204 Irish Shovel and English Spade. 



four feet in length, precluding in the use of it 

 the necessity for bending the back : this I was 

 amused to hear offered as an apology for the 

 preference of it ; as the working with the spade 

 gave the laborers a stoop in their gait, dis- 

 qualifying them from making soldiers. The 

 weight lifted by the shovel, by frequently 

 making the knee a fulcrum for raising it, does 

 not in general exceed five pounds, while in a 

 much shorter space of time the garden spade 

 lifts fifteen ; an English laborer, accustomed to 

 the spade, would perform the business of three 

 of these workmen with their shovels. When 

 the coal shovel of England is used in filling, 

 there are some men who can fill a waggon of 

 seventy, two Winchester bushels in half an hour. 

 The weight of coal thus lifted every time is 

 about thirty pounds ; those accustomed to the 

 work fill ten waggons each, for a common day's 

 work. 



Admitting that proper tools were put into 

 the hands of this peasantry, the price of labor 

 would not be augmented, while much time 

 would be saved to their employers. The ge- 

 neral condition of the laborious orders by such 

 an arrangement could not, however, be me- 

 liorated, as it would necessarily increase the 



