Summary: Horse-drawn Reaper
Key dates:
In spite of the growth of Belfast and other towns during the 19th century when thousands of men and women moved to the city seeking employment, agriculture remained he province’s biggest employer. In many ways life on the farm had not changed for generations, but the gradual development of new machinery slowly reduced the amount of manual work done on most farms. The horse-drawn reaper was becoming a more common sight on Ulster farms towards the end of the 19th century. This reaper usually required 2 men – one to drive the horses and the other to push the corn off the cutting bar into sheaves. The key here was a tilting rake, operated by a foot pedal, which can be seen above the shoulder of one of the men seated on the reaper. Of course there was still a role for the scythe. It was needed to ‘open’ the field before the reaping began and it was also used to cut awkward spots where access with the reaper was difficult. For cutting hay the tilting rake was laid in a flat position.
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