Chapter 75： horse drawn harvester

Under Paul's continuous "concern", the Huxin Town Agricultural Machinery Factory finally achieved major results not long ago. The harvester is the primary development target, and now it is finally bearing fruit.

During the development process, Paul put forward two development ideas, one is to develop a traction harvester similar to the McCormick harvester in the United States, which is pulled forward by livestock, and the other is to push forward similar to the Bell harvester in the United Kingdom. Harvesters, pushed forward by livestock. After careful analysis, the craftsmen finally chose the trailed harvester, because the trailed harvester is simpler.

In order to promote the research and development work of the agricultural machinery factory and create an ideal testing environment, Lord Earl asked the craftsmen to conduct bold experiments on Gleiman's own farmland, but the early experimental models performed really poorly, watching large tracts of grain being "spoiled" The servants in charge of managing the farm burst into tears, secretly complaining that Paul was too prodigal, and they had to clean up the messy wheat field after the experiment.

But the wheat fields "spoiled" by the craftsmen eventually yielded great results. After finalizing the shape, the harvester is drawn by two horses, equipped with a cutting knife driven by the ground wheel, a reel and an ear collection platform. It can not only cut the wheat, but also automatically arrange the cut wheat and stack them neatly behind The table can be raked up by a man walking along the machine, and the harvesting speed is 3 to 4 times faster than manual labor.

Before that, a farmer who was good at swinging a sickle could only harvest about 3 mu of grain a day, but with a harvester, a person with a horse could harvest 10 mu or more of grain in a day. This will greatly improve the labor productivity of farmers, and also liberate farmers from heavy physical labor, so that they have more energy to engage in other jobs.

Standing next to the finalized harvester, Paul proudly said to the craftsmen and the accompanying Hansel, McLaughlin and others: "Gentlemen, this will be the first step in the mechanization of our agriculture."

Hansel was very excited. He used to be a farm tax officer on the outskirts of the capital, and he knew very well that wheat is best harvested when it is nine mature. The yield per mu will be reduced by 30kg to 50kg. If it rains continuously, the grains will sprout and become moldy again, and the quality will deteriorate and the loss will be even greater. In view of the low efficiency of traditional manual harvesting, even if more arable land can be opened up and more grains can be planted, due to the limitation of the best harvesting period, it will not be harvested in the mature season. Now with this harvester, three times as much grain will be grown and three times as much crop will be harvested, if nothing else.

With little stars in his eyes, Mellon grabbed Paul's sleeve and said, "Paul, this harvester will make a lot of harvesters, can it be used by the farmers in Bairding?"

Paul patted his chest and said, "Of course, my brothers, Bairdine and Arda, will treat each other equally."

The craftsmen are also very happy and even excited. They often go to work in the fields, so they naturally understand the great significance of the harvester. It has been an honor to be a part of the invention of such a great creation.

Paul cleared his throat and said loudly to the craftsmen: "Your creations will be able to produce more food and save more people from starvation. This great feat is no less than that of the heroes and saints in history. I announce that everyone who participates in the development will be rewarded with at least one gold coin, and I will increase it based on each person's contribution, the greater the contribution, the more rewards."

"Hey~~" The craftsmen exclaimed in disbelief. The lord not only elevated them to the height of the heroes and saints, but also made them a lot of money.

All of a sudden, words of praise, gratitude, and allegiance rushed to Paul.

Although the harvester was successfully developed, Paul was not satisfied with it. He ordered the craftsmen to continuously improve the harvester to make it more convenient, durable, and efficient, and promised that every improvement would be accompanied by major improvements. rewards.

The next step is promotion. Unfortunately, it is already September. When the agricultural machinery factory was established, Paul estimated the efficiency of research and development too optimistically, so he gave priority to requesting harvesters in order to catch up with this year's wheat harvest. But now It seems that they failed to catch up after all, and the wheat planted in the northwest area has basically been harvested at this time. But he still kept a wheat field in his own farm and let it sprout and mold, in order to demonstrate it during promotion.

Within a few days, Huxin Town issued an order to the peasant associations that had been installed in various places: In the name of the Lord's Mansion, the landlords of each village and town were required to arrive at Huxin Town within two days. They demonstrate a significant agricultural machine.

The landowners saw an exciting sight on their farm near the town of Huxin, a strange machine drawn by two horses, this mechanical monster had a wooden turning wheel and a saw with sharp teeth that reciprocated. With the cutting arm of the horse, the bundles of wheat are harvested and stacked neatly on the working table behind.

The crowd of onlookers was very excited, and these farmers who were familiar with farming were amazed: "It is simply a scene in a dream."

Hansel was in charge of hosting the demonstration, and he lost no time in selling: "Gentlemen, the name of this machine is 'Harvester', do you want it?"

"I want to! Of course I want to." "Does the lord want to sell this kind of machine?" "Quickly tell me the price."

These farmers were whetted with appetite and enthusiasm.

Humphrey reported the price: "998 Aldo silver coins for a harvester. UU Reading "

Everyone exclaimed when they heard the price, it was too expensive, and the atmosphere at the scene suddenly cooled down.

"Everyone, don't worry, Lord Graiman allows you to 'pay by installments', that is, you don't have to settle the payment at once, but pay a part of the deposit first, and then pay a certain amount of money at regular intervals until the payment is completed."

"Think about it! A harvester can do as many skilled farmers as possible, and with it, you can open up more fields and grow more wheat."

"998 silver coins, only 998 silver coins, you can't buy it at a loss, you can't buy it, you can't be fooled, what are you waiting for?"

Hansel was selling hoarsely. Some of the farmers were discussing with each other whether the price was worth it, while others were stroking around the harvester, their eyes full of longing.

Finally, a farmer shouted loudly: "I bought it, what procedures do I need to go through?"

"This gentleman is so refreshing!" Hansel gave the farmer a thumbs up, and immediately arranged for an official from the Ministry of Agriculture to lead him to sign the agreement.

In fact, this person was a babysitter arranged by Hansel, but as soon as he appeared, several people wanted to buy it, and more and more people wanted to buy it one after another.

On the day after the demonstration, Huxin Town Agricultural Machinery Factory received more than 20 orders.

Most of the farmers said that they still have to go home and think about it. Hansel said that the door of the Huxin Town Agricultural Machinery Factory is open to them at any time.

As for the self-cultivating farmers, it is very difficult to buy harvesters with their own financial resources, so Paul instructed the Huxin Town Agricultural Machinery Factory to add a rental business. When the busy farming season comes, farmers’ associations in various places will organize farmers to collect money to rent the equipment of the agricultural machinery factory. to use.

There is finally a glimmer of light in the agricultural reform in the Northwest Gulf region.