118 
The Labour Bill in Farming. 
in aid of wages. This item appears in the accounts of every 
farmer as an addition to his labour bill. If the labourer is kept 
at work a little longer than usual, or is employed on harder 
work than usual, he goes to the house for his pint or quart of 
beer. Certain kinds of work carry with them an understood 
claim to drink. In harvest-time the consumption is enormous. 
An East Suffolk farmer gives me the following statement on this 
head : — ■" We always allow each of our men," he says, " three 
bushels of best malt for harvest. Out of each bushel the men 
make from nine to ten ' pails ' of three gallons." A pail is the 
Suffolk measurement in home-brewing. " They have, therefore, 
from 27 to 30 pails, or from 81 to 90 gallons, as the case may 
be, for the harvest, which in average years lasts 27 days. 
Besides this quantity of beer, a 300-acre farmer never thinks of 
giving away less tha«i 3G gallons, or a barrel, of what we in 
Suffolk call harvest beer, which is specially strong and is generally 
brewed during the previous March. This is exactly what goes 
on year after year in this district with regard to beer allowance. 
I have often seen men come with empty bottles during the last 
few days of harvest, and get their fellow-labourers to give them 
some ; and I always give them some myself, if I know they are 
without." 
When the weather is very hot, or any special effort is called 
for through fear of rain, I have heard of a big stone bottle being 
sent into the harvest-field filled with spirits and water. Admit- 
ting that some beer is needful to enable the labourer to support 
the heat and burden of the day, the system of beer-doles at har- 
vest, as at other times, seems to be little less than a premium 
upon excessive drinking. The farmers say, if the men did not 
brew for themselves, they would buy public-house beer, made 
heady by one knows not what ingredients, and would be unable 
to work upon it. On the other hand, is it not better to give the 
men the value of the malt and hops, and thus give them some 
inducement to drink less? In Forfarshire, as we have seen, the 
labourers receive milk as a part of their weekly wages. We do 
not hear of much beer or spirit-drinking while they work, yet 
we know how well they work. Farmers say that the men like 
Ijeer-perquisites, and will do more for a pint of beer than they 
will do for twice its equivalent in money. One can quite under- 
stand this craving. The same story is told in the cider counties. 
I tliink it will l)e found that in districts where drink is doled out 
in the greatest quantity, the type of labour is the lowest ; and, 
whether the labourer likes it or not, this vicious system should 
be abandoned. If work is being done, not adequately paid for 
by current wages, the extra earnings .should be in cash. As it 
is, the labourer drinks far more than is good for him, and pours 
