SECRETARY'S REPORT. 85 



far greater variety of circumstances than was at first supposed. 

 I have seen them operate safely and advantageously on rough 

 lands covered with stones, on hilly and broken surfaces, re- 

 claimed bogs and salt marshes, with two horses, with one horse, 

 and with oxen, and with fewer accidents than might reasonably 

 have been anticipated under the circumstances of a hew imple- 

 ment, want of experience and skill incident to the introduction 

 of machinery, &c. It is, nevertheless, true that it will prove to 

 be a great saving in the end, to put the field in good condition, 

 have it free from stones and all other obstructions, and many 

 doubt whether it is economical to buy and use a machine till 

 this state of cultivation is attained. 



The average time required to cut a half acre by the dififerenf 

 machines competing for premium, was twenty-two minutes, or 

 forty-four minutes per acre. One of the competitors, as appears 

 above, cut, on one occasion, eight acres, yielding sixteen tons of 

 hay, in three hours and forty minutes, or at an average rate of 

 twenty-seven minutes per acre ! After making all necessary 

 allowance for stoppages to rest the team and occasionally to 

 repair the machine, we may reasonably estimate the work 

 which could be done, without over-urging, at an acre per hour. 



As to the power required, all the reports concur in saying, 

 that though the machine does not yet run so easily as it might 

 and ought, still there is less labor for the horses than in 

 ploughing. In most cases the horses actually gained in weight 

 while they worked with the machinfe. This is the testimony, 

 not only of competitors, but also of committees of county socie- 

 ties appointed to aid the committee of the State society in 

 making up their decision. One of these committees says : 

 " the team used may be called a fair average of farm horses, 

 the pair weighing about two thousand pounds. They required 

 no urging, so far as we could observe, but performed their daily 

 work on the machine wijji ease, and could they give an opinion, 

 your committee have no doubt they would consider mowing the 

 most agreeable part of the harvest labor." 



It is also the opinion of most who have used the machine ; 



that horses of medium size, say from nine to ten hundred 



pounds in weight, do their work, on the whole, with greater 



ease and safety than larger ones. This is especially the case on 



soft or wet ground. 

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