A difficult job.

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1839.  I pity the man that has a helpless, shiftless wife; he has a hard row to hoe.—Knick. Mag., xiii. 419 (May).

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1847.  “God help that poor creatur,” said Dick, as his late guests disappeared from view, “she’s got a hard row to hoe.”—Robb, ‘Streaks of Squatter Life,’ &c., p. 122(Phila.). (Italics in the original.)

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1854.  A little boy, who really seems to have ‘a hard row to hoe.’—Knick. Mag., xliii. 533 (May).

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1862.  

            Ole Uncle S. sez he, “I guess
    We ’ve a hard row,” sez he,
“To hoe jest now; but thet somehow,
    May happen to J. B.,
    Ez wal ez you an’ me!”
Lowell, ‘Biglow Papers,’ 2nd Series, No. 2.    

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