248 ON MEASURE-WORK. 



powerful horses ; the distance and other points being- equal. 

 He also informed me that in a week of fine weatiier he has 

 carted 300 cubic yards of clay, filled by three men working- 

 eig'ht and a half hours a day, or 16|- yards of filling- and 

 picking- down daily. 



On our farm, at the first beg'inning- or sinking- of a pit, 

 140 yards of clay were filled by two men working- seven and 

 a half hours a day during- fifteen days, g'iving an average 

 for one man of more than 9 yards. After the pit was sunk 

 to about 8 feet deep, the two men filling- and picking- down 

 averag-ed 10 yards each. ^ The spreading- was done by the 

 men and the boys who drove, working- about an hour after 

 they had finished carting- for the day. The clay was carted 

 in four small carts drawn by four ponies, with another to 

 assist in pulling- out of the pit; the distance of carting- 

 averag-ed 2 furlong-s, and in this manner 480 yards of clay 

 were filled, carted, and s])read at a cost of S^d. a yard on 

 about 12 acres of land. The labour of filling- and spreading 

 clay from a pit by the farmer's own labourers would be as 

 well paid for by measuring- the number of cubic yards 

 removed ; but this plan is seldom practised, the men being- 

 paid by the number of cart-loads, each containing-, by rough 

 calculation, a cubic yard ; or the carts may be filled up to a 

 mark made in the sides. The carter who works by the day 

 keeps an account of the number of loads filled by the men in 

 the pit; and as he is not interested, he will in all probability 

 keep a correct one ; but as the same number of heaps of clay 

 are made of each load, it will be an easy matter for the far- 

 mer to number the heaps, and thus check any dishonest 

 practices. About 2c/. the cubic yard or load is paid for 

 filling- clay; if many stones are picked out, the men receive 

 Is. for each load. The time of filling is about eig'ht hours 

 in summer and seven in winter, the remainder of the day 

 being- employed in g-etting- down clay for filling- in the 

 next day. A man will, on an average, fill 10 loads of clay 

 besides stones ; as an instance, it took forty -five days for one 

 man to fill 403 loads of cl-ay, besides 13 loads of stones ; 

 or rather over 10 loads a day. The clay at 2d. and stones at 

 Is. will amount to 4/. 10.?., or about 2s. a day, which may be 

 considered fair earning-s. Clay laid in a larg-e heap after 

 being- drawn from the pit is perhaps a slower operation than 

 when first raised, for I find men only fill 10 yards each a 



' I find the quantity of clay filled in a given time is bslow an average; 

 this arose from wet weather and its being a bad kind of clay to fill. 



