Business Notes LAWN CARE

For Dagwood Bumstead types, the old-fashioned manual lawn mower was a suburban symbol of dread. Among modern-day gentry who want to get a little exercise and avoid fouling the neighborhood with noise and exhaust pollution, however, the motorless mower is making a quiet comeback. Sales of reel mowers by the American Lawn Mower Co. of Shelbyville, Ind., reached 100,000 last year, a 47% increase over 1986. Average price: less than $100, in contrast to $250 or more for motorized models.

Today's manual mowers typically weigh about 20 lbs., less than half their clunky progenitors, thanks to lightweight alloy blades and polymer wheels. But for lawn connoisseurs, the manual mower's greatest advantage is its quality performance, claims Jim Hewitt, American Lawn Mower's vice president for marketing and sales. "A power mower can fragment the end of the grass like the split end of a hair," he explains. "A manual shears the lawn real smooth, like a crew cut."