For some years we have grown Fodder Beet (photo left) at Greenheyes and in 1940 their equivalent was Swede.

Swede are softer and contain more water than Fodder Beet and are much more susceptible to frosty conditions.

They were pulled by hand and loaded by hand and then carted to the store or “Hog” as it was called.

This was a wall of soil put around them and they were covered with straw to protect them from frost.

This picture shows the mechanical harvester just finishing emptying into our trailer.

You can just see the last beet falling in.

 

 

In this first picture you can see a man using a Swede knife. This was used to chop off the leaves after pulling up the plant.

This is a picture of one we have lying in our tool shed (I’ve never used it).

Then they were loaded into the cart this picture catches them mid-throw and as you can see in this picture quite a load.

I imagine this to be quite heavy work for the horse as the ground would be quite soft and Swede are quite heavy.

I know what it has been like some years when we have harvested our beet when the ground has been wet.

More next month PHIL.

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