1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



369 



THE EAGLE MO^WEB AND KEAPEB. 



Most of the progressive farmers who annually 

 cut thirty tons of hay have now come to the con- 

 clusion that it is more economical to use a ma- 

 chine and the power of horses to cut their grass, 

 than to sweat it out of the muscles and sinews of 

 their men. Wherever the land is suitable for 

 the use of a machine, we have no doubt but this 

 is a just conclusion. We propose now to speak 

 of what, in our opinion, constitutes a good ma- 

 chine, and then of the advantages to the farmer 

 in employing one. 



1. A machine, to operate successfully and to 

 possess some degree of permanency, must have 

 considerable weight, in order to withstand the 

 resistance made by the grass, but more especially 

 to resist the power of such a team as is required 

 to work it, whenever any obstacle is presented to 

 obstruct its onward motion, such as a stump or 

 fast stone. Such obstructions will occasionally 

 occur, in despite of all the foresight and care that 

 can be exercised. The experiment has been tried 

 to build lighter machines, but they have not yet, 

 in any case, we believe, succeeded in performing 

 the work required of them. 



2. The machine that will cut an acre of grass 

 in the shortest period of time, unless it possess- 

 es other indispensable points of merit, is by no 

 means the best machine on that account. The de- 

 sirable point is to get a machine that may be 

 kept long in motion at a slow pace, without be- 

 ing compelled to stop to adjust its parts, to /est 

 the horses, clear the knives, or make any altera- 

 tions whatever. 



3. A good machine will be easy and conveni- 



ent to back, so that in turning the corners, the 

 horses, by a gentle and sort of natural pressure 

 on the breeching, will throw it back and bring it 

 into line for the next swath. 



4. Few fields are so completely clear but that 

 occasionally some obstruction will meet the eye 

 of the driver, and it is necessary for him to stop 

 at once where he is, and remove it. It now be- 

 comes important to be able to start again with- 

 out backing, 



5. A good machine will enable the farmer to 

 move it from place to place on its own wheels, 

 without any motion or danger to the knives, so 

 that he can pass over stones or dead furrows 

 without risk or inconvenience. 



6. Such a machine will h'ave knives construct- 

 ed of materials so excellent that they will per- 

 form a large amount of work without being 

 sharpened. On fair land, it is only necessary to 

 touch the knives a little with a scythe-stone once, 

 in cutting twenty to twenty-five acres with the 

 Eagle machine. 



7. The strength of the knives and their ar- 

 rangement is such that there is scarcely any dan- 

 ger of their being injured by coming in contact 

 with stones, or by passing through hummocks of 

 soil, or even small hassocks. 



8. A good machine will cut the grass at any 

 time, whether it be dry, or wet with dew or rain. 

 The foreign, and some American machines, have 

 failed in this particular in England. Where the 

 grass was thick and fine and moist in that moist 

 climate, many machines have failed to cut it, and 

 have been pronounced failures. The Eagle works 



