130 



On Rural Economy Abroad, 



serve also to bring up and fatten a pig or two annually, which 

 forms the chief part of their animal food. Their wives work at 

 all times when required, but especially in harvest, when they are 

 employed in binding the corn, which the men mow. The wages 

 may be averaged for men, from the 1st of May to the 1st of Novem- 

 ber, at 10^^., and in winter 8d. per day ; the women always 2d. less. 

 The men earn much more by hand-threshing, in which they are 

 employed from the time the harvest is housed till May or June, 

 and for which they get 1 sack in every 14, 16, or 18, according to 

 their agreement, which is influenced by the abundance or scarcity 

 of hands in the neighbourhood, and the probable returns from 

 good land or bad. They frequently earn 16c/. a-day by their 

 work, when prices are good ; and even at the lowest, they have 

 bread for their families, and to spare. Poverty is rare, seldom 

 occurring except from misfortune or sickness ; and in such cases 

 they are supported by the lord of the soil, so that wandering beg- 

 gars are unknown. The rent of land has increased within the last 

 20 years by 50 per cent., and may now be averaged at about 1 8s. 

 sterling per acre for a mixed farm of wheat and barley soils. 

 Petty crime is as little frequent as in any other country that 

 could be named, while open violence is almost unheard of. 



