SERVANT. 



accafions ; and then it is prudent to fting them with keen, 

 rather than to load them with heavy, words : to endeavour 

 to ftir up their pride, rather than their malice or refentment. 

 And much of the fmoothnefs and uniform fuccefs of bufiiiefs 

 depends on the manner of communicating orders to work- 

 men. If orders are inaccurately or loofely given, it is un- 

 reafonable to expeft that the execution of them (hould be 

 faultlefs. It is difficult to explain bufinefs in words with 

 fufficient accuracy to ruftic workmen ; and if a third perfon 

 is fuffered to intervene, errors are inevitable. The fervant 

 who has the management ought therefore to make a point 

 of giving orders, in perfon, and if poflible on the fpot, to 

 the men whom he means fhal! execute them. There he 

 can explain himfelf to them intelligibly and fully ; or aflift 

 them in marking out their work. There is always danger 

 in merely verbal orders ; and, in a meffage, certain mifchief. 

 It (hould be an invariable rule for him to fet his men to a 

 frelh work, in perfon ; and if it is out of the common way 

 of hufbandry, to ilay by them, or direft them with his own 

 hands ; and return to them, again and again, until he finds 

 them completely in their work. In this view, this fort of 

 fervant, as well as for various other reafons, ought to be 

 mailer of every implement, tool, and operation belonging 

 to his profeffion ; and if he find himfelf deficient in any par- 

 ticular, he (hould praftife it day by day, until he make it 

 familiar to him ; or how is he to correft a bad workman ; 

 or to know when to be fatisfied with a good one; who, 

 knowing when he is right, will not bear the reproaches of 

 ignorance ? He has no other way of fccuring the elteem 

 and attachment of good workmen, and of fini(hing in a 

 workman-hke manner every thing he undertakes, than by 

 making himfelf mafter of his bufinefs ; without which 

 little fatisfaftion will arife from it to himfelf, or profit to 

 his employer. And in the general principles of conduft, in 

 his dealings and intercourfe with other men, punftuality is 

 one of the moft eflential. Method is the bed alTillant of 

 punAuality ; and clear accounts are one of the bed refults 

 of method. Thefe (hould always be kept with exaftnefs, 

 and be fent, when required, to the proprietor, in weekly, 

 monthly, and annual periods, fo as to (hew the daily Itate 

 of the work ; the monthly (late of receipts and payments ; 

 and, laftly, the whole (late of accounts and balances. 



Befides, it is extremely necelTary for the farmer to be care- 

 ful in providing his fervants, not only to fee that they are pro- 

 per for the work, but that there be not more than are necef- 

 fary for executing it, as the expence of them is now become 

 extremely great. It has long Cnce been recorded by the 

 above writer, in his " Minutes of Agriculture," that on the 

 matureft calculation he found the yearly expence of a man 

 fervant in the houfe to be 35/., and that of a boy 23/., 

 fuppofing the man's yearly wages to be 10/. and the boy's 

 3/. Now the expence of a day-labouring man for a whole 

 year (if he works every day) is but 27/. los., which is 

 7/. ios. difference againli keeping a man in the houfe by the 

 year, and hiring one by the day. But that of a boy is itill 

 more in proportion, -vix. the expence of a day-labouring 

 boy for a whole year, if he works every day, is but 13/., 

 which makes a difference of 10/., or more than three-fourths 

 of a boy's day-wages. In the above account, no deduction 

 in the daily pay is made for rainy days. The impropriety, 

 therefore, of keeping plough-boys in the houfe is very 

 vifible : and though it may be convenient to have the 

 carters about ihe houfe, the conveniency is not worth 7/, lot. 

 a-year. He therefore recommends putting a woman into 

 a cottage, within about two hundred paces of the farm- 

 yard, to take in lodgers ; and to keep in the houfe no more 

 4 



farming fervants than a buftler and a yardman. Indeed he 

 fays it is abfolutely necefTary to have fomebody about a 

 farm-yard in cafes of emergency ; but the above two are 

 fufficient, as the carters in the adjoining cottage will be 

 nearly as handy as if they were in the houfe. This meafure, 

 it is obferved, like many others, is merely local, but the 

 hint is univerfal. 



But perhaps the farmer, who keeps no accounts, imagines 

 he faves money by boarding his fervants in the houfe ; how- 

 ever, if he keeps them m the luxurious manner which farm- 

 ing-fervants in general expeft to be kept, he will be mif- 

 taken. A farmer, indeed, who fits at the head of his 

 kitchen-table, may no doubt feed his men confiderably 

 cheaper, than a perfon who eats in a feparate apartment. 

 It is a jutl obfervation, that one fed by Ins mafter colls 

 the community as much as two who provide for themfelves ; 

 for difcharge a grumbler, one who pretends to be dilTatisfied, 

 though in faft only fatiated, and he will return to his bread 

 and ciieefe with perhaps equal health and equal happinefs. 

 He fits down to his mailer's table with a refolulion to eat 

 voracioufly of the bed, to do himlelf judice ; but at his 

 own table eats fparingly of the meaned, to fave his money. 

 His motive in both cafes is the fame ; felf-intered. The 

 plan here inculcated is at this time Hill more neceflary than 

 it was at a former period. 



And it is added, that in fome counties, particularly in 

 Surrey, it is an eftablilhed cudom for every man, in harveft, 

 to work by the acre, or by the month, not by the day. If 

 a labourer be conllantly employed through the year, he 

 expefts during harved to be condantly employed in mow- 

 ing, reaping, &c. by the acre, or to have his harveft-month ; 

 that is, to have an advance of wages certain, wet or dry, 

 during one month ; which month commences when it belt 

 fuits his employer. This is very convenient ; they are 

 always at command in cafes of emergency ; and nothing 

 but a continuance of rains while the barns are empty can 

 make them burdenfome. He drongly recommends the em- 

 ploying of aftive young men ; for one invahd or fluggidi 

 fellow will fpoil the whole fet ; and this holds generally. 

 Mix two or three old women, or two or three boys, with 

 a company of men, and the effeft will be very foon vifible ; 

 for the men will foon conform to the ways of either the 

 old women, or the playfulnefs of the boys. It is not pru- 

 dent to employ many women with the men ; and nothing 

 but neceflity can excufe it. Two women after the fird or 

 fecond day, will do as much work as half a dozen, alone. 

 If it be neceffary or convenient to employ a number of 

 both men and women, it is but common good management 

 to keep them feparate ; with this exception, which may be 

 laid down as a maxim, -viz. one man among women, and 

 one woman among men. A crudy conceited old fellowr 

 will check the goflipping of the women, and it has been re- 

 marked that raking after a young wench has animated more 

 than a gallon of ale. Two are dangerous ; they breed 

 contention, and rather retard than accelerate. Tiie molt 

 valuable fervant in harved is a good carter. It is neceflary 

 to common management that he (hould be able, willing, and 

 careful. Every pitch of hay and corn, generally fpeaking, 

 pades twice through his hands ; he loads and unloads, 

 which are the two moll laborious ta(l<s of harved ; he 

 drives the team backwards and forwards ; if he loiters by 

 the way, the fi.'ld-men or dack-men mud dand idle ; if he 

 fpill or overturn his load, or if he break his waggon, or fet 

 his horfes, the arrangement of the day is broken ; and, 

 perhaps, the damage done by the lofs of time rendered irre- 

 parable by the next day's rain. A good carter will not 



fufTer 



