Colour photograph of corn stooks at Whitehouse.
Field of corn stooks at Whitehouse, Cornaigbeg around 2001. (Original in Filing Cabinet 8 Drawer 1)
2002.163.14
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Tag Archives: harvesting
2002.163.15
Colour photograph of corn stooks at Whitehouse.
Field of corn stooks at Whitehouse, Cornaigbeg around 2001. (Original in Filing Cabinet 8 Drawer 1)
1997.190.1
Laser print of colour photograph of Malcolm and Mary MacDonald of Mannal.
Building a haystack in Mannal in the 1950s. L-R: Malcom MacDonald (Calum Ruadh) and his wife Mary, nee MacLean. (Mary is an aunt of Annette MacKinnon, Crossapol)
1997.179.7
Black and white photograph of Mrs Kennedy, Balevullin.
Mrs Kennedy of Balevullin making a haycock, photographed by George Holleyman.
1997.175.6
The Whitehouse MacLeans with a horse-drawn reaper in around 1920.
Photograph of the MacLean family from Whitehouse with a horse-drawn reaper.
Courtesy of Mr Angus MacLean
The MacLean family from Whitehouse, Cornaigbeg are pictured cutting corn with a horse-drawn reaper. This was a tremendous advance on the sickle and scythe. Use of the scythe needed strength and skill and one man could cut only a quarter acre in a day.
Two men sat on the reaper, one to guide the horses which walked beside the standing corn while the other tilted the reaper’s platform when enough corn for a sheaf had gathered. He then pushed it off with an angled rake. The sheaves were tied by people following behind the reaper.
Binders pulled by three horses replaced the reaper. Mechanically operated implements drawn by tractors eventually took over after World War II.
Black and white photograph of cutting corn at Whitehouse.
Cutting corn by reaper at Whitehouse, Cornaig. L-R: Donald MacLean (Big Donald), Charles MacLean (Curly), Tom MacLean, Hector MacLean (Curly’s father), Donald MacLean (father of Tom and Big Donald), unknown, Murdoch MacLean (Curly’s brother).
Cutting corn by a reaper was a tremendous step forward from the sickle and scythe. Sickle work was done mainly by women. Four or five would work together cutting handfuls of corn at a time which were then tied together by the men. The scythe had a blade approx. 2.5 ft long (85 cm) and was handled by the men. A man could cut fully a quarter acre in a day.
The reaper was powered by horses. A cross-member board 4 ins by 2 ins (10 cm x 5 cm) and 4.5 ft long (137 cm) was bolted to the cutting blade of the reaper by hinges, allowing it to operate up and down. Ten strips of wood 4 ins by 1 in (10 cm x 2.5 cm) and 2.5 ft long (75 cm) were placed at 4 inch (10 cm) intervals at right angles to the cross-member. A pedal which was attached to the cross-member was pressed down by the worker’s right foot. This allowed the corn to gather on the platform. He then released the pedal and the platform tilted to the ground. The corn was finally pushed off with the tilting rake. Enough corn to make a whole sheaf then lay on the ground in readiness for the people following behind to tie it. Note the central figure, Hector MacLean, has a tilting rake specially designed to remove corn from the platform.
Binders pulled by 3 horses replaced the reaper. Mechanically operated implements drawn by tractors eventually took over.
1997.148.14
Corn stooks at Ruaig
Postcard of corn stooks at Ruaig in the mid-20th century.
This postcard shows a field of corn stooks at Ruaig in the mid-20th century. The corn was cut and bound into a ‘sguab’ (sheaf) using two handfuls pulled from the sheaf to make a ‘bann’ (tie). These were lined up into an ‘adag’, a short double row of eight to ten sheaves.
The old men were very particular to line up the row of ‘adagan’ in the field so that you could see ‘gobhal na h-adaig’ (the gap between the sheaves) from one end of the field to the other. If cut slightly unripe because of the weather, the sheaves were turned every day until they ripened.
Harvesting was hard, thirsty work and a tin of ‘sùgh min-choirce’ (cold well water mixed with oatmeal) was kept in the shade of an ‘adag’ to provide a refreshing drink.
Black and white postcard of Ruaig.
Ruaig with corn sheaves in the foreground and L-R Taigh Eoghainn Iain na Hongs (Ruaig Post Office in the 1930s) and Taigh Dhonnchaidh or Alasdair Dhonnchaidh (Ruaig Post Office in the 1970s).
1997.148.33
Lifting potatoes at Ruaig
Postcard of the potato harvest at Ruaig in the mid-1920s.
Courtesy of Mr Angus MacLean
Potatoes were first grown in the Hebrides in 1743 when they were brought back to South Uist from Ireland by MacDonald of Clanranald. His tenants were unwilling to plant them and brought the crop to his house as they refused to eat them.
However, by 1800 potatoes had become the main food crop in the islands, including Tiree. They produce three to five times as many calories as grain from the same area of land. Potatoes are also a much more dependable crop than oats and barley, which can be flattened overnight by a storm.
Dependable, that is, until 1846, when the fungus causing potato blight caused widespread starvation in Europe. It is said that West Hynish was the only area of Tiree to be unaffected. This postcard shows Nancy and Alexander MacInnes in the foreground harvesting potatoes in Ruaig in the mid-1920s.
Black and white photograph of potato lifting at Ruaig.
Lifting potatoes at Ruaig, c. 1925-6, with Nancy and Alexander MacInnes in the foreground (Duncan MacInnes`s aunt and great-uncle).
2002.90.1
Audio cassette recording of Hector MacPhail interviewed by his daughter Winnifred Dowl in Ontario in July 1979 and again in June 1982.
Hector MacPhail talks to his daughter Winnifred Dell in July 1979 and June 1983 about his early childhood memories of Tiree, emigrating with his family to Ontario, Canada in 1903, his life and work in Canada and buying his own farm in 1920, and his family.
2000.10.13
Book `Scottish Country Life` by Alexander Fenton.
Crofting History – ploughing, harvesting, threshing, drying and grinding grain; root crops, tools, drainage, the shieling, grass and hay, diary products, farm buildings, livestock, fuel, transport, crafts and trades, fairs and markets, food and drink. Pages 25, 45, 174 & 203 refer to Tiree.
1997.156.6
Two men building a corn stack
Photograph of two men building a corn stack.
Courtesy of Mrs Mairi Campbell
The two men are building a corn stack or ‘mulan’ which will provide winter feeding for horses, cattle and hens and seed for spring sowing. In the background is a row of haystacks. Corn stacks were built with the heads of the sheaves to the centre so the finished stack contained a column of seed.
Four sheaves were placed upright in the centre with further sheaves added around the centre, working clockwise. The sheaves were always kept with the seed uppermost so any moisture would run away from it down the straw.
The diameter of the stack was carefully measured using a special rope, either six or seven fathoms long, marked with a knot at one end and a block at the other. The stack was re-measured every two rows to keep it straight. These traditional methods are still in use today by a few crofters on the island.
Black and white photograph of building a cornstack at Whitehouse.
The two men are building a corn stack which will provide winter feeding for horses, cattle and hens and seed for spring sowing. In the background is a row of haystacks. At harvest time, the cut corn would be bundled by hand into sheaves, six of which would be stood together to form stooks. When sufficiently dry, the stooks would be transported by horse and cart to the stackyard. Corn stacks were built with the heads of the sheaves to the centre so the finished stack contained a column of seed. These traditional methods are still in use today by a few crofters on the island.