176 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



during that time have been very great in nearly all the patents 

 which have fallen under my notice. 



A practical and experienced farmei of Hampden county, 

 in answer to the circular says : "I use Manny's Patent 

 Mower, manufactured in Worcester, by J. P. Adriance & Co., 

 and have cut more than one hundred acres in the two last 

 seasons, without breaking a tooth or the point of a knife. The 

 whole expense of repairs has not exceeded three dollars, and it is 

 now in fine order for years to come. The power is the same as 

 common ploughing. If the horses are permitted to stop but a 

 short time, and that often, in hot weather, as when ploughing, 

 I would as soon let my horses mow a day as plough." 



A farmer of Worcester county says : " I have used Ketchum's 

 and Manny's mowing machines. I prefer Manny's to Ketchum's. 

 It draws much easier, and is easier to manage. I worked them 

 both with the same horses. My mowing lots are small. Farmers 

 with large lots can use the machine to greater advantage than 

 I can, but on my small lots it saves nearly two-thirds the cost 

 of mowing, and all the cost of spreading." Another in the 

 same county says : " In July, 1854, I used Ketchum's Patent 

 Mower, with which, after many failures and repeated discourage- 

 ments, I succeeded in cutting the crop of grass, and made con- 

 siderable saving in the cost of getting the crop, but was of the 

 opinion that great improvements were necessary. In 1855 I 

 used the same patent altered, but not improved, by an iron 

 frame and cutter bar. The present season I have used the 

 Manny patent, manufactured, in Worcester, and can say that it 

 is a labor-saving machine for the farmer. The Manny is far 

 superior to the Ketchum, for lightness of draught and the slow- 

 ness of speed required in uneven places ; the lever by which the 

 cutter bar is raised or lowered at pleasure, — the perfect arrange- 

 ment of the knives that could not be clogged or stopped in 

 more than fifty acres, — the convenience of transporting it on its 

 own wheels from one lot to another, and last, not least, com- 

 bining, as it does, the reaper, renders it one of the most perfect 

 machines that has come under my notice. In regard to the 

 profit of mowing by machinery, it has cost to secure the hay on 

 this place, on an average, about -1100 a year for extra labor. 

 This year but $34, allowing nothing for the labor of horses." 



A practical farmer of Berkshire county says : " I have used 



