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Chapter Fifteen Rural Economy

Sect. I - Labour.

The price of labour in 1794, as stated by Mr. Monk, was, for a labourer, 1s. to 1s. 6d. per day and beer, with their board in harvest, and the carriage of a load of coals, worth 14s. to 1l. 1s. more ; but a great deal of labour is done by the piece, or, as they call it, by the great. A good labourer expects to earn in harvest a guinea per week, and in winter 15s. Reaping is from 7s. to 10s. per acre ; mowing grass or barley 2s. to 2s. 6d. ; threshing wheat 4d. to 6d. per bushel, and beer. Women at farm-work earn 8d. per day ; the hours of work are from six to six in common, and from light to dark in winter ; the same in harvest, according to the emergency.
Wages for a servant man 6l. to 12l per annum ; and a lad from 3l. to 5l. ; dairy-maids from 3l. to 5l. and some a few more.
Servants are mostly hired from Michaelmas to Michaelmas, at public statutes, of which many are held in the county. Various opinions are held, whether these meetings are advantageous or not to the interests of agriculture. Mr. Monk decides against them, on account of the ease with which servants get places, without reference to character : I happened to be present at two of them by chance, the one at Melton, the other at some village in the vale of Belvoir ; in the evening they turn to a kind of holiday romp, and have, I think, a tendency to dissipation.
Mr. Marshall gives an account of Polesworth statute, Sept. 27th, to which he says, servants came out of Leicestershire 25 or 30 miles on foot ; (Polesworth is in Warwickshire, but near the borders of Leicestershire,) the number of servants collected together in the statute-yard has been estimated at from two to three thousand ; farm-servants for several miles round consider themselves at liberty on that day.
But he says public hirings are condemned by most respectable judges, as tending to vitiate the minds of servants, to render them fickle and unsettled in their places, and to expose the good ones to be corrupted by the bad ; and it certainly causes a cessation of country business for some days, and an awkwardness in it for some time afterwards.
From 1794 to 1807, the price of labour in agriculture is somewhat advanced. Lord Moria's farm labourers have now two shillings per day ; and piece-work is also somewhat advanced, as well as the wages of hired servants ; and this is, perhaps, but just, in proportion to the price of provisions, particularly butcher's meat, as well as wearing apparel, in which many articles are advanced, particularly shoes.
As Mr. Monk observes, the price of provisions is a good deal regulated by distant markets, as Smithfield, Birmingham, &c. The following were the common prices in 1794, and in 1807 and 1808.

Price of Provisions 1794 from Mr. Monk		Price of Provisions 1807 at Ashley
		1807			Jan. 1808
	D.		D. D.		S. D.
Prime Beef Mutton Veal Lamb Pork Bacon Cheese Butter	4 per lb. 41/4 to 41/2 4 to 41/2 4 to 01/2 41/2 to 0 8 to 0 5 to 0 10 to 14	Beef Mutton Veal Lamb Pork Bacon Cheese Butter	5 to 6 6 to 61/2 6 to 7 61/2 to 0 6 to 61/2 9 to 10 6 to 7 14 to 0		0 6 0 61/2 0 7 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 7 1 2
Grain per quarter, at 34 Quarts to the Bushel.
	S.			S. S.	S. D.
Wheat Barley Oats	72 42 31	Wheat Rye Barley average Oats ditto Beans ditto Blue pease Hog pease		70 to 73 46 42 32 52 68 52	77 4 36 0 32 0 64 0
But grain two years before had been much cheaper, about two-thirds of the above price.

In 1807, the best wheaten bread was ordered to be sold by the magistrates at 21/2d. per lb. And household at 2d. per lb. Nearly. - See Assize of Bread, Article Wheat, Chap. VII.
Fuel.-The sorts of fuel burnt here are coal and wood ; the former in plenty from the mines of Derbyshire, and part raised within the county : the price at Lord Moria's works on Asby Wolds, 6d. per hundred, or 10s. per ton. Derbyshire coal at Leicester, 15s. per ton ; and farther east in the county, the price higher still : in this latter district, about Hallaton, are some instances of using cow-dung for fuel. Coal at Ashby, Jan. 1808, 8d. per hundred weight, but much higher in the eastern parts of the county.
The wages of a labourer in 1794, was according to Mr. Monk, 1s. 6d. per day, and beer, which was equivalent to 1s. 8d ; it is now 2s. without beers, and may be reckoned advanced within the last 13 years, one-fifth, or 20 per cent. Lord Moria's labourers have 14s. per week, and beer in the summer quarter, but not at other times ; for a comparison of the earnings of a labourer, against necessary expences.-See Chap. XVI. Sect. X. State of the Poor.

Prices of various kinds of labour in this district, at two periods of time.

From Mr. Marshall	Prices in 1786	Prices in 1807
Servants	L. S. L. S.	L. S. L. S.
A Waggoner Maid Youth Lad Day Wages. Labourer in Winter Do. Hay time Do. Harvest Women in common Do. Hay time Piece Work Threshing wheat and binding the straw Do. Barley per quarter Do. Oats ditto Thresher extra, for foddering in the yard, Sunday included Reaping wheat by the thrave Mowing, sheaving and raking oats Spreading dung from small heaps Threshing beans per bushel Iron Work Common iron work per lb. Horse-shoe Remove	3 8 to 10 10 3 3 to 5 5 4 4 to 5 5 2 2 to 3 3 S. D. 1 2 beer 1 6 ditto 2 0 and ditto 0 6 ditto 0 9 ditto 0 4 to 5 pr. Bus. 1 4 1 6 0 8 to 0 10 1 0 per week 0 4 to 6 beer 5 0 per acre 0 1 per ct. load - - 0 4 0 5 0 11/2	12 0 to 14 0 4 4 to 6 6 4 4 6 6 3 3 4 4 S. D. 2 0 2 0 to 2 6 and beer 2 0 to 2 6 and beer 0 8 0 10 and ditto 0 7 2 6 to 2 9 1 6 0 6 0 4 0 5 to 6 0 6 0 2

But screw-iron work, and other requiring particular attention, is from 6d. to 1s. per lb.; the advance in iron-work in 20 years is about one-fifth, or 20 per cent., chiefly in the labour : the advance of all kind of farming-labour may be reckoned in the space of time about one-third, or full 30 per cent.; but the advance in provisions is more, being nearly as two to three in butcher's meat, and in grain also, by going back full 20 years.
In January, 1808, Mr. Ingle, of Ashby, gave me the following additional prices of labour and implements, and also assisted me in correcting some of the former ones.

	L. S. D.
Hoeing turnips per acre effectually, first time Second time A good ditch, per rod of eight yards Laying a hedge ditto Digging per rod of 64 square yards A single furrow plough, complete A double, or two furrow ditto A pair of harrows, ditto A schuffler of the best sort Narrow-wheel waggon, complete Ditto, cart Six-inch wheel waggon, complete Ditto, cart	0 7 6 0 2 0 0 0 7 0 0 6 0 1 0 3 3 0 6 6 0 2 15 0 9 10 0 40 0 0 16 0 0 45 0 0 19 0 0

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