1853. 



NEW ENGLAND PARMER. 



457 



into a post-chaise, and perform a long journey to 

 deliver orally what mi<rht Ijave been done in one 

 minute by the pen. In half an hour after this 

 ride was performed, he sat down and wrote an ode 

 descriptive of his own state of nervous irritability, 

 which would not have done discredit to the pen 

 of a Byron. 



"The author of this essay has himself been so 

 enervated by a fit of what is called indigestion, as 

 to be utterly incapable of breaking the seal of a 

 letter for twenty-four hours — though, to all appear- 

 ance, in good health at the time." 



For the New England Farmer. 



MOWING MACHINES. 



Mr. Editor: — I have been exceedingly grati- 

 fied with some accounts of a trial of mowing ma- 

 chines, pubHshed in your valuable paper, and also 

 the strong interest you seem to take in this mat- 

 ter. As this is an importirtit subject for ftirmers, 

 I will, with your permission, offer a few thoughts 

 on this interesting topic. The late Judge Wood- 

 BURV, at one of our agricultural festivals, pro- 

 nounced the hay crop, next to the wheat crop, as 

 the most important crop of the country, and he 

 estimated its yearly value in the New England 

 States at thirty-eight millions of dollars. If this 

 opinion has any foundation in fact, we see the 

 magnitude of the interests involved in this pro- 

 duction. What then, let me ask, has been done 

 to improve the methods of harvesting this -im- 

 mense department of cultivation 1 While our ag- 

 ricultural warehouses have been flooded with im- 

 proved plows and other implements for the vari- 

 ous kinds of farm work, I am not aware that any 

 new mode of cutting grass has been introduced in 

 this part of the country for the last fifty or hun- 

 dred years. Other sections of the union have 

 shared largely of the spirit of the age, but we 

 have remained stationary. Now in my judgment 

 these things ouglit not so to be. It is true the 

 horse rake has done something to help the farmer 

 in haying, but it has not done all that can be 

 done, or enough. The severity of labor at this 

 season is yet proverbial. The farmer is still com- 

 pelled to tug and toil and bear the heat and bur- 

 den of the day, and he needs relief. While, then, 

 we are thankful for the horse rake, we want 

 Something more. The horse rake has lived long 

 enough in single blessedness ; we wish to see it 

 married to the mowing machine, and when this 

 union is effected there will be no want of issue. 

 These machines have been in use in the middle 

 and western States for some years ; and while it 

 is admitted that they are not all of equal merit, 

 there is one upon which the testimony is uniform 

 and decisive. I allude to Ketciium's Mowing Ma- 

 chine. This has several times been put in com- 

 petition with others, and has always borne off the 

 palm. All who have seen it work concur in one 

 report, and that is praise. In a late number of 

 the iVcw England Fanner there is a letter from 

 David Lyman, of Middleton, Ct., and this is his 

 .statement. " I have tried it in thin June grass, 

 in clover and herds grass, both standing and 

 lodged, and in corn meadow grass, and it does the 

 work fully equal to the best mowers. All who 

 have seen it e.xpressthis opinion. It works better 

 on uneven ground than any one would suppose. 

 It is strong and durable, and will, I think, be 



used successfully on nine-tenths of the mowing 

 fields of New England, if properly prepared." lie 

 also states, " I can in three hours cut over as 

 much surface as five men usually mow in tlie fore- 

 noon." In a late trial in the State of Ohio, such 

 was irts excellence and- efficiency that, in the opin- 

 ion of one present, it could have been sold at auc- 

 tion for one hundred and fifty dollars. Five hun- 

 dred were sold last year, and one thousand does 

 not meet the demand the present year. 



There are some reasons which seem to call 

 loudly for the mowing machine. One is the high 

 price of labor in haying. During the past season 

 good men could not be obtained in many places 

 for less than nine shillings a day and board, and 

 they were even scarce at that. Another consid- 

 eration is that we cannot hit upon the proper time 

 of cutting the grass by the old method of mowing ; 

 some will be cut too soon, and other parts too 

 late ; whereas, by the use of a machine, we can 

 at once facilitate and accelerate the operations of 

 haying so as to bring every thing within its proper 

 time and place. 



I am aware that some may object against the 

 use of this implement because of the expense ; 

 but if a single individual should think that he 

 could not afford to buy one, two or three neigh- 

 bors might club together and purchase one for 

 their common benefit, and would save enough by 

 being relieved from the necessity of hiring extra 

 hands, to pay for the machine in one or two years. 

 It may, perhaps, be thought that the circumstance 

 of working the machine with two horses may oc- 

 casion difiiculty or inconvenience, as most farmers 

 have but one. But in reply to this it is enough 

 to say that the Hon. Samuel D. Hubbard, of the 

 city of Middleton, uses his with a yoke of oxen ; 

 and I know of no reason why oxen will not do as 

 well as horses, except that they do not work so 

 fast. 



To prepare the way for the introduction of these 

 machines, I would suggest for your consideration 

 the expediency of having one or more of them 

 submitted to the test of an experiment, similar to 

 the late trial in Ohio. If it were not too late to 

 find grass to work upon, the gathering at a cattle 

 show would be just the time for an exhibition, 

 and there cannot be a doubt that it would attract 

 vastly more attention than the ploughing match. 

 Nothing could have a happier tendency to dispel 

 doubt and banish prejudice than to see one in 

 actual operation. What our farmers want is ocu- 

 lar demonstration. They want to see with their 

 own eyes and handle with their own hands, and 

 then they will be convinced. In this connection 

 I subjoin Mr. IvETcnuii's account of his machine, 

 as published in the Boston Cultivator Feb. 10, 1849. 



ketchum's patent mowing machine. 



The subscriber having, during the past summer, 

 submitted his Mowing Machine to the most severe 

 tests of trial, in every variety of grass and on 

 smooth and uneven surfaces, and having brought 

 it to a degree of perfection, is now ready to offer 

 it to the public with the utmost confidence in its 

 complete success, with the assurance that the fol- 

 lowing statements may be relied on as facts : 



1st. The machine is capable of mowing from 10 

 to 15 acres of grass a day, with one span of hor- 

 ses and one person 'to drive. In addition to this, 

 it leaves the grass evenly spread upon the ground. 



