ON MEASURE-AVORK. 237 



harvest is slioi'tened, and every advantag-e may be taken to 

 secure the produce in hue weather. This is of g-reat ini- 

 jjortance in the hay-country around London, where in the 

 season of hay -making-, mowers are in g-reat request, and 

 command high wages. In Suflblk, the rate for mowing- 

 varies with the hulk of the crop, from 2.s. to 2s. 6d. per 

 acre : beer is frecjuently allowed in part payment for mow- 

 ing-; the work is then done at 2s., and half a gallon of beer 

 for each acre. The hours of labour in mowing- grass are 

 from five in the morning- to seven in the evening-, sto})ping- 

 two hours in the mean time; they thus labour twelve hours 

 in a day, during- which an expert mower will cut Ig acre; 

 the generality of men will earn in money about Ss. a day. 

 The cost of cutting- low meadow-grass is rather hig-her than 

 of cutting- upland. Mowing clover and rye-g-rass is g-enerally 

 more quickly performed, and consequently the rate per acre 

 is lower. I find the average price per acre is 2s., or 20^/. 

 and half a gallon of beer; the quantity mown in a day 

 nearly 1^ acre ; the earnings of a man will thus vary from 

 2s'. G(I. to Ss. The cutting- seed-crops of clover and rve- 

 g-rass does not g-reatly differ from the mowing- for making- 

 into hay. Men engag-ed to mow g-rass by the day have 

 2s. and an allowance of beer; but they cannot of course 

 be fairly expected to work so hard if paid in this manner. 

 The making- g-rass into hay is occasionally put out by the 

 job at the rate of 4.?. an acre for mowing- and making-; this 

 gives ample employment to the wives and children of the 

 mowers. But the farmer must not be guided in his opinion 

 of the right time of carting- by his men, for if he is, he will 

 in all probability have it carted before it is in a fit state for 

 stacking. 



2. 3Io)v't>ig wheat is a practice coming into use in pre- 

 ference to reaping ; the rate paid per acre depends of course 

 upon the bulk of the crop, and on the abundance of la- 

 bourers during harvest: for a light crop Qs., and for a 

 heavy one 8s. are paid per acre ; this includes mowing, 

 tying, shocking, and raking. The mowing constitutes 

 barely half the labour, though the making and binding 

 the sheaves may be done by boys ; a strong- lad will make 

 and bind sheaves as fast as one man mows, A man, in a 

 day of ten hours, will mow upwards of an acre ; and, with 

 the assistance of another man, or of two boys, he will be 

 able to complete the other operations required in cuttiug 

 an acre of an average crop of wheat. 



