Crossroads and Characters

32. HOW MANY HORSE-POWER?

For more than a couple of centuries horses were a vital part of agriculture in Scotland. In that period between the time of oxen pulling heavy ploughs and the take-over by the tractor which began in the early twentieth century, the design of lighter ploughs, rakes and other equipment enabled farmers to use horses.

Even as late as the years after the First World War, as caught in this scene on Nether Garvock farm in the 1920's, experiments were still going on with horse-power. Here, to save a man, farmer Tom Hart is ploughing double furrows with four horses, Later it was discovered a lighter design of the double-bladed plough could be pulled using just three horses. But by then the tractor was firmly established, and the era dominated by horse-power had ended.