128 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the half acre. The land selected for these trials was equal, if 

 not better, than the average, and the horses were driven as fast, 

 at least, as they were accustomed to be worked. This would 

 therefore prove that a fair average performance of a machine 

 would be for cutting one acre, forty-four minutes ; whether a 

 pair of horses could continue this rate of work for any great 

 length of time is not so certain ; but the facts before us and our 

 own observations lead us to believe that an hour per acre would 

 not be an overtask for horses, including all ordinary stops, and 

 that a pair of horses could continue the work so as to cut, with- 

 out undue exertion, from ten to twelve acres per day. 



The time table as presented by the competitors, is evidence 

 of the value which they attach to speed, and too much haste 

 has in consequence shown itself in the work performed. The 

 machine lias, in too many instances, been dragged over without 

 cutting the grass, for want of time to permit the knives to oper- 

 ate, and a mane of grass has been left between the swarths in 

 the endeavor to get the full benefit of the cutting bar. The 

 competitors have nearly all erred in these respects ; but the fields 

 of Mr. Lyman, which, since he has withdrawn from the competi- 

 tion, we feel no hesitation in speaking of, present a complete ex- 

 ception, aftbrding a beautiful illustration of even and correct 

 speed, and evincing no common judgment and skill in the 

 operator of the machine. We allude to this for another reason, 

 from the fact that the operator had never before worked or seen 

 a machine at work ; the important truth is established that it 

 requires no apprenticeship to work a mowing machine, but that 

 it is at once a useful instrument in the hands of any one pos- 

 sessing a fair amount of judgment and discretion. 



The returns are uniform in their testimony as to the ease 

 with which the horses have performed their work. They have 

 been generally of light weight, not averaging more than 1,050 

 pounds, and they have gained in flesh during the season's work, 

 several of the competitors cutting from sixty to ninety acres, 

 and doing all the raking, carting, and other usual farm work. 



The accidents which have been recorded by the competitors 

 have been much fewer and slighter in character than it would 

 have been thought possible in fields not properly prepared for 

 the machine, and they have generally been repaired upon the 

 spot, and they have too often been the result of imperfect work- 



