If you're a homeowner, odds are you spend a lot of time tending to your yard. Trimming hedges, pulling weeds, and, of course, mowing the lawn, are likely all regular elements of your yard routine.

In 1962, when I was a teenager, my father gave our neighbor, Mr. Gruder, $10 for a reel mower of my very own. The ash handle shone with age and use, and it had a canvas grass catcher. Mr. Gruder had ...