THE HUMBLE GRASS CATCHER - 14/12/13 09:47 PM
Hello ODK members
Yes, I am very much interested in inventions: Who was the first to use a catcher on Australian rotary
mowers is clearly of historical interest.
But I also want to explore the very nature of 'collecting' or 'catching' grass.
In this series of posts I intend to cover early grass collecting,
and then 19th and 20th Century reel and rotary mowers and grass catching.
THE EARLY DAYS OF LAWN
There is a fascinating heritage to the grass catcher.
In these forums I was permitted to publish a chapter from a wonderful Australian book,
Australia's Quarter Acre by Peter Timms. In the chapter "The Decline of the Lawn",
Timms describes what it was like to 'manicure' an 18th century rich folk's lawn:
The scythers had to be up before dawn, sharpening their blades so as to
be out before the dew dispersed, because scything gives the best result
when grass is damp. They could adjust the height of the cut with great
accuracy by either adding leather pads to the soles of their boots or
removing them. As they slashed, the residue was removed to one side
with hay rakes. Then came sweepers with besoms (twig brooms) to
gather the windrows into piles so that women with baskets, following
behind, could gather the clippings to be put into a cart. Between cuttings,
the grass had to be rolled, weeded and poled.
So the original grass catcher was human ... hay rakers, then sweepers, then women with baskets.
And I guess a cart man came into the equation as well.
So to turn grass into lawn - to give lawn its aesthetic quality - required an extremely expensive
grass catcher(s). That's why mowing for aesthetic reasons was the province of the wealthy.
What this early history of the lawn did establish, though, was that grass
had to be collected to produce a quality and aesthetically pleasing lawn.
The 1875 print (below) is one I own, and is taken from the Victorian England magazine The Graphic.
It is titled "The Mowers". Note the basket woman in the left background. She's the catcher
or bagger woman.
It is true that the depicted scene is more agricultural than aesthetic lawn production,
but the piece gives the reader an idea about how labour intensive grass cutting was prior to
Edwin Beard Budding's invention - the first mechanical lawn mower of 1830.
Yes, I am very much interested in inventions: Who was the first to use a catcher on Australian rotary
mowers is clearly of historical interest.
But I also want to explore the very nature of 'collecting' or 'catching' grass.
In this series of posts I intend to cover early grass collecting,
and then 19th and 20th Century reel and rotary mowers and grass catching.
THE EARLY DAYS OF LAWN
There is a fascinating heritage to the grass catcher.
In these forums I was permitted to publish a chapter from a wonderful Australian book,
Australia's Quarter Acre by Peter Timms. In the chapter "The Decline of the Lawn",
Timms describes what it was like to 'manicure' an 18th century rich folk's lawn:
The scythers had to be up before dawn, sharpening their blades so as to
be out before the dew dispersed, because scything gives the best result
when grass is damp. They could adjust the height of the cut with great
accuracy by either adding leather pads to the soles of their boots or
removing them. As they slashed, the residue was removed to one side
with hay rakes. Then came sweepers with besoms (twig brooms) to
gather the windrows into piles so that women with baskets, following
behind, could gather the clippings to be put into a cart. Between cuttings,
the grass had to be rolled, weeded and poled.
So the original grass catcher was human ... hay rakers, then sweepers, then women with baskets.
And I guess a cart man came into the equation as well.
So to turn grass into lawn - to give lawn its aesthetic quality - required an extremely expensive
grass catcher(s). That's why mowing for aesthetic reasons was the province of the wealthy.
What this early history of the lawn did establish, though, was that grass
had to be collected to produce a quality and aesthetically pleasing lawn.
The 1875 print (below) is one I own, and is taken from the Victorian England magazine The Graphic.
It is titled "The Mowers". Note the basket woman in the left background. She's the catcher
or bagger woman.
It is true that the depicted scene is more agricultural than aesthetic lawn production,
but the piece gives the reader an idea about how labour intensive grass cutting was prior to
Edwin Beard Budding's invention - the first mechanical lawn mower of 1830.