On the Cost of Horse-poiccr. 457 



(30.) " Ploughmen's wages 15s, to 17s. a-week, except for a month in 

 harvest." 



(32.) " Ploughmen's wages may amount in all to 13s. per week, varying 

 from 12s. 9d. to lis. 3d. according to price of grain, namely, — house, 21^., 

 1050 lbs. of oatmeal, 8 cwt. of potatoes, cartage of coals, and food for 4 weeks 

 in harvest-time." 



(6.) " Head-ploughman 13s., the others 12s., boy 6s. a-week." 



I g-ive these extracts as not only throwing- light on the con- 

 struction of column 6 in Table III,, but also as being very inter- 

 esting in themselves. 



Columns 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7, give us the means of calculating 

 the total cost of horse-labour, which accordingly appears in 

 column 8, 



In columns 9 and 10 we have the acreage occupied by the 

 tenants in the several cases specified. Of course it would be of 

 little service to compare the total cost of horse-labour with the 

 total aci'eage, because much of it might be pasture, involving 

 little labour of the kind. The extent of arable land is accordingly 

 given, and the cost of horse-labour is calculated in column 15 

 per acre of the arable land in every case. But even this would 

 mislead without further explanation, and accordingly in columns 

 11, 12, 13, and 14, will be found the acres respectively in fallow 

 and fallow crops, in grain crops, pulse, and clover. And in 

 column 16 the cost of horse-labour per acre ploughed that year 

 is calculated. But even these particulars are insufficient to 

 enable a perfectly truthful comparison, for the soil may be stiff 

 or light, and the cultivation may be deep or shallow. 



Take, for instance, one of the last cases (30) in the above 

 table. Mr. Wilson's farm is an extremely light sand, just 

 enclosed out of the heathy waste of Sherwood forest. He cul- 

 tivates it generally 5 to 7 inches deep, excepting one deep 

 ploughing in preparation for turnips, wliich is about 10 inches 

 deep ; and yet a day's work at plough varies from 1 acre of 

 deep work, to 1^ or even more of liglit fallow ploughing. The 

 average of all sorts will be at least Ij acre done daily per pair 

 of horses in 8 or 9 hours. No wonder that Mr. Wilson's horse- 

 labour costs less per acre than the others, whatever his method of 

 stable feeding may be ; for heavy land cannot, of course, be cul- 

 tivated for the same expenditure as light and sandy soil. In 

 order, then, that the figures of these last columns of Table III, may 

 be read intelligently, I add another series of extracts from the 

 reports, stating the ordinary depth of cultivation adopted in the 

 several cases, and the cliaracter of the soil. The figures numbering 

 the paragraphs are the same as those of Tables 11, and ill, : — 



(10.) " The soil is peat upon clay, over say one-haif of the farm ; over the 

 remainder the clay is ploughed up, and it needs a great deal of rolling to give 

 VOL, XIX. 2 H 



