138 
On Measure Work. 
3. Oats are threshed for Is. to Is. Ad. a quarter ; beans and 
peas from Is. to is. 6c?. The quantity threshed varies from 1^ to 
2 quarters per day. 
4. Clover and other Seeds. — The price paid for cobbing (sepa- 
rating the seed from the straw) and drawing the seed of red and 
white clover is from 3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. the bushel of 5 stone of 
seed. Drawing seed by the flail is a tedious and expensive pro- 
cess, and is much better performed by mills constructed on pur- 
pose for the work. From Is. to Is. 4d. is paid per quarter for 
cobbing trefoil ; the drawing is usually done by mills. 
5. Task-work performed hy various kinds of Measurement. 
1. Trussing Hay for the London market is chiefly done by 
men who make a business of it, and by practice become exceed- 
ingly expert. In Hertfordshire the price for trussing and weigh- 
ing ready for market is Id. a truss ; a good hand, with the assist- 
ance of a boy, will in summer make 100 trusses in a long day. 
In Suffolk the hay-trusser is neither so skilful nor so well remu- 
nerated ; the charge for trussing is about ^d. a truss, or from 
Is. 6(i. to 2s. a ton. 
2. Picking Stones is paid for by the load of 20 bushels, at 
about 10c?. a load. A woman will generally manage to pick a 
load in a day. 
3. Hiving Wood is done by the stack, at 3s- 6c?. for long 
lengths suited for kiln burning, and at 5s. for short lengths. 
4. Shearing Sheep is done by men who form themselves into 
a company, and engage to shear the sheep belonging to the sur- 
rounding flock-masters. The following are the prices for Down 
and Leicester sheep : — Ewes, 3^. 6c?. a score, of which one man 
will on an average shear twenty-five in a day of 12 hours' labour ; 
hoggets or yearlings, 4s. &d., of which a man will shear twenty ; 
large fat sheep and rams, 5s. a score. Sometimes the employer 
agrees to board the shearers, he then pays 3s. a score for hoggets, 
and 2s. for ewes. 
5. In Hiring Shepherds an agreement is sometimes entered into, 
by which they receive, in addition to their weekly wages of 10s 
to 12s., about 6c?. for each lamb brought up, and out of this 
money to be received pay 9c? for every sheep that dies. 
6. There are other kinds of agricultural labour which admit 
of being paid for by measure-work which have not been men- 
tioned ; among these are burning lime, cutting chaff, planting 
cabbages and potatoes ; taking up ])otatoes ; the latter operation 
may be done at so much per sack ; we found 3d. to be a fair 
price, or they may be taken up at a certain rate per acre. 
