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340 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE BUCKEYE MOWER. 



Mr. Brown : — I notice in your paper of to- 

 day a letter in regard to mowing machines which 

 gives a false impression in regard to the Buckeye 

 Mower. 



By the letter you see that Mr. Shaw is very 

 much interested in the Manny machine, although 

 he says that he is interested in none. Now I 

 propose to state a few facts which I can prove, 

 and see how they compare with what he thinks 

 are facts as he states them by his letter. 



In the first place he thinks, does not say he 

 knows from experience, that the Buckeye and an- 

 other machine may do well upon perfectly smooth 

 ground, but for uneven land the Manny is cer- 

 tainly the best of all. 



Now, Mr. Editor, I know from experience that 

 the Manny is one of the poorest machines for un- 

 even and hilly ground, and that the Buckeye is 

 one of the best, for these reasons, viz.: 



The Manny is one of the poorest because it has 

 but one driving wheel, (which also carries the 

 machine from the ground,) and its finger-bar is 

 fixed inflexibly to the main part of the machine, 

 so that when a person is mowing around a steep 

 hill, if he is not very careful, he will upset, for 

 the driving wheel acts as a fulcrum, and should 

 the driver be a very heavy man, and the hill 

 steep, his weight is thrown to the left of the driv- 

 ing wheel, and should that side of the machine 

 prove the heaviest, over he goes. I had a very 

 narrow escape myself on a Manny machine last 

 year in a case like that, and had it not been for a 

 man throwing his weight upon the framework at 

 the end of the finger-bar, I might not have had a 

 chance to notice this letter. 



Now take the Buckeye. You see it has two 

 driving wheels, which carry the machine as they 

 would a cart, and with no more chance of upset- 

 ting it than there would be a cart ; and also please 

 notice the arrangement by which the finger-bar is 

 connected with the main part of the machine, viz.; 

 the double-hinge joint, by which you see the bar 

 works upon the ground equally as well, whether 

 the machine itself is upon the same plan as the 

 bar, or not. I have mown upon side hills with 

 the Buckeye when a person who had never seen 

 our work would have said, "you cannot mow 

 there, I know," and have mowed it as well as 

 though it were level ground, and felt in no dan- 

 ger of turning over. And for the same reason 

 the Buckeye will cut the grass more evenly than 

 the Manny, because the finger-bar is not liable to 

 be raised, when the machine leans to the left, as 

 the Manny is sometimes thrown when the left end 

 of the cutter-bar may go over any little rise. 



The bar to the Buckeye is guaged at pleasure, 

 to run high or low, from the ground, by a wheel 

 at the left end, and a narrow spring at the right 

 end, so that it goes as they go, no matter how 

 the machine may lean. I say that the writer of 

 that letter is greatly mistaken when he says that 

 "A Buckeye does not cut the grass of the same 

 length from the ground at both ends of the bar." 

 Another thing he says, that "the finger bar is 

 not stout enough." I should like to ask him if 

 he ever saw one that was bent while mowing, or 

 in consequence of driving against a hassock or 

 stump. I have driven my Buckeye against a tree 



so that the finger bar hooked on to the tree at its 

 extreme end, and let my horses, (which weigh 

 2100 lbs..) do their best to bend it, and they could 

 not. I did it to show its strength to some of my 

 neighbors, who questioned its strength when it 

 should go against any such thing. He asks, 

 "Where would the Buckeye have been," if it 

 had got into a hassock as did his Manny, which 

 it took two horses and two men to pull out P I'll 

 tell him ; it would have gone through it and cut 

 it off, and been several rods off cutting more like 

 it. It seems he told his neighbor if he went over 

 his piece a few times with his Manny, he would 

 have no hassocks to trouble him, which advice, I 

 think the neighbor would not call very good, if 

 that was a fair sample of what it would do. Take 

 notice, he says, he got stuck ! 



Again, he gives the impression that there is 

 no reaping attachment to the Buckeye, which he 

 will find is a mistake, if he will take the pains to 

 inquire, as there is one which can be very easily 

 attached to the mower. 



One fact more ; the present proprietor of the 

 Buckeye was the owner of the Manny machine 

 at the time of the greatest trial of mowers and 

 reapers in the United States, at Syracuse, in Ju- 

 ly, 1857, and took his machine to the trial, as a 

 competitor for the prizes. After he got there he 

 soon found that the Buckeye was very much su- 

 perior to his machine, and bought the patent right 

 for certain States. After that he got rid of the 

 Manny as he could. In a few days after the tri- 

 al, the-Buckeye received the first premium over 

 at least six or eight other machines. 



In conclusion, I will say that I should be very 

 glad, and am anxious to meet any and all other 

 machines, at any time and place where the mer- 

 its and demerits of all can be seen, and know 

 that I can show to an unprejudiced person that, 

 everything considered, the Buckeye is best. Any- 

 thing I have stated, I can prove, by the best tes- 

 timony a man can ask. James A. Draper. 



Wayland, June 15, 1861. 



GARDENS TOR HEALTH. 



On every side, we hear it said that American 

 merchants, lawyers and mechanics are annually 

 growing feebler, and becoming shorter lived, and 

 all for lack of cheerful exercise in the open air. 

 This fact becoming widely known, has led to the 

 establishment of gymnasiums, boat-clubs, ball- 

 clubs, etc., all over the country. For persons 

 who can not get muscular exercise in any other 

 way, this is all very well. But he who can get 

 control of ground enough for a garden, will be 

 much better off, and especially, if he own the gar- 

 den. This pleasing occupation is far more 

 healthful than wrenching gymnastics practiced by 

 the clock, or the highly exciting and overtaxing 

 exertions of boat-racing, and ball-playing. Morn- 

 ing and evening spent at home — pruning and 

 hoeing and weeding and training — so employed, 

 how can one help being happy and healthy ? It 

 would be an evil day for a man so situated, to 

 hire a gardener to do all his work. What harm 

 is there in a little sweat, a little dirt, and a few 

 blisters, if thereby one keeps dyspepsia and ill 

 health generally, at a distance ? — American Ag- 

 riculturist. 



