How did people mow grass in pioneer times?

Question

I've always wondered; we have gas riding mowers nowadays and it still takes a lot of time to do mowing. How did the pioneers mow grass? Did grazing animals take care of it, was it all done by simple machines or what?

Answer 1

For the most part yes till the turn of the century, Then they had push rotary mowers that had blades, they still make a similar model today. For very large lawns and golf courses there was a horse drawn cutter that would was called a lawn / hay cicle it has blades that go back and forth that are turned by gears that are placed in motion by the wheels turning on the unit from the horse pulling it. The Amish still use them today.

Answer 2

Actually a mowed lawn wasn't an important issue then. Most people had animals of one sort or the other that would keep the grass down. The wealthy had the grass rolled over by a servant pushing or pulling a heavy roller (sometimes a sturdy barrel filled with stone) attached to a simple handle.

If you wanted a short lawn you had someone use a scythe until the invention of the push mower in the 1800's by Edwin Budding. This was not really cheap enough to own till the late 1880's.

Answer 3

Pioneers did not grow ornamental grass -
the spent all their efforts to squeeze out an existence
I don't think settlers did either
Some did cultivate some grass and hay for livestock - that was cut by hand with a scythe

I would venture a guess - that city folk refined the art of grass lawns.
Although, it is from the working farm that the implements of cultivating and mowing originated

comments added: the above Great answer was not present when I started to type my response....

Answer 4

They didn't.

Mowing lawns is a luxury activity, done for vanity alone, it serves no practical purpose.

When you have to work 18 hours straight to make sure your family will have enough food, shelter, and water, doing things like mowing the lawn is REALLY unimportant. If you had the extra time, you'd be spending it on planting more hay, or taking care of a couple of extra cows so you won't be scraping the bottom of the barrel for food every spring.

Answer 5

It would not freeze very in lots of instances right here in Austin. some winters it never does. i ought to mow and it in all probability often is the final by using fact the climate is cooling and the 50 to 60 degree nights with 70 to 80 degree days seem to extraordinarily lots sluggish or provide up the grass boost. I consistently hated iciness in the North additionally yet right here it extremely is extremely effective.

Answer 6

I would think that they just turned there animals on the lawn and let them mow the grass

Answer 7

It has always been possible to use a scythe to trim grass short. But they just did not try to make it look like a carpet back then.

Answer 8

Scythes and menial labor or slaves. But I don't believe they went to the extremes of lawn maintenance that we do today - we are enslaved to ours. Be fun to goolgle the oldest lawnmower, though!

Answer 9

they used cows to eat the grass then they ate the cows or if they didnt have cattle they used their horses or chickens they eat grass too!

Answer 10

Goats and sheep