128 
On Measuj-e Work. 
the wheat- crop clean up to a specified time, usually to the end of 
June : in that case the wheat receives as many hoeings as it may 
require, at an average charge of 6s. an acre. 
Hoeing Beans, Peas, and Tares is done for about 25. 6f/. an 
acre : a certain difference in the rate of payment is occasioned by 
the width between the drills ; when this is narrow the work goes 
off proportionally slower. With us barley is seldom hoed, though 
oats occasionally are, and if so at the same price as wheat. 
7. Harvesting Root- Crops. — The labourers, in doing this kind 
of work, may be paid by the acre, or, when the crop is carried 
off the land, by the number of cart-loads : the former method 
is to be preferred, as it affords a mode of measurement less liable 
to dispute. Men with large families are the best to engage 
in the taking up and storing away roots, as their wives and 
children will be able to do a good portion of the labour. 
Harvesting roots is performed in various ways ; I shall merely 
mention those plans most generally used. When the swedes are 
laid in small clamps of about 40 bushels on the land where they 
grow, the roots are pulled up and thrown into long heaps, the 
leaves being first cut or pulled off ; the heaps are then covered, 
first with straw and then with earth. Seven shillings per acre will 
be a fair remuneration for the labour required in pulling and 
storing a good crop of swedes in this manner. Should the roots 
be both topped and tailed, a higher price must be given. An- 
other way of keeping swedes or white turnips is to cover the roots 
with the plough ; ihe turnips are pulled and laid in a furrow 
opened by the ploughman, who with another furrow covers the 
roots with soil, leaving the tops above the surface : the cost of 
pulling and laying in the turnips will be about 2)S. an acre ; but it 
must of course be done by children, with a man as overlooker. 
Pulling, cutting off the tops, and filling turnips into carts, will 
cost about 8s. per acre, but this must depend upon the size of 
the roots, where the bulk of the crop is the same. 
Harvesting Beet. — The pulling and laying the roots in heaps 
ready to be carted away, the leaves being twisted off by the hand 
at the time of pulling (which is done by men, and is rather severe 
labour) is paid for at an average price of 5s. an acre for a 
fair crop ; at this rale a man will earn 2s. a day, for it will take 
about days to pull an acre. As the task-men pull the roots 
they are filled by boys and carried to the places wliere they are 
stored for the winter. With us the filling is done by day-work, 
at a cost of about 2s. an acre : four boys, at is. a day, filled 
H>0 loads (30 bushels) off 7 acres of land in three days. Tlie 
beet was pulled in the same time by six men, at the rate of Gs. 
an acre. Banking Beet is tlie covering the heaps in which the 
roots are stored with moulds to keep out the frost ; the heap is 
