246 ON MEASURE-WORK. 



drains, and laying" in stubble, lieatli, briisliwood, peat, or 

 whatever else is used, and filling' up the drains so far as 

 cannot be done with the plough, is about -is. or 4«. 6d. the 

 score rods, and (Jd. for each e^'e. These drains are about 30 

 inches deep. The first spit is ploughed out ; the two next 

 dug- with narrow draining- si)ades : half a score rods of this 

 kind of draining- is reckoned a fair day's work. Sometimes, 

 however, half a score is above an average ; for I know a case 

 on a hard clay, lying- just above the chalk, which was so 

 tenacious that the men could hardly dig- and fill in rods in 

 a day. The cost of dig-g-ing-, laying- in tiles, and filling 

 drains 4 feet deep, on a clay soil intersected with veins 

 of sand, may cost about Gd. a rod. We have just completed 

 dig'ging- a drain in a ineadow, of an average depth of 3 feet, 

 the first G inches turned up by the jdoug-h. It took thirty 

 days' labour for one man at 20c/. a day to dig- 101 rods 

 of drain, one man a day and three quarters to lay in the 

 tiles (tops and bottoms), and about eight days to fill up the 

 drain ; making- a total cost of nearly 8c/. a rod. The soil 

 was very wet, stony, and hard. On a loamy soil drained to 

 the depth of 4 feet, with a clay subsoil, the upper 10 inches 

 ploug-hed out, one man would on an average dig- 3^ rods per 

 day, throwing- out about 10 cubic yards of soil — would lay 

 in about GO rods of soles and tiles in a day, and fill in 

 13 rods in a day. 



3. Fenchig. — All kinds of hedg-ing-, and the labour re- 

 quired in kee})ing- live and dead fences in repair, and the 

 pulling- down old fences, readily admit of payment for task- 

 Avork by lineal admeasurement. In the manag-ement of 

 old fences, one of the practices in this part of the country is 

 to cut down the old thorns even with the surface, and then 

 to make good the loose soil which has been washed away 

 from the roots. The price i)er rod varies with the age and 

 thickness of the hedg-e, and with the quantity of soil required 

 to make g-ood the bank — from Gc/. to 8c/. a rod is usually 

 paid : this includes topping- the bank with the old thorns as 

 a dead fence. Three or three and a half rods Avill be an 

 average day's work; from 20c/. to 22c/. a day may be 

 reckoned fair wages for hedging- work, as, in addition to his 

 wages, the hedger has all the small and decayed pieces of 

 firewood. Breasting- over hedg-es will cost from 3c/. to 4c/. a 

 rod, but the ]n'ice depends entirely upon the size of the 

 liedge. Trimming- hedg-es, or the cutting- off the young- 

 shoots, with a light hook may be done for a r,c/. or |c/. a 



