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The use of farm machinery on the land in the 1930's is rapidly recalled by Jack Hill who was brought up on The Gables Farm as a lad.
Preparation for sowing of potatoes or mangolds involved using the ridge plough, which had two moulds to raise a ridge into which the seed was sown or a trough into which the potatoes were dropped by hand.
The seed -sowing machine had two funnels connected with a small ridge cutter that formed a space for the seed and then closed the earth over. The ridge was rounded up with a diabalo-shaped pair of wheels. The next stage was singling of the plants that meant a large quantity of seed was wasted to ensure a gap between the final roots.
This work was very tedious and back-breaking, requiring a sweep sideways to clear the majority of the seedlings then a careful manipulation of the final few to leave the strongest to grow to maturity. When one thinks that an adjustment to the seeding machine would have resulted in blocks of seedlings instead of a full row there could have been quite a saving of seed. That would have required mechanical expertise, which was sadly lacking at the Gables Farm.
Mangold harvesting was also very labour intensive but occurred during frosty weather. The heavy plant was tugged from the ground by its leaves, cleaned roughly of its fibrous roots using an old carving knife then separated from the leaves by a quick chop. It was then thrown to a small heap that would remain for a week or so, then be collected by being thrown into the tipper cart, and then deposited in a clamp either in the field or near the barn that housed the root chopper.
This latter machine could be operated by an overhead belting system but the men preferred to turn it by handle, the engine being very difficult to start. In fact during my life on the farm, I never once saw the gas engine in motion even though fuel still remained in the storage tank alongside. I think the process of starting involved putting a blowlamp into place to generate sufficient heat to vapourise the fuel {and patience was in short supply}.
Potato gathering was also very laborious with the roots and tubers being exposed by a special fitting on the ridge plough. The potatoes could then be picked up by hand and dropped into sacks. The work could be done by novices like me, Mother and Hollick.
Storage space was allotted in one of the old stables next to the coalhouse, and here the potatoes would remain until needed for sale to customers like Woolworths in Leicester. All the sorting, rebagging and weighing was done by Dad or John R. Delivery in bulk was carried out by Jack Harris in his Ford lorry. Small deliveries were made by me using one of my trollies in which case the sacks were kept to manageable weights. I received a small wage for doing this, so Saturday was the day.
As a result of Dad's sales to Woolworths he was able to have lunch on Saturdays at the cafeteria upstairs and receive personal attention from the chef, who would be on hand to carve beef from the joints on display. Almost invariably he would be joined by his cousin, Edgar Stephens, and the meal was always a jolly affair as Edgar had a flair for jokes and repartee with the waitresses, filling the place with echoing laughter.
The reason that the lunches were regular was linked with Dad's visits to the cattle market, either to sell cattle or sheep or just to go there to check on prices. He was on good terms with many people at the cattle market but since most of them frequented the pub within the market grounds and he was a tee-totaller he never stepped inside.
Grain growing had quite a lot of mechanical input with the initial ploughing, then harrowing to create a tilth suitable for the Ransomes twelve tine seed drill to cope. The seed gauges were operated by cogs attached to the land wheels and so the sowing rate could be varied. Again the drill was pulled by two horses but the going was fairly brisk with the drills only penetrating the soil a small amount. A set of harrows was dragged behind to cover the seed.
Once this stage was completed the whole area was consolidated with a set of rollers with ridges called 'The Cambridge rollers'. Nothing more could be done as weedkillers and fertilizers were not then in use except perhaps for Dad wading through the growing corn to pull out thistles and docks.
So the next stage was arrived at when the corn was fully ripe. On the day of reaping the binder cutter was dragged into the light of day and the components such as the canvas flats, cutting blades and hardwood sails assembled. This machine pulled by two horses rode on one large wheel with ridges to obtain grip to drive the cutters and binding equipment, and with a second small wheel at the end of the cutting platform to keep the blades at the correct height above the ground.
The cutting blades were triangular in shape and bolted to a long flat bar which oscillated to and fro between cast iron fingers. Sometimes a blade would break causing long hold ups, and then the opportunity would be taken to sharpen up all the blades on a wooden stageing using a flat file.
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