MAN’S HARVEST FEAT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 148, 18 March 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

MAN’S HARVEST FEAT

20 Acres Of Wheat Pitched In A Day

A remarkable feat of 60 years ago was republished recently in an English farming journal. The work described would be the pitch-forking of wheat sheaves from stook, on ground, up to the drays or wagons most likely iu those days, for cartage to stack. The amount of work done was colossal. The account reads :— “Mr. Charlwood, farmer and miller, of Padworth, near Reading, made a wager that lie would himself, singly and unassisted, put up on carts the produce of 20 acres of wheat and send it to be stacked, the time specified being as soou as he could see to load in the morning, and as long as he could see at night. “Mr. Charlwood commenced his Herculean task on the farm of Mr. N. G. Hutchinson, of Cookham, near Newbury, at a quarter before four on Friday morning, and by twenty minutes past 9 at night he had accomplished the unprecedented feat. Mr. Charlwood, who is upward of 50 years of age, was much exhausted at the finish, the crop being very heavy. “It is computed that during the time Mr. Charlwood did not cart a less quantity- of wheat than 200 sacks and 55 or 60 tons of straw, calculated to be equal to what would be considered a fair amount of work for three days for an ordinary agricultural labourer.” What wouldn’t he have done with a combine?