374 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Auo. 



For the Netc England Farmer. 

 TREAL OP MOWING MACHINES. 



Mr. Editor : — Dear Sir, — I notice in your is- 

 sue of June 25 an article on mowing machines, 

 signed "Truth and Justice," in which the writer 

 labors to convince the public that Ketchum's im- 

 proved mower is the best machine in the market, 

 and that it proved itself such at the trial of mow- 

 ers in Boylston some ten days since. There are 

 several statements made in that article which are 

 erroneous. The first which I will notice, is, that 

 "the work of the Manny mower lacked that even- 

 ness of cut which characterized the work of the 

 Ketchum ;" the opposite of this was evident to 

 most who examined the work of the different 

 machines impartially, especially in that of the 

 Connecticut machine, whose swath, in many 

 parts, was a complete wave. It was claimed for 

 the Ketchum that it wotild cut closer than the 

 Manny, that it would not clog, would cut lodged 

 grass better, would start easier in heavy grass, 

 and had less side draft than the Manny machine. 

 These, I think, were refuted by the working of 

 the Manny machine. "Truth and Justice" claims 

 as a reason for the fatigued appearance of the 

 horse which drew the Ketchum, (which, by the 

 Way, is from 200 to 300 lbs. heavier, and I should 

 say quite a number of years younger than the 

 Manny horse,) that he had been worked all the 

 forenoon at Worcester, then driven ten miles and 

 put on the machine. Admit this — but was that 

 the case on another occasion when the writer 

 saw the same horse on the common in Worces- 

 ter, drawing the same machine, and exhibiting 

 even greater fatigue than on the occasion in 

 question ? 



The operation of the two-horse machines was 

 quite as opposite in its results to what "Truth 

 and Justice" claims, as was the case with the one- 

 horse mowers. To the Ketchum machine, with 

 a six-foot bar, were attached two powerful horses 

 driven by one of the best operators of mowers in 

 the State, and with this strong team it was with 

 difficulty that the horses could draw the machine, 

 and at the same time be kept clear of the stand- 

 ing grass, so great was the direct and side draft, 

 the pole of the machine swaying against the off 

 horse nearly the whole distance cut ; this fact, 

 perhaps, was not noticed by your disinterested (?) 

 correspondent, "Truth and Justice," but it was 

 noticed and spoken of, not only by the writer, 

 but by many others in his vicinity, among them 

 one or two of the most experienced operators of 

 mowing machines in the country. 



The fact that both Manny machines exhibited 

 were sold on the ground, and that five or six 

 have been sold since to parties who were present 

 at this trial, proves that all the farmers there as- 

 sembled did not form the same opinion as to the 

 merits of the two machines, which "Truth and 

 Justice" asserts that they did. 



Since the above trial there have been trials at 

 Georgetown, Lowell and Sutton, in all of which 

 the Manny has proved itself to be the most reli- 

 able and practicable machine. At Sutton a trial 

 came off on Friday last, although the weather 

 ■was such that according to previous arrange- 

 ment it should not have taken place. The ma- 

 chine was put into wet, heavy grass, and the 

 Ketchum proved an entire failure, clogging and 



slipping over the grass, cutting it anywhere but 

 close to the ground. The Manny did its work 

 well, cutting the wet grass closely and evenly 

 We are straining every nerve to supply our cus- 

 tomers as fast as their orders are sent in, and at 

 this time our supply of one-horse machines is 

 exhausted, except what we are able to turn out 

 from day to day. 



With these statements of the truth of the mat- 

 ter I leave the public to judge which is the best 

 machine, and how much consistency there is in 

 your correspondent subscribing himself "Truth 

 and Justice." Alzirus Brown. 



Worcester, June 27, 1859. 



Remarks. — We were somewhat reluctant to 

 publish the article in our last signed "Truth and 

 Justice," lest it might open a controversy not in 

 accordance with the design of our paper. Know- 

 ing the writer however, not only to be what is 

 called a fair man, but a man of the strictest in- 

 tegrity, a man of sound judgment, and of ac- 

 knowledged reputatation wherever known, and 

 listening to his argument that the people ought 

 to learn the result of such a trial, we admitted 

 the article. 



For the Neu? England Farmer 

 KICKING OOWB AND ORCHARDS. 



Mr. Editor : — In your issue of last week I 

 notice two methods recommended to prevent a 

 cow from kicking. Of course, it is not Mr. 

 Beecher's brindle, "All Saint." "A Belmont 

 Farmer" says : "Take a rope long enough to 

 go round the cow, commencing at her forward 

 legs, and tie it over her shoulders. Now take a 

 stick and twist the rope tolerably tight, which 

 will prevent her from using her legs." Query. 

 Is the rope to surround the cow longitudinally 

 or latitudinally ? If the former, we don't see 

 how it can be tied over her shoulders. If the 

 latter, i. e., as a girt is put on a horse, we don't 

 see how it can prevent the use of her hind legs. 

 We once had an awfully bad kicking cow. 

 She kicked so badly that it really made us mad 

 at her ; and we foolishly, I allow, undertook to 

 lick it out of her ; but it was of no use ; the 

 more we licked, the more she kicked. O, we 

 had a terrible time of it, at least the cow did. 

 You can lick or choke a bad habit out of ahorse, 

 but out of a cow never ; they don't know enough. 

 But to the method to prevent kicking. 



Take a rope, say a yard long, and with a sin- 

 gle knot tie it in its centre, just above the hoof 

 of the rear forward foot. Pull upon the ends of 

 the rope a little, and she will raise her foot. Hold 

 the foot up and tie the ends of the rope around 

 the leg above the knee, which keeps the foot up, 

 and she has to stand on three feet. If she floun- 

 ders a little at first, never mind it ; she will come 

 all right soon. After doing this a few times, she 

 will raise her foot as easily as a horse to be shod, 

 and you can have simply a noose to slip over the 

 knee as she doubles it up, and effectually prevent 

 all kicking. 



I have a few acres of apple orchard now, from 

 seven to ten years old, and for a few years, 

 trimmed it in the spring; as some writers on 



