240 ON MEASURE-WORK. 



tance from liis children, by having" a small hoy or g'irl to 

 follow him, and sing'le the plants which have been left double 

 by the hoe. 



Hoeinfi Carrots. — Carrots are extensively grown in the 

 sandy soils of Norfolk and Suffolk, and, no doubt, Avoidd be 

 g-rown much more if it were not for the enormous expense 

 in the labour of hoeing- and weeding ; this mig-ht, in some 

 degree, be lessened, if the drill-system of g-rowing carrots 

 were adopted in preference to sowing* the seed broadcast. 

 The cultivation of carrots g-enerally gives employment to 

 the undertaker and his g'ang-, who is usually paid for his 

 services by half the crop, or at the rate of 2d. a bushel : for 

 this he finds and sows the seed, does all the weeding', hoe- 

 ing-, and takes up and stores away the crop. In fact, he 

 does everything-, with the exception of tillage and carting. 

 The number of bushels is ascertained by the number of 

 cart-loads carried away. However, when carrots are drilled, 

 the cost of hoeing will be considerably less ; I have known 

 the price for twice hoeing (which includes singling out) 

 drilled carrots at 10 inches, to be no more than 10s. an 

 acre. 



Hoeing Wheat. — From 2.5'. to 3.??. per acre are here paid 

 for hoeing between the drills of wheat. A man accustomed 

 to hoeing will get over three quarters of an acre in a day : 

 and, as an instance of this, it took two men exactly four 

 days each to hoe 6 acres on a gravelly soil, the drills being 

 about 7 inches apart; they were paid 2.*;. Q>d. per acre. A 

 bargain is sometimes made for leaving the wheat-crop clean 

 up to a specified time, usually to the end of June : in that 

 case, the wheat receives as many hoeings as it may require, 

 at an average charge of Qis. an acre. 



Hoeing Beans, Peas, and Tares, is done for about 2.*;. Qid. 

 an acre : a certain difference in the rate of payment is occa- 

 sioned by the width between the drills ; when this is narrow, 

 the work goes oft" proportionally slower. With us, barley is 

 seldom hoed, though oats occasionally are ; and if so, at the 

 same ]irice as wheat. 



7. Harvesting Boot-crops. — The labourers, in doing- this 

 kind of work, may be paid by the acre, or, when the crop is 

 carried oft' the land, by the number of cart-loads : the 

 former method is to be preferred, as it aftbrds a mode of 

 measurement less liable to dispute. Men with large families 

 are the best to engage in the taking- up and storing away 

 roots, as their wives and children will be able to do a good 



