Labourers in Husbandry. 81 



nalty fixed for any variation from it ; or let the contractor 

 be bound to accept of day wages, at a fair rate, after 

 all his exertions, if he is detected in doing injustice to his 

 employer: This has been often acted upon with a happy ef- 

 fect ( 66 ). Indeed a proper attention to persons while exe- 

 cuting the task, or reducing their hire, if the work is not exe- 

 cuted in a proper manner, is an effectual mode of prevent- 

 ing, or punishing imposition ( 67 ). 



3. Female labourers. Women are very fit for taking &\ 

 share in the lighter toils of agriculture, such as weeding, hoe- j 

 ing, reaping, bay-making, &c. Multitudes of them are thus j 

 employed in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. They^/ 

 are mostly from North Wales, and are distinguished for their 

 industry, and their healthy appearance ( 68 ). In many parts 

 of the kingdom also, women are employed in reaping corn, 

 and when trained to it from their infancy, become extreme- 

 ly expert in that operation. 



4. Hours of working. Ten hours are the general length of 

 time for a day's work, during spring, summer, and autumn. 

 Farmers, however, are not at all uniform in their hours of 

 working during these periods. Some begin at five o'clock, 

 rest three hours at mid-clay, during the more violent heat 

 of the sun, and fill up their day's work by beginning again 

 at one o'clock and ending at six in the evening. Others 

 begin at six, and end at six, allowing half an hour for 

 breakfast and an hour for dinner. But although these be \ 

 the ordinary hours, both for servants and labourers, during 1 

 the more busy seasons of the year, yet neither will scruple I 

 to work either earlier or later, when occasion requires ( 69 ). | 

 In the winter months, the hours of labour are from the 

 dawn to dusk, with the allowance of about half an hour at 

 mid-day for dinner. 



5. Rate of wages. It is a general principle, that the rate at ! 

 which labour is paid, must in a great measure depend upon_j 

 the price of grain. ^In England, the value of a peck of wheat, 

 and in Scotland, of a peck of oatmeal, (being the principal ar- 

 ticles of subsistence of the lower orders of the people in the 

 two countries), were long accounted an equivalent to the daily 

 pay of a labourer. In both countries, however, the price of 

 potatoes has, of late years, had a considerable influence in 

 the rate of labour ( 7 ); and in England, the effects of the 

 poor laws, have tended to keepTBownthat rate, below the in- 

 cria5Bd~pr1ce"bf provisions, and thus have~dei*ai:g.ul the na- 

 tujr&^XEoigTess 6Tn r uTal~ecofSoTny". ITliasTieieiriascerTa i ned 



