174 



GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



other machines, — inequalities in the surface, even slight ones, caused 

 it to bound in such a manner as to throw up the extreme end of the 

 finger bar several inches above its true cutting level, leaving the 

 stubble uneven and wavy. 



Allen's machine required less power of draft than the Ketchum 

 machine. Its Aveight with pole and whiffletrees is about 600 pounds. 

 No machine that we have seen is so readily thrown in and out of gear 

 as is this. It has a wooden instead of an iron finger bar. In our 

 opinion an iron finger bar is preferable. The weather cannot affect it 

 as of necessity it must a Avooden one, and the grass which falls upon 

 it leaves it a little more readily. Outside of the driving wheel is a 



