The Labour Bill in Farminrf. 
103 
rate is Is. Gd. an acre. Mangolds cost 8s. " jNIucking " is paid for 
at per score loads. Filling muck into " tumbrils " (Suffolk ver- 
nacular for heavy two-wheeled carts) anil spreading on the land 
costs 6s. a score loads, a tumbril holding about 40 bushels. The 
6s. is thus divided : for filling, '2s. 6(1. ; spreading, 2s. 6d. ; the 
boy who leads receives Is. At this work a man may earn 2s. 6d. 
a day. Fencing and ditching are paid for by the rod. Dressing 
corn is paid for bv the 20 coombs, and costs Is. per score for each 
time of passing through the dressing-machine. Threshing is 
done by the farmer's machine, and is not paid for by the piece. 
The men who drive the engine and attend to the drum receive 
Is. a day extra ; the man who attends to the sacking of the corn 
6d. a day extra. All the other men who have anything to do 
with the engine-work get 2d. a day extra; and a pint of beer a 
day all round encourages them to get through the work quickly. 
Sowing artificial manure is paid at the rate of od. a day extra 
upon the nominal wages of 14*-. weekly. Overtime is paid for 
in cash, and not by bribes of beer — an excellent innovation upon 
a bad system. The regular hours in summer are from 6 to 6, 
with half an hour for breakfast and an hour for dinner. By 
paying 3d. an hour for overtime the employer can command the 
services of the men when he Avants them. They are ready enough 
to add a little to their earnings in this way, and cease to feel that 
they are " doing a lot for nothing." 
Sheep-clipping is another part of the piece-work system at 
Knettishall, but the same system is common to most of the 
farmers in this district. There are gangs of clippers who travel 
about the country at shearing time, and are noted for their expert- 
ness, and also for their drinking powers. The farmer allowed 
them, nominally, a quart of beer for every score of sheep, and, 
as there were 36 score, they were entitled to oG quarts. In fact, 
they received 10 gallons. But this allowance by no means met 
the wants of such thirsty souls, and they ordered nearly 15 more 
gallons from the nearest public-house, of course paying for it 
themselves. Sheep-shearers, however, seem to have shared in 
the gradual improvement of their class, though a good deal of 
room is left for improvement still. Even 25 gallons drunk in a 
single day by 21 men, is a much smaller quantity than used to 
be consumed by the sheep-shearers when the beer was supplied 
without limit by farmers for whom they were working. " In 
my father's time, 30 years ago," said the farmer, " nearly- double 
the quantity would have been consumed." , The work, it is true, 
is hard, and the clippers put forth all their strength in getting 
through it rapidly, immediately moving off to the next job. 
The contract with them is to clip the ewes at 3s. 6d. a score, 
hoggets at 4s. The winding up of each fleece before it is packed 
