Farming  of  Gloucestershire. 
167 
rick,  varying  of  course  with  the  yield.  The  carrying  the  corn 
from  the  field  to  the  rick  and  ricking  are  done  by  piece-work, 
which  costs  1C )d.  per  acre.  The  thrashing  is  done  by  steam; 
the  engine  is  a snug  piece  of  machinery  ; it  takes  an  hour  and  a 
half  to  get  up  the  steam,  and  in  the  morning,  whilst  this  is  being 
done  by  one  party,  others  are  stripping  the  rick  and  preparing  for 
carrying  into  the  barn.  This  is  done  by  laying  down  a wooden 
railway  on  the  elevated  road,  which  is  in  the  middle  of  the  rick- 
yard,  between  the  two  rows  of  ricks,  to  the  machine  inside  the 
barn  ; and  a carriage  with  wheels  and  axles  to  fit  the  rails  is 
taken  from  the  barn  to  the  rick  and  loaded.  When  the  engine 
is  ready  the  business  commences,  and  the  loaded  carriage  is 
moved  down  the  railway  into  the  barn  and  unloaded,  by  parties 
who  place  the  sheaves  on  the  teeth  of  a revolving  rake,  by  which 
they  are  elevated  and  placed  on  the  floor  above.  The  sheaves 
are  taken  by  women  and  handed  to  the  feeder  who  serves  the 
machine,  and  this  is  uninterruptedly  continued  till  either  the  rick 
is  out  or  the  usual  meal-time  causes  a temporary  cessation.  The 
machine  not  only  thrashes  the  corn,  but  shakes  the  straw,  winnows 
the  corn  and  causes  it  to  pass  down  a spout  to  the  ground  floor, 
to  which  spout  a bag  is  attached,  which,  when  full,  is  removed  by 
an  attendant,  the  corn  being  winnowed,  screened,  cleaned,  bagged, 
and  ready  for  the  market.  A register  of  the  performances  of 
the  machine  is  kept.  The  thrashing,  including  the  wear  and 
tear  of  the  machine  and  engine,  which  have  hitherto  been  trifling, 
and  not  likely  to  be  ever  very  great  until  worn  out,  on  the  average 
come  to  lOJrf.  per  quarter.  This  includes  every  expense,  coal, 
labour,  and  repairs.  Cultivators,  harrows,  rollers,  &c.,  are  all 
of  the  modern  and  best  construction,  and  one-horse  carts.  He 
drills  all  his  crops  and  sows  winter  beans,  between  the  rows  of 
some  of  which  we  saw  drilled  carrots.  A slight  waste,  however, 
was  suffered  last  year  from  the  loss  of  the  hritted  beans.  The 
pigs  could  not  be  allowed  to  pick  them  up  for  fear  of  disturbing 
the  very  fair  crop  of  carrots,  not  less  than  twenty -five  tons  to  the 
acre,  which  were  growing,  when  we  saw  them,  very  rapidly. 
Thirty  bushels  of  beans  per  acre  had  been  reaped.  The  turnips 
and  swedes  were  a failure,  as  before  noticed,  from  the  ravages  of 
the  grub,  but  the  mangold-wurzel  was  very  fine,  not  less  than  30 
tons  to  the  acre.  The  swedes  generally  average  about  20  tons 
per  acre. 
The  buildings  are  plain  and  useful,  and  are  arranged  in  a 
square,  having  the  barn  steam-engine,  boiling  and  steaming  ap- 
paratus, piggeries,  and  stable,  on  the  east : implement-shed  to 
the  south,  on  one  side  of  the  roof;  and  the  cattle-shed,  now 
converted  into  boxes,  on  the  north,  sheds  for  sheep,  &c.  A 
division  runs  east  and  west  across  the  centre  of  the  yard,  which 
