FARM IMPLEMENTS. 139 



Mr. Ware had nearly finished mowing, some ten acres more 

 only remaining to be cut. This was examined on the 14th day 

 of August, in company with another of your committee, and in 

 the opinion of the undersigned, the mowing of this piece was 

 worse than any he had seen. The surface of the land was not 

 so smooth as tliat of the other fields cut by Mr. Ware. The 

 stubble showed that the grass had been heavy, with a thick and 

 fine undergrowth. Still the land gave evidence, not only of 

 neglect on the part of the driver, but also of bad cutting by 

 the machine, which dragged over the land in places without 

 cutting the grass ; and if the quantity of land required to be 

 cut by Mr. Ware is made up, by including this last field, the 

 quality of the mowing done by this gentleman is very materi- 

 ally reduced. 



The work of Dr. G. B. Loring, of Salem, was next examined. 

 Dr. Loring had cut some fifty acres, mostly in one field, where 

 the bottom was smooth and level and the burden of grass 

 heavy. The character of the work was above the average, 

 showing an unusually even clip. The machine was tried in 

 presence of the undersigned, upon a piece of reclaimed land, 

 bearing a heavy crop of English grass, and the result was per- 

 fectly satisfactory. 



Upon visiting Bradford, Mr. W. F. Porter was found in the 

 field engaged in mowing, upon the farm of Mr. Chamberlin. 

 Mr. Porter had cut about one hundred acres of grass, a portion 

 of which, that upon the farm of Col. Newell and others in 

 Newbury, had been examined at the time of visiting Newbury- 

 port. Although, as a whole, Mr. Porter had performed his 

 work as well as most of the competitors, still he had erred, as 

 it seemed, from a desire to cut full up to the measured width 

 of his knife, and consequently failing to cut at all in many 

 places. This was particularly visible upon his own farm, and 

 especially at the rounding of his swaths. Mr. Porter was put 

 to the test of mowing a plat of half an acre, measviring four by 

 twenty rods. 



The grass, except at one point, was light and thin, the surface 

 smooth, but rolling. The lot was cut in twenty-one and a quar- 

 ter minutes. His knife-bar was four feet eiglit inches, and his 

 team weighed 2,490 pounds. 



