70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



after the best methods now known, as pretty free from faults ? Have 

 you tried to use oxen on the machine, and do you consider it practi- 

 cable to work them ? If they should be found to work well, which 

 shoiild you consider it the best economy to use, oxen or horses ? 

 What is the comparative cost of keeping oxen and horses in your 

 neighborhood ? Are the machines now used so simply constructed 

 as to be easily understood by one who is beginning to use them ; or, in 

 other words, what amount of practice does it require to use them 

 properly and easily ? What suggestions can you make for one just 

 beginning to use a mowing machine ? With your knowledge and 

 experience of its use, would you advise the farmer to buy and use a 

 machine instead of cutting his grass with a scythe ? 



Will you oblige me by answering these queries as fully as possible, 

 at your earliest convenience ? 



Very cordially and truly, your obedient servant, 

 CHARLES L. FLINT, 



Secretary of the Board of Agriculture. 



It may be proper in this connection, and before proceeding to 

 quote from the many letters which have been received on this 

 subject, to disclaim all partiality or bias in favor of either of 

 the patents which are so frequently alluded to hereafter, and to 

 state that it has been my earnest desire to arrive at the truth, 

 as expressed in the collected judgment of those who have had 

 the most practice and experience in the use of this important 

 implement, and to aid the farmer in arriving at his own intelli- 

 gent conclusions. Either of the patents which have been most 

 used in this State, will, undoubtedly, if properly made, accom- 

 plish the work for which it was intended, and it may be true 

 that each possesses advantages and defects peculiar to itself, 

 which cannot be concealed by the owners or manufacturers 

 themselves, who understand them best. 



Among the letters by which I have been favored, is one by 

 Samuel Parsons & Sons, of Northampton, who have probably 

 had more experience than most men in the practical working of 

 the mower. In reply to the questions contained in the above 

 circular, they state : — 



"As to the economy of its use in our vicinity we have no hesitation 

 in saying, that one-half of the expense is saved in using the machine 

 to cut and spread grass, when compared with the common scythe, to 



