OF SCOTLAND.

197

days, and ten hours on light soils, in spring and summer;and from six to eight hours a-day in winter. When har-vesting the crop, no attention is paid to hours; and in seed-time, and for several weeks, while the land is in preparationfor turnips, there is often no other limit to exertion than theability of the horses. One man never works two pair ofhorses successively, as in some parts of England. The com-mon hours of labour, when the days are sufficiently long, arefrom six in the morning to six in the evening ; two or threehours, from eleven or twelve to two, being allowed for feed-ing and rest. They are fed with oats before they go to workin the morning, a second time before the afternoon journey,and a third time in the evening, and have roots either be-tween journeys, or when they return from the second one.In winter the horses are not unyoked at mid-day. Whenthey are at work from light to light, or from about eight inthe morning till four in the afternoon, they are allowed a lit-tle corn on the field while the ploughman eats his lunch, butno corn is given, if they work only six hours, which is thepractice in several places, though certainly an unprofitableone. Every hour’s work of a man and a pair of horses doesnot cost a farmer less than one shilling; two hours, or at leastan hour and a half’s work, is therefore much more valuable,after deducting the price of the corn given at mid-day, thanthe labour of the man alone at any occasional employment.The horses are usually kept in stables, with single stalls, inwinter and spring, though sometimes in sheds and fold-yards;and frequently in the latter during summer, while they arefed on clovers or tares. They are carefully cleaned with thecurry-comb and brush in the morning—in winter by candlelight, rubbed down when they return from the field, andagain dressed at eight o’clock in the evening, when theyhave fodder and litter for the night. Upon the stable loft,or some other place near the stable, one of the ploughmensleeps, that he may be at hand in case of any disturbanceamong the horses through the night.