Chapter 76: The Mara Harvester
Chapter 76 – Horse-drawn Harvester
Under Paul’s continued “concern”, the Lakeville Agricultural Machinery Factory finally achieved significant results not long ago, and the harvester was the first target of development, and now it has finally blossomed.
In the development process, Paul proposed two development ideas:
One is similar to the U.S. McCormick harvester like the development of traction harvester, pulled forward by livestock;
The other is similar to the British Bell harvester like the push harvester, pushed forward by livestock.
Craftsmen after careful analysis, and finally chose the traction harvester, because the traction harvester is more simple.
In order to advance the research and development of the Agricultural Machinery Factory and to create an ideal testing environment, the Lord Earl allowed the craftsmen to experiment boldly on Gleiman’s own farmland.
But the early experimental model performance is really poor, watching a large area of grain was “spoiled”, responsible for the management of the farm’s servants heartbroken tears, secretly complaining that Paul is too expensive, they also have to be responsible for cleaning up the experiments after a mess of wheat fields.
But the “spoiled” wheat fields of the craftsmen were eventually exchanged for great results.
The finalized harvester, drawn by two horses and equipped with cutter knives driven by ground wheels, pivoting wheels and an ear gathering platform, not only cuts the wheat, but also automatically organizes the cut wheat, stacks it neatly on a workbench at the back, where it can be raked by a man walking along the machine, harvesting the wheat three to four times faster than by hand.
Previously, a farmer skilled in swinging a scythe might only be able to harvest about 3 acres of grain in a day, whereas with the harvester a man with a horse could harvest 10 acres or more in a day.
This would greatly increase the productivity of the farmers’ labor and also free them from heavy physical labor, which would give them more energy for other tasks.
Paul stood beside the finalized harvester and said triumphantly to the craftsmen and Hansel, Myron and others who had come with him, “Gentlemen, this will be the first step in mechanizing our agriculture.”
Hansel inside very excited, formerly in the suburbs of the king’s capital as a farm tax officer he knows very well: wheat in nine ripe harvest the best, once to ten ripe time, wheat grain nutrients will flow into the straw, resulting in a drop in the weight of the grains, the yield per acre will be reduced by 30 kilograms to 50 kilograms, such as the case of cloudy and rainy, and the seeds will be sprouting mildew, the quality of the poorer, the loss of even more.
In view of the low efficiency of the traditional manual harvesting, even if you can open up more arable land, planting more grains, but because of the best harvesting period of the limitations of the ripening season can not be collected.
Now with this harvester, if other factors are not taken into account, three times more grains will be planted and three times more harvested than before.
With two little stars in his eyes, Myron grabbed Paul’s sleeve and said, “Paul, this harvester will build many units, right, and can it be used for the farmers of Bairdine as well?”
Paul patted his chest and said, “Of course, my brother, both Bairdine and Arda will be treated equally.”
And the craftsmen are also very happy and even excited, they also often work in the field, naturally understand the great significance of the harvester, although the initial design is completed by the lord lord, but the later refinement and improvement is carried out by them, to be able to personally participate in the process of the invention of such a great creation, I have to say that it is a kind of honor.
Paul cleared his throat and said loudly to the craftsmen: “Your creation will be able to produce more food, so that more people will be free from hunger, this great achievement is no less than the heroes and saints in history. I announce that everyone who participated in the development will each receive a reward of at least 1 gold coin, and I will increase the reward on top of that according to the amount of merit each person has, the greater the merit the greater the reward.”
“Oooh~~” the artisans let out an incredulous gasp, Lord Lord didn’t just elevate them to a height that was on par with the heroes and saints, he also made them a fortune.
For a while, words of praise, gratitude, allegiance, and so on flooded towards Paul.
Although the harvester was successfully developed, Paul was not satisfied with it, he ordered the craftsmen to be able to continuously improve the harvester to make it more convenient, more durable and more efficient, and promised that every improvement would be accompanied by a major reward.
The next step is to promote, unfortunately, at this time has come to September, the establishment of agricultural machinery factory, Paul too optimistic estimate of the efficiency of research and development, so he prioritized the request to engage in the harvester, in order to be able to catch up with this year’s wheat harvest, but it seems to have failed to catch up with the northwestern part of the planting of the wheat by this time has basically finished harvesting. But he still retained a wheat field in the family farm, let it grow buds and mold, in order to be in the promotion of the time to do demonstration.
Within a few days, the lake town to have been planted in all parts of the farmers’ association issued an order: in the name of the lord’s house, the landlords of each village and town are asked to be sure to arrive in the lake town within two days, Count Gleiman will demonstrate for them a significant agricultural machinery.
The landowners saw an exciting sight in the farmhouse near Lakewood: a strange machine drawn by two horses, a mechanical monster with a wooden tilting wheel and a cutting arm with sharp teeth and a reciprocating motion like a saw, with the horses pulling in, bunches of wheat were harvested and neatly stacked on the workbench at the back.
The crowd of onlookers was greatly excited, and the farmers, who were well versed in farming, marveled, “It’s like a dream come true.”
Hansel, who was in charge of hosting the demonstration, wasted no time in starting his sales pitch: “Gentlemen, the name of this machine is ‘The Harvester’, do you want it?”
“Want it! Of course I want it.” “Is Lord Lord trying to sell this machinery?” “Quickly say the price.”
These farm owners were whetted and enthusiastic.
Humphrey quoted the price, “998 Aldo silver coins for one harvester.”
The crowd exclaimed at the price, this was too expensive, and the atmosphere of the scene instantly chilled.
“Don’t be in a hurry everyone, Lord Gleeman allows you to ‘pay in installments’, that is, you don’t have to settle it all at once, instead, you pay a portion of the deposit first, and then pay a sum of money every once in a while until it’s paid off.”
“Think about it! A single harvester can be worth several skilled farmers, and with it, you’ll be able to open up more fields and grow more wheat.”
“998 silver coins, just 998 silver coins, you can’t lose by buying it, you can’t be fooled by buying it, what are you waiting for?”
Hansel hissed his sales pitch, and some of the farmers discussed with each other whether the price was a good deal or not, while others rubbed around the harvester in all directions, their eyes filled with desire.
Finally, one farmer shouted, “I’ll take it, do I need to do any paperwork?”
“This gentleman is so quick!” Hansel gave a thumbs up to the farmer and immediately arranged for a Ministry of Agriculture officer to lead him to sign the agreement.
In fact, this man was a trustee arranged by Hansel, but after he ventured out, several people soon followed, and one after another, more and more people wanted to buy.
The day after the demonstration, the Lakewood Township Agricultural Machinery Plant received more than twenty orders.
Most of the farmers said they would have to go home and think about it, but Hansel said that the door of the Lakewood Farm Machinery Factory was open to them at any time.
As for the homesteaders, it was very difficult for them to buy a harvester on their own with their financial resources, so Paul instructed the Lakewood Township Agricultural Machinery Plant to add a rental business, whereby the farmers’ associations around the country would organize farmers to pool their money to rent the plant’s equipment for use in the busy farming seasons.
Agricultural reform in the Northwest Bay Area could finally see a glimmer of light.
Thank you for the rewards from “Never Least”, “Maybe We Never Give Up”, and “ZDIAN Jade Bracelet”.
(End of chapter)