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Balaclava Farm

1948 , Terrington St Clement (Norfolk)

Cat no. 1368

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Farming on Balaclava Farm, Terrington St Clement.

Shots of wheat blowing in the wind leading into a sequence showing a tractor-drawn reaper binder at work in the field. Duncan and Ian Symington, the farmer's two young sons, are filmed in the field afterwards. Men load wheat onto a horse-drawn waggon. Horseshoe Hole Farm is in the background. The final scene in this sequence shows threshing by steam. There are close-up shots of the machinery and of one of the men, Mr. Stevenson. The next sequence shows Ben Rudd cutting mustard seed. The potato harvest is filmed. This uses a horse drawn potato harvester. Several workers, including many women, pick and grade the potatoes. Mrs. Rudd griddles the potatoes. This sequence includes experimentation by the film maker with speeded up and slow motion sequences.The next sequence contrasts different methods of ploughing a field. The first shows a horse-drawn plough. The second shows Mr. Stephenson using a crawler tractor pulling a single furrow plough. The cameraman experiments with shooting reflections and also includes a shot of 'Buster', his wet black retriever before showing a diesel plough sequence. This is being used for deep ploughing. This was an experiment that placed a diesel engine in a steam engine chassis. This contraption, which appears very old, can be seen in the background in some shots. The final, lengthy sequence, shot in 1947 or 1948, shows crop spraying using a helicopter supplied by Pest Control Ltd. The helicopter takes off and hovers over the land before coming down very low to spray. It makes three journeys. A large crowd had gathered to watch. There is a shot of Dr. Ripper, the Austrian founder of Pest Control and of Francis Hankin, the farm secretary. The final journey shows pictures of the Symington's farm, taken from the air.

Keywords

Crop spraying; Farming; Mechanisation; Ploughing

Background Information

The farm had been bought by the Symington family in 1912. It was a 700 acre farm that employed 40 horses. As well as regular workers, many floating 'hands' were used. Usually two gangs of Irish labourers helped with the wheat and potato harvests. (Information from Duncan Symington, c. 1997). Using helicopters for spraying was new. The helicopters were remaindered by the USAAF and bought by Pest Control, founded by Dr. Ripper, a pioneer of aerial crop spraying, for use in this manner.

Manifestations

Balaclava Farm

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