York Lining Out Plough Instructions
Jim Christie, Crook of Devon, has kindly made the instruction and parts manual available for scanning and entry onto this website.
This machine was developed in York Forest Nursery but may have been used in various forest nurseries in Scotland. Can anyone confirm?
The introductory text in the document is as follows:
The York Lining Out Plough was developed by Head Forester G A Sharp in York Forest nursery to meet the needs of a large lining out programme in an area of adequate but unskilled labour. It is not claimed that this machine will line out faster or more cheaply than a gang of fully trained men on piece work and hand methods. However, in a normal large nursery where the York plough is fully understood, one or more of the following advantages over handwork can be expected:-
(a) Easier work. The sweat and backache is taken out of the job; labour can do overtime at peak periods without over strain. Unskilled, juvenile or female labour is satisfactory.
(b) Lines are very straight and hence the beds much better for subsequent mechanised work - weeding, spraying, undercutting, lifting etc.
(c) In some nurseries it has sometimes been found possible to line out with the York plough when adverse soil conditions make hand work.
(d) The plough cuts a furrow deeper than the roots so there is no danger of seedlings being planted with upturned roots.
The Lining Out Plough was built up from a two furrow Massey Ferguson plough making use of the three point hydraulic linkage and Massey Ferguson tool bar frame on which the assembly slides transversely. There are six positions for lines of seedlings at a spacing of eight inches between each line. These six lines are straddled by the tractor without further adjustment to the tractor wheel spacing. For plough in use at No.1 position see page 9 and No. 6 position page 11.
The first prototype was put in use in 1960. As now made it is a combination of parts supplied by Massey Ferguson; those developed by Harry Potter & Son and of Massey Ferguson parts modified by Potter.