1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



361 



MOWING EXHIBITION. 



There was a trial of mowing machines, on 

 Tuesday, on the farm of Mr. Muses Wetherbee, 

 in Dedham, under the superintendence of a com- 

 mittee of the Norfolk County Agricultural So- 

 ciety. The trial was in competition for the pre- 

 mium of $G00 offered by the State Society. We 

 find a report of the proceedings in the Telegraph, 

 from which we condense the following account : 



"The field was very level generally, and free from 

 any obstructions whatever in the nature of stones or 

 stumps, though the >«arfiice was not entirely even. 

 The grass to be cut was very light, but very even, 

 being almost wholly a fine red-top of a wiry, hard 

 kind, with a fine bottom. 



"Three machines were on the ground, of Ketch- 

 um's patent, two of them being heavy for two horses, 

 cutting a swath about 4 feet 8 inches wide, and one 

 for a single horse. These machines operate with a 

 vibratory motion, the cutting apparatus being fixed 

 upon a rod which is moved swiftly from right to left. 



"There are also three machines on the ground of 

 Manny's patent, made by Adriance & Co., of Wor- 

 cester. One of these also was for a single horse. The 

 larger machines weighed about 500 and 600 pounds 

 respectively. They also cut with a vibratory motion 

 in the same manner as those of Ketchum's; but they 

 have what Ketchum's do not, a small wheel on the 

 right hand side of the machine, which helps to sup- 

 port it and causes it to move with less friction, and 

 consequently greater ease for the team. They also 

 have a reel which is made to revolve with a down- 

 ward and backward motion as the machine moves 

 forward, thus pressing the grass more firmly down- 

 ward toward the knives. 



Mr. Fisk Russell, of South Boston, also introduced 

 three machines of similar sixes, but cutting on ditler- 

 ent principles, the knives being so arranged that each 

 blade turns upon a pivot, as the rod to which they 

 are attached moves backward and forward, and thus 

 the edges of eacli blade cut with a drawing motion. 

 The larger machines of Ketchum and Manny cut four 

 feet and eight inches in width. 



"There was also one of R. L. Allen's machines, of 

 New York, of a ditferent kind from either of the oth- 

 ers in some respects, though the cutting blades move 

 like those of Ketchum and Manny. 



"The amount of land assigned to each team was half 

 an acre. Six two-horse teams entered on ihe first 

 trial at fifteen minutes after eleven. OK ; work was 

 completed in from twenty-two to twenty-fi*-e minutes, 

 and was well done by all, though there beeme<l at 

 this trial to be a general impression in tavor of Man- 

 ny's machine, on account of the greater apparent 

 ease witli which the work was done. 



"The second mode of trial was by allowing each com- 

 petitor to cut a single swath through the field and 

 back again, and then examining the ground after the 

 hay was removed by a horse-rake. In this trial, the 

 niachine of Manny showed a closer cut swath, and ev- 

 idently was considered by the spectators generally, as 

 the best machine. 



"The next test was that of the m.achines drawn by 

 a single horse, but no new light was thrown upon the 

 qualities of the machines by this trial, except that it 

 appeared that Manny's machine would admit of cut^ 

 ting either a full swath or only a partial one without 

 clogging, while others did not seem to admit of that 

 variation. 



"One or two other trials, slightly varying from the 

 last, were then had, and at the close the general 

 opinion, as expressetl by the witnesses, was rather in 

 favor of Manny's machines, on the ground that. 



while they do the work quite as well, in every re- 

 spect, as any other machines, they seem to be more 

 easily managed and to require less power." 



I For the New Ens^land Farmer. 



I HARD TIMES AND THE PRICE OF 

 i LABOR. 



Mr. Editor : — In speaking of "hard times," 

 in a previous number, you say, "it is not the 

 merchant who foils, or the manufacturer who 

 stops his machinery, that suffers from hunger, 

 cold or nakedness. But there is a class who 

 have, until recently, received liberal compenBa- 

 tion, who rise in the morning not knowing when 

 or how they shall find food for the day." I 

 would inquire of this class if the foult is not 

 their own ! If they have received liberal pay, 

 (as it is known that workmen have received, in 

 many cases, double pay to what was paid for the 

 same labor ten years ago,) if they should not 

 have been able, through a long period of pros- 

 perity, to have laid up enough to carry them 

 through a "hard time" of -six or eight months 

 without suffering? It seems to me that, by using 

 some economy, they should have been able to do 

 so. The farmer hag paid to the foreigner almost 

 double fur labor the past year, that they for- 

 merly paid to good men from New Hampshire 

 and Vermont. I think the increased wages paid 

 by farmers is unreasonable. The mechanic had, 

 as a reason for the increase of wages, the high 

 cost of provisions, and by increase of pay, was 

 enabled to save more than formerly, when pro- 

 visions were not so high. But the laborers on a 

 farm have no board to pay or provisions to buy, 

 as this item comes out of the employer ; so that 

 the farmer has been obliged to pay extra wages, 

 and the extra expense of board, which has made 

 the wages paid by the farmer amount to about 

 $34 per month, or $20 per month with board, 

 while the laborers in manufacturing establish- 

 ments have received but $2G per month, or $1 

 per day without board. 



I think the wages paid by farmers the last 

 year too high, as the farmer cannot afford to pay 

 more than manufacturing companies. Neither 

 is it worth more to work on a farm than it is to 

 work on wharves or for manufacturing compa- 

 nies, without the certainty of more than a week's 

 work at a time; $14 or $15 and board, in as 

 much as the laborer can command at any other 

 work, and the farmer, who wishes to make ae 

 much as the laborer, should not pay more than 

 this sum. E. G. L. 



Lexingtoyx, June 23, 1855. 



Remarks. — There are, no doubt, hundreds of 

 cases of suffering where dissipation or impru- 

 dence have been the cause, and other hundreds 

 where honest toil and rigid economy have not 

 received their due reward. I^et each examine 

 and judge for himself, and give liberally from his 

 abundance ; or, what is better, supply employ- 

 ment and allow each to earn his own bread. 

 But let none suffer. 



Fig Trees in the Soutuern States. — The iVia- 

 tional Intelligencer saya that choice varieties of 



