SECRETARY'S REPORT. 183 



light wheel which runs on a spring axle, and is claimed to be advan- 

 tageous in turning and in working the machine on a side hill. 



The Manny machine also requires less power of draft than did the 

 Ketchum machine. In this respect, the difference between it and the 

 Allen machine was almost imperceptible. It has a wheel at the end 

 of the knife bar, which greatly assists in turning and backing, and 

 makes it much more comfortable to transport from one field to another. 

 We think that, other things being equal, a machine with a wheel at 

 the end of the finger bar, has an advantage over a machine without it. 

 Although very different in construction, we regard the Allen and*the 

 Manny machines as very nearly alike in point of merit, and if it had 

 so happened that it was necessary for us to decide between those two 

 machines, our judgment would have been made up cautiously and 

 with much hesitation, for each has points of excellence which the 

 other does not possess. Both these machines did their work gen- 

 erally well, but not so well as the work done by the Heath machine. 



This, like the Manny machine, has a wheel at the end of the finger 

 bar. Like that, too, it has a reel which may or may not be used, as 

 circumstances require. But its cutting arrangement differs entirely 

 from either of the other machines. They each have a single knife 

 with the blades riveted to the plate and operating through cast iron 

 fingers or guards, which, especially when the knife is dull, may be 

 liable to get filled up and thus clog the blades. Instead of these, 

 this machine has virtually a double set of cutters, the under set being 

 stationary, projecting an inch beyond the upper, and thereby acting 

 in the double capacity of guard and cutter. These, as well as the 

 upper blades are each independent of the other, and each attached to 

 its bar by a screw bolt. The upper set of blades is held down by a 

 spring pressure bar, so that the operation is similar to that of shears,, 

 the grass being cut between two sharp edges, and the machine work- 

 ing nearly as well at one rate of speed as another. In case of acci-- 

 dent, therefore, a blade can be removed by any body and another sub- 

 stituted in an instant of time. Both the upper and lower cutters are 

 made like the best edge tools in use, of the best cast steel with wrought 

 iron backs. The iron furnishing strength, the steel can be made as 

 hard as desirable without so much danger of breaking by use, and 

 being made hard do not require to be so often ground. The lower- 

 cutter or guard, as you may please to call it, is half an inch thick and 

 one and one-fourth inches wide. The up.per blades are about twice- 

 as thick as those used on any other machine. This machine very 

 evidently required less power of draft than either of the others, and 

 did its work the best. The Manny machine weighed about 600 



