Preparing seed beds in Ledmore Forest Nursery
The images are courtesy of Michael Lawrence of Bankfoot whose grandfather, Sandy Rose, was Forester and Head Forester at Ledmore Forest Nursery from Nov 1949 (when land was acquired) until his retirement in 1969. In 1966 the nearby Strathord Forest was brought under his charge. The year of the photograph is estimated to be around 1957.
This may well be the follow up operation to the sowing of broadleaved seed onto the prepared seed bed. In the distance the two men are pulling a hand roller to press the large tree seed such as oak into the soil. The follow up two men (Chalmers Thain (Snr) on left) are using the purpose made wooden bars on the end of a hoe handle to pull the edged soil back on top of the sown and rolled seed. This would appear to be quite a skilled operation to maintain an even covering of soil across the whole bed. The soil does have quite a high volume of sizable stones and would add to the difficulties.
Can any of the other workers be named? Any comments and stories of working in Ledmore Nursery would be very welcome.
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Groups: Forest Nurseries, Forestry in Action, Groups of people