science

Mowing-Devil

Mowing-Devil is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mowing-Devil rather than just read about it. In short: The Mowing-Devil: or, Strange News out of Hartford-shire is the title of an English woodcut pamphlet published in 1678. It narrates a tale of Satan mowing a field in Hertfordshire, and presents itself as reporting the news.

Key takeaways

Mowing-Devil belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mowing-Devil to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mowing-Devil from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Mowing-Devil: or, Strange News out of Hartford-shire is the title of an English woodcut pamphlet published in 1678. It narrates a tale of Satan mowing a field in Hertfordshire, and presents itself as reporting the news. It has been cited as an early report of crop circles.

Content The pamphlet tells a "strange" news story of an anonymous farmer in Hertfordshire who, refusing to pay the price demanded by a farmworker to mow his field of oats, swore he would rather the Devil mowed it instead. According to the pamphlet, that night his field appeared to be in flame. The next morning, the field was found to be perfectly mowed, "that no mortal man was able to do the like". This pamphlet, and the accompanying illustration, are often cited by crop circle researchers as among the first recorded cases of crop circles. Crop circle researcher Jim Schnabel does not consider it to be a historical precedent because it describes the stalks as being cut, while modern crop circles involve the wheat, barley or, less commonly, other plants being bent.

Transcription The Mowing-Devil: Or, Strange NEWS out of Hartford-ſhire. Being a True Relation of a Farmer, who Bargaining with a poor Mower, about the Cutting down Three Half Acres of Oats upon the Mower’s asking too much, the Farmer ſwore, ‘That the Devil ſhould Mow it, rather than He.’ And lo it fell out, that that very Night, the Crop of Oats ſhew’d as if it had been all of a Flame, but next Morning appear’d ſo neatly Mow’d by the Devil, or ſome Infernal Spirit, that no Mortal Man was able to do the like. Alſo, How the ſaid Oats ly now in the Field, and the Owner has not Power to fetch them away.

References

External links archive of transcription of the entire work (scroll to end

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mowing-Devil

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mowing-Devil claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mowing-Devil before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mowing-Devil ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mowing-Devil

In research: Mowing-Devil appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mowing-Devil in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mowing-Devil is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1678 in England, 1678 non-fiction books, 17th century in Hertfordshire, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mowing-Devil outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mowing-Devil in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mowing-Devil means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mowing-Devil out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mowing-Devil in simple terms?

Why does Mowing-Devil matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mowing-Devil?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mowing-Devil.