We came upon this ancient piece of garden/agricultural machinery in the buildings of the kitchen garden at Berrington Hall, near Leominster, Herefordshire. Had there been no recently written sign to explain what it was we would have been completely clueless. It is a Victorian-era hop syringing machine made by the Chelmsford company of Coleman & Morton. The sign helpfully explained that it had been used up to the 1980s to spray fruit. From that information I assume it was used to apply either herbicides or insecticides or it was a means of achieving good fertilisation of the hops or fruit. Apparently the machine was a £10 prizewinner at the 1871 Royal Show.
photo © T. Boughen Camera: Nikon Z 5
