SCRATCH A CHEESEHEAD, FIND A FARMER. Work progresses on the new Victor E. Garden. The grass mulch accumulating where the vegetables will go is the product of the lawnmower you see at the right.

The idea is long overdue. That's a battery pack on the left side of the reel housing. It powers a small motor that spins the reel. The gearing, however, allows the operator to provide all the power if he wants. So for thick grass, one engages the motor. For thin grass, one simply pushes.

The mower is the Mantis Cordless Reel Mower in the United States. Europeans would purchase the Brill ASM 380. (I looked at the builder's plate. Mine is also marked Brill ASM 380.) I got it on sale from Amazon. It's a smooth running machine, and under power it cuts quite effectively. I will have to invest in some additional battery packs in order to do all the mowing in one go.

In the States, the J. G. Brill company (no relation) built streetcars and interurbans, including the famous Brill Bullet cars. Look closely at the control station on my lawnmower. With the left hand, depress the red button and with the right hand squeeze the lever. It starts cutting. As long as you hold the lever closed, the reel turns. Release the lever, and the reel starts. You have to do the depress-and-squeeze routine to restart it. The deadman control handle on a streetcar uses the same principle. (Unlike a streetcar, however, this control stand can be set up for left-handed squeezing.)

JUST SLIGHTLY AHEAD OF MY TIME. Cross Price Elasticity of Demand: Push Reel Mower Edition. As the newspaper puts it, High gasoline prices changing lawn-mowing habits. The margin of substitution is still small.

American Lawn Mower Co., a Shelbyville, Ind., manufacturer of manual and electric lawnmowers, says sales are up 60 percent to 70 percent over last year.

"It's unbelievable," said Teri McClain, inside sales administrator. "I think gas prices are playing a part in this."

McClain estimates that about 300,000 push reel mowers are sold annually in the United States. That's about the same number of electric mowers that are sold. Though growing, sales of both still are dwarfed by the roughly 6 million typical gas-powered, walk-behind mowers purchased every year.

Although American are a long-time manufacturer of reel mowers, their more recent products are not as durable as their predecessors. I've been making the case for the people-powered mower for years. I got eighteen years out of their Model 1403-14, which I then replaced with a Model 1404-16. They're using a cheaper grade of steel in their handles. I've worn out two sets of handles on it in two years. Nobody'd mistake me for a retired Green Bay Packers linebacker, but apparently a lifetime of bicycle commuting to work and thirty years of dinghy sailing gives me quite the punch when it comes to using lawn implements, particularly if they're not made of the finest Ohio tool steel. That's one reason for the new Mantis Cordless. Now the grass is in its early summer dormant phrase, and I can do most of the back yard without help from the battery.