A viatcur Farming a Hundred Years Ago 



135 



xeckoned tlie certainty of the teams paying 

 well for the expense of keeping them ; and I 

 must remark that this is a principal object in 

 husbandry ; for as matters are commonly 

 managed by servants, the horses of a farm 

 eat up three-fourdis of the produce. In the 

 way which I now propose there would be no 

 fear of having them idle ; they would be 

 always employed, and every day's work 

 would be a good one ; a rood at least, and 

 half an acre many times, they Avould regu- 

 larly plough more than any gentleman's horses 

 in the countiy. But in this management 

 they should in reason have a greater allow- 

 ance of oats than common. 



In dubious seasons, particularly seed times, 

 the advantages of this conduct would be 

 immense, for every kind of work would be 

 carried on as fast as the master himself could 

 wish, which is never the case, by many — 

 many degrees in other systems. It is impos- 

 sible, upon the whole, to determine which 

 method would be most suitable in all places, 

 for in some the first would be preferable, 

 and in others the latter. The greatest diffi- 

 culty with the labourers would be in places 

 where very few parts of country business are 

 reduced by common practice to a price by 

 the piece. 



But whatever method of conducting the 

 labour of a gentleman's farm was pursued, 

 there are several means of smoothing difficul- 

 ties, and introducing order and regularity into 

 employments of all sorts : and these are 

 applicable to both large and small farms, 

 though more so to the former. 



Among other particulars of this sort I 

 should advise a gentleman to have all his 

 working hands rung out and home by a bell. 

 A large bell should be fixed on the top of one 

 of the buildings, which should ring up the 

 men of a morning, and out a second time 

 Avitla their horses harnessed, themselves 

 mounted (the sacks of seeds, if sowing time, 

 ready), for the call to march forth to work. 

 Whenever a field was finished ploughing, all 

 ploughs, harrows, &c., should be brought 

 home ; and when a new one was began, the 

 ploughs, &c., should also be on the sledges 

 ready with the men and horses to follow, 



wherever the bailiff leads them. If tillage is 

 not the work, or only part of it, the other 

 teams should always be under the same 

 management ; they should be in the waggons, 

 carts, &c., ready to start with the rest. All 

 that were not in order for the call should be 

 reprimanded, and a minute made of it in the 

 bailiff's pocket-book (one kept for that pur- 

 pose). 



At a proper time, for instance, after eight 

 or nine hours' work, the bell should be regu- 

 larly rung again, to call them home from the 

 fields ; and no team suffered to come home 

 on any pretence whatever till the bell be rung, 

 nor for any weather, because if that required 

 them to come home, the bell should be rung 

 accordingly. Some works will admit of a 

 variation in this respect, in which case a boy 

 should be sent to such teams ; but none ever 

 suffered to leave work without a direct order, 

 either by bell or otherwise. In case of any 

 failing in this part of their duty, a minute, as 

 before, to be made of it. About half-an-hour 

 after, the bell should ring again for dinner, 

 and in an exact hour it should ring them out 

 from dinner. 



In a considerable business it would much 

 favour the general design of this regularity if 

 each team had a separate set of implements 

 assigned to it. For instance, each stable to 

 hold four or six horses, and each to have a 

 shed adjoining for a waggon, two or three 

 carts, three ploughs, and two pair of harrows. 

 This would occasion no extra expense of im- 

 plements, for they ought undoubtedly to be 

 in such plenty, that all the teams may at any 

 time be thrown to one sort of work : if this 

 is not the case, business will suffer often. 



Once every quarter of a year the day's 

 work should be half abridged, to have a gene- 

 ral review ; but none of the men should know 

 of this day before the ringing of the bell 

 which called them home so much before their 

 time. As soon as arrived, an order should be 

 given to bring forth each set — his implements, 

 their horses harnessed, their oxen yoked, 

 thviir spades, shovels, forks, &c., all numbered 

 to the number of the team. All of them 

 called for by a catalogue, and examined ; 

 deficiencies noted in the black book : the 



