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TJic Country Gentleman's Magazine 



Master — Very well; you shall have ten 

 guineas ; but if you consent to obey me in 

 the most exact manner, without ever talking 

 about customs, or what not, you shall have 

 twelve guineas a-year. 



Man — Oh, yes, sir, I '11 obey you ; certainly 

 will, sir. 



Master — Suppose I order you to plough 

 your land by moonlight ? 



Man {hums and haws) — Can't say, sir. 

 I ne'er did work of that sort. 



Master — Nor should I choose to have my 

 land ploughed in that manner ; but if I give 

 an order for my men, horses, and ploughs to 

 go immediately to work, at twelve o'clock of 

 a night, as dark as pitch, I would be obeyed 

 without the least pause or hesitation. You 

 understand me ; all I mean is this, whatever 

 I order must be done without any reply, no 

 talking of customs. What quantity of land 

 do you generally plough a day ? 

 Man — An acre. 



Master — But my horses oftener plough me 

 five roods. At feed time always an acre and 

 a-half But if I give the order for two acres 

 you must execute it well and without hesi- 

 tation. 



Man — But how am I to take care of my 

 horses after ploughing two acres ? 



Master — No matter if the horses are not 

 taken care of at all ; that is my concern, not 

 yours. You see the conditions of my ser- 

 vice. I would not have you engage with me 

 unless you are absolutely certain you can 

 submit to unlimited orders. 



Not a man perhaps in five would venture 

 to engage ; and of those who do, many would 

 think of the two guineas more than the 

 equivalent they were to give for it. But I do 

 not mean that the gentleman should ever 

 order double the custom of the country. 

 He should fix his eye on one acre for in- 

 stance, but frighten the fellows by talking of 

 much more ; but they should every now and 

 then receive orders as a test of their obedi- 

 ence, an acre and a half a day, an acre and a 

 :quarter, &c., and a sharp eye kept on 

 the manner in which it is performed. Some- 

 thing beneficial I believe might be done upon 

 this principle; but, undoubtedly, the extra 



wages would be, with some servants, in a 

 good measure wasted. The loss, however, 

 is too trifling not to be worth some years of 

 trial ; for two or three guineas a year is no 

 consideration compared with the difference 

 of five or six horses perfoniiing a fair year's 

 work, or but an indiiferent one. If plough- 

 ing, for instance, be calculated at four shillings 

 per acre, the difference of a rood a day is 

 two shillings in two ploughs, or thirty-six 

 pounds a year, besides the profit upon it, and 

 the chances in favour of catching seasons ; 

 and although the team is not employed 

 always about ploughing or harrowing, yet in 

 all works the difference is the same, and very 

 great the amount. If forty shillings or three 

 pounds can be spent, so as to gain fifty 

 pounds, it certainly is sufficient inducement 

 to try — or even five-and-twenty. 



Another method I have thought of, is to 

 employ none but labourers, and have no 

 kind of work but what is done by the piece. 

 In Suffolk there is scarcely a species of em- 

 ployment that is not reduced to a common 

 price. In this way the gentleman should 

 draw up a list of every kind of work, and the 

 prices he will give for each article, which 

 should be, if anything, a little above the 

 standard. This paper should be pasted up 

 in the room where the labourers victual, or in 

 some other common place, where it may be 

 at any time seen. These prices should be 

 accurate, and, in case of work not common, 

 well considered, for they should be never 

 varied on any pretence whatever. All work 

 that employed the teams should have this 

 proviso, that the oxen should be fed, and the 

 horses fed and cleaned into the bargain. 



If any work occurred in which it was found 

 that a price could not be fixed, in proportion 

 to the manner in which it should be per- 

 formed, the gentleman, if he did not approve 

 the offers of the men, should hire others 

 occasionally to do such work. 



This method has many very great advan- 

 tages, and some disadvantages : of the latter, 

 the principal would be the necessity of watch- 

 ing all their operations with a very strict eye, 

 to see that well doing was never sacrificed to 

 quick doing. Among the benefits may be 



