FARM IMPLEMENTS. 289 



FARM IMPLEMENTS. 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



From the Statement of the Trustees. 



Not less interesting in the transactions of the society, of the 

 present year, and of special importance, also, to the agricultural 

 community, has been the e^mjDetition for the premium on mow- 

 ing machines. Every step ma ' i to save menial labor by the use 

 of machinery in tilling the soil, and in bringing agriculture as 

 nearly as possible under the control of labor-saving implements, 

 is in the right direction. The principal means of accomplishing 

 the economy of human labor in agriculture, as in other depart- 

 ments of industry, are the exercise of skill and the employment 

 of machinery, both of which indicate a high state of advance- 

 ment, and may be regarded as a true test of its progress.* 

 There are two principal points, therefore, in relation to this sub- 

 ject, to which attention ought to be directed ; one is, the intro- 

 duction of agricultural implements, in all cases where their 

 profitable use can be satisfactorily ascertained ; the other is, 

 that these implements be manufactured at as low a cost as pos- 

 sible consistent with perfect workmanship. It follows, of course, 

 that the more general the use of any instrument is, the cheaper it 

 can be afforded ; but it is also true that, for want of skill and care 

 in their manufacture, farmers often suffer much inconvenience, 

 and are discouraged from purchasing and using many imple- 

 ments for farm work, of a really useful and labor-saving character. 



Last year the trustees offered a premium of six hundred 

 dollars, to the person who shall ciit not less than fifty acres of 

 grass by a machine moved by horse or ox power. The object 

 which the trustees had in view, was, principally, to bring out 

 skill in the use of a mowing machine comparatively new, with- 

 out reference to the particular merits of the several kinds then 

 offered to the public. They felt strong hopes, also, that so large 

 a premium would incite many to try the experiment of mowing 



* For a full illustration of this remark, as applied to agriculture, see " The 

 Journal of Agriculture, &c., of the Highland Agricultural Society of Scot- 

 land." No. 53. New Series. 

 37 



