87 



W. T. G. Morton, of Needham, S. Allen's patent. 



Fiske Russell, of Boston, his own patent. 



James A. Howe, of Boston, Kctchum's patent. 



John Dean, Declham, Ketchum's patent. 



Alvau J. Fisher, Dcdham, same patent, single horse. 



J. P. Adriance & Co., Worcester, Manny's patent, four feet 

 cutter. 



J. P. Adriance & Co., Worcester, Manny's patent, single horse. 



J. P. Adriance & Co., Manny's patent, four feet eight inch 

 cutter. 



Hiram W. Jones, Dover, Ketchum's patent. 



Mr. Eaton, of Dedham, entered and operated one of Kctchum's 

 machines, for exhibition, and not for premium. 



The lot selected was a level plain of about ten acres, the sur- 

 face being somewhat uneven in many places. The soil was light, 

 and poor from long neglect. The crop was a thin one, of May 

 grass or Bhode Island rcdtop. It was such as would have been 

 diflScult to be mown by a scythe in a dry time. 



The first scene consisted of six machines put upon half-acre 

 lands, numbered from one to six. The time occupied was from 

 twenty to twenty-five minutes. 



Allen's machine had lot number one, and was the first to com- 

 plete the work. It is a simple machine of about 525 pounds 

 w-eight. It seems to have been an old one, considerably used, 

 and somewhat out of repair. It did not mow as close as the other 

 machines, although the bar w^iich held the knives appeared to run 

 very near the surface. Mr. Morton, the possessor, was not pre- 

 sent, and the general impression appeared to be that the machine 

 had not enjoyed quite a fair trial, even for a single field ; and it 

 is clear that the machine which may do best execution in one kind 

 of grass, may utterly fail, in comparison with others, in a field of 

 a different kind. 



A subsequent trial of Allen's machine Avas witnessed by a 

 portion of the Committee at the farm of ]Mr. A. D. Weld, in West 

 Roxbury, which gave much better satisfaction. One of the pro- 

 prietors ■. "^ present, who understood its management, and the 

 work w-as performed as well as by any machine in the list that 

 has been exhibited to the Qommittee. 



