THE GEITESEE FARMER. 



115 



CUTTING GBASS OR GRAIN BY MACHINERY. 



Editors Genesee Farmer: — Among the most 

 noticeable articles in the .January number of the 

 Genesee Farmer^ is the prize essay of Mr. David 

 Street, of Salem, Ohio, on the " Advantages of 

 Cutting Grass or Grain by Machinery." 



So important a proposition as that which proposes 

 to abandon the scythe and the sickle for some won- 

 drous machine not yet put to the test by the great 

 majority of our formers, it seems to me ought to be 

 talked over a little by somebody upon the other 

 side of the question; and I really hope that our 

 agricultural friend out toward the backwoods of 

 Ohio will have no objection to these observations, 

 even if the cft'ect should be to persuade people to 

 stick to the scythe, and let the labor-saver go for a 

 few years longer at least. 



To make out a case, farmer Street takes first, 

 for an example and illustration, the assertions of a 

 couple of tarmers, A. and B., who have got each 

 eix acres of grass to cut and get into tlie barn, lie 

 allows A.., with two hands, (three in all,) to cut and 

 put up in the old way one and a half acres in a day, 

 or tlie whole six acres in four days ; Avhile B., who 

 uses a mowing machine and employs the same num- 

 ber of hands, will finish two acres and a half the 

 first day, a little more the next, and finish the six 

 acres in a coujile of days. Mr. S. is in favor of tlie 

 mower, therefore. He says he speaks from fair 

 experience, and of course claims for it all that the 

 case will allow, and we will let his estimate for the 

 six acres stand for the present ; but his calculations 

 upon the time it would take poor farmer A. to 

 worry off his six acres, need mending as much as 

 would his new mowing machine after the first acci- 

 dent, and can be mended far easier — for he might 

 gii£ss again, while the mower would have to be 

 carried to the blacksmith shop, if it could be got 

 tliere, or, wliich would be about as easy, the black- 

 amith shop moved into the field. 



In the town of Oxford, or in the State of New 

 York, I suppose we have no foster or better inow- 

 ors than anywhere else ; neither do I sui)pose that 

 our grass is better or poorer than the grass in other 

 places; and here three average hands will in one 

 day cut down with their scythes, make, get up, and 

 put into the barn, three acres of good grass in a 

 day, with much ease; and instances are common 

 where extra driving hands do about double that 

 amount in a single day. This beats our Ohio 

 friend's calculations altogether; and to make his 

 case stand at all good, he will have to guess again. 

 Upon the same principle of reasoning throughout, 

 in regard to the saving of labor, time, and money, 

 and some otiier advantages in favor of the mower, 

 Mr. S. finally claims that the case in favor of the 

 mower over the scythe is well made out ; but, seri- 

 ously, we can quicker, plainer, and better, make 

 Qijt ours. 



In the State of New York, I shall put down the 

 average size of farms at about 100 acres, and the 

 average of mowing or meadow land at 25 or 30 

 acres to each. 



To begin haying, farmer B. goes off 10, 15, or 20 

 miles, and buys a mowing machine at a cost of $125 

 or $150, (see calculations of former Street, of Ohio, 

 fcr the price of one,) and begins upon his 25 or 30 

 acres, with his two men, and finishes it in eight or 

 tea days (see same authority) at an expense of about 



$35 — horse hire, wear and tear, etc., not included ; 

 while farmer A., here in New York, with the same 

 number of hands, without a mowing machine, will, 

 in the same time, mow down, get up, and get into 

 the barn, his 25 or 30 acres of gaass, while the 

 machine man's is only cut and put up in good order, 

 according to good authority. We allow both farm- 

 ers to use a horse-rake, of course. 



But the above is nut all. We have seen the first 

 cost of the mowing machine of farmer B. to be, at 

 the lowest price, $125, the interest on wliich, at 7 

 per cent., would be $8.75, to which must be added 

 at least $2 a year for rep:iirs, and we have got for 

 the first year the sum of $10.75 on the wrong side 

 for tliose who mow with tlieir hoives. "Nor is 

 this all;"' for the length of time which a mowing 

 machine will usually last, a;cording to good author- 

 ity, is not more than about ten or a dozen years, 

 when the first cost of $125, with interest on the 

 money, repairs and all, ai-e all gone; while tlie 

 expense for scytlics for a life time would not eqiuil 

 half so large an amount. 



And this is not all. We have seen, from observa- 

 tion and experience, that the introduction of patent- 

 right "labor-saving" machines is too too often the 

 means of causing an unwonted degree of idleness 

 with those who before were steady and industrious 

 at their work, and of begetting false notions for leisure 

 hours and days. This I believe to be true in regard 

 to mowing machines in particular. Several of my 

 acquaintances have recently bought them, and from 

 that time they seemed to think their haying was 

 half done. They are in no hurry to begin, and can 

 go hunting and fishing, and go up to the village 

 oftener than ever; and while there, they talk long 

 and loud, to everyone they see, upon the subject of 

 mowing; and sometimes, before coming home again, 

 get so mnch dmon — I don't mean the grass — that 

 tliey have as much as they can do, with good help, 

 to get along with it. And then at last, when they 

 guess it is going to be good weather, they go to 

 slashing down the grass. But it often liappens, 

 when a whole field is cut down, that they have 

 waited till good weather is past, and half a dozen 

 acres are caught in the rain, with the mower and 

 all — for nobody ever undertook to get one under 

 cover, I believe. And then comes the good time to 

 look into the kitchen of farmer B., or as soon as the 

 greater part of the people of the neighborhood are 

 ready to go into the house, which will not be until 

 the men have assembled around the mower, to 

 examine it in each of its parts, to point out defects, 

 suggest improvements, etc., etc. 



Nor is this quite all. Farmer S. anticipates a 

 time when help may be so scarce that to procure 

 sufticient of it would be difficult, if not impossible. 

 If that time has ever been, it is not likely to occur 

 again, at least in the State of New York ; certainly 

 not at a time when thousands of laborers are com- 

 plaining of not being employed, and are not far 

 removed from care and want. How much better, 

 then, to give employment to our honest, hard- 

 working neighbor, who labors for his bread, than 

 to send ofl^ our money to some princely proprietor 

 of a thundering machine establishment, to a foreign 

 country even it may be, to obtain that which at 

 most is of exceeding doubtful benefit to the farmer. 



And lastly, we wish to say to our good friend in 

 Ohio, that if it has never been permitted him to 



