On Measure Work. 
129 
made about 4 or 5 feet in height, sloping like the roof of a house. 
A man will cover about 2 rods in length in a day ; the rate per 
rod may be from \Q>d. to 12c?. In a hard gravelly soil it took 
six men three days to earth up a heap 30 rods in length ; at Is. a 
rod they would have earned exactly their day-wages at 20(f. a day. 
Taking up and Storing Carrots. — When carrots are sown broad- 
cast and the plants left thick, the cost of taking up and cutting off 
the tops is sometimes as high as 18s. or 20s. per acre for a fair 
crop ; but when drilled the cost for taking up is much reduced ; 
this is caused by the carrots being handier to fork up when in 
rows, besides which they are generally singled out at greater in- 
tervals, and are consequently fewer in number and larger than 
those broadcast. We shall find that if the work is done by day- 
labourers it will lake six men to fork up an acre of drilled car- 
rots ; I know this to be about an average, from havmg assisted in 
this as well as in other kinds of works that I have described. It 
will take six boys or girls to cut the tops off as the carrots are 
taken up by the men. If we take the men at 20d. a day, and 
the children at 6d., we may calculate the cost of an acre will be 
13s. ; by piece-work it could be very well done for 12s. an acre. 
If the carrots are a thin plant, the price will be proportionably 
lower ; and if a very thick one, it may be 2s. or 3s. above the 
sum I have stated. It must be borne in mind that this only in- 
cludes taking up and topping ; I have already given (under the 
head of hoeing) the details of a practice pursued by many carrot- 
growers in the west of Suffolk. 
8. Dibbling. — In the eastern counties dibbling is much prac- 
tised ; and during seed-time the dropping gives employment to 
great numbers of children. Dibbling wheat is done in two ways 
— one called whole setting, when two rows of holes are placed on 
a broad furrow slice, the rows being about 5 inches apart: a man 
will dibble, on an average, half an acre a day, and will find work 
for three droppers ; the cost for dibbling and dropping is from 
7s. 6rf. to 8s. an acre. The other is called three-quarter setting ; 
one row is placed on a narrow furrow slice, the holes being rather 
closer together in the row : a man will dibble nearly an acre in 
a day; this costs about 5s. an acre. Beans and peas, being dib- 
bled at wide intervals, 4s. an acre are a fair price for them. 
9. Haulming is the cutting or raking into heaps the stubble 
left by ihe reapers ; the price varies with the bulk and toughness 
of the straw. A man paid by the acre will haulm, on an average, 
upwards of an acre in a day ; the price is about 20rf. 
10. Paring and Burning uncultivated land is generally done by 
piece-work ; the price is affected by the soil, the prevalence of 
stones and roots, and by the toughness of the sward. Paring is 
severe labour, the burning also requires strict attendance both 
VOL. VI I. K 
