‘the largest stand of local firms engaged in the implement trade’, while James Gordon, Castle Douglas, ‘is a large exhibitor at the show’. In 1886 ‘Gordon & Coltart, of Castle Douglas and Dumfries, occupy a large space crowded with well-known implements’. Some of them also had comprehensive displays of implements and machines. In 1870 James B. A. McKinnel, Dumfries, exhibited ‘a great variety of farm implements in and out of motion’. In 1886 Gordon & Coltart had ‘a large and varied collection of useful implements’. At that same show, J. & R. Wallace, Castle Douglas, had ‘a goodly array of farm implements, including many of their own manufacture’. That maker had ‘a large and miscellaneous collection on view. In 1903 it had ‘an interesting assortment of machines’. In 1895, A. Thomson, Dumfries, ‘has a very extensive assortment of all kinds of implements’. In 1903 James Gordon ‘has on view a good collection of machines’. In 1910, John Gray, Stranraer, had ‘an excellent variety of cheese-making utensils for inspection’.

The next instalment will look at further aspects of the exhibition of implements and machines at the Highland Show in the Dumfries Show District.

The photographs were taken at the Dumfries vintage rally, 2014.

Many of us will be familiar with the travelling mills and threshing contracts that went around farms undertaking the threshing of the grain throughout the year. Some were small businesses with one threshing machine while others were much larger with multiple threshing machines and motive power to take them around the country.

So what tackle did a business need to operate a steam threshing business?

Evidence from displenishing sale notices in newspapers, whether agricultural or provincial, record to a great degree items that were to be sold or rouped. There are a number of sale notices for threshing mill contractors throughout Scotland throughout both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These can provide a significant amount of detail.
One contractor, Mangoes Ltd, a company registered in Glasgow, but operated at Niddrie Mill, Portobello, Midlothian, gave up business in 1944, a date when steam contracting was being replaced by other forms of power. The company was a significant sized one with 9 threshing machines and 9 traction engines. It also acted as a motor engineering business. Its displenishing notice in The Scotsman read:

“Highly important sake if steam haulage threshing and baling plant. High class garage equipment, machine tools, land and buildings, including 9 traction engines, 7 and 6HP, boilers insured at from 180 to 120lbs pressure; 9 portable threshing, dressing and finishing machines, by Ruston & Hornsby Ltd, Clayton & Shuttleworth Ltd, and Wm Foster & Co. Ltd, each with No. 4 Hornsby straw trusser; 6 Ruston self-feeding baling presses; Howard self-feeding baling press; 8 living vans, 4 on pneumatics; 20 cwt Morris commercial platform lorry; 10 HP Austin saloon; 7 in centre SA SS and SC hollow-spindle gap bed lathe, by Swift, 7 1/2 ft bed; 20 in Barnes pillar vertical drill; Fortuna power hack saw; DH grinder; 125 HP AC three-phase 50 period 440 volt mootor, revs 960, with starter; van Norman Valve Refacer, volts 250 AC; Black & Decker Vibro-Centric Universal Electric Valve Grinder; Buma Insert and Reseating Tool; Hutto Cylinder Grinder, 2 Black & Decker universal portable electric drills; H and LT battery charging boards; EPCO jack car lift combination; 3 hydraulic jacks; eight 6, 5 and 4 ton bottle jacks; Millennium garage jack; BEN belt driven air compressor, model A2, with receiver; Kismet air tank outfit; Whitworth, gas, BSF, BA screwing tackle in sets (almost new); expanding reamers; hand parallel and taper reamers, Ferodo brake tester, precision crankshaft truing tool; brake living riveter; Britoil Whitworth, SAE and American thread socket spanners, Gedore panel beating set; size 60 Cleco pneumatic riveting hammer (almost new); BOC combined oxyacetylene welding and cuttings et; set of 6 boiler stay taps, 7/8 in, 15-16 in, and 1 in (almost new); Vulcan boiler test pump, with connections; 120 lots valuable garage and engineering tools; 60 lots garage accessories and materials; 60 lots mill, trusser, baler and engine spares, motor, mill and engine oils; living van utensils, army blankets, &c. Also ground and buildings (unless previously sold privately), including garage, store, and large repair shed together with 4 petrol pumps and underground tanks. Area of ground about 1 acre. For further particulars see advertisements in Scotsman tomorrow.
At Niddrie Mill, Portobello, Midlothian, on Thursday, 27th July 1944. At 11am prompt.
Shirlaw, Allan & Co., auctioneers, Hamilton, have received instructions from Messrs Mangoes Ltd, 266 Gorbals Street, Glasgow, C5, who are giving up their threshing and motor engineering business, to see by auction, as above. On view 3 days prior to sale. Catalogues from auctioneers.”

Shirlaw, Allan & Co., was one of the most important auctioneers of industrial plant and sold a number of sets of threshing mills and steam ploughing tackle. Mangoes was using English tackle from the largest Enghlish makers rather than utilising that from Scottish makers such as Garvie of Aberdeen. It was matching the threshing machine with the traction engine, and it is likely that both were ordered at the same time.

I wonder where the traction engines and threshing mills went to.

The photographs of threshing were taken at the Bon-Accord Steam Fair, June 2017.

In 1950 the Scottish agricultural implement and machine makers continued to include a number of major names as well as new players. They included:

Adrolic Engineering Co. Ltd, Clober Works, Clober Road, Milngavie 
Balgownie Engineering & Dairy Utensil Supplies, 631-633 George Street, Aberdeen 
Barclay, Ross & Hutchison Ltd, 67 Green, Aberdeen 
Robert Begg & Sons, Sharon Street, Dalry
William Begg & Sons, plough specialists, Tarbolton, Mauchline
J. Bisset & Sons Ltd, Greenbank Works, Blairgowrie 
B. M. B. Ltd, Hawkhead Road, Paisley 
James Bowen & Sons Ltd, 45-49 Pitt Street, Edinburgh 
J. D. Bryan, Culthill Works, Murthly, Perthshire 
Caledonian Agricultural Co. Ltd, 33-41 Brown Street, Glasgow, and 76-78 Pitt Street, Edinburgh

Cobb of Inverurie, Union Works, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire
Thomas Cochran & Co., 148 Sword Street, Glasgow
James Crichton, millwright and engineer, Turriff, Aberdeenshire
Cruickshank & Co. Ltd, agricultural department, Denny Iron Works, Denny, Stirlingshire
James A. Cuthbertson Ltd, agricultural engineers, Biggar, Lanarkshire
The Dairy Supply Co. Ltd, 12 Grassmarket, Edinburgh
Dairyority Ltd, Old Fafley Mills, Duntocher, Dumbartonshire
William Dickie & Sons Ltd, Victoria Implement Works, East Kilbride
Fleming & Co. (Machinery), 31 Robertson street, Glasgow
P. & R. Fleming & Co., 10 Graham Square, Glasgow and Kelvin Works, Keith Street, Glasgow
J. R. Forrester & Co., 5-9 Weir Street, Paisley
R. G. Garvie & Sons, 2 Canal Road, Aberdeen
Gillies & Henderson Ltd, 59 Bread Street, Edinburgh
Eddie T. Y. Gray, Fairbank Works, Fetterangus, Mintlaw Station, Aberdeenshire
George Henderson Ltd, 18 Forth Street, Edinburgh and Kelso Foundry, Kelso
George Henderson, Catrine Road, Mauchline
Hutcheon (Turriff) Ltd, agricultural merchants, Turriff

Alexander Jack & Sons Ltd, Maybole
Robert Kay & Son, Stirling Road, Milnathort, Kinross
Alexander Laurie & Sons, trailer and motor body builders, Camelon, Falkirk
L. O. Tractors Ltd, Coupar Angus, Perthshire
James McGowan, Dechmont Welding & Engineering Works, Dalton, Cambuslang
Kenneth Mckenzie & Sons, agricultural engineers, Evanton, Ross-shire
Mackenzie & Moncur Ltd, Balcarres Street, Edinburgh
Marshall & Philp, 179 Union Street, Aberdeen
The Mather Dairy Utensils Co. Ltd, 51 Newall Terrace, Dumfries
John S. Millar & Son, 91 High Street, Annan
A. Newlands & Sons Ltd, agricultural engineers, Linlithgow
Thomas Nimmo, Braehead, Fauldhouse, West Lothian
A. & W. Pollock, Implement Works, Mauchline

Ramsay & Sons (Forfar) Ltd, 61 West High Street, Forfar, Angus
Allan W. Reid (Ayr) Ltd, Main Road, Whitletts, Ayr
William Reid & Leys, agricultural implement makers, 8 Hadden Street, Aberdeen
Reekie Engineering Co. Ltd, Lochlands Works, Arbroath
A. M. Russell Ltd, Sinton Works, Gorgie Road, Edinburgh
Ryeside Agricultural and Engineering Works, Dalry, Ayrshire
Alexander Scott (Agricultural Engineers) Ltd, Caledonian Implement Works, St Ninians, Stirling
A. & J. Scoular Ltd, Main Street, Thornhill, by Stirling
Scottish Agricultural Industries Ltd, Rosehall, Haddington
Scottish Aviation Ltd, Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire
Scottish Farm Implements Ltd, Crosshouse, Kilmarnock
Scottish Mechanical Light Industries Ltd, Scotmec Works, 42-44 Waggon Road, Ayr
George Sellar & Son Ltd, agricultural engineeers, 30 Great Northern Road, Kittybrewster, Aberdeen
Alexander Shanks & Sons Ltd, Dens Iron Works, Arbroath
Thomas Sinclair, engineer, Main street, Reston, Berwickshire
Thomas Sherriff & Co. Ltd, West Barns, Dunbar
Smith & Wellstood Ltd, Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire

Tullos Ltd, Aberdeen
James H. Steele Ltd, “Everything for the farm”, Harrison Road, Edinburgh
Stenson & Co., 200-204 Strathmartine Road, Dundee
Alexander Strang (Tractors) Ltd, Pipe Street, Portobello, Edinburgh
J. & R. Wallace Ltd, The Foundry, Castle Douglas
John Wallace & Sons Ltd, 34 Paton Street, Glasgow
John Wallace & Sons (Ayr), Towhead works, Smith Street, Ayr
Charles Weir Ltd, Townhead Works, Strathaven.

The photographs were taken at a number rallies throughout Scotland.

What were the implements used to sow the grain crop in 1811? 

Patrick Graham, writing for the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, provides a detailed account of the implements and practices to use them in Stirlingshire in 1811. It is worth a read:

“Harrows. In the harrows used in Stirlingshire, there is nothing very peculiar. They are sometimes of three beams or bulls, as they are here called, and sometimes of four. These are joined together with cross bars: in every beam there are five and sometimes six teeth, here are called tines. The teeth are of iron, and have a bevil forward at an angle of about 70 degrees, in order the more effectually to tear up the stiff ground and to root out the weeds. two harrows, drawn by two horses, are joined together in such a manner as that the course of the teeth may coincide as little as possible, and so as to pass over the ground in the most equable way.
A heavy harrow, called a break, is sometimes, and ought to be more generally used, for tearing out couch grass, and other obstinate weeds, in summer fallow, or for preparing the ground for barley. It is generally of two pieces and of a triangular form, the teeth very long and stout. The hinder part is furnished with two handles to raise or depress the teeth, as may be necessary. Great attention is required in the person who directs the handles to observe when the teeth os the break are filled with roots; and the horses must be stopped till they are removed. The same operation must be repeated at every turning of the harrow at the end of the rises. The roots are afterwards collected and burned; but, it may be observed, that a more advantageous practice would be to throw them into a heap in some corner of the ground; there the most noxious weeds will ferment, and, in the course of about two years, be converted into valuable manure. The process might be accelerated by the addition of a little lime in a caustic state. This process has actually fallen under the reporter’s notice in Dunbartonshire.

Rollers. The roller is an indispensable instrument in husbandry; and the heavier the roller, the more effectual it is. In no district is the use of the roller more necessary than in the Carses, or clay lands, of Stirlingshire; where, in dry springs, notwithstanding all the efforts of the plough and harrow, in pulverising the soil, the hard consolidated masses of clay, which deform the soil, can be reduced only by the roller. Before the introduction of the roller, it was common n the spring for all the men and women on the farm to be employed for several days in breaking the clods on clay soils, with wooden mallets, or mells, as they are called.
But perhaps the most important use of the roller, is the consolidation of the loose soil, which had either been naturally light, or which had been rendered friable and porous by the frosts, which, in this climate, often succeed the seed time. In such soils the seed, which has begun to send forth in fibres in quest of nourishment, finds nothing but open pores destitute of sap and warmth. By the operation of the roller, these pores are filled up; the roots of the vegetables are fixed in the soil; and the moisture necessary to vegetation is prevented from evaporating.

There is another application of the roller which merits attention. The seed time of 1808 was uncommonly early. Oats were sown in a considerable quantity in this district in February, and the whole oat seed was over early in march. Drought, accompanied by very severe frosts, succeeded for several weeks. In light dry field soils, especially in the western parts of Stirlingshire, the ground swelled and became open and porous. Whether from something peculiar to the season, or from the porousness of the soil, the oat-fields became infested with myriads of slid worms, which devoured the tender roots of the grain; rendered the whole acres unproductive; and threatened the ruin of the crop. It was remarked that this devastation was most fatal in grounds that were in the best condition, as in old lets which had been let out in grass. A field of about seven acres, occupied by the reporter in the immediate vicinity of the western district of Stirlingshire, was threatened with the total ion of the crop; so that, at one time, thoughts were entertained of ploughing it down, and sowing it a second time. By the use of the roller, this disagreeable operation was rendered unnecessary. The field was rolled twice; first, to obviate the effects of the frost in heaving up the soil; and then, after the young corn had got up, to destroy the slug worm. This second rolling was given after sunset, and before sunrise; as it was understood that it is during the night that these insects come forth from their lurking places and commit their depredations. In this operation, it is to be presumed that many of them were crushed to death; and what is perhaps of more importance, the earth was consolidated, and the pores, by which they had issued forth, were compressed and shut up. It is sufficient to say, that the operation was completely effectual, and that the ensuing crop was abundant.
Rollers of every kind are used in Stirlingshire. Some are of wood, but not the most approved; many are of stone; hollow rollers of cast iron are frequent. Rollers divided into two parts, and fluted rollers are not uncommon.

Drills. Drilling machines are generally used in sowing turnips and beans; and, by their means, the operation is no doubt performed with greater regularity and expedition, and the ground afterwards cleared of weeds with greater facility. Drill husbandry, however, has not been yet introduced into this county upon ne extensive scale. As far as the reporter haas found, it is only practised with regard to potatoes, turnips, and beans; and with respect to beans, he meets with a considerable difference of practice and opinion amongst the most intelligent agriculturists. In the Carses of Gargunnock, the drilling of beans is not found to answe, and is disused. Such, it appears, is the tenacity of the soil, that in horse-hoeing, large masses of compacted clay are torn up,and the crop materially injured. In the Carses to the east of Stirlingshire, and in the rich loans of Kilsyth, beans are generally drilled. The difference between the practice in the Carses of Gargunnock, and in the eastern parts of the county, arises probably from this, that the latter having been longer under the operations of agriculture, the soil has been rendered more friable than that of the former, which has been more lately brought under a proper mode of cultivation.”

The cultivating and sowing machinery were taken at the Fife Vintage Agricultural Machinery Rally, June, 2015.

Steam power played an important role in mechanising Scottish agriculture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, the national agricultural society, recognised the importance of steam power for the farmer and agriculturist, and encouraged its use and development though a range of means, including premiums, competitions and special committee investigations.

It was at the Highland Show that farmers and agriculturists got to see the latest developments in steam power for the farm. The first steam powered exhibit at the show was at the Glasgow Highland Show of 1850. In the “extra implement” class Clayton, Shuttleworth and Co., Lincoln, exhibited a seven horse power portable steam engine for thrashing and other purposes. This would set the purchaser back £209, and if they wanted it felted and cased they would pay a further £8 extra. Richard garrett and Son, Saxmundham, also exhibited a portable steam engine for agricultural purposes for £205.

While the early Highland Shows in the 180s generally had a small number of steam exhibits, their numbers increased significantly as steam power became more widely adopted on Scottish farms.
At the 1875 Highland Show held in Glasgow, there were eighteen exhibitors of steam powered engines and machinery. They included some of the major English makers whose names came to dominate the making of traction engines and portable steam engines – William Foster & Co., Wellington Foundry, Lincoln, John Fowler & Co., Steam Plough Works, Leeds and Edinburgh, Richard Hornsby & Sons, Spittlegate Iron Works, Grantham, Marshall, Sons & Co. Ltd, Britannia Iron Works, Gainsborough, and Robey & Co., Lincoln.

But there were also Scottish makers and exhibitors, some of whom were well-known at that time for their steam manufactures. One of them was Alexander Chaplin & Co., Cranstonhill Engine Works, Glasgow, with a portable winding engine. D. Gordon & Co., Newton Works, Ayr, had an eight horse power vertical engine and boiler combined, built on a strong cast-iron foundation, as well as a light two-horse thrashing machine and horse gear. Another from Ayrshire, J. & T. Young, Vulcan Foundry, Ayr, exhibited a five horse power improved horizontal tank steam engine and independent vertical boiler with cross tuber in fire box as well as a patent stone dressing machine. William Young, engineer, Ardrosssan, had a three horse power (nominal) vertical engine and boiler combined suitable for driving, thrashing, churning and other machinery.

Steam power continued to be an important feature of the showyard (especially the “machinery in motion” section) of the Highland Show for a number of following engines. However, from the 1880s steam power had to compete with new forms of power, including gas power, diesel power paraffin power, and electric power, and their increasing use on Scottish farms.

Traction engines continued to be exhibited at the Highland Show until the early 1930s. The last traction engine that John Fowler & Co. (Leeds) Ltd, Leeds, world-famed for its steam ploughing and cultivating engines and tackle, exhibited at the Show was in 1933. This was a 10hp (nominal) traction engine, single cylinder, on rubber-tyres wheels and fitted with front tank and Pickering governors, with a rotary plough, its gyro tiller, of 170hp. By this time a number of the traction engine makers were making diesel powered engines.

A number of traction engines for agricultural use can be seen around the rally fields today.

The photographs from the Bon Accord Steam Fair, 2015, Fife Vintage Rally, 2015, and B. A. Country Fair, 2016, illustrate aspects of agricultural steam from the past.

Obituaries are a good source of evidence for revealing the lives and interests of a number of the key Scottish agricultural implement makers. They reveal information such as how their careers developed, their training, and their relations with the local communities. 

Detailed obituaries of one of the members of the Sellar family of Huntly were published in a number of local newspapers. Those of Mr R. H. N. Sellar, Huntly, a well-known member of that important family of plough makers are worth quoting at length. 

A lengthy one was published in the Aberdeen daily journal of 31 July 1918:

“We deeply regret to announce the death of Mr R. H. N. Sellar, Vice-Convener of Aberdeenshire, and senior member of the well-known form of Messrs G. Sellar and Son, agricultural implement makers, Huntly and Alloa. The sad event took place at his residence, Battlehill, Huntly, at a quarter to ten o’clock last night. Mr Sellar had not been in robust health for some time, his illness taking a serious turn about three months ago, but after an operation in a nursing home in Glasgow he was able to be removed to Bridge of Allan. After a short residence there he returned north about five weeks ago. He was 58 years of age. Mr Sellar had lived a very active business and public life, and the sincerest sympathy of a very wide circle of friends will go out to his widow and family in their great sorrow.
Mr Robert Hunter Nicol Sellar was the eldest son of the late Mr George Sellar, and was born in Huntly in 1859; the other members of his father’s family still alive being-Miss Sellar, Polwood, Huntly; Mr James Sellar, solicitor, Penang; and Mr John Sellar, who is in business in South Africa. He was educated at the Huntly Parish School, under the late Rev John Macdonald, best known and still remembered as Dominie MacDonald, and afterwards at Aberdeen University. Returning to Huntly to join his father in business, he received a thorough training in all its departments.On the death of his father in 1884 he became head of the firm, and by his personal energy and enterprise extended its ramifications and added to its high reputation in the agricultural world. Implements, designed, patented, and manufactured by the firm, have long enjoyed a high reputation. Indeed, not only in the north, but in the home and colonial markets, and in many countries abroad. “Sellar, Huntly” is a name that stands everywhere for merit. Mr Sellar was also himself personally well known, having travelled extensively to further the interests of his business. About five years ago a considerable part of the Huntly establishment was transferred to Alloa, where a large business was successfully established. The war has brought with it many improvements in agricultural machinery, and the Sellar centres have been prominent in war-time features of the industry.
Besides attending closely to the demands of his business, Mr Sellar found time to play an active and acceptable part in public life, which, in certain spheres, was by no means confined to the district of Huntly and the county, but was of a national character. In his native town he served on the School Board for nearly 30 years, and sat for five years at the Town Council, being elected a Councillor and Baillie in 1898, and retiring in 1903 owing to the pressure of business. His deepest interest undoubtedly lay in the domain of education. Soon after his father’s death, he was elected a member of Huntly School Board, an on the retirement of the late Mr John Wilson, factor, in 1909, he was appointed chairman, a position he occupied to the last. The extension and development of the local schools were greatly due to his personal efforts and initiative; and the handsome Gordon Schools, in their present splendidly equipped state, might almost be said to be a memorial to his educational service to the Huntly district.
In 1898 Mr Sellar entered the Aberdeen County Council as representative of the burgh of Huntly in succession to Colonel W. A. Mellis, but latterly he represented the electoral division of Cairn, Glass, and Huntlt. In 1902 he was appointed Chairman of the Huntly District Committee in succession to Mr John Wilson, and continued in that post until his death. The interest he showed in, and the grip he was able to take of the business which came before the Council gave him an assured position amongst the members, and in July, 1909, following upon the death of Provost Hutcheon, Turriff, he was elected Vice-Convener of the County. The duties of that office, as, indeed, those of every post he was placed in throughout his public career, were discharged with zeal and acceptance, while making himself conversant with all phases of local government, he showed himself invariably to be a man of prescience and broad outlook. Mr Sellar, who was also convener of the Lands Valuation and Finance Committee of the County Council, was elected Chairman of the County Committee on Secondary Education, and also Chairman of the Aberdeen Provincial Committee for the Training of Teachers-selections which testify to the confidence of those with whom he was associated. Not without cause was it humorously suggested that the Secondary Eductaion Committee and Mr Sellar were practically synonymous terms, and his energy, tact, and business capacity in dealing with the difficult and complex questions which came before those bodies were readily acknolwledged. He held those offices throughout important periods of educational development, and in each revealed an enthusiasm and foresight worthy of the best educational traditions of the north-eastern area of Scotland. His six years’ tenure of office was marked by the erection of the magnificent new Training Centre at Aberdeen. He was a member of Sir Henry Craik’s Committee which reported upon the salaries of Scottish teachers several months ago. 
The North of Scotland College of Agriculture was another institution in which Mr Sellar rendered useful service. He was one of the original governors, and had been vice-chairman for some years, and was chairman of the Central Studies and Staff Committee, whose work whas much to do with the success of the College throughout the north. He manifested a deep interest in the promotion of the educational side of the various branches of forestry, and in 1911 he was appointed to a Forestry Committee of Inquiry for Scotland. This Committee recommended the purchase of Ballogie was a forest area for the north of Scotland. That the scheme was not gone on with is matter for regret, as the purchase price of the ground would have been more than met by the timber which it has yielded during the past four years.
Amongst Mr Sellar’s most recent appointments was that of chairman of the County of Aberdeen Local Food Control Committee. He was a Justice of the Peace for the County and a Hon Sheriff-Substitute.
A specially warm corner in his heart was reserved by Mr Sellar for Huntly and its institutions, and his untiring, educational services for it have already been alluded to. He was Chairman of the Jubilee Cottage Hospital Managers, and Chairman of the District Nursing Association. He took a keen interest in the welfare of Huntly United Free Church, and or over thirty years had been its treasurer. In politics he was a Moderate Liberal, and held the office of the Huntly Liberal Association.
Mr Sellar leaves a widow and a family of three sons and one daughter, one son-Lieu J. M. Sellae, of the KOSB- having been killed din the war. Mrs Sellar is a daughter of the late Mr Thomson, of Messrs Glegg and Thomson, Aberdeen. The eldest son, Mr Robert Thomson Sellar, after being in Canada for some years gaining business insight, returned home a few months ago, and has been associated with the management of the firm.” 

The Aberdeen press and journal also published a further one on 6 August 1918. This time, the Rev A. S. Laidlaw of Huntly UF Church referred to him: 

“The loss occasioned by the death of Mr Sellar, he said, was very great when they thought of the manifold and distinguished service of which his life was full. He was a pillar of that church, a conspicuous figure of the community, an eminent public servant in the county, and a man of growing importance, even in the national sense. Graces of person were accompanied by intellectual and practical qualities of a very high order; he had a wise and understanding mind; he could think on a large scale and arrive at clear conceptions, and this he knew his own mind and could trust his judgement. It was this characteristic that marked him out for leadership. If he were to compare him with any well-known personage in public life, it would be with Mr Joseph chamberlain. Neither went to councils wit confused, unseeing minds, to pick up some ideas in the course of the debate. The business was mastered, and, naturally, people of less thorough habit of mind could usually do little else but follow.
At the early age of 24 he was called to the his father’s place in the management of the family business, and speedily made his power felt. His grasp, initiative, and organising faculty enabled him to build with splendid success on the foundation already aid. The School Board ws the gateway by which he entered on public service. he developed a strong interest in education, especially in its administrative aspect,and by close study qualified himself to deal with its problems with an expert’s knowledge and authority. His accession to the County Council greatly enlarged his sphere of action nd influence. With the coming of the war the scope of his labours was further enlarged and became more than provincial, even national.
He has no more than fully matured his powers by experience of affairs and knowledge of men. If he had been spared, its seemed clear that he was only coming into his kingdom. If not greater, more conspicuous, service lay before him, and honours would have come. He had the consciousness of power, which was bound to be a spur to ambition; and it is certain that no matter with what body of men he might be called to work his weight would be felt, and high responsibilities would come to him.
All the while he was assiduously developing, and on a large scale, the business of his firm. The transferrence to Alloa was a heavy and courageous undertaking, hard upon which, unfortunately, came the unforeseen complications produced by the outbreak of war.
In his long association with the leader they had lost he recalled only one occasion when a very important decision was reached, which defeated a cherished scheme of his. A smaller man would probably have taken offence, and perhaps withdrawn himself and his support on which a great deal depended, but he accepted the ruling and played a leading part in carrying to completion the plan adopted.
The reference closed with an expression of sympathy for the bereaved family.”

The development of new implement and machinery works were sometimes recorded in the newspaper press, especially where they were of a significant size. One such new works was built at Linlithgow by A. Newlands and Sons before the outbreak if the First World War. 

The new works were announced by the Linlithgowshire gazette in January 1912. That newspaper noted that: 

“The new works which are being erected at Linlithgow by Messrs Alexander Newlands and Son, the well-known agricultural implement makers and engineers are now approaching completion. The works, which will occupy a considerable portion of ground, are situated in the vicinity of St Magdalene’s. Besides the implement and engineering departments there will be, we understand, a large garage in connection with the works. A new road has been formed by the proprietors leading from the works to the public highway, and it is anticipated that railway siding accommodation will also be provided. “

Work had started on the new works in August 1912. The Linlithgowshire gazette recorded that: 

“Messrs A. Newlands and Sons, engineers and agricultural implement makers, have now had a beginning made with the erection of their new works at St Magdalene’s. The site seems a desirable one, being in convenient proximity to the main line of the N.B. Railway, and also the public highway. The new premises will be more extensive than those formerly occupied by Messrs Newlands, and, as may be expected more up-to-date, to permit of business development in the respective departments. Already good progress has been made with the construction of the new buildings. As we have previously stated, the ground formerly occupied by Messrs Newlines is to be taken over by Nobel’s Explosive Co. Ltd, and will, in due course, be utilised as a pertinent of the Regent Factory. At present a retaining wall is being erected, and a large tank constructed within the ground for the storage of water for the works.” 

By October that year the Linlithgowshire gazette provided a further update on the building works. It noted: 

“The new works which are being erected at Linlithgow by Messrs Alexander Newlines and Son, the well-known agricultural implement makers and engineers, are now approaching completion. The works, which will occupy a considerable portion of ground, are situated in the vicinity of St Magdalane’s. Besides the implement and engineering departments there will be, we understand, a large garage in connection with the works. A new road has been formed by the proprietors leading from the works to the public highway, and it is anticipated that railway siding accommodation will also be provided. It may be expected more up-to-date, to permit of business development in the respective departments. Already good progress has been made with the construction of the new buildings. As we have previously stated, the ground formerly occupied by Messrs Newlands is to be taken over by Nobels’ Explosive Co. Ltd, and will, in due course, be utilised as a pertinent of the Regent Factory. At present a retaining wall is being erected, and a large tank constructed within the ground for the storage of water for the works.”

Obituaries are a source of evidence that can reveal some information about agricultural implement makers and their work. Some also note links between family members and their companies. 

The Wallace family was one of the most noted families of implement makers, with a small number of businesses based in the west of Scotland. There relationship between some of the family members is recorded in the obituary of William Wallace of Ayr, who died in August 1937. An obituary in the Scotsman notes: 

“Mr William Wallace, a well-known agricultural implement maker and inventor, died at his residence, 34 Ashgrove Street, Ayr, yesterday morning. he had been in failing health for some time. He was a son of the late Mr Robert Wallace, implement maker, Whitletts, who put the first two-wheeled reaper on the market in the late ‘sixtes last century. Two sons of the old man were the well-known heads for many years of J. & R. Wallace, The Foundry, Castle-Douglas. It was while he was with his father at Whitletts that the deceased invented the Wallace double-drill plough and manure sower which came to be used all over Britain. he also invented a broadcast manure sower which, like his other invention, proved a great book to farmers. About the year 1902 he became associated with John Wallace & Sons (Ltd), Glasgow, and for a period of about 21 years held the position of manager at Ayr. He was also managing director for a time of John Wallace & Sons, Ayr, and a little over five years ago he started business on his own behalf in Ayr with his son. He is survived by Mrs Wallace, and by a sone and two daughters.”

The company of Robert Wallace, Whittlets, Ayrshire was recorded in the agricultural press in April 1865. By 1900 it was recorded at the Railway Bridge in Whittlets. It undertook the trades of agricultural implement maker, engineer and implement maker and smith. From the early 1880s its specialities were reaping and mowing machines. A decade later it was making manure distributer which it entered into the Highland Society’s trial of manure distributers. Its area of trade was largely the south of Scotland, a fact revealed by its attendance at the Highland Shows in the south of the country, especially in Glasgow, Dumfries, Kelso, Edinburgh and Stirling. 

By 1920 the company had reorganissed to become John Wallace & Sons Ltd, at Railway Bridge, Towhead, Ayr. It changed its name in the mid 1920s to become John Wallace & Sons (Ayr) Ltd. It opened a debit at West Langlands Street, Kilmarnock by 1928. It had a depot at Stranraer in 1944. The company was dissolved in 1985. 

Another of the companies in the obituary is J. & R. Wallace, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright. The company is recorded in the Scottish agricultural press in 1876. It was located at the Castle Douglas Iron Foundry in the town. It was also noted for its reaping and mowing machines in the early 1880s. Into the 1890s its noted productions included turnip cutters, boxed teeth harrows and ploughs. Manure distributors were an important production. 

The company was a key maker of milking machines in Scotland, and renowned for them. The company had ben involved in the early development of milking machines, and was a key company in their development. It was awarded a silver medal for its milking machine by the Royal Agricultural Society of England for its milking machine in 1905. This was a significant achievement for a Scottish agricultural implement an machine maker as few were awarded silver medals. 

The company looked further afield for its business, and exhibited at the Highland Show in each of its eight show districts. Its last Highland Show was in 1952. The company was in receivership in 1988. 

A third company is John Wallace & Sons Ltd, one of the major Scottish implement an machine makers who was well known throughout Scotland, Britain – and indeed the world – was The company was already trading in Glasgow in 18655, from Graham Square. Graham Square was to form the address of the company until the late 1960s. By 1894 it had premises at 7, 9, 10 and from 28 to 38 Graham Square. By 1905 there were also branches at Ayr, Cupar, and Stirling; in 1913 they were recorded as Ayr, Perth, Cupar and Lanark.
The company was a forward looking on: it became a company limited by guarantee in December 1896; it changed its form a number of times during its history. It started to exhibit at the Highland Show in 1867, and attended shows in each of the different show districts, demonstrating its wish to be a company known throughout Scotland. The Highland and Agricultural Society awarded it numerous awards for its manufactures including a medium silver medal for collection (1870, 1875). It also won a number of awards at the Society’s prestigious implement trials, including third prize of £5 for potato digger in 1881, and equal award (with 3 others) for potato digger or lifter in 1911. It also entered a number of the Society’s trials including its trial of mowers in 1882, trial of binders in 1893, turnip lifters in 1895, swathe turners in 1905, potato diggers or lifters in 1909, potato diggers or lifters in 1911, and potato planters in 1914. The company regularly advertised in the Scottish agricultural press from 1864 onwards.

The company also took over the business and patterns of other leading implement makers in the west of Scotland. The included Archibald Forest, award winning plough maker, Uddingston, Lanarkshire; Archibald became the foreman in the plough department of the Wallace works in 1905.
The company had a wide range of trades: from the 1870s they included agricultural implement maker, constructional engineer, contractor, engineer, galvaniser, also iron house and roof constructor, iron door maker, iron and wood building manufacturer, lawn mower maker, and machinery merchant. It made a wide range of manufactures including ploughs, harrows, turnip drills, potato diggers and lifters, reapers and mowers, hay making machinery, and iron buildings. It became a significant agent for a range of implements and machines from the best known and renowned makers in Britain. In 1911 they included Blackstone & Co. Ltd, Stamford, Frost & Wood, Ontario, E. H. Bengal & Co., Heybridge. In 1913 that list also included W. N. Nicholson & Sons Ltd, Newark on Trent, and the Oliver Plow Company, South bend, Indiana.

See what an obituary can reveal! 

The name plates were taken at a number of rallies throughout Scotland.

The mid to late 1960s saw significant changes in the making of agricultural implements and machines in Scotland as well as their makers. A number of names that had been well known and renowned for many decades, and even from the nineteenth century disappeared from the scene. However, there were still a number of key makers. 

One list from 1969 lists the major Scottish implement makers. It is worth quoting as it shows the makers that were still around at that time: 

Adams Trailers Ltd, Challenger Trailer Works, Mintlaw Station, Aberdeenshire
Adrolic Engineering, Clober Works, Clober Road, Milngavie
Ayrshire Elevator Co. Ltd, Knockintiber, Kilmarnock
D. S. Baddeley Engineering Co. Ltd, 43-45 York Street, Glasgow 
William Bain & Co. (Wire Products) Ltd, Lochrin Works, Coatbridge
Barclay, Ross & Hutchison Ltd, 67 Green, Aberdeen 
W. Begg & Sons, Implement Works, Tarbolton, Mauchline
J. Bisset & Sons Ltd, Blairgowrie, Perthshire 
Lennox M. Blyth, Cintra Engineering Works, Chirnside, Berwickshire
Boswells of Blairgowrie Ltd, Rattray Engineering Works, Rattray, Blairgowrie 

Caterpillar Tractor Co. Ltd, PO Box 162, Glasgow
Chalmers-Edina Co., 37 Water Street, Leith
Contrite Sales Ltd, Garrion, Wishaw, Lanarkshire
Cruikshank & Co. Ltd, Agricultural Dept, PO Box 19, Denny Iron Works, Denny
James A. Cuthbertson Ltd, Station Road, Biggar, Lanarkshire
Dairy Supply Co. Ltd, Cumberland Avenue, London. Also at Edinburgh and Belfast.
James Dickie & Co. (Drop Forgings) Ltd, Victoria Stamping Works, Ayr
W. Dickie & Sons Ltd, Victoria Works, East Kilbride
William Donaldson (Engineers) Ltd, Blackstoun Works, Linwood, Renfrewshire
Drysdale & Co. Ltd, Bon Accord Works, Yoker, Glasgow

Wm Elder & Sons Ltd, Tweedside Works, Berwick on Tweed
Euclid (Great Britain) Ltd, Newhouse Industrial Estate, Motherwell
Farm mechanisation Co. Ltd, South Road, Cupar, Fife
John Fleming & Son, West Linton, Peebleshire
R. G. Garvie & Sons, 2 Canal Road, Aberdeen
Grays of Fetterangus Ltd, Fairbank Works, Fetterangus, Aberdeenshire
Geo. Henderson Ltd, Kelso, Roxburghshire
Hoover Ltd (Industrial Products Department), Cambuslang, Lanarkshire
Hurlford Engineering Co. Ltd, Hurlford, Kilmarnck
John Inglis & Co., Albert Works, 69 Bellsdyke Road, Airdrie
Innes, Walker (Engineering) Ltd, Clyde Works, Brown Street, Paisley 

Alex Jack & Sons Ltd, Maybole, Ayrshire
James Jones & Sons Ltd, PO Box 35 Larbert, Stirlingshire
A. Laurie & Sons (Trailers) Ltd, trailer and motor body builders, Falkirk
Lochfield Garage, Terregles Street, Dumfries
Macdonald Bros, Roseacre Street, Portsoy, Banffshire
James McGowan, Dechmont Welding & Engineering Co., Dalton, Cambuslang
Charles J. Marshall & Co., Chapel Works, Bucksburn, Aberdeen
J. S. Millar & Sons, Annan, Dumfriesshire
A. Milne & Sons (Millwrights) Ltd, 50 Jopp’s Lane, Aberdeen
A. Newlands & Sons Ltd, St Magdalene Engineering Works, Linlithgow
North Eastern Welding Co., Stell Road, Aberdeen
Jack Olding & Co. (Scotland) Ltd, Glencairn Works, Perth
John Oswald & Sons, Brechin, Angus
A. & W. Pollock Ltd, Implement Works,Mauchline, Ayrshire

Reekie Engineering Ltd, Arbroath
W. Reid (Forres) Ltd, Forres
David Ritchie (Implements) Ltd, Whitehills, Forfar
A. M. Russell Ltd, Sinton Works, Gorgie Road, Edinburgh
John Rutherford & Sons Ltd, Home Place, Coldstream, Berwickshire
Ryeside Agricultural & Engineering Works, Dalry, Ayrshire
Scottish Mechanical light Industries Ltd, Scotmec Works, Ayr
George Sellar & Sons Ltd, Kelliebank Works, Alloa
Alexander Shanks & Sons Ltd, Dens Iron Works, Arbroath, Angus
Shearer Bros Ltd, Maybank Works, Balmellie Street, Turriff, Aberdeenshire
Thomas Sherriff & Co. Ltd, West Barns, Dunbar, East Lothian 
Sunbeam Electric Ltd (Agricultural & Hardware Division), East Kilbride, Lanarkshire
Alexander Thomas, Guildtown, Perthshire
Uniroyal Ltd, Castle Mills, Edinburgh
D. M. Wallace & Sons Ltd, Kelso
G. & J. Weir Ltd, Cathcart, Glasgow
John White & Son, Auchtermuchty, Fife
Andrew Young & Son (Engineers) Ltd, 45 Mid Wharf Street, Glasgow.

How many of these names do you recognise?