424 Report on the Af/riculturr of Oumhcrland, 



sought after, but where his services are still required, he demaiids- 

 4Z. 10^. to 6/. with rations, for his labour. 



Besides mcu-of-all-work, many additional reapers were also 

 required in harvest time. Shoemakers, tailors, nailers, weavers, 

 carpenters, joiners, petty shopkeepers, cS:c., with their wives and 

 children turned out en 7?iasse ; and on large farms it was not un- 

 common to see fifty or sixty people busily employed in cutting 

 down the crops. In towns, men, women, and children repaired 

 to the market cross at six o'clock in the morning, and farmers in 

 want of reapers went thither daily to engage the requisite number. 

 Good hands were soon known and singled out, while those who 

 were inferior, in slack times, often had no demand for their 

 services. Wages in the country were regulated by the rates at 

 the market cross. In ordinary times a full reaper, that is, one 

 who, in local parlance, could " carry his rigg," was paid 2^. to 

 ''2s. Q>d. per day : if work were scarce, willing hands were to be 

 found at \s. Qd. When the crops ripened rapidly, and the 

 demand was great, wages sometimes ran up to As. or 4s. Qd. for 

 a few days, until the heat was over. The harvest rigg was 

 usually the scene of much contention. Those in authority had 

 the greatest difficulty in prevailing upon those employed, who 

 were principallv the off-scum of the lowest parts of the neigh- 

 bouring towns, to do their portion in anything like decent 

 fashion, and the work when performed, was often, on the whole, 

 very unsatisfactory. Nevertheless, harvest was said to be a very 

 honest time, inasmuch as every man had his own separate rigg 

 to clear along with the others. Four good reapers were cal- 

 culated to cut an acre of average corn daily,* but when hands 

 Avere obtained from the market, five to the acre would be nearer 

 the mark. It will thus be seen that, in times of emergency, 

 the rate of cutting an acre was sometimes as much as 15^. 

 to 20s. 



I must not omit to mention the fact that hundreds of Irish 

 labourers came over to take part in the harvest. These princi- 

 pally took the cutting at 8s. to 10s. per acre, with perhaps milk 

 and potatoes gratis, the farmer putting the corn into stook. 

 Engaged as they were by piece-work, the sons of Erin made 

 as few bands as possible ; thus the sheaves were so large, 

 that in unfavourable seasons, it was almost impossible to win 

 them. 



Until recently, women and boys were extensively employed 

 at other seasons of the year, in gathering stones, picking weeds, 

 planting potatoes, breaking manure, singling turnips, ma:king 

 hay, hoeing and weeding root crops, raising potatoes, and topping 

 and tailing turnips ; but as gi-eater facilities are now afforded, 

 these branches of work are mostly done either by the aid of im- 



