74 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



forty minutes, without any ado or great fatigue ; the eight acres 

 yielded sixteen tons of hay. That shows that a light team may do 

 very^good work with a mower. I have used Ketchum's four feet 

 machine, which, I think, for our New England farms, is the best I have 

 seen, but is susceptible of improvement in some respects. It is of 

 easy draught, does its work well, and will run on almost every kind 

 of land. The only trouble it has made me was, in mowing where 

 there was a crop of fine rowen the year before, which was not cut ; and 

 there the scythe was equally at fault." 



Such is the uniform testimony in the Connecticut Valley, 

 where the machine is peculiarly adapted to extensive and 

 economical use. The following, from Geo. C. Davis, Esq., au 

 intelligent practical farmer, of Northboro', embodies the result 

 of two years' experience with the machine. He says : — 



" I think a farmer who owns his team and machine should reckon 

 the cost of mowing at about fifty cents per acre, which is less than 

 one-half it would cost to hire it mown M'ith a scythe and the 

 swaths spread. 



" I find a small pair of horses, weighing say from eighteen to 

 twenty hundred pounds, will work a machine quite as easy as a 

 larger pair, — as they walk and turn easier on the sward, and, of course, 

 are less liable to mire in soft places. The labor for horses on a mower 

 is more severe than on a plough, mainly because they are driven 

 faster. I think eight hours per day is as long as any pair of horses 

 ought to work on the machine. They should be driven at the rate of 

 about three and a half miles per horn-, — suitable stops for breathing 

 and resting not included. 



" I have not yet seen a machine which I thought free from faults. 

 Each patent has its apparent advantages. 



" I have never used oxen on my machine to aijy extent, but have 

 seen them work a machine very well. If I mshed to use oxen, I 

 should want a quick, fast-walking pair, and should accustom them to 

 be driven and guided by the bit — using a straight bit, with straps 

 attached to buckle back of the horns, f%r a headstall, guiding 

 them with a common pair of reins, running through rings on each end 

 of the yoke to the outside of each bit, the inside being tied between, 

 according to the length of the yoke. In this way a man could walk 

 behind his machine and watch its operation, and, at the same time, 

 guide his team accurately. Oxen can be easily accustomed to the bit. 



" Most New England farmers have better teams of oxen than horses. 



