FARM IMPLEMENTS. 165 



1. It should be easily drawn. 



2. Easily conveyed from field to field. 



3. Easily managed while at work. 



4. It should cut close. 



5. It should cut smooth or without clogging. 



6. It should lay the grass evenly. 



7. It should be able to start in grass without backing. 



8. It should cut equally well with or against the wind. 



9. It should be adjusted so as to cut high or low. 

 10. It should not be liable to get out of repair. 



Perhaps some may say that these ten requisites cannot all be 

 combined in one machine. It may be so ; and yet it is encour- 

 aging to know, that they are found, to a good degree, though 

 not in perfection, distriliuted among the different machines 

 above mentioned. For instance, we have one or two machines 

 which are tolerably light of draught, viz. : Manny's, and Ketch- 

 um's improved. The former of these is generally so acknowl- 

 edged ; but whether, in reality, it has any claim to superiority 

 in this respect, can only be determined by an instrument made 

 for the purpose. At a trial held on the farm of T. P. Huntington, 

 of Hadley, in June last, we suggested that the competing ma- 

 chines should be subjected to some such test ; but it was not done. 

 It is a matter of some importance, and we may have occasion 

 to refer to it again. In regard to the second and third of our 

 requisitions, Manny's seems to be nearly perfect ; while in regard 

 to the fourth and fifth, both that and Ketchum's do very fair 

 work, though on the fifth point they are not faultless. We are 

 aware that it is claimed for both these machines, that they will 

 not clog, and we gladly concede that, in ordinary mowing, they 

 do not; but we have witnessed instances, the past season, in 

 which both proved themselves imperfect on this point. The 

 difficulty arises, probably, in part at least, from the fact that the 

 knives work about half of the time at a disadvantage. The 

 course of the knives on the ground being serpentine, or zigzag, 

 it is easy to see that the central part of each stroke is made at 

 much the best advantage. When this difficulty shall have been 

 fairly overcome, the great problem of mowing with machines 

 will be solved. Mr. Russell's mower, though operating un- 

 favorably in some respects, is, as far as our knowledge extends, 



