CHAPTER XII. 



EXTRAS, PIECEWORK, AND ALLOWANCES 

 IN KIND. 



THE payment of " extras " for farm work in Wales is 

 much less frequent than in England, and working by the 

 piece is also exceptional. The absence of " extras " is 

 owing to the hiring and boarding arrangements. A 

 fixed and agreed wage is paid for the yearly or half- 

 yearly term, and such payment is for anything and 

 everything the men may be called upon to do. So 

 that nothing is paid " extra " for harvest, and, obviously, 

 there is no piecework for them. This arrangement 

 applies particularly to the men living and boarding 

 in farmhouses who, as we have seen, are unmarried. 

 As to married men living in cottages on the farms or 

 adjacent to them, they are frequently paid a higher 

 rate of wages during harvest time, both hay and corn ; 

 but the extras paid are usually in the shape of food and 

 not in cash. There are instances, however, where a 

 " bonus," in addition to ordinary wages, is paid during 

 harvest times, the amount paid ranging from ten shillings 

 to 2 for the whole period ; but as the general 

 area of corn crops in Wales is smaller than in England 

 about two-thirds of the cultivated area not including 

 a large area of hill and mountain grazing land (although 

 that is more or less meagre) is grazing, the corn harvest 

 is not quite so important as it is in England. 



Piecework, as a rule, is not given to the married men 

 regularly employed, but is sometimes given to casual 



