ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the dispersed production geography of the industry and the relationship between scale of production and productivity in its works. It identifies the emerging patterns of spatial and corporate concentration and the supply systems of harvesting-machinery factories in the decades prior to 1880, and compares the productivity of plants in the industry. Analysis reveals two sets of constraints on factory production: technical constraints associated with Victorian-era production technology in the foundry and carpenter's shop; and seasonality in labor supply, factory production, and harvester sales. Seasonality dominated the labor markets of Canada and the United States, especially in the decades before 1870, when short production seasons characterized much North American factory work. By examining the supply networks of specific enterprises, the chapter also shows how subcontracting arrangements, with both local and distant suppliers, factored into manufacturers' calculations. The chapter turns its attention to several leading enterprises, their scale of production, productivity, subcontracting, and expansion strategies.
