ON MEASURE-WORK. 249 



day. A barg'ain is sometimes made for filling- and spread- 

 ing' at 2ld. or Sd. a load. Barrowing- by manual labour 

 must not be omitted in this account of measure work, for 

 earth may be moved in this manner, for a short distance, 

 cheaper than it can be moved by the aid of horses; and 

 even for cla3ung" or chalking small fields of 5 or G acres, 

 harrowing- would be perha})s cheaper than carting-. It has 

 been calculated that in sandy ground three men will be 

 required to remove 30 cubic yards in a day to a distance of 

 20 yards, two filling- and one wheeling-; but to remove the 

 same cpiantity in a day to any greater distance, an additional 

 man will be required for every 20 yards of wheeling-. The 

 following- is a system of barrowing- by manual labour some- 

 times adopted in those places where chalk lies at a consider- 

 able depth below the surface : — a shaft is dug- down to the 

 chalk ; when this is deep enough, the chalk is dug, and 

 pulled up by a rope and windlass at the top ; it is then 

 ban-owed on the land. The [trice for barrowing* on a piece 

 of land of about 4 acres round the shaft, is 6d. a load of 

 22^ bushels. This includes both rnising- and harrowing. 



2. FiUing Farm-yard Dinuj. — This is done at the rate of 

 2^. a score of loads of about \\ cubic yards each; spreading- 

 will be about \s. 6d. or 2s. for the same quantity. 



3. Tvrmng over Manure Heaps. — When the heap con- 

 sists entirely of farm-yard manure, the labour of turning over 

 is more quickly performed than when the heap is partly 

 composed of heavy soil. There are also two ways of per- 

 forming- this operation, by one of which the work is got over 

 faster than by the other, though the slowest way is gi-eatly 

 to be preferred if the farmer's object is to mix the difi^erent 

 substances of which the manure heap is composed. One 

 of the practices is the mere reversing- the manure by 

 trenchin"- it over ; while in the other the labourer be^'ins at 

 the side, and picks down the manure from top to bottom, 

 mixing- it well as he proceeds ; he then throws this up with. 

 a fork, and goes on alternately picking- and throwing- up. 

 The general, and perhaps the best waj^ of paying- for the 

 labour of turning over manure heaps, is by giving- a cer- 

 tain sum for each heap; we usually pay from %s. to \2s.\ 

 but this of course varies with the size of the heap, and the 

 nature of the substances of which it is composed. A fair 

 price may be calculated by taking- the dimensions in cubic 

 yards ; it will cost but a few minutes to make a measure- 

 ment. Or sometimes the farmer keei)s an account of the 



