A gardening question or two. (10 replies)

1. I bought a petrol mower 2 years ago. I rarely read instructions when I buy anything that requires a little home assembly and there wasn't much to this so I bolted the handles to the mower and a couple of other little bits and away I went. I was left with a kind chute thing which I couldn't see where it fitted so I just chucked in the back of the shed. The mower's been ok, not as good as my Suffolk Punch but it was 2 thirds the cost of replacing it with like-for-like. It did seem to leave a few too many grass cuttings for my liking so this year when I came across the chute in the back of the shed, I looked to see where it went. I always thought this chute was just a guide to send the grass into the box but it didn't actually fit that way it points towards the blade, curving around the under-body of the mower.

Now, I don't get any grass cuttings at all. I cut the lawn and there's nothing in my grass box and next to zero cuttings left on the lawn. What is the magic chute, where do the grass cuttings go? I can only assume that it turns the stuff into virtual dust. I know I could google the manual but I'll just find a load of lawnmower type junk mail start appearing in my emails...and I don't want to talk about Blues.