370 



1NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



KETCHUM'S MOWING MACHINE. 



Improvements in the mechanic arts have been 

 very great within the last ten years. They have 

 reached every branch of industry, and saved the 

 labor of millions of hands, or turned those hands 

 to other pursuits, where segments and cranks and 

 pulleys and steam have not yet found their way. 

 At the hotels the lemons are squeezed by machin- 

 ery, and the dishes washed by steam. Machinery 

 shapes the horse's shoe for the blacksmith, cramps 

 the boot for the bootmaker, fulls or softens the 

 hides for the tanner and the cloth for the fuller ; 

 makes the screws and bolts for the carpenter, mor- 

 tices his tenons, bores his augur-holes, and with 

 the aid of two or three men, raises the broadside 

 of a huge frame ; it saws the veneers of the cabi- 

 net-maker, grinds the knives, the spices and the 

 coffee, (including the beans, peas and chiccory 

 ground with it,) and in short does much in almost 

 every manner of business. Machinery would un- 

 doubtedly have been applied to the under jaw to 

 aid the process of mastication, could as many in- 

 dividuals have been found too lazy to eat as there 

 are too lazy to work ! 



Amid these changes, the farmer has received his 

 share, perhaps, of the improvements which have 

 been made ; and what is encouraging, while he is 

 benefited so much by labor-saving machinery, his 

 products command in the market a higher price 

 than ever before. 



The cut at the head of this article represents a 

 new implement for the farm, and one of great im- 

 portance. It is said to be simple and efficient ; 

 not well suited for a rough surface, but working 

 well on rolling land, or even side hills, if smooth. 

 It will cut an acre of grass an hour, even and 



handsomely, spreading it as it proceeds, ready for 

 drying. 



The usual period of good hay weather is not of 

 long duration, and therefore most farmers feel 

 obliged to work very hard while it continues ; and 

 even then considerable grass is cut in an unfit con- 

 dition, some of it too early and some too late. 

 The horse rake has proved a remedy for this in 

 some degree, and the mowing machine will stil 



