Weeding 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 1950 (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.
The workers are using three tined hand cultivators to break up the dry but compacted soils at the headland of what looks like broadleaves seed beds – possibly oak?
Some of the workers have been named by Michael (with some help from his brother Sandy and older residents in Bankfoot) from the left:
Willie Menzies
??
Andrew Thain
Weeding prior to the days of an arsenal of chemicals was a very long and expensive operation in forest nurseries. Every opportunity presented by dry sunny weather had to be taken to try and keep ahead of the weed growth. Seed beds had to be laboriously hand weeded by workers sitting on either side the bed and carefully removing weeds from among the delicate tree seedlings. In cold, windy, wet conditions probably one of the worst jobs with no active movements to warm the body and sore muscles from crouching or sitting down and reaching across sideways.
It is little wonder that Sandy Rose was very keen on developing the multiple drill single seed sowers that resulted in lines of seedlings spaced apart in rows about 150mm apart. This allowed machines to work and cultivate in between the rows.
The missing name and any comments would be very welcome
Download Large Version (658kB)
Groups: Forest Nurseries, Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Groups of people, Tools, equipment and clothing