Discussions and strategies for cultivation by ploughing 1966-67
We are indebted to Jim Christie, Crook of Devon, for these documents which he had saved from an office clear out.
This series of papers were prepared for the Ploughing sub-group of the Machinery Development Committee. The various papers are authored by R B Ross (Mechanical Engineer for Work Study), Roger Lines (District Officer Silviculture North) Arnold Grayson (Planning and Economics) George G MTaylor (Head of Forest Research Scotland?) and an unknown Mr Wardle?
For forestry historians and anyone interested in the process of hill and moorland cultivation for forest establishment, in particular ploughing development and modification in the 1960s, this is a fascinating insight into the understandings, knowledge and the outcomes as at 1966-67.
First paper by AB Ross looks at the need for reassessment of types of plough required, the likely types of ground available and plough/tractor configuration: an interesting observation in that Andy Neustein had shown that the shallower double furrow plough results had caught up with those of deeper single furrow ploughing after 15 years: the search for an all purpose plough to cope with many soil/ground conditions and types: ploughing area outputs described as disappointingly low: question of a role for all wheeled traction machines and for Swedish type scarifiers.
The paper jointly written by Roger Lines and Arnold Grayson ‘The silvicultural requirements of heathland cultivation and their economic implications’ has at its heart the classification of ‘heathland’ into a range of soil types from true podsols through ironpans, various gley formulations and lastly skeletal soils. For each of these heathland conditions a proposed cultivation prescription has been suggested or set as a target for further research. The implications of the discounted additional costs of these early works are also put in fairly simple terms. ‘Within the range of yield classes likely in heathlands, an increase in average growth rate of half a Yield Class (10 h. Ft. per acre per year) is worth about £10 per acre at the beginning of the rotation, assuming that the crop will stand the full rotation while the advancement of a specific height or course of height growth may be reached by two or three years is also worth £10 per acre’.
The paper written by Roger Lines as supplementary to that written by himself and Arnold Grayson in which he states that he was requested to quantify the areas of heathland soil types to aid in the planning and supply of appropriate machinery types. He states that the information is not readily available and that Graham Pyatt estimates it would take eight experienced surveyors to survey the 50-60,000 acres planted annually by the Forestry Commission to arrive at an accurate figure. Roger does however rank the previously described heathland types from Heathland A to Heathland G in some type of order by importance or occurrence and specifies the regions in the country where the types occur. He does enlarge on the Indurated Heathland soils (Types C and D) characteristics and its variations and provides a diagram of its typical profile from hill top to valley bottom.
The next paper By Arnold Grayson is titled ploughing ‘Programmes and Estimates of Machinery Requirements’ attempts to provide a picture of the then current ploughing programme by soil type and plough version with a future estimate of the same. There are tables of conservancy programme estimates several years ahead to 1972. An estimate of around 100 tractors is suggested for the country. One item that is concerning them is the amount of ‘rehabilitation’ of unsuccessful crops (a table is provided of the total checked area by Conservancy) and what machinery if any will be used to drain or re-cultivate the areas.
A paper by George Taylor titled ‘Plough Development’ summarises the types and benefits of ploughing up to that period but also its limitations in various soil types. He also states that machines have now developed to such an extent that greater depths of cultivation can now be achieved as well as something towards complete ploughing. He suggests development research into: a multiple plough head machine to do complete ploughing; a deep single plough head of 2.5 feet depth capable of mixing the soil and returning some to the furrow; a suitable double furrow plough head to meet future needs in peat land areas; paired single furrow plough heads; a slot plough narrow and deep; development of cage wheels for ploughs; improved draining plough and with a ripper bar in front; to look at the potential to add motors to the wheels of the plough carriage to assist with reducing the required draw bar pull; a new improved deep double mould board plough head.
A paper by Arnold Grayson from a draft by Mr Wardle titled ‘Spacing in plantation in relation to ploughing’. There is a financial argument to increase the initial planted tree spacing significantly but leave readers to form their own views on this.
The six papers are available in the PDF below.
Groups: Forest Research, Forestry Mechanical Engineering Reports , Forestry Records, Booklets and Reports