Trial of 5 mech, hand and chem weeding costs
Two files containing about 65 Head Quarters Mechanical Development Committee Reports from 1950 to 1958 were saved from destruction by Jim Christie former Forestry Commission HQ, Plant Engineer. Jim, from Crook of Devon, has kindly made the reports available for scanning and entry onto this website. Please open the PDF to see this full report.
Report No 73 is a complex series of tests comparing quality and costs of inter-row weeding of young forestry plantation with 5 types of mechanical weed and brush cutters, hand weeding and lastly chemical weeding. The 5 machines were:
The Standard Allen Autoscythe Type TS
The Type F Allen Autosythe
The Allen Motor Sickle
The Four Seasons Scrub Cutter
The Bushwakka Scrub Cutter
The tests were carried out on three sites all without ploughing and there for quite level. The Allan Autosythe TS seems to have carried the day with chemical weeding the most expensive by far and at the time unproven effectiveness.
Interesting to note the rate for wages and the increases since the reports began in 1950.
Groups: Forestry Mechanical Engineering Reports , Other Vehicles and Machines