Scottish Crofter with Cas Chrom / Footplough B&W Photo Print c.1912

For sale is highly charismatic black and white photographic image from the early 20th Century. - A black wooden framed print under glass of a Scottish Crofter. - The image shows the crofter using the Cas Chrom, crooked foot plough, a tough croftting practice designed for use on thin soils from a series circa c.1912. - This image came with a second photographic image also for sale from W&W Antiques of a similar size. A lengthy curved wooden implement used as a foot plough was created for use on the difficult Highland ground and thin soils. It enabled additional pressure to be exterted using the foot, pushing the plough blade at the bottom into rocky, thin or uneven ground.  Crofting land was often extremely poor in terms of the depth of soil and use of the Cas Chrom could help to improve the quality of the substrate, turning it over. Cas-chroms were also one of the tools to create the characteristic ‘lazy beds’ or fiannegan – where turf was placed on top of one layer, and in coastal location sometimes with shore collected seaweed in between in order to deal with the thin nature of the soil and provide some fertiliser.  Once the ploughing was complete the field would be flattened by rake and planted, often with potatoes, carrots, turnips or oats. Potatoes tended to use less land than cereals for greater return and featured heavily in Scottish Highland diets. Ready to be hung in your cottage, croft or black house, as a stark reminder of agricultural progress. Free delivery to the UK mainland as priced. International buyers are welcome, but please contact us prior to payment to confirm the additional packaging, insurance and shipping costs by way of acceptance to your country. Purchaser responsible for local import tariffs/fees.  If you are interested in multiple items, please contact us for combined postage.