An estimated 350,000 manual mowers are sold in the United States each year. This number is just a fraction of the 6 million gas-powered walk-behind mowers that hit the market last year, but it is at least on the rise.

According to American Lawn Mower Co. in Shelbyville, Ind., that number is about 100,000 more than were sold just five years ago and seven times as many as the estimated 50,000 a year sold in the 1980s.

According to buyers and sellers, the resurgence of these quaint reminders of yesteryear is due most notably to growing environmental concerns and an increasing number of women who do the mowing. Headlines about global warming, pollution and vanishing natural resources have people making changes.

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