On -Measure Work. 
131 
On a sandy soil that digs well, I find that a man, with a boy or 
woman to lay the turnips in the trench, will get over 10 rods in a 
day ; at '6d. a rod they earned 2s. ^d. a day. When the turnips 
are large, the work will of course go off slower. 
14. Thatching. — In measuring thatcher's work, the practice 
for a round stack is to take the height in feet from the eaves to 
the top, and half the girth at the eaves ; these, multiplied toge- 
ther, will give the dimensions in feet, which may easily be re- 
duced into squares or yards. For a long slack we measure the 
length and the height of both sides of the roof; but when the 
stack is hipped, we either allow 2 yards extra in the length or 
measure one in addition to the side : the former method is 
adopted when the dimensions are calculated in square yards ; the 
latter when the square of 100 feet is used. The price for thatch- 
ing corn, and hav stacks is Irf. a yard, or from lOrf. to \'2d. the 
square. I am informed by an experienced thatcher that, with the 
help of a strong lad, he is able to thatch, in a workmanlike man- 
ner. 100 square yards in a day, and thus earns 8s ; but to do this 
he is obliged to work early and late, and leaves the finishing up 
of his stacks till the busy time of harvest is over. In Hertford- 
shire, and other places where the thatching is done in a superior 
style, the charge is nearly double that paid in Suffolk. 
2. Task-work to which Lineal Measure is applicable. 
Table of Lineal Measure. 
12 inches . . . make 1 foot. 
3 feet . . . „ 1 yard. 
5J yards . . . „ 1 rod. 
40 rods or 10 chains . „ 1 furlong. 
8 furlongs or n 60 yards „ 1 mile. 
Under this head are included those descriptions of task-work which 
are usually paid for at a certain rate per chain, rod. or yard in 
length; and it applies more especially to ditching, fencing, and 
draining. 
1 . Digging Ditches and Fencing. — All operations done with 
the spade depend in a great measure upon the nature of the soil, 
as to the quantity removed in a given time. Some — as peat — 
are dug without much labour ; while other soils cannot be dug 
at all unless they are first loosened with the pick. It has been 
calculated that a man will dig and move 10 cubic yards of soil in 
a day, the soil not requiring the pick to be used ; this is perhaps 
under the average ; for 1 find the labourers on the railway are 
paid 2c?. a cubic yard for moving and digging a hard stony soil to 
the depth of 18 inches ; of this they are able to move from 10 to 
12 yards in a day. 
K 2 
