Page:The Laboring Classes of England.djvu/47

 takes place in September, the picking season commences; and in this process women and children of all ages are employed. It is necessary that it be carefully and speedily done, hence the great annual influx of Irish and Londoners to the hop districts. Thus it will be seen that hop growing is one of the most difficult and laborious duties of the farmer, its culture requiring an all but ceaseless round of watchfulness and toil.

In some parts of Kent, there are many thousand acres of orchard land, and in these, women and children are much employed in weeding, gathering fruit, and the like.

We very rarely hear of cider being allowed by the farmer; the practice is almost unknown in these counties.

The hours during which female labor is continued are variable in these counties, owing to the almost universal practice of doing all sorts of work by contract; that is, at so much per acre, per bushel, and so on. The time of work and meals are fixed by the laborer, who is naturally anxious to earn as much as possible. We may, however, mention from ten to twelve hours per day as the most general.

With regard to wages, it is still more difficult to strike an average, though we may mention sixteen, twenty, and twenty-four cents a day, for females, on arable farms; twenty to twenty-four cents in orchards; twenty-four to thirty-six on harvest fields; and from twenty -four to forty-eight cents in hop plantations, according to the skill and ability of the worker. The men and boys earn much the same as mentioned in my last communication. The employment of children, especially boys, is more common in this, than in any other district, owing to the abundance of light work which can at all times be easily obtained. They generally commence at seven or eight years of age, and continue at this work till twelve.

The effect of juvenile labor upon health is not much