THE WHEAT CROP. 53 



the results of my experience in the matter, and thus afford to those 

 interested in such questions, an opportunity of judging how far their 

 individual circumstances may be best suited for the one or for the 

 other practice. My object being more to place the practice of mow- 

 ing in a fair light before your readers than to oppose the. writer's 

 assumptions, I will briefly describe my own harvest arrangements, 

 which are now in active play, and which have been tested by the 

 past two years' experience on the same farm. 



" Economy of labour being as necessary in the manufacture of corn 

 as of calico, I have endeavoured to arrange mine so that the manual 

 labour employed shall be suitable for the particular portion of the 

 work required that a man shall do a man's work, and a child a 

 child's work) and that there shall be a harmony throughout the whole 

 machinery. 



" I have now ten scythes at work. Each mower cuts in, and lays 

 the mown corn up against the standing corn. He is closely followed 

 by a child, as small as you please, whose work is merely to draw 

 bands, and lay them down at proper intervals in a straight line, 

 ready for the sheaves ; then follows a stout girl (or boy), who takes 

 out the mown corn in her arm, and lays it, in sufficient quantity for 

 a sheaf, on the band already prepared for it. I now require a good 

 active man as bandster. He follows as closely as he can after the 

 sheaves are laid, and firmly binds them, leaving them lying on the 

 ground, whence they are lifted by another man, whose work is to 

 place them in stocks in the usual manner. One bandster and one 

 stooker are found to be sufficient for every two mowers. The bind- 

 ing is the hardest work, and the men generally change places with 

 the stookers at dinner time. 



" Taking the corn crop through wheat, barley, and oats I find 

 that each scythe can easily get through 2 acres a day ; and, at that 

 rate, the other hands are kept steadily at work. The cost of this I 

 give you in the exact wages I am now paying mowers, 35. per day; 

 children drawing hands, 6d. to 8d. ; girls taking out the corn, Is. to 

 Is. 2c?., bandsters and stookers, 2s. 2d. per day. Thus a day's work 

 with the ten scythes is as follows : 



10 Mowers at 3s. Od. 



10 Children at Os. 8d. 



10 Girls at Is. 2d. 



10 Bandsters and Stookers... at 2s. 2d. 

 3 Rakers at 1*. 9d. 



3 15 3 



This sum, taking 20 acres as the work done, would amount to about 

 3s. 9d. per acre ; for wheat alone it would be a little higher. Taking 



