18 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 



lentils, one man cannot mow in a day more than 0.75 of a morgen (f of an acre). 

 Of the harvest of grain, one person in a day can turn on an average 3 morgen 

 (2^ acres). In binding the sheaves, if one person braids the bands, eight persons 

 in 1 hour can make up 240 sheaves, and thus in a day of 10 hours' labor, 2400 ; 

 and one person can make up 300, or 5 shocks of 60 sheaves each. The bands are 

 usually made of winter rye, (which is best and longest,) and for want of this, of 

 summer rye or wheat straw. One person in a day can prepare from 15 to 20 shocks, 

 and from each shock of rye-straw can be made bands for 30 to 40 shocks = 1800 to 

 2400 bands. In setting up 7 to 9 sheaves together, and covering with a larger sheaf, 

 binding the whole with a band, one person can set up 400 to 600 sheaves, or 6 to 10 

 shocks in a day ; or imveather-housing—i. e. laying sheaf on sheaf horizontally, with 

 the stubble-end westward — 10 to 20 or more together, covered with an out-spread 

 sheaf; or in cross-heapiriir, laying it crosswise, so that the ears of the sheaf may be 

 always towards the middle, and covered one by another, and protected on top by a 

 sheaf— one man can arrange thus in a day's work from 600 to 800 sheaves. In 

 stacking up the sheaves regularly, 200 to 300 sheaves so arranged will make one 

 day's work. In loading up grain, 1 cart with two persons to pitch on and two to place 

 the sheaves received on the cart, from 5 to 6 cart-loads, or 650 to 780 sheaves are a day's 

 work. In carrying in, according to the distance of the field from the barn, 8, 12, 16 cart- 

 loads of from 120 to 150 sheaves may be considered a day's work. For unloading 

 grain, 12 to 15 cart-loads can be unloaded by one person in a day. For threshing, 

 including cleaning and storing away the grain, allowing 8 to 9 hours for work per 

 day, one man may prepare of winter-wheat, vetches, summer-wheat, or rye, or 

 millet, or buckwheat, 2 to 3 metzen: (as a metzen of Bavaria is 1.037, or a little 

 more than 1 English bushel, therefore equal to 2 or 3 bushels ;) of winter-speltz, from 

 8 to 9 metzen ; of winter-barley, summer do., peas, 3 to 4 metzen ; of oats, 3 to 4^ 

 metzen ; of lentils, 1^ to 2^ metzen ; of beans, 4 to 5 metzen ; of maize or Indian 

 corn, from 6 to 8 metzen ; of rape-seed, 5 to 6 metzen." Loudon says, that one man will 

 thresh in England from 1 to 1^ of a quarter of barley, from 1^ to 2 quarters of oats, 

 or about 2 in a day. This probably does not include cleaning, &c., and the amount 

 of labor of a laborer in a day in England, is greater than in Germany. It is also pos- 

 sible that the metzen above referred to, is the Austrian one, equal to If bushel. 

 The above computations of labor have been m^ade by persons of great accu- 

 racy, from numerous experiments, and show the degree of labor required in Ger- 

 many in the economical conduct of their farms, where this forms a branch of the 

 science of husbandry ; but they may not be entirely accurate for this country, 

 where the implements of labor are more perfect, and the physical power as well as 

 skill are considerably greater. I have been unable to find in Loudon or other Enghsh 

 works at my command, scarcely any similar estimates, though they form a part of 

 all the German agricultural Manuals. Loudon speaks of their utility, but furnishes 

 next to none. Thaer includes in his estimates females, who are also out-door laborers in 

 Germany. Thus he says. Vol. I. p. 92 : " In spreading manure, one woman will spread 

 daily -fg- to -fV of a yoke (about f to f of an acre), one man | to |^ of a yoke (f- 

 to 1^ acres). One man will sow daily 6| to 7 yokes (9^ to 10 acres). In 

 harvesting, one person will mow 1^ yoke (equal to 1 ,\- acre), and one woman will 

 gather and bind 4 yoke (equal to about 1^ acre). With a sickle, one person will reap 

 on an average ^ of a yoke (equal to | of an acre). In mowing clover, if the ground 

 is even, one man will mow 1^ yoke, (equal to l-,^y- acre), which another can make 

 into hay at the rate of 1|- yoke (equal to 2^ acres) per day." It should be recol- 

 lected that in these estimates neither the minimum nor the maximum is attempted 

 to be given, but the general average which may be considered an economical expen- 

 diture of labor. — Tr.] 



26. The amount of labor which the support of fences requires, is very 

 different according to the kind of fencing, as well as that of the procuring of 

 litter, if taken from woods, bogs, or heather. 



[In Germany much of their land is unfenced, the lots being separated only by lines 

 or spaces marked out, or by the different crops. This is owing in many places 

 to the want of proper material ; in others it is adopted from choice. Their writers 

 have discussed the disadvantages and advantages of fencing, in an economical point 

 of view. Thaer, gives the former, in substance as follows: 1. They take up some 

 room, which on a good soil is worth considerable. 2. They hinder the drying of 

 the soil and cause that it be less early planted. 3. They occasion snow-drifts in 



