116 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



in buying a cannon, " since a cannon is a fire engine." 

 The doctor did no violence to the English language, nor 

 did the Massachusetts General Court of the year 1655. 

 The following was their enactment : 



May 23, 1655. Itt is ordered that Joseph Jencks, sen*-., 

 and his assignes, only, shall haue libertje graunted to them 

 to make that engine the sajd Jencks hath proposed to this 

 Court for the more speedy cutting of grasse, for seven 

 yeares, and that no inhabitant or other person within this 

 jurisdiction during that tjme shall make or vse any of 

 that kind of engine without license first obtajned from the 

 sajd Joseph Jencks, on the pcenalty of five pounds for 

 euery such engine so made or vsed, to be recouered at 

 any Court in this jvrisdiction by the sajd Joseph Jencks, 

 sen r ., or his assignes. 



All uncertainty as to the meaning of the statute is 

 cleared up by the author of the History of Lynn, who 

 states that Jenks was an inhabitant of that place, and 

 made an improvement in the scythe. The historian adds : 

 * This improvement consisted in lengthening the blade, 

 making it thinner, and welding a square bar on the back, 

 to strengthen it, as in the modern scythe. Before this, an 

 old English blade was short and thick, like a bush scythe." 



The trustees regarded the result of the competition of 

 1855, on the whole, with satisfaction. It showed what im- 

 provements were necessary, and that no inherent difficul- 

 ties existed. They say in the official report that " rough 

 land covered with stones, hilly and broken surfaces and 

 reclaimed bogs were all brought under the dominion of 

 the machine; " also, that " the farmer will gain in the end 

 by putting his field into better condition for the use of 

 the machine, with a consequence to be hoped for, of 

 clearer and better ordered fields, and the removal of 

 stumps and stones that have been too long an eye-sore 

 and a disgrace to many of our farms ;" and furthermore, 

 that, " the better and stouter the grass, the more perfect 

 has been the working of the machine, in all respects an 

 inducement to better cultivation." It had been stipulated 

 that the committee might, at their option, divide the total 



