Series of documents on Ploughing Demonstrations and trials 1974
We are indebted to Jim Christie, Crook of Devon, for these documents which he had saved from an office clear out.
The first document is a programme for a ploughing demonstration and seminar at Kyle Forest (Location close to Dalmellington) organised by Norman Dannat (Forest Management Division). Speakers and presenters are Donald Thompson, Richard Toleman, John Oakley, W Low, R B Ross. There are pen notes on sheet which possibly name Conservancy Ploughing Foresters R Harvey W(S), Kenny MacLean N(S), I Patterson S(S) also some names of tractors in the demonstration BDT6, Fiat 100, Bowen 60, LW County.
There are two pages of a spacing guide including a drawing for the furrow profile of a Double Throw Deep Drainage Mouldboard Plough Head.
The paper by Donald Thomson headed ‘Ploughing Soil Complexes’ and goes on to encourage foresters to not only aim for cost efficient ploughing but also to aim for ploughing that is effective for the on growing crop though its life. To this end he has constructed a table to show the types of plough versus soil types and allocated a range of possible Yield Class outcomes from best to worst for various combinations. He has also added in a table of the National Forestry Soil Classification numbers against the broad regional Soil classes A-G used as a general descriptor for the most common soil types ploughed. This is followed by his notes on the various soil types, plough types, plough terminology and suggested best combinations of plough type and soil condition. The last part is a description of the ploughing demonstration at Kyle, the soils and the ploughs working there. These include Fiat 70 mounted Tine, Twin Furrowed plough to 24 inches with tines pulled by Challenger 33, deep mounted Tine plough to 36 inches on a Cat D7, trailed tine plough 24 inches pulled by Terra Tyred County 1124, a tine plough mounted on three point linkage of the Terra Tyre County, Deep Double Mouldboard draining plough 36 inches pulled by Track Marshall 55 and a Bowen 60, Deep Double Mouldboard Tine plough 36 inches pulled by Fiat 70B Polder and Fiat 80 CIP, Single Mouldboard turf plough 24 inches pulled by Fiat 655 and also with a County 754 with FinnTracks, trailed twin tine plough 24 inches in which one tine has a mouldboard with ball and sock and the other just a ball and chain pulled by a Fiat 100.
The final paper is a series of forms used by West Scotland Conservancy to request, plan and allocate ploughing equipment and teams to the various forests. The Conservancy has a total of 11 ploughing tractors, 4 plough draining teams (two tractors per team), 4 wheeled tractors (Terra Tyres) with back actor attachments for drain linking and draining.
Please see PDF below to access the papers.
Groups: Forest Research, Forestry Areas, Forestry Mechanical Engineering Reports , Forestry Records, Booklets and Reports