ON THE RUKAI, ECONOMY'

2iS

dently impossible to know exactly what wages a labourer ismaking in many instances, by merely knowing the price alwhich he works, without being acquainted with other parti-culars, such as the weight of a crop when cutting by the acre,or the hardness of the subsoil when making drains ; the bestway of coming at the truth, in a case of this nature is, to referto the table of week’s wages, (see table B); and as the gainsfrom working by the piece, are regulated entirely by the rateof day’s wages, so a knowledge of this latter circumstance, willlead a person easily to discover, what an acre of hay, for in-stance, alike in every respect, will be got cut for, in differentdistricts of the kingdom: Thus, in East-Lothian , a labourer’swages is 13s. 6d. per week; in Argyle and Inverness it is 9s .;so that an acre of hay, that in the latter counties would cost5s., would in the former cost 7s. 6d. in cutting, with everything else in the same proportion.

The following table extracted from the Communications tothe Board of Agriculture, contains an accurate account ofthe prices of different kinds of piece-work in East-Lothian ,in the years 1790 and 1S04 :

close by the roots of the hay; and they confess this mode is much easier than t*>carry the scythe even an inch higher.

Some farmers prefer cutting by the day, professedly on account of the diffi-culty of getting the field measured, but that should in general be no objection.Most schoolmasters in Scotland can measure, some with great accuracy, and thecxpence is trifling. If any objection remains as to bad work, let a specimen bemade at the commencement, and a penalty fixed for any variation from it. Thebest prohibitory article perhaps would be, to bind the contractor to accept ofday wages, after all his exertion, on being detected in doing injustice. This hasbeen acted upon with a happy effect.

The practice of cutting corn by threading, (so much for every two stooks orshocks of 12 sheaves each), is also found advantageous in some of the north-eastern counties.