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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



For the New England Farmer. 



MOWING MACHINES. 



Mr. Editor: — Sometime since I noticed in 

 your columns, the following questions relative to 

 mowing machines, by Mr. Smith, of Exeter, N. 

 H., viz : "Is there a mowing machine that is prac- 

 tical for common farmers ? and if so, which is it ? 

 and will it work over rough land, &c.?" These 

 are the first questions a fiirmer naturally asks who 

 is contemplating the purchase of a mower, and 

 especially one whose means do not admit of ex- 

 perimenting. I think there is a mowing machine 

 that is practical ; one that can be managed by 

 one or two horses, or with oxen, to the entire sat- 

 isfaction of any reasonable man. 



There are now some sixty houses manufactur- 

 ing mowing machines, each claiming superiority. 

 But mowing machines are not a speculation ; they 

 have become a reality ; and farmers are driven by 

 the high price of labor to test their practicability. 

 The^ Buckeye claims immense advantage in the 

 flexibility of its finger-bar, and the folding of it- 

 self on to the frame work, thereby making a very 

 portable machine ; this is certainly an excellent 

 quality ; and the Ketchum claims advantage in 

 crossing dead furrows, from the fact that their 

 finger-bar is abreast of the shaft of the main wheel, 

 and that they can attach a shorter or a longer fin- 

 ger-bar. The New Englander, with the conical 

 pivot under its knife, gives it a rocking motion, 

 and a shear cut. Now, to answer the question so 

 frequently asked, "Which is the best ?" is merely 

 giving ray opinion as to what would be a safe ar- 

 ticle for farmers to buy. Manny has undoubtedly 

 patented some of the best principles that have 

 yet been applied to mowers, and that machine 

 comprises all the excellences of the numerous 

 machines now in use. Those machines which are 

 characterized by the flexibility of their finger-bar, 

 possess, in reality, no advantage over the Manny, 

 for the reason that the finger-bar of the Manny 

 plays up and down .independently of the driving 

 work, while the weight rests entirely on wheels ; 

 with the other, thereis the inconvenience of get- 

 ting off and on, to fold up and turn down the fin- 

 ger-bar ; and when down, there is a length of from 

 four to six feet, of steel, wood or iron, with a 

 weight of some hundred pounds or more, without 

 any wheel to support the outer end, and no frame 

 work back to protect it from whatever obstacles 

 it may chance to encounter, while the power is 

 applied above the axle of the driving wheel, mak- 

 ing a complete grap])le of the finger-bar. 



But the Manny differs from other machines in 

 having the power attached and applied directly to 

 the finger-bar, and with the power so applied, all 

 weight is removed from the finger-bar, the draft 

 being up and over a castor wheel, which always 

 finds its place like a castor wheel on a table leg, 

 and when the machine meets an obstruction, its 

 tendency is to rise. It has power in itself to start 

 in the grass without backing — it can be guaged 

 to cut from one to ten inches, by a lever placed 

 at the right hand of the driver, which he can in- 

 stantly use to raise the knife to pass over any ob- 

 struction that may be in the way. 



I think the lever will throw this machine over a 

 stone fifteen inches high; it can therefore be 

 worked on any land that is hard enough for horses 

 to travel 'on, and sufficiently smooth to swing a 



scythe over, hill-sides presenting no difficulty ; it 

 will not upset. 



Another grand feature of the Manny is its reel, 

 which I contend no machine should operate with- 

 out, from the fact that when the wind is blowing 

 heavily in the direction the machine is moving, 

 the grass lodges ahead of the knife, and is con- 

 tinually working dovvn between them, and is cut 

 so fine, that much of it is wasted, and it also re- 

 quires three times the power to drive the macnine, 

 but just apply the reel, and this trouble is instant- 

 ly removed. 



I have seen many machines fail to work well 

 with oxen, because the speed was not great 

 enough to let the grass fall back of the finger-bar, 

 but this machine I have seen, and known to work 

 well with oxen. 



In regard to the portability of the Manny, the 

 driver may get on to the seat at the house, and if 

 his field is ton miles distant, I see no inconve- 

 nience in driving there ; then without getting off 

 to turn down or attach the finger-bar, he drops 

 the lever, throws the machine into gear, which is 

 done w'ith perfect ease, and starts into the grass. 

 The reaper attachment, which perhaps requires 

 five minutes to apply, is a perfect thing, laying 

 the grain in gavels all ready for binding. I was 

 induced to try a mowing machine the past season 

 on the Essex County Agricultural Farm, and 

 having travelled much in the West, and seen many 

 diff"erent patterns of mowing and reaping ma- 

 chines, I was convinced that the Manny patent 

 had as few objections as any I had seen operate. 

 I selected the one-horse mower, and have tested 

 it thoroughly, and have repeatedly witnessed the 

 ojieration of the two-horse machine. They both 

 give entire satisfaction, and I should use them in 

 preference to any I have seen, but I would earnest- 

 ly recommend to farmers the buying of a mowing 

 machine of some kind. Natiian W. Brown. 

 Topsjidd, April 2, 1860. 



For the Netv England Farmer. 

 AN EARLY HARDY GRAPE. 



Mr. Editor : — I have several times, within a 

 year or two, seen inquiries for some early variety 

 of grape that will ripen well in Vermont and New 

 Hampshire, and for the information of such, I 

 would say that there is a grape that originated at 

 Hanover, N. H., that ripens in that vicinity in 

 September. I know that it was dead ripe the first 

 week in October. The grape is small; bunch very 

 compact, and hangs on the vine well. The quali- 

 ity of the fruit is equal to the Isabella, and it is of 

 that kind of grape. I have never fruited it my- 

 self, as my vine set fruit last year, but was frozen 

 and killed in June, and did not make much wood. 

 I have raised but few vines frT)m it, and have not 

 more than eight or ten small ones. 



Joseph Pi'xeo, of Hanover, Avould probably 

 give any information about it, and may have the 

 vines for sale, as I had my vine from him. I think 

 the original vine was taken from under a Catawba 

 vine in the gardens of Prof. Haddock ; and sup- 

 posed to be of that variety at that time. 



Felhajn, N. II., 1860. B. F. Cutter. 



Old men's lives are lengthened shadows ; the 

 evening sun falls coldly on the earth, but the 

 shadows all point to the morning. 



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