Scottish agricultural implement makers

If you were a farmer in Aberdeenshire in 1898 you would have been well aware of the firm of Allan Brothers, engineers, 102 West North Street, Aberdeen. As well as being engineers, the company was also a gas engine manufacturer, mechanical engineer, oil engine manufacturer and a machinery oil merchant and refiner.

By 1901 Allan Brothers had moved its premises to the Ashgrove Engineering Works in Back Hilton Road, where it continued its activities until the mid 1950s. The company held its final winding up meeting in February 1957.

If you were in a farmer or agriculturist in Inverness at the turn of the twentieth century you would have had a choice of implement makers and dealers from which to purchase implements and machines. One of them was Fraser & McColl.

Fraser & McColl described itself as a general ironmonger and glass and china merchant at 20 and 22 East Gate, in 1889. By 1894 the company also had premises to 20 and 22 Petty Street, and later at Hamilton Street. It undertook a wider range of activities, as an agricultural implement maker, agricultural merchant, ironmonger, retail ironmonger, smith and farrier, smith and horse-shoer.

Fraser & McColl exhibited at the Highland Show in Inverness in 1901 and 1911. This was an excellent opportunity for it to exhibit its prominent wares and also its new ones.

In 1901 itsexhibits focused on the manufactures of Walter A. Wood Mowing & Reaping Machine Co., London. They included Wood’s New Century binder, its Admiral mower, and a steel horse rake. Its other exhibits included Auchinachie & Simpson’s Jubilee manure distributor, fanners from Thos Corbett, Shrewsbury, and a anege of ploughs from Geo Sellar & Sons, Huntly. Other exhibits included oilcan bruisers, lime whitewashing machines, potato sorters, lawn mowers, cake mills, butter workers and other dairy appliances and an assortment of specialities of general ironmongers.

Fraser & McColl provided a range of leading implements and machines for the Highland farmer. You might spot the Frser & McColl nameplate when you are round rallies in the Highlands.

If you were a farmer or agriculturist in Scotland in 1920 you may have been interested to see what the implement and machine makers would have new on the market. Tractors were starting to make an appearance on farms and with them their associated implements. Some of the makers were getting their heads around the changing technologies and seeing what new implements they could invent. Existing implements and machines were also being improved.

The Highland Show was an important showcase for these new implements and machines and in 1920 the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland introduced its new implement awards. In that year six Scottish implement and machine makers entered manufactures for this new award: John McBain & Son, Churnside, Berwickshire; H. W. Mathers & Son, Perth; Alexander Newlands & Sons Ltd, Linlithgow; James H. Steele, Edinburgh; David Wilson, East Linton; and Barclay, Ross & Hutchison Ltd, Aberdeen. By 1920 all these companies were well established and well known to Scottish farmers.

John McBain & Son, well-known for its windmills, entered an improved version of the Monarch Windmill for pumping. It was fit with Hyatt roller bearings, giving improved performance and relieving friction. It had double gear wheels which gave for smooth and steady running.

H. W. Mathers & Son entered a self-propelled engine driven turnip cutter or the barrel type. This could be used for cutting turnips into finger pieces for sheep and slices for cattle. This self-propelled machine was geared to the road wheels by a chain and sprockets which allowed it to be moved from place to place by its engine power. The barrel cutter, of single or double action, was by Messrs Bentall. It had an air-cooled engine, made by the Associated Manufacturing Co. which was not liable to be damaged in frosty weather.

Alexander Newlands & Sons Ltd. entered a new “self-lift” attachment for its tractor cultivator. This was an improved design which was designed to operate the tractor cultivator from the seat of the tractor. The motive power was transmitted from one side-wheel and through a chain drive to the operating crank. This could also be attached to any of the old cultivators.

James H. Steele, an extensive agent, exhibited a machine made by another implement and machine maker: Kenneth McKenzie, engineer, Evanton. This was its portable turnip cleaner and cutter. This comprised a root cleaner with two revolving barrels put in motion by chain-drive. The turnips were put into the hopper where they were cleaned and then conveyed to the cutting disc, which was horizontal. McKenzie stated that the cutter was guaranteed not to choke, and would cut as much as “any other machine on the market”. It was claimed to cut in seven different sizes for cattle or sheep. The machine was portable and could be taken to wherever the turnips were to be cut. It was driven by a 2 1/2hp Amanco oil engine which could be used for various purposes such as chaff cutting and corn crushing.

David Wilson entered a potato raiser. Its function was to raise the tubers an leave them directly behind the machine, thus saving labour in gathering the crop. It was claimed to cause no damage to the tubers and did not bury them.

Barclay, Ross & Hutchison Ltd entered a twin sack lifter made by G. L. Weir.

All of these implements and machines demonstrated the Scottish implement and machine makers taking steps to improve the work practices on the farm. The new implement awards are still awarded by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, and a silver medal provides recognition of engineering excellence for the Scottish farmer, as indeed farmers throughout the world using Scottish implements and machines.

The photographs were taken at the Scottish National Tractor Show, Lanark, September, 22015, and Daviot vintage rally, October 2016.

In the days when the oat crop was sown by hand, high cut ploughing facilitated the sowing of the crop. When the seed was broadcast the seed rolled to the bottom of the small sharp pointed furrows which were to be cross-harrowed. The cross harrowing broke down the tops of the furrows, evenly covering the seed to a consistent depth.

In Scotland the most noted maker of high cut ploughs was Robert Begg & Son, Implement Works, Dalry.

Robert Begg set up as a ploughmaker in Dalry, Ayrshire in 1864. By 1914 he could advertise in The Scottish farmer: “R. Begg, 50 years reputation, Dalry, Ayrshire”.

By April 1876 Robert was advertising his ploughs in the North British Agriculturist. In 1903 he described himself as an agricultural implement maker, a retail ironmonger, a smith and a smith and farrier. By 1912 he was joined by his sons, naming his business
Robert Begg & Sons. Robert died in early 1927. His business was carried on his son, John. John died by 1941 and the business was transferred to Robert Wilson, Barrhead, who continued it under Begg’s name. In 1951 the business became incorporated as Robert Begg & Sons Limited, but was out of existence by October 1976 and was dissolved in the following year.

Begg’s business was associated with Sharon Street, Dalry, where it is recorded in 1886 and into at least the 1950s. From 1914 his address was the “Implement Works, Dalry.”

Robert Begg took an important step in developing his business in 1912 when he exhibited at his first Highland Show, held in that year at Cupar. This was the start of an association with the show that continued, more or less continuously, until 1960. Begg also took the important step of entering a plough into the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland’s exhibition of farm tractors and tractor implements in 1922. In following years, he also entered ploughs and other exhibits for the Society’s new implement award: in 1923, a double furrow self-lift tractor plough with self-lifting gear, and in 1928, Falconer’s patent mouldboard and Falconer’s coulter.

While Begg’s business changed with the times, so too did his ploughs. In 1914, Robert made a range of ploughs which included drill ploughs, double furrow ploughs, as well as bar point chill ploughs and chill ploughs. His chill ploughs were sold under the name “The Begg”.

In 1926, Begg’s ploughs included a double furrow-self lift tractor plough, with moveable points and swivel disc coulter (sold at £36 10s), a moveable point plough, with double wheels for lea and stubble ploughing (£10 10s), chill plough, plain beam, single wheel, for lea and stubble ploughing (£9). As well as drill ploughs, he also sold baulking ploughs, diamond harrows, zig zag harrows, grubbers and drill harrows.
In 1956 the “Begg” tractor ploughs included power lift ploughs, single furrow general purpose; power lift, double furrow, general purpose, single furrow, bar point digger, single furrow, spring-loaded bar point, three furrow general purpose and double furrow with adjustable land wheel.
Begg’s ploughs were also well-known on the ploughing match fields. For example, in 1925 it sold its “prize chill ploughs” and in 1928 and 1929 its “champion swing ploughs”.

Today, you can still see Begg’s ploughs at some of the ploughing matches and at vintage agricultural machinery rallies around the country. Ask anyone who Begg was and they will say a leading ploughmaker from Ayrshire.

The photographs of of the high cut ploughing were taken at the Scottish Ploughing Championships, October 2016 ad the World Ploughing Championships, Crockey Hill, September 2016. The photographs of the Begg plough were taken at the Scottish National Tractor Show, September 2015.

One of the big names in Scottish agricultural engineering was William Dickie & Sons, Victoria Implement Works, East Kilbride.

William was already established as an agricultural engineer in 1888. By 1897 he had set up the Victoria Implement Works, where production of the company’s manufactures until the late 1960s. The works was named the Victoria Implement Works and Iron Foundry in 1939. By 1905 William had set up a premises in the Gallowgate, at number 498.

One of the important jobs to prepare the land for spring was spreading dung on the land.

In 1908 Stephens’ Book of the Farm wrote: “carting manure-in hard frost, when the plough is laid to rest, or the ground covered with snow, and as soon as “By frequent hoof and wheel, the roads A beaten path afford”, farmyard manure is carried from the courts, and placed in large heaps on convenient spots near or on the fields which are to be manured in the ensuing spring. This work continued as long as there is manure to carry away, or the weather is suitable.”

We associate ploughs with their place of manufacture: Sellar of Huntly, Newlands of Linlithgow, Gray of Uddingston, and Cruikshank of Denny are well-known examples.

Cruikshank & Company, Denny Iron Works, was a long-established company, but did not start to manufacture agricultural implements, including ploughs, until much later, into the early twentieth century. As a general iron founder, it set up an agricultural department by 1923. In 1960 this was referred to as the “agricultural supplies department”.

The company started to exhibit at the Highland Show in 1933, thereafter being a regular exhibitor until at least 1970. It was also a regular advertiser in theScottish agricultural press, in the North British Agriculturist and the Scottish Farmer.

In 1950 its ploughs included tractor ploughs, horse ploughs, plough shares and spares. One of its well-known models was the two furrow bar pointed “the Dandy”.

Its other manufactures included automatic hitches and adjustable hitches, tubular rail divisions, cattle drinking bowls, grain lifters, tractor rollers and cast iron, malleable and steel agricultural castings.

There are still a few Cruikshank ploughs around. You may see the popular “the Dandy”.

The Cruikshank plough was exhibited at the Scottish National Tractor Show, September 20915.

Horses were starting to play an important role in Scottish agriculture in the second half of the eighteenth century. James Small’s horse plough, based on the Rotherham Plough, brought a revolution in ploughing and ploughing by horses in Scotland. However, oxen continued to be used on some farms and the tradition of usiing cattle continued into the twentieth century in some areas of the crofting counties.

In the twentieth century the rise of the farm tractor brought the demise of ploughing with horses. It was not until after the Second World War that tractors really started to make inroads in Scotland. On some farms horses continued to be used alongside tractors, sometimes being confined to the lighter jobs.

Donald Murray of 60 East Gate, Inverness, described his business as an agricultural merchant and commission agent in 1889. He was one of a number of implement makers and agents in the town in that year. He continued in business until at least 1911.

Donald was keen to promote his business. He had a stand at the Highland Show in 1901 and 1911 when it visited the town. At the two shows, he exhibited a wide range of implements and machines from the leading Scottish, English and American makers, bringing the latest developments to Highland farmers. In 1901 they included spring tine cultivators from Wm Nicholson & Sons and Massey Harris, broadcast sowing machines from Wm Elder, horse hay rakes from McCormick and W. N. Nicholson & Sons, hay and clover tenders from Barford & Perkins, hay forks and elevators from Ogle & Son, mowers and reapers from Harrison, McGregor & Co., binders from Massey Harris Co., corn crushing and grinding mills from Harrison, McGregor & Co., cake bills from W. N. Nicholson & Sons, chaff cutters from Harrison, McGregor & Co., corn dressing machines from John Baker Ltd, kibbling mills from Barford & Perkins, patent hand and foot threshing mills from Shearer Brothers, and sack weighing machines from W. & T. Avery.

In 1911 Donald continued to sell manufactures form most of these makers. By that time he was also selling petrol engines from the Briston Waggon Vo., as well as Lister cream separators, gardner’s patent turnip cutting machines, Ransome’s ploughs and a number of potato diggers from Allan and Ransomes. Donald provides evidence that farmers and other agriculturists in the Highlands could locally purchase implements and machines from the leading makers and through them advance agriculture in the region.

If you are at a rally in the Highlands, have a look out for the Murray nameplate. The name plate was photographed at the Daviot Vintage Rally, September 2013.

One of the tasks for feeding livestock in the winter was preparing and mixing food. In 1889 Henry Stephens noted that the preparing of pulped mixtures made food more pleasant for their palates and more easily digested. The principal ingredients for pulped mixtres was turnips and fodder, but there could also be some crushed cake, maize-meal or bruised grain with a sprinking of salt and sometimes treacle.

The grain was bruised or ground into meal. According to Stephens, “farmers may have their grain bruised or ground for stock-feeding at any of the country meal-mills; or, which is much better, they may have it done at the steading by one of the many first-class little mills now made for the special purpose.”

By the 1890s Scottish and English implement makers had, according to Henry Stephens, “lately given much attention to the devising and perfecting of machines for bruising and grinding corn, and there are now in the market many admirable machines or mills of this kind.” He commented that “about a dozen leading firms have given careful attention during the past two years to the perfecting of grist-mills for farmers, and they have succeeded so well that their mills leave little to be desired in their working. In the improved modern grinding-mills the stone has been supplanted by metal plates, which can be replaced at will, and which render the mill more serviceable. … As would be expected, grist mills require considerable power to work them, and this has to be supplied by steam, water, or horses. ”

If you were a farmer or an agriculturist looking to purchase a oat, bean and malt bruisers and crushers or mills for grain and cake in 1886 you could have chosen a machine form a number of makers in Scotland and England. Most of the makers were English – reflecting their extensive making of heavy agricultural machines for processing crops. They included well-known names: Picksley, Sims & Co., Leigh, Richmond & Chandler, Manchester, W. N. Nicholson & Son, Newark on Trent, Albion Ironworks Co., Rugeley, Barford & Perkins, Peterborough, Charles Burrell & Sons, Thetford, Jeffrey & Blackstone, Stamford.

There was a handful of Scottish makers. James P. Cathcart, Buchanan Street, Glasgow had a new corn grinding mill, selling at £20. R. G. Morton, Errol, Perthshire, made a range of patent grain and spice grinding mills. Its model 8 cost £22. Henry Stephens was impressed at Morton’s mill, describing it as “a modern and very ingenious mill.” He adds, “like a certain historical article of furniture, “contrives a double debt to pay’, for it either crushes flat or grinds into meal, as may be desired, doing both perfectly and with great rapidity.” J. & R. Wallace had two models of oil cake mills of different sizes (14 and 16 inches).

Corn bruisers were made by a number of Scottish makers: G. W. Murray & Co., Banff, had a range of corn busier, with his no. 2 selling for £7 7s. The Strathmore Agricultural Engineering Company, Coupar Angus, also had a range of bruisers of different sizes, with a small one selling at £11, an a medium one at £13. Thomas Turnbull, Dumfries, made a strong corn bruiser with smooth rollers, 12 inches long and 8 inches in diameter. Another Scottish maker was J. & R. Wallace, Castle Douglas, with two models of corn crushers with a safety spring attached, each selling for £9.

Scottish implement and machine makers were not important makers of bruising and milling machines, but they played a role in supplying these machines to farmers. However, there are still a number of them still to be seen around the rally fields. You may also see some of the machines from the renowned English makers which specialised in them.

The photographs were taken at Scotland’s Farming Yesteryear, September 2013.