THE MOWING IVIACHIXE. 



Buckeye, now so generally used iji New England, was pat- 

 ented in 1856 ; the Wood, that has also become veiy popular, 

 m 1859, and others m quick succession, till, by 1864, there 

 were no less than a hundred and eighty-seven establishments 

 in the country devoted to the manufocture of mowers and 

 reapers, many of them of vast extent, thoroughly built, fur- 

 nished with abundant power, tools and machinery' of every 

 description, and the whole business. had come to be wisely 

 systematized, giving employment to sixty thousand men and 

 turning out fifteen millions of dollars worth of -machines a 

 year. 



At a public trial in 1866, nnder the auspices of the New 

 York State Agricultural Society, forty-four mowing machines 

 were entered, all but two of which did excellent work, such 

 as would be acceptable to any tiirmcr ; and the judges said 

 that the appearance of the whole meadow after it was raked 

 over, was vastly better than the average mowing of the best 

 farmer in the State, though the field itself presented many 

 obstacles. At this trial, too, ever}^ machine couVd stop in 

 the grass and start again without backing to get up speed, 

 and that without any difficulty and without leaving any per- 

 ceptible ridge to mark where it occurred. And so still later, 

 the trial at the farm of the Massachusetts As'ricultural Col- 

 lege, where a large number of machines were entered and 

 worked on the field, proved clearly that the mower had be- 

 come a complete success. The workmanship and mechanical 

 finish of all the machines showed a great improvement over 

 the machines of twenty years ago. They had become mor-e 

 compact, simpler in construction, and lighter. They ran with 

 easier draught, less friction and less noise, and cut the grass 

 well on uneven surfaces. 



The mowing machine which, it will be seen, has been, prac- 

 tically, the growth of the last twenty years, was an immeas- 

 urable step in advance of the old methods of cutting grass. 

 It comes in at a season when the work of the farm is more 

 than usuallv laborious, when wao-es are hi^h, when the 

 weather is often fickle, oppressively hot, or "catchy," audit 

 relieves the severest strain upon the muscles. 



The tedder has come into use entirely within the last 

 twenty years, and its practical use on our farms is wholly 



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