120 
The Labour Bill in Farming. 
think of setting it down to the account of labour, such is really 
the form it takes to outsiders. 
7. Of greater importance than perquisites is that item in the 
labour bill which I have described as " wages knowingly given, 
bj the farmer in excess of the value of the labour given in return, 
as in the case of old and infirm hands ;" or, it may be added, 
wages paid during wet or frost, when agricultural work cannot 
be done ; or in the short, dark days of winter ; or when boys arc 
employed, as they sometimes are, though not really required, 
" because there is such a large family." 
" To show how the old men hang on and the young ones go- 
away," writes a Suffolk farmer, " take my farm. I employ 20 
men : 13 of them are above 50 and under 75, the majority 
ranging from 60 to 65, while only 7 men of the whole 20 arc 
under 50. Yet all these men are on full pay, although they arc- 
certainly not worth it. Several have worked on the farm for 30 
or 40 years. I maintain that I pay 30 per cent, more in wages 
than the work is worth in the market. But neither I nor any other 
decent farmer would turn a man off simply because he was old. 
Hitherto it has been the custom to ' find a corner somewhere ' for 
men who have grown old in a place." 
The statement here made is true of hundreds of farmers in the 
Eastern Counties, and no doubt in every English county. This, 
particular farm is an extreme case ; but on a smaller scale, go- 
where you will, you find old servants retained upon farms, some- 
times receiving full wages, sometimes treated as " three-quarters" 
or " half" men, but hardly ever earning the wages paid them, 
if judged by the standard remuneration given to labour in the 
parish. This regard for old services is highly honourable to the 
farmers. No one will pretend to say that they are the only 
class of employers who consider the claims of old and par- 
tially worn-out servants. But it may be said with truth that 
there is no other class of employers who employ this unremu- 
nerative labour to anything like the same extent. The result 
must, and does, tell upon the labour bill. The older men are 
really receiving an annuity for past services, represented by the 
difference between their wages and the value of their labour. It 
follows that either these annuities must come out of profits, or 
the wages of able-bodied men must be lower than they otherwise 
would be in contemplation of the provision which the farmer is- 
expected to provide in old age. 
In winter the hours of labour in Suffolk, and generally 
throughout East Anglia, are (nominally) from 7 A.M. till 5. r.M.,. 
with an hour for dinner. In summer the hours are, with some- 
wiiat greater reality, from 6 A.M. till 6 P.M., with half an hour 
