WHAT! EXPERIMENTS HAVE SHOWN. 309 



Wilson's machine was very successful in experiments 

 made in 1837. It could be operated by one horse walk- 

 ing behind the machine. The grass was so left as not 

 to need spreading. 



Another horse-mowing machine, that of Huzza, of 

 Cincinnati, met with a limited success as early as 1836. 



But it was not till a very recent date that the ma- 

 chine was constructed in a manner to give confident 

 hope of its ultimate and perfect success. 



The experiments made with mowing machines have 

 at least demonstrated, beyond a doubt, that grass can be 

 cut quickly and economically by horse or ox power, 

 and the objections which are most commonly made to 

 them are such as can easily be obviated by a more per- 

 fect manufacture, and by more skill on the part of the 

 operator. It is, indeed, a mortifying fact, that they have 

 been, in many cases, very imperfectly made ; and the 

 fact that many now in use have so often got out of 

 order has thrown doubts upon their utility as a whole, 

 and retarded their introduction very greatly. But this 

 difficulty does not arise from any defect in the princi- 

 ple of the machine, and many failures, no doubt, are to 

 be ascribed mainly to the impatience of the operator. 



It is not unfrequently the case that a man purchases 

 a new machine or borrows one, and, on starting off 

 without sufficient care, finds himself brought to a stand, 

 with, perhaps, a broken machine ; and, instead of seek- 

 ing the cause, and repairing the damage, and starting 

 anew, throws it aside as entirely worthless, and con- 

 demns the implement at once. Some of our most use- 

 ful and now familiar farm implements have been repeat- 

 edly thrown aside, at first, by the fault mainly of the 

 operator. A machine ought not to be condemned till 

 after a complete and full trial. But enough of these 

 machines have succeeded, to the perfect satisfaction of 



