ON MEASURE-WORK. 



241 



portion of tlie labour. Harvesting- roots is performed in 

 various ways : I shall merely mention those plans most 

 generally used. When the Swedes are laid in small clamps 

 of about 40 bushels on the land where they g'row, the roots 

 are pulled up and thrown into long- heaps, the leaves being- 

 first cut or pulled off; the heaps are then covered, first with 

 straw, and then with earth. Seven shillings per acre will 

 be a fair remuneration for the labour required in pulling and 

 storing- a good crop of Swedes in this manner. Should the 

 roots be both topped and tailed, a higher price must be 

 given. Another way of keeping Swedes or white turnips is 

 to cover the roots with the plough ; the turnips are pulled 

 and laid in a furrow opened by the ploughman, who, with 

 another furrow, covers the roots with soil, leaving- the tops 

 above the surface : the cost of pidling and laying in the 

 turnips will be about Ss. an acre ; but it must, of course, be 

 done by children, with a man as overlooker. Pulling, cutting 

 off the tops, and filling- turnips into carts, will cost about 8s. 

 per acre ; but this must dejiend upon the size of the roots, 

 where the bulk of the crop is the same. 



Harvesting Beet. — The })ulling- and laying the roots in 

 heaps ready to be carted away, the leaves being twisted off 

 by the hand at the time of pulling (which is done by men, 

 and is rather severe labour), is paid for at an average price of 

 bs. an acre for a fair crop ; at this rate, a man will earn 2^. a 

 day, for it will take about 2^- days to pull an acre. As the 

 task-men pull the roots, they are filled by boys, and carried 

 to the places where they are stored for the winter. With 

 us, the filling is done by day-work, at a cost of about 2.5. an 

 acre : four boys, at 1.^. a day, filled 190 loads (30 bushels) 

 oft" 7 acres of land in three days. The beet was pulled in 

 the same time by six men, at the rate of Qs. an acre. Banli- 

 h)(j hect is the covering the heai)s, in which the roots are 

 stored, with moulds to keep out the frost ; the heap is made 

 about 4 or 5 feet in height, sloping like the roof of a house. 

 A man will cover about 2 rods in length in a day ; the rate 

 per rod may be from lOrZ. to 12^/. In a hard gravelly soil, 

 it took six men three days to earth up a heap 30 rods in 

 length ; at \s. a rod, they would have earned exactly their 

 day-wages at 20^/. a day. 



Talihig up and Storing Carrots. — When carrots are sown 

 broadcast, and the plants left thick, the cost of taking- up 

 and cutting oft" the tops is sometimes as high as 18.>f. or 20,?. 

 per acre lor a fair crop ; but when drilled, the cost for taking- 



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