Cutting the Grass at North Middleborough, 1887

Prior to the development of push lawn mowers and their widespread adoption, lawns were mown with scythes if they were cut at all.  Roadways, on the other hand, were generally left untended and grass occasionally grew in strips where wagons and carriages passed over.  The situation at North Middleborough in August, 1887, was typical when residents contemplated an alternative solution for their unkempt roads:

Grass grows knee high in some of the principal thoroughfares of North Middleboro and people are asked to convert their cows into mowing machines.

Illustration:
"Rakes and Scythes", photograph by Markus Spring, April 8, 2007, republished under a Creative Commons license.

Source:
Old Colony Memorial, August 11, 1887, page 1.