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OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.

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GENERAL

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$

THE PLANTATION SCHEME;

OR,

THE WEST OF IRELAND

AS

A FIELD FOR INVESTMENT.

BY JAMES CAIRD,

FARMER, BALDOON.

AUTHOR OF «' HIGH FARMING UNDER LIBERAL COVENANTS.

V oFTHh

UNIVERSITY

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS,

EDINBURGH AND LONDON.

MDCCCL.

GENERAL

PRINTED BV WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.

THIS VOLUME
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO

THE GKEAT STATESMAN,

WHO SACRIFICED POWER,
AND THE REGARD OF FRIENDS,

TO THE SAFETY OF HIS COUNTET;

AND WHO,
FREE FROM THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF OFFICE,
HAS NOT CEASED TO DEVOTE HIMSELF
TO THE

ffEGEOBATIQN OF IKELAND.

104367

CONTENTS.

Page
PREFACE 1

CHAPTER I.

Mullingar — Bogs— Athlone — Ballinasloe — Great annual fair— Garbally
— Aughrim to Loughrea — Ballinasloe to Ahascrag — Mount Belew —
Tuam — Peasantry — Winter food for stock — Mr Bianconi,

CHAPTER II.

Hollymount — Mr Lindsay's farms described — "Turloughs" — Lord
Lucan's farms — Ballinrobe — Cong — Castlemagarret — Plains of Mayo
— Castlebar — Lord Lucan's estate and management, . .14

CHAPTER III.

Castlebar — Union workhouse — Gaol — Charitable relief works — New-
port— Sir Richard O'Donnell's estate — Flax cultivation — Courtrais
method of steeping — Clew Bay — West Port — Marquis of Sligo's
estate — Stock farms — Killery harbour — Kylemore — Maume — Dooms
— Clonbruck — Ross — Lord Leitrim's demesne — Ashford — Subterra-
nean river — Canal, . . . . . . .26

CHAPTER IV.

Oughterard to Gal way — Annagh — Mr Bodkin's farms — Turloughs —
Carrying off crops — Ballinahinch — " The Martin estate " — Clifden —
Cleggan — Inlets of the sea — Derrygimlach — Roundstone — Peasantry
of Connemara — Taskwork — Description of Martin estate on Lough
Corrib — Farmer's house — Break down — Head of the bay of Galway
— Ardfry — Mr Skilling's farm — North shore of Galway Bay — Town of
Galway, . . . . . . . .43

VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

Page
Gort — County of Clare — Ennis — Kiver Fergus — " Corcase lands " —
Dromoland Castle — Sir Lucius O'Brien's farms — Bunratty — Course
of cropping and average produce — Fall in rents — Kiltanon — Com-
plaints of north country farmers — Pressure of rates driving tenants
of capital out of the country — Tulla — Relief roads — Scariff — Lough
Derg — Killaloe — The Shannon — Miltown Malbay — Corofin — Kilrush, 60

CHAPTER VI.

The city of Limerick — Adare — Croom — East-Lothian farmer — Bruff —
Rent of land — People grateful for employment — Limerick to
Tarbert by steamer — Tarbert — Mr Blacker's tile and pottery works
— Country above Tarbert — Mr Fitzgerald's peat — Glin castle — Foynes
— Askeaton — Clarina — Tervoe — View from Carrigogunniel — Rental
and price of an estate — Wretched huts, . , . .70

CHAPTER VII.

Castleton — Rates — Deserted land — Auxiliary poorhouse — School —
One mode of becoming a farmer — Mr Cox's farm — Sir D. Roche's
farm, its advantages— Caherass — Adare manor — Rathkeale — New-
castle— Lord Devon's estates — Advantage of a resident agent who
understands his business — Beneficial arrangement with tenants, and
satisfactory result — Springfield castle — Instance of fertility — Charle-
ville— Castle Oliver — Description of country — Kilmallock to Limerick
— Cratloe, ........ 81

CHAPTER VIII.

Cratloe — Mount Trenchard — Lord Monteagle's estate — Foynes har-
bour— Model farm — Agrarian outrage — Tarbert to Listowel — Turf
traffic — State of the people — Hopes of the landlords — Tralee —
Castle Island — Mr Herbert's estates — Killarney, . . .92

CHAPTER IX.

The Blackwater — Rosnalee — Subletting — Dromagh — King Williamstown
— Reclamation of waste lands — Success of the experiment dependent
on con-acre labour — Con-acre labour described — Valley of the Black-
water — Mallow to Cork — Mr Jeffryes' farms — Excellent management
of stock — Rent of land — " Waste land " — Because deserted — Tip-
perary — Lord Hawarden's farms — Road sessions — Mr Bianconi — His
estate — Lord Stanley's farms — Goolds Cross to Dublin — Glasnevin, 103

CONTENTS. Vii

CHAPTER X.

Page

Reflections — Farmers' investments — Landlords' investments — Obstacle
to the latter — Indefinite nature of rates — Comparative state of the
country in 1779 and 1849 — Arthur Young's tour — Rise of rents —
Redundancy of population — Proportion in east compared with west
— Dependence on potato — Relief-works unavoidably unproductive —
Increase of grand-jury cess and poor and labour rates — All primarily
thrown on the tenant — Abandonment of farms — Necessity of a
limitation of rates to encourage immigration of capitalists — Emigra-
tion— Variable amount of valuation — Propriety of discouraging con-
acre— Simplification of sale and transfer of land — Incidence of
grand-jury cess unjust to tenant — Advantages of transferring it to
landlord — Cure rfor absenteeism — Unexhausted improvements —
Population of Connaught — Compared with England and Scotland —
Necessity for a comprehensive measure, . . . .121

CHAPTER XL

"What is now being done for Ireland — Board of Public Works — Roads,
piers, arterial drainage, landed property improvement, fisheries —
National schools — Statistical returns of agricultural produce— Agri-
cultural instructors, . . . . . . .149

CHAPTER XII.

Farm-buildings — Economical plan of, described — Estimate and cost —
Extension of Land Improvement Act — Necessity of defining propor-
tions repayable by landlord and tenant respectively — Government
loans rendered necessary by incumbrances and entails — Unsound
state to which these have led — Free transfer of land the only remedy
— Expediency of Government loans in the mean time, . .170

APPENDIX, 183

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Map of Ireland, ..... Frontispiece.

Plan of Farm-Buildings, . . . .To face page 171.

Lately published, price Is.
"With Engraved Plan of F arm- Buildings,

THE SIXTH EDITION,

HIGH FARMING UNDER LIBERAL COVENANTS,

THE BEST SUBSTITUTE FOR PROTECTION.
By JAMES CAIRD, Farmer, Baldoon.

" It must therefore be the interest of all persons connected with land to encourage the ex-
tension of the more skilful and improved agriculture described by Mr Caird, and by every
means to diffuse the knowledge on which the profitable practice of the system depends." — Edin-
burgh Review, Oct. 1849.

" I believe it will be of the greatest possible benefit to the agricultural labourer, by affording
increased employment."— Speech of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the state of the nation,
2d July 1849.

" His facts are invaluable."— Journal of Agriculture.

PREFACE

Among the various projects for the regeneration
of Ireland, none has excited so much attention as the
Plantation Scheme, developed bj Sir Robert Peel. It
at once gained the notice of England, and raised the
drooping hopes of Ireland, while it also indicated a new
and untried field for the enterprise of the capitalist,
landlord, and skilled farmer.

At the time of its announcement, the competition for
farms in Scotland, and the consequent increase of rent,
was progressing to such a degree as materially to lessen
the profits of the farmer ; and the development of the
Plantation Scheme was, therefore, hailed as possibly an
advantageous outlet for our agricultural capital and
skill. The success of the scheme would be, in an im-
portant degree, secured, if to the philanthropic views of
statesmen and great capitalist companies, could be added
the narrower, but still equally essential principle, of
commercial profit to the men through whom its develop-
ment was to be practically accomplished.

Inquiry was then made for sources of information
whence might be learned the nature of the soil, its capa-

A

2 PREFACE.

bilities, its advantages or disadvantages, as compared
with this country, and the probable feeling of the popula-
tion towards immigrant farmers ; but on these points
the different " tours " in Ireland were altogether defi-
cient. To satisfy himself, the Author resolved to visit
the country ; and his tour proved so interesting and
instructive to him, that he hoped its publication might,
in some degree, supply the information wanted.

Before going to Ireland he had an opportunity,
through a friend, of mentioning his intention to the dis-
tinguished statesman to whom this volume is dedicated.
With the utmost readiness, Sir Robert Peel proffered
an introduction, which secured access to information
which has been of the greatest value to the Author.

His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
ever watchful for the good of the people over whom he
has been called to preside, was considerately pleased to
countenance the Author's object, and to secure for him
many facilities, for which he must ever feel deeply
grateful.

To Mr Griffith of the Board of Works he has
been also peculiarly indebted for the very valuable
aid which his extensive knowledge of the country and
its physical capabilities enabled him to afford.

Baldoon, Wigtown, January 1850.

CHAPTER I.

MULLINGAR — BOGS — ATHLONE — BALLINASLOE — GREAT ANNUAL FAIR —

GARBALLY AUGHRIM TO LOUGHEEA BALLINASLOE TO AHASCRAG

MOUNT BELLEW TUAM PEASANTRY WINTER FOOD FOR STOCK MR

BIANCONI.

In the latter end of September, I left Scotland and
proceeded through Belfast to the Irish metropolis,
whence I at once set out for the western counties of Ire-
land. Leaving Dublin on 4th October, I proceeded by
railway to Mullingar, (50 miles,) thence by car to
Athlone and Ballinasloe, (48 miles,) passing through an
immense extent of good land, the greater proportion of
which is in old grass. The pasture lands are held by
extensive graziers, who, as I was informed, are the only
class of large farmers in Ireland, occupying under a land-
lord, and really possessed of capital. There are many ex-
tensive tillage farmers, as I afterwards found, in the west
and south of Ireland ; but they occupy their own lands,
and are of course in a different position from the tenant
farmers of England and Scotland.

The line of railway, after passing through the county
of Dublin, runs along the borders of Kildare and
Meath, and into the centre of West Meath at Mullin-
gar. The line is here unfinished, but the works are
going on ; and the whole length, from Mullingar to
Galway, is expected to be completed in little more than a

4 IRISH HUTS.

year. The country, all the way from Dublin to Gal-
way, is limestone : it presents a flat and rather uninter-
esting outline, nowhere rising to any considerable
elevation. The richest parts between Dublin and
Mullingar (fifty miles) seemed thinly peopled. But
after passing Kilcock station, some twenty miles from
Dublin, the railway skirts a portion of the Bog of
Allen ; and here were congregated a great number of
huts, and squalid miserable-looking people. These huts
were simply sheds leaning against the face or " breast"
of the bog, the walls formed of sods of turf, and the
roof covered with sods and rushes, evidently quite unfit
to exclude rain. One hut seemed to be just a cave
cut out of the deep bog. The wretched people appeared
to have located themselves without hindrance, getting
no resting-place on the richer land, and swept off here
to shift for themselves, as the nearest waste place for such
a nuisance to be allowed to stagnate. As the train
passed, great numbers of the denizens came running out
to see it. One boy, about ten, rushed to a door, per-
fectly naked, gazing at us quite unconscious of his own
strange appearance. Savage enough it looked, as
seen from a most luxuriously fitted railway carriage, and
within a few miles of the city of Dublin.

The hay crop (from the natural grasses) was almost
all in the field, a fine crop. Patches of grain were still
in shock, more in rickles in the field, and where stacked
it was still unthatched. This seems a point in which
Irish farmers are very careless. Almost everywhere I
observed unthatched stacks, much injured by rain.

We crossed several extensive bogs — rich black moss,

BOOS — MULLINGAE FAIK. 5

such as we consider in Scotland most improvable, and situ-
ated at a very moderate elevation above sea-level. They
are usually the lowest parts of the country, yet generally
susceptible of drainage ; the gravelly land surrounding
them sloping gently up, and affording abundance of
limestone sand, and gravel, for mixing with and reclaim-
ing them. Where traversed by this line of railway, they
might be turned to good account, as they possess great
natural facilities for reclamation, and ready access to
market at Dublin, which may be reached in an hour or
two. The country all along presents a continuous
slightly undulating surface, but no elevation of any con-
sequence, and little wood except in the demesnes of the
gentry.

At Mullingar it was market-day, and the streets
were crowded with country people, all of whom seem
to have a natural taste for dealing and attending fairs.
Donkeys, and small, ill-fed horses, yoked to very primi-
tive low-set carts, or simply with panniers, seemed the
general mode of conveyance. Poultry, of which geese
formed a large proportion, occupied the panniers.
Garden vegetables, pigs, sometimes a kit of butter, and
frequently the mistress of the household, occupied the
cart. A strapping "boy" led the horse, and the father
of the establishment stood behind, ready to transact
business with a purchaser. The streets were dirty, and
there was no sign of much comfort about the houses or
inhabitants of Mullingar.

A few miles farther west the land is very fine ; and
nearly all the way to Athlone, thirty-one miles, you pass
continuous fields of the finest feeding land. On all sides,

6 PEASANTRY AT WORK — ATHLONE.

as far as the eye can reach, this seems the character of
Westmeath. There are many roofless houses on the
roadside, the inhabitants of which have been ejected. The
patches of tilled land around these houses generally ex-
hibit unmistakeable signs of the most wretched mis-
management. The people employed in the fields seemed
everywhere to take things easy. All the reapers had on
that apparently indispensable garment, a long-tailed
frieze-coat, and they certainly did not look as if their
work would keep them warm without it. In haymaking,
a good deal of which was going on, the men all worked
with the coat on ; indeed, I did not see a man at field-
work of any kind without it. Who ever saw a harvest-
field in Scotland, or a hay-field, with the men working
in long-tailed coats ? There, an Irishman strips to his
work in harvest, and does it well. Here, the frog-
like appearance of the men, with the tails of their
coats jerking behind them, as they bend to their work,
presents a striking contrast to the conduct of the same
men when on the other side of the Channel, under proper
superintendence, and with the stimulus of good wages.

Athlone is a good town on the Shannon, a little
below Loughrea. The navigation from the sea at
Limerick by canal, loughs, and river, is nearly ready to
be opened. But the more direct communication by
railway, on the completion of the line from Dublin to Gal-
way, on which this town will form a principal station, will
render this inland navigation of secondary importance.

Crossing the Shannon, we enter Connaught, proceed-
ing through part of the county of Roscommon, fourteen
miles, to Ballinasloe. The country here is inferior

BALLINASLOE FAIR. 7

and uninteresting. At Ballinasloe we enter the county
of Galway.

I was fortunate in arriving here during the week of
the great annual fair. Vast droves of fine sheep, which
had been sold early in the day, were already some miles
on the road from the market, rendering it almost im-
passable. Within three or four miles of the town,
every hut on the road-side had its table at the door,
with a few loaves and apples to sell to the wayfarers.
The wife and children presided at this table ; and here
and there the lusty patriarch of the household might be
seen with his arms crossed and the pipe in his mouth,
lounging at the door, and indolently superintending the
establishment. Where there was no house, the rudest
possible imitation of a tent was made to cover the
table, though in many cases even this was dispensed
with. These refectories were stationed every three
hundred yards or so along the road. Now and then
they presented, besides the bread and apples, a bottle
of potheen and a glass ; and at one, provided with
more than usual care, two plates of large boiled eels
graced the board. Nearer the fair, a party, consisting
apparently of a father and five children, were seated in
a row on the footpath, naked-like and miserable, and
all screeching out for charity as the different cars passed

by.

The fair at Ballinasloe lasts about a week, beginning
with sheep, then horses, and ending with cattle. The
stock of the western counties are disposed of at this fair,
and generally bought by the great graziers of the eastern
and midland counties, to be fattened on their rich pas-

8 SUPPLY OF SHEEP.

tures, and passed on to Dublin or the English market.
The supply of sheep this year was little over sixty
thousand, being a deficiency of from ten to twenty
thousand as compared with former years. This is
accounted for by the quantity of " waste land " in the
western counties ; that is, land which has fallen into
the landlords' hands, and is unoccupied and unstocked.
It is also alleged that many graziers were obliged to
stock their lands with cattle instead of sheep, on account
of the difficulty of preventing sheep-stealing in the more
distressed districts, while the very numbers stolen de-
creased the usual supply.* The sheep were generally
splendid, the best three-year-old wethers selling at
upwards of 50s. each. The sheep fair is held in Lord
Clancarty's park at Garbally, where the immense droves
grouped about among the trees, and along the undula-
ting slopes, the cries of the shepherds and the barking of
their dogs, the shifting figures of buyers and sellers
moving about the field, all formed a very striking and
animated scene.

Horses were not reckoned as good a show as usual,
but there were very many fine horses both for saddle
and harness.

The supply of cattle was as much on the increase as
that of sheep was deficient. They were mostly crosses,

* The decrease of the sheep stock is a notable fact, and is corroborated
amply by the constabulary returns of agricultural produce for 1847 and
1848, by which it appears that

The total numbers of sheep in Connaught, for 1847, were 595,737
Do. do. 1848, 471,205

Decrease, 124,532

or one-fourth part of the whole stock in the province.

GAEBALLY. 9

some with the short-horn, some with the Hereford, and
some with the Ayrshire breeds. Generally they were
prime cattle, and in fine condition for fattening off
either on pasture or in the stall.

Ballinasloe seems a very thriving town. The houses
are good, and the churches and other public buildings
handsome and substantial. It must be much benefited
by the influx of people attending the fairs, and it has
also the advantage of a careful resident landlord, the
Earl of Clancarty.

At Garbally, his lordship's residence, I met Lords
Howth, Monk, Dunsandle, the Bishop of Tuam, and
several other gentlemen ; all of whom seemed much
interested in farming, and possessed of a good practical
knowledge of it. Lord Clancarty mentioned the case
of one of his tenants, holding 20 acres, who, notwith-
standing the times, managed, by house -feeding and green
crops, to dower his daughters handsomely, besides ful-
filling all his other engagements.

From Ballinasloe to Aughrim, six miles, after pass-
ing Lord Clancarty's demesne, the land is thin and poor.
Beyond that to Loughrea, fourteen miles, it becomes very
fine, mostly in grass, and much of it in need of draining.
The crops of thistles on the pastures are most luxuriant,
and flourish undisturbed. Having viewed the country
in this direction, I returned to Ballinasloe, and left next
morning for Holly mount by Bianconi's four-horse car.

Shortly after leaving the town, the road passes through
an extensive bog, beyond which the first village reached
is Ahascrag, where the appearance of a man in authority,
clothed in blue, with sundry stripes of red braid on his

10 MOUNT BELLE W — TUAM.

cap, arms, and trousers, attracted our notice. To an
inquiry from a gentleman on the car, he replied that he
was the bailiff of a landed proprietor, who employed
also five or six others, at 13s. a-week during harvest;
and that their business was to prevent the tenants
carrying off their crops, when cut, to evade payment of
rent. When asked if, on such a duty, he was not
afraid of being shot, he told us, with a knowing look,
that there was no fear of that, for their employer had
taken care to select them as being the worst characters
in the population. Whether this was a joke or not, it
certainly is a queer relation in which the landlord and
his tenants stand, with such intermediate agents as
these.

At Mount Bellew, the road is very picturesque ; the
village, with a finely wooded stream issuing from the
demesne in which the house and lawns are seen through
the trees ; the rich hedge-rows, which are here inter-
mingled with ivy and wild-flowers, and remind one of
the luxuriance of a Devonshire lane ; all contribute
to form a very pleasing picture.

From this to Tuam the land is light, but some of it
good sheep pasture. Many people were busy at hay-
making. In the immediate neighbourhood of the town
of Tuam, on the demesne of the bishop, the land
was well farmed ; fine fields of Swedish turnips and
clover indicating superior management. The Roman
Catholic cathedral forms a prominent object. It was
market-day, and the streets densely crowded by men
and women, horses and carts, sacks of corn and other
agricultural produce exposed for sale. After changing

LOANS — PEASANTRY. 11

horses, we proceeded on to Holljmount. The fields
along the road were usually very well fenced with stone
walls, " dashed" with lime, and with a stone and lime
coping, substantial, and many of them new. Building
walls of this kind is included in the objects for which
Government loans, under the Land Improvement Act,
are made to the owners of land.

The appearance of the peasantry always attracts the
stranger's notice. Whatever they were doing, as soon as
the car came in sight all eyes were turned to it. The
boy on the cart, pitching up sheaves to the stack, sat
himself down till we passed ; the man on the stack
thrust his hands into his pockets, to keep them from
catching cold while he was looking at us. The hay-
makers were all on the watch. — Three carts were in a
field being loaded with corn. Two were loaded ;
on the third, a man was building the sheaves, while
a young boy was carrying them to the cart, and then
throwing them up with his hand, (for they seem to
have no forks,) while two men were close by leaning
against the loaded carts, but offering no assistance to
the boy, who had the hardest work of the party. Some
of the cottages on the road-side looked very neat ; but
in these you could notice the pig coming out and in at
the door, evidently on the most friendly terms with the
inmates. " Arrah," as Paddy says, " an' who has a
better right % Sure, isn't it he that pays the rint ¥'

On the grazing farms, the method of providing the
winter food seems to be this. Certain fields are shut
up for hay. When it is made, it is built in very large
round ricks, a pole being first fixed in the ground,

12 WINTER FOOD ON GRAZING FARMS.

round which as a centre the hay is built. The rick is
then encircled with a paling, 12 feet or so distant from
it all round. The paling is open below, so as to admit
sheep but not cattle. The field is then shut up from
stock, that there may be a good aftergrowth. At the
fall of the season the sheep and young cattle are
admitted to these fields. When the weather is severe,
the sheep go through the paling to eat the hay, at the
same time pulling out much more than they eat. The
shepherd throws this over to the young cattle. As the
sheep eat into the bottom of the rick, it gradually slides
down the pole which keeps it all together. The whole
plan is economical and ingenious. One rick, with the
aftergrowth of grass, generally affords food for 200
sheep and 10 young cattle. In some cases, the mea-
dow land round the rick is too soft for cattle, or might
be injured by their feet in winter. When this is the
case, the cattle are kept outside of the field within
which the hay is stacked, the sheep getting access to it
by the sheep-holes in the walls. The shepherd then
carries the hay for the cattle to the outside of the wall,
laying it down for them at the most sheltered part.

On my way from Ballinasloe to Hollymount, I had
the good fortune to travel with Mr Bianconi. He was
coming down to start a new coach for the convenience
of " his friends the public/' and complained loudly of
the Postmaster-general for giving the mail contract to a
party who was to carry it with a car and two horses,
for 9d a-mile, when he offered to put on a coach and
four, and carry the mail-guard free, for lOd. a-mile.
" You don't understand us in England," he said ; "that

MR BIANCONI. 13

is the way you treat men of capital and enterprise, who
are ready to embark both if they get the least encou-
ragement. For Id. a-mile the Postmaster-general sac-
rificed the protection such a coach would have given to
the mails, besides the better accommodation that would
have been afforded by it to the public. And here am
I, at a moment's notice, with 150 horses thrown idle on
my hands." Perhaps the Postmaster-general, as usual
in such cases, would have given a different version of
the story. Mr Bianconi was buying hay, of excellent
quality, at 18 s. to 20s. a-ton.

CHAPTER II.

HOLLYMOUNT — MR LINDSAY'S FARMS DESCRIBED — " TURLOUGHS " LORD

LUCANS FARMS BALLINROBE CONG CASTLEMAGARRET — PLAINS OF

MAYO— CASTLEBAR — LORD LUCAN's ESTATE AND MANAGEMENT.

Arriving at Holljmount on the evening of the
6th October, I had just light enough to see that this
was a very clean, well-built village, adjoining the
demesne of Mr Spencer Lindsay, whose hospitable
mansion was my headquarters for the next three days.
The park and grounds, intersected by the river Robe,
to which on both sides the rich pastures slope gently
down — the stream itself ornamented by the overhang-
ing branches of the trees, fine groups of which are also
scattered throughout the demesne, under the shelter of
whose spreading branches fat lazy sheep and cows were
browsing — with the spacious and comfortable mansion
on one hand, and the spire of the parish church in the
midst of a group of trees on the other, form quite an
English scene. Mr Lindsay's gardens are very exten-
sive and productive, but the dahlias and heliotropes had
been completely cut down by the sharp frost of the two
previous mornings. The church is a handsome building
fitted up with square seats of oak, and heated by a
stove. The congregation might number from 50 to 60.

mr Lindsay's farms. 15

The service was conducted with great solemnity and
decorum, and an excellent practical discourse delivered
by the clergyman. An offertory was collected and laid
on the altar.

On Monday, I was joined by Mr Elwood, inspector
of drainage for Mayo, with whom I accompanied Mr
Lindsay in a long ride through the neighbouring country.
We first visited the farm of Layhinch, adjoining the
demesne of Hollymount. It is almost all in old pas-
ture, well fenced, and beautifully sheltered with fine
ornamental timber. It is rich dry hazelly land, admirably
suited for sheep, intersected by good roads, and in
excellent condition. A farm of 400 acres of prime
land could be had here. Mr Lindsay would build
the necessary farmhouse and steading for a tenant of
capital.

We next rode to Kilrush, close to the village of Holly-
mount, where another farm of 400 acres or so might
be had. The greater part of this farm is good feeding
land, long in grass ; part of it reclaimed bog, lying on
limestone gravel ; and part good dry land, lately laid to
grass. A set of buildings for an agricultural school was
some years ago erected here, but that object having
been abandoned, they have now become the farm-stead-
ing. The proprietor would add what may be necessary,
do such farther draining as may be required, and let
the farm on a 19 or 21 years' lease, taking upon him-
self all rates and burdens whatsoever, and giving the farm
at 25s. per English acre. For land of such quality,
fenced in a way that we have no notion of in Scotland,

16 TUKLOUGHS.

(with five feet stone-and-lime walls,) with abundance of
lime and limestone gravel beneath the surface, and
plenty of turf to burn it, with a convenient homestead
in a good neighbourhood, and the high-road to Dublin
as one of its boundaries, such a farm would be taken up
at once at this rent in Scotland.

We next rode to Greyhans, some miles farther south,
where there is an excellent dwelling-house, garden, and
most substantial buildings, in good order ; and where
one farm of 1000 acres, or two farms of from 400 to
600 acres, may be had. This land is well enclosed,
but it is more various in quality than either of the
former. One kind of it may consist of the finest feed-
ing land, old grass ; the rest is land of good quality,
but in wretched condition, having been held on the con-
acre"* system, and much exhausted; a portion consists
of " Turloughs " or low grounds, flooded in winter, but
good cattle-pasture in summer, though not sound for
sheep. These " Turloughs " are all expected to be
laid permanently dry by the arterial drainage opera-
tions now going on. In some places the soil lies on
cavernous limestone ; and when the rivers are flooded
by heavy rains, the water spreads through these hollow
underground passages, bursting up here and there to
the surface, in a powerful stream sufficient to turn a
mill, and then at some lower point disappearing as
mysteriously as it arose. Where these outbursts take
place, " Turloughs ". are formed. The whole of this
farm is capable of very great improvement, and will

* For a description of con-acre, see Chap. ix.

FRENCHBROOK. 17

jet, I have not a doubt, prove an excellent investment
to some tenant of skill and capital.

The next farm we visited was Frenchbrook, within
three miles of the upper end of Lough Corrib. It
adjoins the hamlet of Kilmain, where there is a church
and chapel, and contains about 500 acres. There is
no wood here, but the stone-walls are even more than
usually substantial and good. The greater part of this
farm is the finest feeding land for sheep and cattle —
dry, friable, undulating land, all on limestone. The
fields of rich old grass are superior to anything we
have, except in small patches, in any part of Scotland
I at present remember. The best of it is too good for
tillage, but about one half of it might be profitably
brought under the plough. The sheep and cattle then
grazing on it were excellent. This is a very desirable
farm, though the neighbourhood did not appear so
inviting as in any of those which I had previously
visited. The proprietor would erect all necessary
buildings ; and, as there are none at present, these
could be constructed on the most approved plan. The
present rent paid for this farm by an extensive grazier,
an excellent tenant, is not more than 25s. per Irish
acre, the owner paying all rates of every kind.

These farms all lie upon limestone, with access to
" turf." They are twenty to twenty-eight miles from
Oranmore, the nearest station on the Dublin and Gal-
way railway ; which station, when the line is opened,
may be five hours' ride to Dublin. They are likewise
within from three to ten miles from Lough Corrib,

B

18 SHELL MARL DEPOSIT.

which in two years is expected to be navigable by
steamers from Galway and the sea, some thirty miles
distant. Their height above sea-level does not at any
point exceed 150 feet. The winters are mild, and the
climate most suitable for grass and green crops ; the
soil is in every way adapted for feeding off green crops
if desirable, or for finishing sheep and cattle for the fat
market. The milk and butter are of the richest
quality. Labourers' wages are at present from 8d. to
lOd. a-day, — the people most peaceable, and very
intelligent, though negligent and idle to an uncommon
degree, if not carefully superintended. Land may be
dug over by contract, 12 inches deep, all the large
stones laid on the surface, and the whole placed in
fine state for further operations, for about £1 per
English acre. Lime can be burned on every farm at from
5d. to 6d. a barrel, of 3 imperial bushels. The
rapidity with which the land on this limestone subsoil
recovers itself, and, without any seeds being sown,
reverts to good pasture, is very remarkable. I saw
one instance here of a field exhausted to the last
degree, as I was assured, by the con-acre system, —
which had been abandoned to nature not more than
five years ago, and it is now covered with a rich sward
of grass.

After passing Frenchbrook we skirted a " turlough,"
laid dry by arterial drainage, the whole subsoil of which,
several feet thick, was rich shell marl. This marl is
used with great success, though in a limited degree to
what it might be, by the neighbouring cottier-farmers,

lr*

LOED LUCAN'S FARMS. 19

whose comfortable circumstances, during all the famine,
can be attributed only to the good crops of grain which
the application of this substance enabled them to grow
without any other expeuse. It is a most valuable
deposit. — A little farther on, the country is covered with
masses of limestone, extending to the borders of the
county of Gal way, (between Loughs Corrib and Mask,)
which are so thickly studded as altogether to put a stop
to the labours of the husbandman. Much of this tract
might be profitably planted with oak or larch, which
would at the same time enhance, by shelter, the value of
the pastures intermingled with it.

Some of the soil over which we rode to-day from
Hollymount, proved, when turned up by the spade, of
uniform appearance for 18 inches in depth, beneath
which was limestone, sand, and gravel. It reminded
me of the deep black loam on the braes of the Carse of
Gowrie, which, however, wants the limestone substratum.
Other parts were a reddish, and what is here considered
a richer soil — deep friable land, suitable for all kinds
of crops.

Next day we examined the farms of Cloonagashel
and Gallowshill, a portion of Lord Lucan's estate, in
the neighbourhood of Ballinrobe. A considerable part
of both these farms, which are nearly 2000 acres in
extent, is under tillage ; nearly all of it divided into
regular enclosures, with excellent stone-and-lime walls.
The soil consists partly of a fertile black mould, of great
depth, on a limestone gravel, with some stronger land
and some lighter, but all admirably adapted for green

20 CONG— SUBTERRANEAN RIVER.

crops and grass ; and from the level nature of the
ground, and its gentle slopes to the sun, well suited for
tillage. There are two farm-steadings, lately construct-
ed, with threshing machinery, &c. Two or three farms,
of from 700 to 1000 acres of land, could be got here,
as good land as the average of East Lothian, at a rent
of 18s. the imperial acre, and the poor-rate guaranteed
not to exceed Is. per £1. The tenant must also pay
the grand-jury cess ; but Lord Lucan hands his farms
over to his tenants with every permanent improvement
executed — so that the farmer may have nothing to do
but to stock and work his farm. Wheat and barley are
grown on both farms, and lime is to be got on the land
at from 5d. to 6d. a barrel, and has been applied with
excellent effect.

These farms are within a mile or two of Ballinrobe
— a market-town, at which a canal from Lough Mask is
now being constructed, which, in connexion with Lough
Corrib, will give a water-carriage to Gal way.

From Ballinrobe to near Cong, the country is bare
and uninteresting. In the neighbourhood of Cong the
soil and climate improve ; and when Lough Corrib and
the distant mountains of Connemara open on the view,
the scene becomes very beautiful. Cong is a small
market-town, beautifully situated at the head of Lough
Corrib. The principal feature in it is the ivy-covered
ruins of an ancient abbey, and three powerful corn-mills
turned by the waters of Lough Mask, which here burst
out of the bowels of the earth in a mass as broad as the
Thames at Richmond, and as clear as crystal. The

PLAINS OF MAYO. 21

overflow of Lough. Mask disappears through a subterra-
nean passage in the cavernous limestone, from which,
after flowing underground for upwards of two miles, it
is discharged at Cong. The situation of this little town,
with its old ivied abbey, near to the walls of which
flows this beautiful crystal river, expanding as it goes
into an arm of Lough Corrib, with the wooded demesne
of Ashford on the opposite bank of the stream, and the
setting sun casting its golden light over the mountains
of Connemara, is strikingly picturesque. This is likely
to become a favourite resort, when steamers ply on
Lough Corrib from Galway, which they are expected to
do in the course of a year or two. The climate is very
mild. Wheat of fine quality is produced here, and
myrtles flourish in the open air.

On the morning of 10th October, accompanied by
Mr Elwood, I left Hollymount on my way to Castlebar,
passing near Lord Oranmore's at Castlemagarret, a fine
wooded demesne of 900 acres, all in grass. We visited
the estate of General Sir Robert Arbuthnot, who is
carrying out a judicious system of improvement by
draining and green crops. After calling at the residence
of Mr Lambert, a neighbouring proprietor and extensive
stock farmer, we came on through a somewhat elevated
district for a mile or two, when, again descending to a
lower level, we soon reached the plains of Mayo. These
extend for some miles, and are fine gently sloping lands,
with no impediment to husbandry, but everything to
encourage exertion. In some places they are still
untouched by the plough, in others they have gone

22 LOED LUCAN'S FAEMS.

through the usual course of con-acre. It is uot easy to
imagine a situation more enticing to an extensive
green-crop farmer than these plains present. After
passing them, the soil becomes inferior. The slope
of the country has now fallen to the west and north,
and the climate is more severe with this change of
aspect.

Around Castlebar, Lord Lucan is taking all the land
into his own hands. I walked over great part of his
farms, and found them well managed, and all the per-
manent improvements, draining and fencing (which are
done under the Land Improvement Act) being executed
with great care and skill. He has built a new and very
handsome and commodious farm-steading here, with
threshing-mill, flax-scutching apparatus, bone-crushing
machinery, &c. His green crops were excellent ; but
there is great difficulty in safely harvesting grain crops,
or even in extirpating weeds among the green crops, on
account of the long-continued wet weather, so frequently
experienced here in July and August. A dairy of
upwards of 100 milk-cows forms part of the establish-
ment ; and cheeses, on the Cheshire plan, are made of
good quality, all of which find a ready market at 6d.
per lb. at the dairy.

Within a few miles of Newport, Lord Lucan has
an extensive tract of country, which he is enclosing. I
had here the good fortune to meet with his lordship,
when he kindly entered into many details as to the
management he proposed to adopt. In this place he has
6000 acres, which he is dividing into four farms of 1500

23

acres each. The land here is hilly ; the hollows of each
farm will, when drained, be the arable part — the rising
ground is intended for grazing. Lord Lucan will build
suitable farm-steadings and substantial enclosures ; he
will drain it where necessary, remove all obstructions to
tillage, and give a 19 or 21 years' lease. Rent of each
farm about £600, and poor-rate guaranteed not to
exceed Is. per acre.

Lord Lucan has been much blamed for dispossessing
the people who formerly held the land. It is not for
me to discuss that question, nor have I all the informa-
tion which would be necessary for any one to form a
satisfactory judgment upon it ; but when the amount of
employment he is now giving, and the superior style
of husbandry practised on his farms, are taken into
account, it may be doubted whether the former posses-
sors could earn as much by the miserable cultivation of
their own lands as they now do in the capacity of hired
labourers. There can be no doubt of the vast increase
of the total annual produce under the present system,
and the gain to the entire community must be the
greater by the amount of that increase.

Lord Lucan is probably the most extensive tillage-
farmer in Great Britain. He has at present upwards of
10,000 acres under his personal superintendence, having
farm-stewards on the different farms, who all take their
instructions from himself. He had this year upwards of
1000 acres of white crop, and between 400 and 500 acres
of green crop. He has a stock of 800 cattle, 60 of which
are working bullocks, and 600 sheep. He has 40 work-

24 REFLECTIONS.

horses, and gives daily employment on his farms to 600
men, including those who are making drains, &c. The
whole of this extensive establishment is managed in the
most orderly and systematic way — each department has
its separate head, who is answerable for it alone — and
the quiet and regular progress with which everything is
going on at once convinces the spectator that the ruling
mind here is defective neither in energy nor skill. It is
a great and most important experiment, and assuredly
deserves to be successful.

Landlords generally, even those of the highest class
in the empire, might do well to take a lesson from the
example of Lord Lucan. He has not thought it beneath
his station to acquire an intimate practical knowledge of
his own business — the management of his estate.
The want of this essential requisite to the profitable
ownership of land, has done more to retard the agricul-
tural advancement of the country than can well be cal-
culated. It has led to the very general appointment of
a class of agents unqualified by previous education for
the important duties they ought to perform. It has
exhibited an unreasoning jealousy towards prosperous
farmers, whose exertions, instead of being encouraged,
are only regarded as a source of increased rent. It has
crushed, by culpable negligence, the efforts of the indus-
trious tenant, willing to struggle against adverse times,
if only fairly met by a considerate landlord. It forms
the true solution of the different success which distin-
guishes the commercial and manufacturing capitalist
from the great landlord. The first makes his business

REFLECTIONS. 25

a study, and develops it to the utmost ; the last too
often thinks it beneath his notice, and trusts it to per-
sons who are frequently as ill qualified for its duties as
himself.

It may not be possible, and probably would not be
desirable, that many should imitate Lord Lucan in the
extensive occupation and cultivation of their own lands.
But it would be of vast importance to themselves, their
tenantry, and their successors, if our great landlords on
both sides of the Channel were in some degree to emu-
late him in the personal study and attention which he
devotes to the practical business of his estates.

CHAPTER III.

CASTLEBAR — UNION WORKHOUSE — GAOL — CHARITABLE RELIEF WORKS —

NEWPORT — SIR RICHARD o'dONNELl's ESTATE FLAX CULTIVATION

COURTRAIS METHOD OF STEEPING CLEW BAY WEST PORT MARQUIS

OF SLIGO'S ESTATE — STOCK FARMS K1LLERY HARBOUR KYLEMORE

— MAUME — DOORUS — CLONBRUCK — ROSS — LORD LEITRIM's DEMESNE —
ASHFORD SUBTERRANEAN RIVER — CANAL.

On the lltli October I visited the union work-house
at Castlebar, and was conducted over the whole estab-
lishment by the chairman of the paid guardians. The
house is very extensive, every part of it seemed clean
and well ventilated, and it appeared in all departments
to be conducted in the most orderly manner. The gate
was surrounded by a crowd of applicants for admission,
in which misery of every kind was represented. The
financial position of this union (population 61,063) is
deplorable. The annual rental of the land which
it embraces is £49,988. The estimated expenditure
for the poor to 29 th September last, for twrelve months,
£31,068. The rate per £1 on net value ranges from
9s. 7£d. to 26s. 7d. The gross debt amounted, on 25th
March, to £60,815. The appearance of the inmates
in the day rooms was listless and indifferent, and troops
of children were being marched about the grounds for
exercise.

The county gaol is a large and well-constructed build-

COUNTY GAOL. 27

ing. I was shown over it by the governor, and found
everything very clean, and apparently well conducted.
The prisoners in their different yards were marshalled
in single file along the walls for our inspection. The
first impression one received by looking at them was
that of a cold shiver ; for the weather was frosty, and
the teeth of many of the poor creatures were chattering
with cold. Hopeless wretchedness was the prevailing
expression in their countenances ; many bore the marks
of pinching want — their contracted features, and keen
eye, and ape-like faces betokening the lowest grade of
humanity. Some well-fed scoundrels there were, but
not many ; and one could not look round these rows of
miserable beings without shuddering at the idea of an.
innocent person, on suspicion or wrongly convicted,
being forced to herd with such companions. The average
number of prisoners confined in this gaol is about 400.
The offences, as recorded in the prison-book, seemed
chiefly petty thefts ; for instance, " stealing a hen, value
sixpence/' "stealing turnips," "rooting potatoes," and
so on ; " taking relief meal from Bridget Mooney."
Many were of a deeper dye — viz., for stealing sheep,
cattle, or horses ; some for assaults ; some for running
out of the poor-house, and some for making forcible way
into it.* There were no crimes of the most serious
nature, such as murder, or premeditated attempt at it.

* This reminds one of the story told of one of our northern juc
Hearing an altercation at the entrance-door of his court-room — " What's
that noise V he demanded of the door-keeper. " It's a man wanting in,
my lord." — " Keep him out," was the peppery rejoinder. By-and-by there
was a noise again. " What's that now ] " demanded the judge. " It's the
man wanting out, my lord." — " Keep him in, then," was the judicial award.

28 BENEVOLENT RELIEF WORK.

Indeed, the great proportion of the cases seem naturally
to arise out of the entirely deranged state of society
which exists in this part of the country.

The town of Castlebar has suffered much from the
effects of the late famine, the industry of its inhabitants
having been paralysed by the cessation of all demand
from the surrounding country. To obviate as much
as possible the misery resulting from this, a society
was organised by a number of benevolent individuals in
the town, of whom Messrs Curley and Gerraghty, the
Roman Catholic curates, took the lead. They pur-
chased a quantity of wool, and then employed the different
artisans of the town in spinning, weaving, dyeing, shap-
ing, and sewing it into suits of clothing. Upwards of
one hundred individuals, representing several hundreds
of the population of the place, have thus received con-
stant employment at their several occupations during a
time when the natural sources of employment have been
in abeyance. Excellent suits of frieze clothing (five
hundred of which have been purchased by Count
Strelitzki for distribution in some other distressed part
of the country) can be supplied for 1 Os. the suit. When
these are sold, the original subscribed fund will be repaid,
and the society enabled to continue their benevolent
scheme, should the necessity of the time still require it.
The efforts of these gentlemen were not confined to the
town of Castlebar. They foresaw the misery that must
fall upon the small holders of land in the surrounding
country, if no effort was made by them to cultivate their
holdings, and so provide a store for the coming winter.
The potato having failed, these poor people had nothing

AID TO COTTIERS. 29

to fall back upon, neither money to buy seed, nor skill
to use it properly when they got it. A relief committee
was organised by the same benevolent individuals,
assisted by Mr Murphy as their treasurer. They col-
lected subscriptions to a considerable amount, principally
from England, which they expended first in purchasing
turnip seed, a portion of which was given to each indi-
vidual, with directions how to manage it. Inspectors
were appointed, who went to each holder, and then paid
him in advance for a fortnight's work as laid out to him
on his own land, the rate being Id. a-day for each indi-
vidual in a family. At the end of the fortnight each
person was again visited ; and, if the allotted task had
been completed, he was again paid in advance, being at
the same time instructed as to the next fortnight's duty.
If any one neglected to do his task, he received nothing
till it was completed ; and if the same indolence was
continued, he was struck out of the list altogether ; but it
was scarcely in any instance necessary to resort to this
extremity. Nearly four hundred families were thus
maintained on their own lands in industry, during all the
summer, at a cost of little more than £400 ; and now
that the summer is ended, the land which would other-
wise have been waste, is carrying crops of turnips, cab-
bages, &c, which will be a great help to the poor
people during the winter. Being anxious to see whether
much real benefit had resulted from this benevolent plan,
I visited several of the small holders, occupying an acre
or so of land, who had received this assistance, and found
them most thankful for the arrangement by which they
had so greatly benefited. They had fair crops of

30 NEWPORT.

turnips, which thej were mixing with their potatoes to
make the latter go farther as food. When the potatoes
are done, they will mix the turnips with a little Indian
meal, with which food they hope to manage to " make
out life" during the winter. This is an instance of
relief laid out in a reproductive manner, and the cost of
management did not exceed 2 per cent on the expendi-
ture ; but this of course arose from the gratuitous services
of the gentlemen forming the committee. Surely such
deeds of benevolence are worthy of record, and none
may grudge the honour that is due to the truly Christian
philanthropy of the good Fathers Curley and Ger-
raghty. If more of our Christian ministers were
actuated by the same spirit, we should have fewer
scoffers at religion.

From Castlebar to Newport the road is not very
interesting. The latter is a clean little town, situated
on the side of a wooded river, which here falls into the
sea at the head of Clew Bay. The principal proprie-
tor of this place and the adjoining country is Sir
Richard O'Donnell, Bart., whose hospitable mansion,
immediately adjoining the town, I reached on 11th
October. Next morning I accompanied him on a walk
over part of his estate. He offers 5000 acres, lying
together, the nearest point within a mile of Newport,
part of it on a lease for 200 years, the rest three lives,
or thirty-one years, at an annual rent of 2s. 2d. per
acre, besides the rates. The land is all situated at a
low elevation, ranging from 30 to 60 or 80 feet above
sea-level. Half of it is said to be capable of regular
cultivation ; the rest is fair pasture for Highland cattle,

SIR RICHARD O'dONNELL's FARMS. 31

and very improvable. Sea-weed and coral-sand can be
got at the sea-beach, which is within about half a mile
of the lands, for Is. a boat-load, containing about four
cart-loads. Upwards of 100 acres of this tract have
been drained, and enclosed with substantial stone
fences; and a commodious barn and other houses have
been erected. I walked over part of the improved
land, and found it deep, strong soil, with a good many
large stones in it, and susceptible of much improvement
by draining. Flax is cultivated on it with success ;
and I was assured, to my surprise, by a farmer of Sir
Richard O'DonnelFs, that the oats here produced some-
times weighed as much as 46 lb. a bushel.

The same proprietor has plenty of other land, which
he is anxious to let. That which lies along the sea-
coast appeared to be of good quality, and, from the
peculiar conformation of the coast, it did not seem to
suffer from exposure to the Atlantic. Clew Bay is very
peculiar. Its spacious basin is sheltered by the lofty
Clare Island, which shuts it in from the ocean ; and
along its coast there are hundreds of little islands,
affording shelter to the jutting points of the mainland;
while numberless indentations of the sea, running a mile
or two up into the land, give safe and convenient water-
carriage to every part of the coast. On many parts of
the sheltered sides of these bays and islands, wood
grows to the water-edge ; and, under careful manage-
ment, they are capable of being made most picturesque.
The climate is mild, and the soil very suitable for
green-crop husbandry.

Sir Richard O'Donnell has exerted himself greatly

32 FLAX MANAGEMENT.

to introduce, with an improved husbandry, the growth
and manufacture of flax. He has erected flax-mills at
Newport, which are now let to Mr Bernard, a Swiss
gentleman, who kindly explained to me every part of
the improved process he adopts in steeping and scutch-
ing. He manages the flax on the Courtrais or Belgian
system, steeping it in warm water, heated to 90 de-
grees by steam-pipes passing through the steeping vats.
In this way the process occupies only sixty hours, which,
by the old method, took two or three weeks. After
being steeped, the flax is dried in the open air if the
weather suits, or in drying sheds, which are cheaply
constructed. It is then sorted and taken to the scutch-
ing-mill. The whole of the finer portion of the flax is
sent to Belfast, where it is sold to the spinners ; the
refuse, or tow, is woven into sacking, and made into
bags, as, from its low value, it would not pay carriage
to send it far in the bulky unmanufactured state.
This factory gives employment to about three hundred
people in Newport throughout the year, and works up
the produce of several hundred acres, yielding to the
farmer, under the present imperfect cultivation, from £6
to £9 an acre. The seed, which is separated from the
flax before it is steeped, is reckoned to be about one-
fourth the value of the crop. The steeping process
adopted here greatly simplifies the management to the
farmer, as in this way he grows and pulls the flax, and
then stooks and stacks it like a corn crop, selling it to
the manufacturer when it best suits either party, and
without having any intricate process to attend to. The
machinery seemed simple, and requires neither large

THRESHING-FLOOR ON PUBLIC ROAD. 33

capital nor great skill to conduct it ; so that, where
desirable, this manufacture might be very easily ex-
tended.

In driving along the road, we occasionally disturbed
the labours of the husbandmen threshing out their crops.
They choose a dry smooth part of the public road for a
threshing-floor, and winnow the corn by riddling it
slowly in a breeze of wind. We drove over the top of
several heaps of half-threshed corn in the middle of the
road, the threshers suspending their labours till we
passed.

From Newport to Westport the country is of an un-
dulating character, the road skirting the heads of the
numerous inlets of the sea, though, from the peculiar
character of the coast already mentioned, a glimpse of
the sea is scarcely to be got the whole way. The dis-
tance by road is six miles ; following the coast-line,
along every bay, it is not less than sixty. The land
generally is under wretched management, though the
farm of Mr Bridges, a tenant of Sir Richard O'Don-
nell, is a striking exception. The neat fences, good
roads, and comfortable residence, with the trimly
thatched stacks, here led me to make some inquiry about
the tenant ; and I learned that his father had been an
English settler, and that he himself had been educated
in England.

Westport is a very prettily situated seaport town,
also on Clew Bay : the houses are handsome and well
built ; and nestled as it is in a hollow, with a row of trees
overhanging the stream which intersects it, and in the
immediate neighbourhood of the fine demesne of West-

34 WESTP0RT — LORD SLIGO'S FARMS.

port House, the residence of the Marquis of Sligo, it is
quite a place in which the traveller will feel desirous to
spend a leisurely afternoon. The trees around West-
port House are of great size and varied beauty, and,
with the verdure of the park at this season, indicate a
mild soft climate.

Lord Sligo kindly accompanied Mr Elwood and my-
self through part of his estate. The country soon be-
comes hilly after leaving Westport on the way to Con-
nemara. The lofty Reek, or Croagh Patrick, forms a
grand object, running up from the edge of the sea to a
conical peak 2500 feet high, perfectly shapely and
smooth. The greater part of this hill-country, till you
reach the Killeries, belongs to Lord Sligo, who is
anxious to let his lands to tenants of capital and enter-
prise. He would sell a portion in any part of his estate,
if he could thereby induce the purchaser to reside
in the country and assist in its improvement. In the
valley of the Errive, about five miles from the head of
Killery Bay, he would let a hill-farm of 5000 acres, on
a lease of three lives or thirty-one years, and give a
lease in perpetuity of the land on which the tenant
built his house. This farm is bounded by the river
Errive, along the bank of which there is a considerable
tract of alluvial land, and gradually rising from it an
extensive natural wood of great beauty, in which a resi-
dence, commanding a magnificent mountain landscape,
might be most picturesquely placed : behind this, the
land quickly runs up to a high mountain. The whole
forms a good sheep-walk, with feeding for cattle, and
some 40 or 50 acres of low ground of good quality for

THE KILLEEIES. 35

cultivation. An excellent public road runs along its
whole extent. This farm would at present be let for
£120.

From this point to the Killeries the valley widens
and improves, the natural produce of the soil being
sweet short grass in the low grounds, with strips of
verdure running up the hollows of the mountains.
Several good stock-farms might be got in this quarter ;
but for many miles in this direction not a sheep or
head of cattle is at present to be met with. The sheep
were said to have been stolen during the famine, and
the holders of the lands had not the means of putting a
new stock on them.

At the foot of the valley we came upon the harbour
of the Killeries, which is an arm of the sea running up
between high mountains for some eight miles, till it
receives the waters of the river Errive. There are here
some cottages for sea-bathing ; and certainly few spots
in the British islands could be selected, which unite
more beauty and grandeur of scenery with such perfect
retirement.

Passing down the south side, a view of the Atlantic
is got in the distance ; while on the opposite side of the
narrow bay towers Muilrea, the highest mountain in
Connaught, rising directly from the sea to a height of
2700 feet. The road then leaves the sea and crosses
the moors to the south-west, affording a fine view of
the Connemara mountains. We are now in an unpro-
mising tract of country ; the moors are very barren,
and not a sheep or a house to be seen on them for
miles.

*'::

36 CORN FARM IN CONNEMARA.

At Kjlemore there is an inland lake of consider-
able beauty, shut in on all sides by conical mountains.
At the western extremity of this lake lies the farm
of a young Englishman, from Lancashire, who, with
several brothers, has settled in this country. Their
choice of a location has not been fortunate ; and it may
be doubted, whether the capital expended in erecting
expensive farm-buildings, in a tract where the soil and
climate forbid cultivation, will be reproductive. If the
same energy and capital had been employed on some of
the fine arable lands of Mayo or Galway, how different
would the result have been ! Strangers should not too
rashly expend their capital, in the vain hope that they
can at once import the agricultural management of an
English county, into a region where the soil and climate
are totally unsuited for such a change. But neither
must any general conclusion be drawn from the result
of such an experiment, adverse to investments judi-
ciously made in more favoured districts of the West of
Ireland.

Remaining all night at Kylemore with two parsons
who keep a hotel here, and help to entertain the
traveller, (thus adding to their cure of souls a personal
attention to the wants of the body,) we returned next
morning to Leenane, thence up a valley through Joyce's
country to Maume, at the western extremity of Lough
Corrib. Great part of this valley is very suitable for
sheep-farming, the mountains affording much sweet
pasture, as also the slopes and banks of the river.
From Maume to Cong the road sweeps along the
north-west side of Lough Corrib, the country being very

D00RUS — CLONBRUCK — ROSS. 37

ston j and in miserable condition, though capable of much
improvement. As the car slowly toils up some of the
steep ascents on this road, the traveller may turn aside
for a moment to enjoy the beauty of the scene. Be-
neath him lies an arm of Lough Corrib, which, with its
many islands, stretches away to the east ; before him is
one little isle writh its old ruined castle, the fastness of
some ancient Irish chieftain, while in the distance are
seen the desolate moors and fine mountains of Con-
nemara.

At Dooms, a promontory of 500 acres running out
into the Lough, the land improves ; and this, with about
1600 acres more adjoining it, and stretching up into the
hills, is for sale. It is occupied by a great number of
small farmers, but is very capable of improvement, and,
if judiciously laid out into small farms, might become a
profitable investment. It would require a considerable
outlay of capital to provide suitable houses for such
tenants, and give them every encouragement, which
they would need ; and a resident landlord, devoting
himself to the task, could alone make the experiment
with success.

Some way further on, the road branches off to Clon-
bruck, in the neighbourhood of which, on the margin of
Lough Mask, is the house and demesne of Lord Leitrim.
The wooded islands in front of the house, with the lake
and the distant mountains, form a very pleasing scene.
Within the demesne is situated the parish church of
Ross, built chiefly at the expense of Lady Elizabeth
Clements. It is a small chapel, capable of containing
about sixty persons, but it is all of exquisite workman-

38 ASHFORD ON LOUGH COREIB.

ship, both within and without. The windows, of stained
glass, are in the highest style of the art ; and the wood-
work and roof, which is open to the ridge, are of carved
oak. This little church is quite a gem, and will well
repay the time occupied in deviating from the main
road to obtain a view of it.

We next proceeded to the estate of Ashford on
Lough Corrib. It comprises 1100 acres, very stony,
but deep dry land, suitable for grazing or crops. The
situation of the old mansion-house, at the entrance of
the river into Lough Corrib, is very beautiful. The
grounds are undulating, and, in the demesne, plentifully
interspersed with wood, much of which is old, and highly
ornamental. This estate is for sale, and would make a
most desirable investment for a man of moderate capital.
Bounded, as it is on two sides, by the river and lake,
it is very conveniently situated for water carriage ; and
in clearing the ground of stones, (which would be the
heaviest outlay in improving the property,) thousands of
loads could be tumbled into the lake, where they would
be entirely got rid of. The best of it, comprising the
demesne and deer park, between 200 and 300 acres,
could be kept in hand by a resident proprietor \ and
the rest, which is all arable, could be either subdivided
into well-arranged small farms — for its very stony
character forbids extensive tillage-farming — or laid
down to grass, and let for grazing. It is immediately
opposite to the old abbey and town of Cong, where the
last O'Connor, king of Connaught, was buried. There
are several singular caverns in the limestone rock on
this estate ; and one in particular, where, after descending

CANAL — TASK-WORK. 39

seventy or eighty steps, you come to the bed of the
subterranean river which flows from Lough Mask to
Lough Corrib ; and when it is lighted up by the blazing
torch of the guide, who, as he jumps from rock to rock,
drops burning sparks, which are instantly extinguished
in the black silent stream, the effect is striking and
not unmingled with awe.

In the afternoon, I walked up the new canal, at present
being formed to open a navigable passage from Lough
Corrib to Lough Mask. Upwards of 300 men are
employed on it. Besides opening up this communica-
tion, it is expected to reduce the waters of Lough Mask
permanently to their summer level, and thereby drain
an immense tract of low country on the river Robe and
its tributaries in Mayo. I was informed by Mr Collins,
the resident engineer, that the men employed were all
natives of the province; and he found their workmanship,
now that they were taught, as good in building dry
masonry as that of experienced English workmen. The
men, all along the line, were working with as much
diligence and assiduity as I have ever seen in England.
They are employed in gangs by task-work, and their
diligence affords a remarkable contrast to the indolent
style of work which I observed wherever the labourers
were paid by daily wages, unless they were, at the same
time, under the most vigilant superintendence. This
great operation is expected to be completed in two
years. The whole cutting is through solid limestone
rock : horizontal, lying on vertical beds. It is every-
where split into great crevices or " swallow-holes/' and
these require all to be puddled ; but nature, everywhere

40 LABOURERS.

bountiful in this country, has placed the very material
required for this purpose in the hands of the workmen
— a bed of the finest plastic clay (called by the men
"California/') having been cut into in the course of
the operations.

As illustrative of the effect of task-work, and the
physical ability of the labourers of this district, I quote
from the Annual Report for 1848 of Mr S. N. Roberts,
C.E. — " The works throughout the entire district have
been executed by task, strictly in accordance with the
commissioner's instructions ; and I cannot advert too
strongly to the necessity there was for the strictest
attention to this, for I never witnessed more want of
power of exertion than among the labouring classes in
this part of the country, when first the works were com-
menced. With the exception of a few quarrymen,
found in the town of Galway, they were unskilled in
every class of public work ; there were many instances
where gangs of men did not earn more than threepence
per day, although allowed full prices for their work.
Generally speaking, however, the men are greatly im-
proved in habits of industry, and, of course, in the
amounts of their earnings. But the greater portion of
them are so perfectly destitute, and so wretchedly fed,
that it would be impossible to enable them to realise a
rate of wages calculated to support them in a proper
manner, without paying prices which the economical
execution of the work would not permit."

Here ended my tour of Mayo, a county containing
agricultural resources which may be shortly recapitulated.
It is nearly all, except the northern mountainous parts,

COUNTY OF MAYO. 41

situated at a very moderate elevation above sea-level.
It consists generally of a deep dry soil, very suitable for
green crops and grass. Along Lough Mask and Lough
Corrib, the land is very stony, and can be profitably
cultivated only in small farms, or laid out to pasture.
The middle and eastern portions of the county present
fine open plains for extensive farms, in every way
suited to a high system of cultivation. All this part of
the country contains within itself abundance of lime-
stone, and "turf" with which to burn it ; and almost
every large farm might have a portion of bog attached
to it, to be annually reclaimed, and which would add
much to the resources of the dry land. The bogs
generally contain, either beneath their surface or on
their margin, abundance of limestone gravel, and some-
times shell-marl, with which they may be mixed and
enriched. The lands, when laid to grass, are soon
covered with white clover, and throughout the district
there is plenty of fine old feeding land. In the north-
western division, returning from Castlebar to Newport
and Westport, the country is hilly, and not so well
adapted to tillage. Limestone cannot be got so cheaply,
but, near the sea, coral-sand and sea- weed may be readily
obtained. The western and northern mountainous dis-
tricts afford pasture for hill flocks, which might be pro-
fitably managed in union with the turnip farms of the
south and middle divisions. One advantage of these
high districts, as compared to hill-farms in the north of
Scotland, is, that their winters are never severe, and,
consequently, the expense of smearing the sheep with
butter and tar, as required in Scotland, is saved.

42 ITS ADVANTAGES.

Excellent stones for building and fencing can be had
everywhere ; and, generally, there is not a great outlay
needed in thorough draining, on account of the natural
dryness of the soil. The farms recommended are
chiefly held by the landlords themselves, or by non-resi-
dent graziers. The roads everywhere are good, and a
happy exemption is enjoyed from that most costly,
wasteful, and vexatious system of collecting a revenue —
tolls. The people are peaceable and intelligent, and
willing to work if properly looked after ; and wages
being low, all kinds of manual labour can be executed
at a very moderate cost. When the railway from
Dublin is opened to Galway, the nearest station from
the better parts of Mayo will not be more than from
thirty to forty miles distant from a point whence
Dublin may be reached in five hours. There is room
in this county for hundreds of farmers of skill and
capital, to whom nature affords a fair prospect of
success. But they must select their location with care
and skill, having regard to both soil and climate ; and let
them not rashly expend the capital, which they will
require for cultivation, in erecting farm buildings, which
are solely the landlord's business ; and let them come to
a precise and definite understanding with their land-
lords, as to a limitation of rates and taxes, until some
provision shall be made by law for protecting those who
expend their skill and capital in improving and culti-
vating the soil, from excessive rates, and above all, from
an increase of rates through the higher valuation con-
sequent on their improvements.

CHAPTER IV.

OUGHTERARD TO GALWAT — ANNAGH MR BODKIN'S FARMS — TURLOUGHS

CARRYING OFF CROPS BALLINAHINCH " THE MARTIN ESTATE"

CL1FDEN — CLEGGAN INLETS OF THE SEA DERRYGIMLACH — ROUND-
STONE PEASANTRY OF CONNEMARA TASK- WORK DESCRIPTION OF

MARTIN ESTATE ON LOUGH CORRIB — FARMER'S HOUSE — BREAK DOWN

HEAD OF THE BAY OF GALWAY ARDFRY MR SKILLING's FARM

NORTH SHORE OF GALWAY BAY — TOWN OF GALWAY.

Leaving Cong on the morning of the 14th October,
I sailed for nine miles down Lough Corrib to Oughter-
ard, where I met the Clifden mail, and reached Galway
in the afternoon. While I remained at Oughterard, a
strange contrast attracted my attention. Crowds of
clean, well-dressed country-people, with scarce a ragged
coat or an old hat among them, were hastening towards
the Roman Catholic chapel, round the eastern door of
which, sub Jove frigido, were rows of kneeling wor-
shippers ; and at about a hundred yards farther on,
stood the church of the Establishment, with armed
sentries pacing before the door keeping watch on the
piled arms of their comrades who were within the build-
ing. May the time soon come when it will be unnecessary
to continue an exhibition so incongruous with the cha-
racter of Him who came to preach peace and good-
will among the children of men !

Leaving Galway on the morning of 15th October, I

44 MR BODKIN'S FARMS.

proceeded to Armagh, eleveD miles to the north-east,
and about five from Tuam, passing through a bare
stony country, uninteresting to the general traveller,
though far from valueless in an agricultural point of
view. At Annagh I met Mr Hunter, drainage inspec-
tor for Galway, who kindly accompanied me during the
rest of my tour in that county.

Mr Bodkin, of Annagh, drove us to Cloonmore, a
farm of his within two miles of Tuam, which we ex-
amined. It comprises 380 Irish acres, (615 English,)
all in grass. About the half of these are alluvial land,
which has never been ploughed, having been hitherto a
" Turlough " always covered with water in winter, but
now, by means of the arterial drainage, laid completely
dry. The rest of the farm is about one-half old graz-
ing land, of prime quality, and the other half, dry land
of fair quality. The stock kept on the farm last sea-
son, according to the statement of the shepherd, was
200 cattle, 2 and 3 year-olds, and 600 sheep, 2 and
3 year-olds, during the summer ; 300 to 400 sheep,
but no cattle, during the winter. The proprietor will
give a thirty-one years' lease, but the tenant must build
such houses as he requires. At present there is a
herd's-house and the shell of a cottage, which, with a
moderate outlay, might be made into a good cottage
residence. This is an excellent farm, almost all in
good condition, and more than half of it as fresh and
unexhausted as an American prairie. A good tenant
will not be hampered with troublesome conditions in
his lease. It is within about fourteen miles of the
railway to Dublin. The present rent paid is £315, the

TURLOUGHS. 45

half of a 5s. poor-rate, and the county cess, which here
does not exceed Is. in the pound. The land is not at
present under tillage, being occupied merely for grazing.

Next day I examined several of Mr Bodkin's farms
in the neighbourhood of Annagh. He could let five
or six farms here, ranging in extent from 400 to
700 English acres each, and within seven to ten
miles of a railway station, when the line is opened
to Galway. They are on limestone, dry turnip-land,
and under good management would prove sound and
not ungrateful, though not possessing the naturally rich
qualities of many of the farms already described. One
of them will have attached to it a Turlough of nearly
150 English acres, now laid dry by arterial drainage,
and capable of feeding a very heavy stock of sheep,
cattle, or milk-cows. Lord Oranmore's estate here
contain's large breadths of these drained " Turloughs,"
many hundred acres of which, in this quarter, are
expected to be laid permanently dry by the arterial
operations at Turloughmore. They generally consist
of alluvial soil of the finest quality, the silt and debris
for ages of a limestone country, and covered with a
thick sward of grass, which, by the closeness with
which it has been eaten, indicates the rich feeding
qualities it possesses.

Though I give the particulars of Mr Bodkin's farms
only, it is right to say, that almost every landlord in
this county is equally anxious to get good tenants.

The arterial drainage of Turloughmore has changed
the ancient course of the water, and thereby for the
present laid dry the bridge over the old water-course.

46 RUNNING AWAY WITH CROPS.

The numerous arches of this bridge are now occupied by
" ejected" families, and the traveller, as he crosses, is sur-
prised to find himself half stifled with the smoke of their
fires. One cannot help a feeling of dread that, in some
winter flood, the new course may be found an insufficient
outlet for the water, which would then overflow into its
ancient channel, and sweep every one of these poor
creatures away.

In walking through the fields, an incident occurred
which may be worth mentioning. A man came breath-
lessly up to the gentleman with whom I was, and begged
his interposition as a magistrate to prevent bloodshed.
We immediately repaired to the scene of action, and
found about sixty people assembled to resist the armed
police and a bailiff, in an attempt they were about to
make to seize a rick of corn, which was alleged to have
been carried off from the land of a neighbouring pro-
prietor, where it had been under seizure for rent. The
people were in a state of great excitement, the police had
their guns cocked, and things looked very serious. On
inquiry, it appeared that the bailiff had no better proof
than a suspicion raised in his own mind, from the fact that
the party in whose yard the disputed grain was stacked
was the son-in-law of the party whose crop had been made
away with. As there were other ricks in the yard of
the same description, and several persons were willing
to swear that all these ricks had been in that yard before
the day on which the stolen crop was carried off, it became
a very difficult matter to say who was right. It was
clearly not to be wondered at that the whole village should
turn out to protect the crop of a friend, if they believed

GAL WAY TO BALLINAHINCH. 47

that crop to be his ; and it was equally clear that the
man himself who owned the crop, if he really knew it
to be his, was obeying a very natural impulse in defend-
ing it. But the orders of the police were peremptory,
and, but for the interference of a gentleman present,
who gave his guarantee that the rick would be forth-
coming on sufficient proof being exhibited that it really
was the one which had been carried off, we should very
probably have had a scene of bloodshed arising out of
this very simple matter. The whole rick in dispute was
not worth more than 30s., and here were sixty men idle,
and ten police, with four carts and horses, wasting their
time fruitlessly. What a system it is, when tenant and
landlord are on such a footing !

Returning by Galway, we proceeded to Ballinahinch
by the Clifden mail, on 1 7th October. The day was
wet, and unfavourable for seeing the country. Ballina-
hinch is the mansion-house of the Martin estate in
Connemara, now for sale, about which so much has
been said. It is some thirty miles west of the town of
Galway. After leaving Oughterard, the road passes
through this estate for about seventeen miles, keeping
along the valleys among the hills, the soil of which is
mostly mountain-bog of the poorest quality. There are
many lakes by the road, and one or two with pretty
wooded islands and banks, which would make excellent
sites for shooting or fishing lodges. There seemed to
be no stock whatever on the moors, and most of the
small patches of land which had been cultivated were
deserted and waste. Near the Lough, above " Flinns,"
the half-way house between Ballinahinch and Oughter-

48 CLIFDEN — CLEGGAN.

ard, the land appeared somewhat superior, and suitable
for a better class of sheep stock. A good hill-farm
might be made here, and the banks of the Lough pre-
sent many eligible sites for a residence. The fishing in
these lakes, and in the rivers which flow from one to
the other, is said to be excellent ; and the shooting
no doubt might, with care, be much improved.

The mansion-house is a good comfortable house, well
situated on the bank of the river which flows from the
lakes to the sea. The western slopes of the river and
lake, adjoining the house, are wooded, and the grounds
laid out with walks leading to the boats and stables,
which are nearly a mile distant. An old castle, on a
small island in the lake, with a fine conical mountain
behind it, adds greatly to the picturesque effect of the
scene. The quality of the land for miles around is
heathy mountain, fit to carry small blackfaced sheep
and West Highland cattle. After a walk over the
neighbouring hills of five miles, I cannot say that I saw
anything of a quality much superior to this. Improve-
ments certainly are going on, on a neighbouring property,
but in my opinion they will never pay as a remunerative
money investment.

Next day we visited Clifden, rather a good town,
prettily situated at the head of one of the numerous
inlets of the sea, which are everywhere met with on this
coast, as the translation of the word Connemara, " Bays
of the sea," sufficiently indicates. This town has
suffered much from the effects of the late famine.

Proceeding northwards five miles, we reached Cleg-
gan, another division of the Martin estate, and walked

THE MARTIN ESTATE — CLEGGAN. 49

carefully over it. It occupies the peninsula between
Cleggan and Balljnakill Bays, and forms, with the
ancient tower on its summit, rather a prominent feature
on the coast. The bay affords sea-weed and coral-sand,
and abounds with fish and salmon in their season. An
inland lake, separated by a narrow strip of land from
the sea, communicates with it by a stream, and in this
and the lake great quantities of salmon are occasionally
got. As many as one hundred and forty fish have been
taken at two draughts of the net. At the sea-mark, and
also at the upper part of this lake, the limestone makes its
appearance, and is very valuable in this district of clay
and mica slate. This property has a good sunny
exposure, slopes gently up from the sea, and contains
several hundred acres of good arable land, light, but
deep and easy of cultivation, and might, without very
heavy outlay, be made a profitable tillage farm. An
excellent road runs nearly entirely through it, and
several small lakes afford good falls for threshing-mills
and other agricultural machinery. The higher part of
the land is suitable for sheep and cattle, and is capable of
much improvement as pasture. The opposite side of the
bay, and the land towards Clifden for some distance
from the bay, form part of the same estate. These lots
comprise altogether nearly 3500 English acres, and
would make a good estate, if bought at a moderate price.
The latter portion, containing upwards of 1800 acres,
are much inferior to Cleggan ; but the estate would be
more complete by getting the whole together. Lots 83,
84, 85, and 86, on the plan of the estate, are the Cleg-
gan division ; 80 and 81, the south side of the bay.

50 INLETS OF THE SEA— DERRYGIMLAGH.

Returning towards Clifden, the land along the inlets
of the sea seems generally of an improvable character.
Southwards from Clifden, towards Roundstone, the road
crosses by bridges over the neck of several of the sea
inlets already mentioned ; and to a stranger these pre-
sent a very singular appearance. The tide was rushing
in through the bridges, with great velocity, at the time
we passed. The coast for several miles is very low, being
only a few feet above sea-level. It is rocky ; and in
some of the few patches among the rocks, which had been
left untilled, the pasture was sweet and green.

Derrygimlagh, lot 65 of the Martin estate, extends for
about two miles along the shore, comprising 2700 acres,
350 of which are lakes. Sea- weed and coral-sand may
be got in any quantity ; and as the land is quite level, and
an excellent public road runs along the coast, the labour
of drawing it from the beach would be very light. The
land, however, from its extremely rugged character, is not
much suited to tillage ; but there can be no doubt that,
if it were enclosed, and main drains constructed to draw
off stagnant water, it might then, by the application of sea-
weed and coral-sand, be brought into good grazing ground.
Salmon and white fish are got in the bay. There seemed
to be a considerable population still on this property,
although the mortality during the famine was dreadful,
not fewer than eight hundred persons, young and old,
as I was informed, having died on this lot alone.

From this point to Roundstone, except the first mile,
which is much the same as Derrygimlagh, the country
is very stony and barren. From Roundstone to Bally-
nahinch, on account of night beginning to set in, we

PEASANTRY — CAUSE OF DISLIKE TO TASK-WORK. 51

could get only a glimpse of the country ; but in general
it seemed, like most in these parts, a succession of wet
heathy moors. The road winds picturesquely up the
river, which here and there expands into lakes ; and
after being drenched with rain, we again reached the
mansion of Ballynahinch.

The peasantry of Connemara are very intelligent, and
make good workmen, when fairly treated and well
managed. I was assured by a Kildare man, who
manages a small property in this district, that he could
get more work done in Connemara for 8d. a-day, than
in his own county for Is. 2d. He pays wages every
night ; and the people, getting their money regularly, and
knowing what they are to get, work well for it. The
employers of labour generally, in the west of Ireland,
are not overburdened with ready money. They do not
pay their labourers with regularity, and accordingly the
people become disheartened, and their labour is then
indolently and very grudgingly given. I am assured by
a gentleman who occasionally had under his direction
the employment of several hundred men, that he at
first found great unwillingness on their part to task-
work ; but after some trial with them, they became very
fond of it. And what was the reason 1 Their former
employers had given them task-work ; but at the end of
the week, finding that the people were earning more
than the usual rate of wages, they lowered the contracts,
and thus discouraged the system altogether. As soon
as the men found that the rate for their work was
lowered in proportion as they the more exerted them-
selves, they naturally became disgusted with task-work.

52 MARTIN ESTATE ON LOUGH CORRIB.

But this gentleman continued the same rate throughout ;
and the men, finding that thej were not taken advantage
of, worked willingly, and made good wages.

Returning from Balljnahinch on 19th October, we
examined several of the lots of the Martin estate, lying
along Lough Corrib,"* to the north of Oughterard.
That part lying between the public road and the lake
is highly improvable, consisting generally of dry, light
land, very suitable for green-crop husbandry, and not
difficult to bring into good grass, if well manured. Lots
35, 36, 38, and 39, comprising 4350 acres, have each a
frontage to the lake. There are numerous beautiful
situations on which to build. The succession of bays
and rounded promontories, with islands, scattered about
the lake, some of them beautifully wooded, afford spots
suited to various tastes. The beach is a clean white
gravel, and boats can touch at almost any part of it.
Sea-weed is brought from Galway in boats, and lime-
stone from any part of the opposite shore. When
steamers ply on Lough Corrib, as is contemplated on
the opening of the canal at Galway, to which I will
have occasion afterwards to refer, the scene will be much
enlivened, while the convenience of communication will
of course be greatly increased. A new road along the
side of the lake from Oughterard is formed, and might
at very little cost be completed. This property is at
present badly cultivated. There is some extent of bog
on it, which might be easily reclaimed, especially if the

* This fine lake, which is from twenty to thirty miles long, washes a
great tract of country, part of which, on a different side, I had previously
visited.

A farmer's HOUSE. 53

drainage of Lough Corrib lowers the permanent level of
that lake, as is expected. Altogether, these are very
eligible and improvable lots, and, if purchased on
moderate terms, might be made a fine property. Care
must be taken to ascertain exactly how the exist-
ing leases stand, for on the length of these will greatly
depend the value of the purchase. But, in my opinion,
the Martin estate, as a whole, is not adapted for
the nucleus of any comprehensive scheme of settle-
ment, notwithstanding the advantages which some of its
lots present for the separate investments of private indi-
viduals.

We were shown over this property by a farmer who
holds a considerable part of it, and who kindly asked us
into his house during a heavy fall of rain. The house
outside looked rather neat, and is very prettily situated
close to the Lough. Inside, it is impossible to describe
the dirt and confusion. We entered by the back,
as the front door did not appear to have done duty for
a long time. Around the kitchen fire were seated and
squatted a number of men and women, very dirty and
ragged. In the inner room, to which we were shown,
were all sorts of things — fishing-nets, saddles, chairs,
spades, sideboard, &c. A mutilated ale-glass was pro-
duced, which one hulking fellow was ordered to wash,
while another was despatched for water. The owner
made up for all by a very hospitable welcome ; but the
fact that he appeared quite unconscious of any defects
in his household appointments, showed how very low
the standard of comfort must be among this class. A
ploughman in Scotland would be ashamed to have his

54 BREAK DOWN.

house so scantily provided, and this man had several
servants, and occupied a considerable farm.

The rain came down in pitiless torrents, as we walked
back two dreary Irish miles to Oughterard. Wet into
the skin, we started by car for Moycullen, where a car
from Galway had been ordered to meet us. After
driving a few miles, smash went one of the wheels, and
we were spilt on the wet road. " What will I do now 1 "
cries the despairing driver. " Ride your horse this
instant to Moycullen, and send the other fellow forward
with his car for us." After a short delay the horse is
mounted, and Jehu disappears through the driving rain.
By this time it is quite dark, and we proceed on foot:

" Tramp, tramp across the land we went,
Splash, splash across the sea ;"

for in many places the roads are ankle-deep with rain.
No car appears, and, after walking nearly an hour,
Moycullen is reached at last. There, warm and com-
fortable at the kitchen fire, sits our friend Jehu, smoking
and unconcerned. He coolly assured us that, as no car
had yet come from Galway for us, he did not think it
within his commission to look out for another. Fortu-
nately another car was got, and we start again, after
considerable detention ; and just as we leave the village,
the car from Galway, which should have arrived two
hours ago, makes its appearance. The laggard "boy"
returns without his fare, and we at length reach Gal-
way about eight o'clock in the evening, drenched with
rain.

Leaving Galway on the morning of 20th October,
we proceeded on a tour round the head of the bay to

HEAD OP THE BAY OF GALWAY. 55

the south of that town. Towards Oranmore, nearly all
the land seemed well suited to tillage. It rises by a
very gentle slope from a few feet above sea-level, and
continues, as far as the eye can see inland, the same
low-lying country. It is mostly dry land, on a subsoil
of limestone gravel. The beach affords a supply of
sea-weed, but not, apparently, in any great quantity,
though it could be easily boated from other parts of the
bay, where it is said to be more abundant. The line of
railway to Dublin runs through this district. All the
land here, even within a mile of the town, is susceptible
of very great improvement ; and some excellent green-
crop farms could be had. The advantages of proximity
to the town of Galway, the line of railway, and the
beach, with a deep dry soil to work in, and a mild
climate, are matters which every intelligent agriculturist
will appreciate. About half a mile from Oranmore, I
walked over several hundred acres of land of the same
dry character — a good black earth, lying on limestone
or limestone gravel. The country all round seemed
much the same. In some places, the limestone rock
comes so near the surface as to render tillage impossible ;
but, for grazing, this kind of land is sweet and nutritious,
though, I should suspect, likely to suffer in a very dry
summer. The fences are far too numerous, and very
many must be removed to admit of extensive tillage-
farming ; but as there is little or no draining requisite,
the removal of old fences and heaps of stones, and the
rebuilding of new division walls, are the principal outlay
necessary, — always excepting the building of farm-
houses and steadings, of which there are few or none

56 0RANM0RE — ARDFRY.

in most parts of this country. The good land has been
greatly injured by the common plan of burning the
surface for manure ; so that, except where it has been
lying long in grass, a farmer must calculate on a con-
siderable outlay in manure to restore this soil to good
condition. At present there are hundreds of acres of
such land, within a mile of both sides of the line of
railway, lying quite waste. Landlords would be glad
to hear of tenants of capital ; and such men could readily
obtain plenty of farms here on very moderate terms.
Near the sea, I am informed that it is sometimes difficult
to get water for the stock in summer. The climate is
very favourable for grass and green crops, and, where
the soil has been brought into condition, the best
bred short-horn cattle and Leicester sheep thrive upon
it.

At Ardfry, within about two miles of Oranmore, I saw
a large herd of short-horns and a fine flock of Leicesters
in high condition. Ardfry is the mansion of Lord
Wallscourt, who has a considerable tract of land along
the bay. All this part is well worth the examination
of farmers, and the country is quite peaceable. The
land, when subsoiled and partially mixed with the sub-
jacent limestone gravel, yields excellent green crops,
grass, and wheat, and seems very favourable for carrots
and mangold, and for cabbages.

Lord Wallscourt's sudden death, last summer, put an
end to an interesting experiment, which was going on
here under the management of Mr Skilling, now pro-
fessor of agriculture in the Queen's New College at
Galway ; a kind of partnership concern, in which land-
Y

COPARTNERY OF LANDLORD AND TENANT. 57

lord and tenant supplied respectively the capital and
skill, and mutually shared the profits or loss. The farm
comprised 1500 acres of arable land, and was to be
managed by Mr Skilling. Whichever party supplied
the capital for stocking and working the farm, was first
to receive five per cent, before any division of the pro-
ceeds was made. The whole proceeds remaining were
to be divided into three parts, two of which went to Mr
Skilling to pay labour and superintendence, and one to
Lord Wallscourt for the use of his land. Neither party,
it is said, found the arrangement a profitable one, as it
was probably not long enough continued to allow the
benefits of better farming to tell. This may account
for the appearance of the grazing fields and green crops,
which did' not indicate good or rich farming. The
quality of the short-horn cattle and Leicester sheep was
very good, but the numbers, for such an extent of land,
inconsiderable.

Along the bay, to the west of Galway, the country is
very rocky, but the abundant supply of sea- weed enables
the cultivator to keep it in good condition. It is held
in small farms, for which, as tillage, it is certainly best
suited. Indeed, so stony is this part of the country,
that it would be impossible to cultivate it profitably on
a large scale, on account of the numerous obstructions.
This, I am informed, is the character of all the land
along the north side of the bay of Galway.

The town of Galway is situated at the head of the
bay of that name, and on the river which discharges
Lough Corrib into the sea. In old times, a consider-
able intercourse was kept up betwixt Spain and the

58 TOWN OF GALWAY.

west of Ireland, and Galway was the chief port for
the Spanish trade. So far back as 1493, it was a
town of considerable importance, the major of that
day having been a Spanish merchant. At present it
is suffering from the pressure on the surrounding
country, and business of every kind is very dull. The
streets are dirty, and masses of rubbish are suffered to
obstruct the most crowded thoroughfares. Great
numbers of pigs are allowed to roam about the streets,
and you sometimes find the possession of the pavement
disputed with you by a lusty grunter. The square
seems the chief point of attraction ; and every now
and then the air resounds with the shrill squeak * of
some unlucky porker, smarting under the lash of
an angry car-driver. A handsome building, on the
west of the town, is just completed, for the occupa-
tion of the professors and students of the Queen's
College.

It is said to be in contemplation to make this port
the station of the American packets, as from Galway
America can be reached in four days less than from
any port in England ; and this is a measure which,
I think, might be expected to contribute in no incon-
siderable degree to the resources of the country. But
it will probably depend on the opening of the railway
to Dublin, which, when completed, will add much to
the importance of the place. There are several
excellent flour-mills situated on the river, and an
immense water-power still unused. This may some
day attract the attention of the enterprising tourist,
who, putting all advantages together — cheap and short

ITS ADVANTAGES FOR MANUFACTURES. 59

transit for the raw material from America, cheap and
abundant water-power, cheap and plentiful supply of
labour — will justly conclude that no place in the
British islands offers a more favourable chance for
success in the cotton manufacture than the town of
Galway.

CHAPTER V.

GORT — COUNTY OF CLARE — ENNIS — RIVER FERGUS — " CORCASE LANDS "

DROMOLAND CASTLE SIR LUCIUS O'BRIEN'S FARMS BUNRATTY

COURSE OF CROPPING AND AVERAGE PRODUCE — FALL IN RENTS —

KILTANON COMPLAINTS OF NORTH COUNTRY FARMERS PRESSURE OF

RATES DRIVING TENANTS OF CAPITAL OUT OF THE COUNTRY — TULLA

RELIEF ROADS — SCARIFF LOUGH DERG KILLALOE — THE SHANNON

MILTOWN MALBAY— -COROFIN KILRUSH.

Proceeding southwards from Galway, after passing
Oranmore, the land continues for many miles of the
same character, dry light land on a limestone rock or
gravel. In some places the rock covers the ground to
a very injurious extent. Within a few miles of Gort,
the country improves, and some very good sheep-pas-
tures and corn-lands are found here. Gort is a clean,
well-built town. Soon after leaving it the fields become
more bleak, until crossing into the county of Clare,
where good grass-lands are passed through. The
cultivated land along the road is everywhere badly
managed. A tract of uninteresting, stony, limestone
country is then traversed ; the fields becoming more
open again as we approach Ennis, the chief town of the
county. This town is of considerable extent, and is
prettily situated on the river Fergus, which is navigable
to this point, by large boats, from the Shannon. The
streets seemed narrow and old-fashioned, but there are

A R Y
ENNIS — C0RCASE LANDS. 61

many good shops in the town. A fine suite of new
county buildings are just being completed, which will
contribute much to the ornament of the place, though,
if payable from the grand-jury cess, it may be doubted
whether it was prudent at present to proceed on such a
costly scale.

Proceeding southwards from Ennis, the country im-
proves. The road crosses the Fergus at Clare, to which
town the river is navigable by large vessels. Along both
banks of this river to its junction with the Shannon,
being a distance of eight or ten miles on each side, are
fine tracts of rich alluvial land, called "corcases/'* which
yielded very high rents before the famine. These rich
flats are banked off from the inroads of the tide, being
in many places under high-water mark of spring-tides.
Where they have been left in their natural state, they
are exceedingly fertile, producing heavy crops of hay
year after year, or carrying large stocks of sheep and
cattle. They have been generally let in farms of con-
siderable extent, and £3, 10s. per Irish acre, besides
grand-jury cess, &c., was no uncommon rent for a large
farm. The custom of the tenants was to sublet certain
portions to the farmers of the upper country for meadow,
at rents varying from £6 to £8 an acre ; and being
fettered by no restrictions in their management, other
parts were con-acred for potatoes at even greater rents,
the tenant afterwards putting in the grain crop, and
frequently selling it, with the straw, before cutting. In
this way the actual tenant employed almost no labourers ;

* " Corcase," in Ireland, seems to denote much the same kind of land as
the " carse " of Scotland.

62 DEOMOLAND CASTLE.

and the resources of the farmers in the upper country
failing with the potato failure, they were unable to take
meadow, while the labouring class, of course, for the
same cause, ceased to con-acre. The tenant, thrown on
his own resources, had neither capital nor skill to meet
this new order of things, and the distress and abandon-
ment of farms is accordingly as great on some of these
naturally rich lands as on the poorest. The land which
had been con-acred is reverting to grass ; but any farmer
who has ever been accustomed to strong alluvial land,
may guess to what a foul state it has been reduced by
this most negligent and injudicious management. One
acre of land so con-acred, and now reverting to grass, is
not one-fourth the value, at this moment, of the land
alongside of it, on which the rich old sward has remained
unbroken. I am not partial to stringent covenants be-
tween landlord and tenant as to tillage, but there is
not a point on which, in my opinion, landlords should
be more strict than in guarding against the spolia-
tion of their property, by the breaking up of these
rich alluvial meadow-lands for a few years' tempo-
rary gain. No skilful tenant would wish to see it
done.

Dromoland Castle, the residence of Sir Lucius
O'Brien, lord-lieutenant of the county of Clare, is finely
situated in an extensive park, a few miles south of
Ennis, and about a mile to the east of the river Fergus.
It is a very extensive and imposing mansion in the
castellated form, built of dressed limestone in courses,
massive and substantial. To the left of the mansion is
a lake of considerable extent ; and on a lower level, in

sir lucius o'brien's farms. 63

the rear, are the stables and farm-buildings, commodious
and well arranged, and hid from view by the overhang-
ing woods ; while, farther up, the extensive gardens are
seen in successive terraces, crowned by a very picturesque
cottage under the trees at the summit.

On 22d October I accompanied Sir Lucius in a walk
over five or six of his farms in the neighbourhood of the
castle. Two of these farms have excellent houses and
farm-buildings, and are beautifully situated on the rich
slopes overlooking the Fergus and the lower Shannon.
They each possess a considerable tract of these rich
" corcase " lands, attached to fine dry arable land, gently
sloping up from them. All these farms are situated within
a short distance of water-carriage on the Shannon, and
about twelve miles from the city of Limerick. When left
in its natural state, the land immediately rising from
these flats is of the richest feeding quality — a deep, black,
earthy soil — dry, and admirably adapted for grazing or
green crops. One or two excellent farms are to be let
here, which are well worth the examination of farmers.

On the opposite side of the Fergus is the farm of
Island Magrath, which by many is considered one of
the best farms in Ireland. It is extensive — between
300 and 400 Irish acres — and is at present to be let
at a moderate rent ; it is said, for something under 20s.
an English acre. It is the property of the Marquis of
Conyngham.

From the river Fergus, along the north bank of the
Shannon to Limerick, the country is all of this natu-
rally fertile character. Passing the old ruined castle of
Bunratty, which is beautifully situated close to the

64 COURSE OF CEOPS — RENTS.

waters of the Shannon, the road traverses a very rich
country. At Cratloe, four miles west of Limerick, the
residence of Mr Augustus Stafford, M.P., which I sub-
sequently visited, I learned from a respectable farmer,
and a man of intelligence, that the usual mode of
management in this country, is to keep all the tillage-
land in a constant succession of crops, and the land
which is required for stock always in grass. The course
followed is to take —

1. Green crop.

2. Green crop.

Wheat.

Oats or barley.

Oats or barley.

Oats;

then begin again, and so repeat the course : 300 stones
of wheat to the Irish acre, equal to 70 imperial bushels,
and 300 to 400 stones of barley, equal to 80 to 100
bushels, are said to be no uncommon crops. These are
equivalents to 43 bushels of wheat, and 56 to 65 bushels
of barley, per English acre, and must be regarded, under
the present mode of management, as indicating a soil
of the highest fertility. Rents are falling rapidly in
-this quarter : one farm of fine quality, which used to
let at £2, 10s., is now offered at £1, 5s. an Irish acre.
Another of 300 acres, principally fine old grass, let to
a dairy farmer at nine hundred guineas, has lately been
reduced to six hundred.

Leaving Dromoland on 23d October, I proceeded
eastward to Kiltanon, near Tulla, the residence of Mr
Molony, which I reached in time to walk over part of
his estate with him in the forenoon. He has judiciously
improved some extent of bog-land, on which there was
then growing a very luxuriant crop of swedes, white carrot,

KILTANON — COMPLAINTS OF FAEMEBS. 65

mangold, and cabbages. The swedes, indeed, were
over-luxuriant, many of them having rotted. This
may, perhaps, be attributed to over-manuring, causing a
too rapid development of the plant in a bog soil, which
had not been previously rendered sound by a sufficient
admixture of sand or gravel. In the afternoon I accom-
panied two extensive north-country farmers over a
different part of the estate, where were excellent crops
of turnips, and large fields of well laid-out and well-
sheltered pastures. These gentlemen have been farming
extensively in this part of the country for some years
back. They complained much of bad times, high
rents and rates, and the difficulty of getting landlords
to reduce rents, in any case where the tenant was
solvent. They suffered much also from the thievish
and indolent habits of the people, the sums paid by them
for watching their crops and sheep stock amounting to a
considerable tax on the produce. They also complained
of the wasteful management of the elected poor-law
guardians, who were often partners in the contracts for
supplying the workhouses. They spoke highly, however,
of the natural fertility of the soil, and the prospects of
tenants of capital coming to the country and locating
themselves judiciously. For such, they think, there is at
present an excellent opening, as landlords are prepared
to submit to lower rents, and definite arrangements
could be made with them as to a limitation of poor-
rates and grand-jury cess.

The fears entertained by the more intelligent class of
farmers as to the injury they are likely to suffer from
the progressive increase of rates, are illustrated by the

G$ ALARM OF TENANTS AT INCREASING RATES.

case of a tenant, on whose farm I was to-day, and which
is now to be let. This man came to the country thir-
teen years ago, with not more than £100 of capital.
His landlord lent him £300, and with this he contrived
to stock and carry on a farm of 300 acres. He was
very skilful in the management of sheep-stock, and
introduced the best rams from England, with which he
improved his own stock, and then sold their produce at
high prices in the surrounding country. So well did
this succeed, that in a few years he repaid his landlord
the borrowed money, besides, at the same time, greatly
increasing the numbers and quality of his farm-stock.
The frightful increase of rates, with diminished prices of
produce, alarmed him : he found the capital which he
had accumulated by skill and industry slipping away ;
he could not get what he considered an adequate abate-
ment of rent from his landlord, though the increase in
his rates amounted to nearly a second rent ; so, availing
himself of the power of surrender, which is fortunately
a clause introduced into most Irish leases, he determined
to sell all off, and quit the country for New Zealand.
After paying all his debt, he has retired with a capital
of £1000, and his farm is abandoned to the landlord,
who is now anxious to get a solvent tenant at a lower
rent than, I am assured, this man would have gladly
paid, and remained in the country. But how much does
this single example teach ! First, that the soil yields a
grateful return to industry and skill \ second, that these
are marred by the impolicy of placing the pressure of
the rates exclusively on the tenant, (which is unhappily
the law in Ireland,) thereby driving out of the country

BELIEF ROADS — SCARIFF. 67

a prosperous, skilful farmer, whose example was of
the utmost benefit in a district where these qualities
are so deficient, but who felt himself compelled to
remove his capital from the danger in which it stood
of being absorbed in the general poverty of the
country; and third, the short-sighted policy of the
landlord, (too common, I lament to say, and mainly
to be attributed to a want of that knowledge of the
proper business of a landlord, to which I have already
had occasion to refer,) in refusing to share the dif-
ficulties of the times with his tenant, because he was
a solvent man, — and the natural consequence of this in
disgusting the tenant, who then abandoned the farm,
for which its owner cannot now get a solvent tenant at
the greatly reduced rent he is at length willing to accept
for it.

In the neighbourhood of Tulla there are some good
farms to be let, sound sheep-land, on the estate of Mr
Molony of Kiltanon. I passed several of the roads
to-day on which improvements had been begun, but
never completed, at the time of the famine. Several of
these had been left in a state which rendered them
actually dangerous to the traveller, and others were
quite useless to anybody.

From Tulla to Scariff and Lough Derg, the land is
of various quality. Behind Scariff it rises to a consi-
derable elevation, innumerable little patches of cultiva-
tion stretching up the mountain side, and encouraging
the growth of a population which nothing but potato
culture could keep in existence from the produce of
such a soil as that on which they were located. The

68 LOUGH DERG — KILLALOE.

consequence has been a mass of pauperism, now over-
spreading the better part of the surrounding country,
and threatening eventually to absorb the entire produce
of the land embraced in this union.

The banks of Lough Derg are generally fertile and
picturesque, there being many very eligible estates and
farms in the extensive district between Portumna and
Killaloe. A steamer plies regularly on the lake. From
Tomgraney the road passes over a comparatively ele-
vated district, between which and the Lough lies much
improvable land, which is at present in a very neglected
state. Descending the hill near Tinerana, the eye
rests with pleasure on the neatly laid out and well-cul-
tivated fields, interspersed with the woods, surrounding
the mansion-house of that name, and stretching down
to the margin of the lake. Winding along its shores,
the road affords many beautiful views to the traveller
of the fertile lands of Tipperary, rising from the oppo-
site side of the lake, up the green slopes of the Arra
mountains, beyond which may be also seen the tops of
the Silvermine and Keeper. Near Killaloe stands an
old fort, beautifully situated on a green mound com-
manding the entrance into Lough Derg, which is here
gradually narrowed into the bed of the Shannon.

Proceeding southwards from Killaloe, the land
on the road-side is generally inferior as far as
O'Brien's Bridge, where, crossing the broad and beau-
tiful river, you enter the county of Limerick. Along
this fertile valley, the country is now rich and well
wooded ; the frowning ruins of ancient castles, and the
"shining morning face" of modern mansions, equally

SUBURBS OF LIMERICK — WEST OF CLARE. 69

bespeaking the good taste of their founders in their
choice of a situation. Passing the demesne of Lord
Clare, whose umbrageous woods shut out the river alto-
gether, and proceeding a mile or two farther along fields
of deep red friable soil, you reach the suburbs of the city
of Limerick, where those who are curious in such matters
may have an opportunity of inspecting, by dozens, some
of the poorest and most wretched cottages in Ireland.

My time was too limited to admit of my visiting the
western portion of the county of Clare, where I was
informed that at Miltown Malbay very extensive and
judicious improvements are going on. The district
round Corofin, to the north-west of Ennis, is famed for
its rich pastures. The south-west division, embracing
the union of Kilrush, noted for its evictions and its
poverty, is situated on the coal formation, (not usually
favourable for agricultural enterprise ;) but the whole
of the north bank of the Shannon, from Limerick to
Kilrush, is well worth the inspection of persons in
quest of land.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CITY OF LIMERICK — AD ARE— CROOM — EAST LOTHIAN FARMER — BRUFF

RENT OF LAND PEOPLE GRATEFUL FOR EMPLOYMENT — LIMERICK

TO TARBERT BY STEAMER TARBERT MR BLACKEr's TILE AND

POTTERY WORKS COUNTRY ABOVE TARBERT MR FITZGERALD^

PEAT GL1N CASTLE FO YNES ASKE ATON CL ARINA TERVOE

VIEW FROM CARRIGOGUNNIEL RENTAL AND PRICE OF AN ESTATE

WRETCHED HUTS.

The city of Limerick (population 52,315) is situated
ninety-two miles west of Dublin, and distant by rail-
way 129 miles. It stands partly on an island in
the Shannon, which is navigable by large ships to the
town. The principal streets in the new part of the
town are laid out in straight lines, with broad thorough-
fares, and high, well-built brick houses, very much
resembling the better streets of Dublin. There was a
business-like appearance about the shops and people.
The town itself stands low, but with its cathedral,
bridges, and fine river, is not wanting in picturesque
effect. For extent and population it is now the fourth
town in Ireland. The shipping at the quays was not
numerous. There are but two small steamers which ply
from the port, and both are employed only in the sum-
mer, one being laid up during winter, as the other is
found sufficient for the trade. These steamers ply down
the river to Kilrush, calling off the ports on each side

ADARE — CROOM — SCOTCH FARMER. 71

on their way. If any judgment may be formed of a
place by its hotels, the stranger will speak well of
Limerick — Cruise's being the best-managed hotel which
I saw in Ireland.

On 25th October I proceeded on my tour through
the county. To Adare the land is of fine quality, and
much of it under tillage. The greater part of the coun-
try is on the limestone formation, generally of a flat
character, and at a low elevation, with rounded hills and
gentle slopes running through it. On the borders of
Tipperary and Cork it is somewhat hilly ; and on its
western side, next Kerry, it lies on the coal formation,
which gives a more elevated and colder country than the
limestone.

In the neighbourhood of Adare is the farm of an
East Lothian man, who came to Ireland thirty years
ago. The land here is a fine deep red soil, open
and friable. The country is well wooded, and warm-
looking. This gentleman farms very extensively in
this county, having another large farm of nearly 400
Irish =640 English acres, near Croom. Here he
grows all the usually cultivated crops — wheat, barley,
oats, turnips, &c. On this farm he keeps a stock of
forty large half-bred cows, rearing all their calves,
which are crosses with the short-horn ; making besides,
from each cow, three firkins of butter, worth from 40s.
to 50s. a firkin. His young stock are very good, the
bull calves particularly large and fine. The soil of this
farm is good sharp turnip -land, for which he pays a
smart rent, running from 20s. to 30s. an English acre,
besides poor-rate and grand-jury cess ; and having been

72 RICH GRASS LAND AT BRUFF.

obliged, almost entirely at his own expense, to build the
farm-steading, and to fence and drain the farm. The
advantage of having these preliminary improvements
executed by the landlord, is seldom sufficiently appre-
ciated by a tenant.

Proceeding eastward from Croom to Bruff, the coun-
try improves, the soil being generally a deep red earth,
with loose limestone pebbles through it. For miles
around Bruff it is of very superior quality. Rising
from the flatter lands are rounded hills of grass, at pre-
sent clothed with such verdure as to be mistaken by
one at a distance for turnip-fields. It continues the
same character, till within four or five miles from
Limerick — a beautiful rich country, capable, under good
management, of as much productiveness as the best
lands in East Lothian. Nearer Limerick the land is
not of the same high character, but a very fit subject
for remunerative outlay of capital, especially considering
its vicinity to a populous citj and the terminus of a
railway by which Dublin may be reached in four or
five hours. Dung, in any quantity, may be got in
Limerick, for Is. per load of 20 to 30 cwt.

In all this rich tract of country, upwards of forty
miles of which I traversed to-day, there is no attempt
at anything like high farming. Bone-dust and guano,
as auxiliaries to the farmyard manure, are scarcely
tried ; and feeding with linseed-cake, beans, or other
imported food, quite unknown. The rent and rates of
the best land, as now reduced, may be stated at 30s.
per English acre ; but there are no sufficient farm
buildings in the country, and landlords, generally, have

OBSTACLES TO GOOD FARMING. 73

not the means to make them. If, with these dis-
advantages, and the generally bad system of cultivation
practised, this rent can be made from the land, how
much more beneficial would it be to the community,
and how much more profitable to a man who had suf-
ficient skill and capital thoroughly to develop its capa-
bilities ! But where is that man to come from, so long
as landlords are unable to provide the permanent accom-
modations which are necessary % and what hope is there
for the country, so long as any laws exist which obstruct
the transfer of the land to those who are able to per-
form effectively the proper duties of landlords \ I am
assured by Mr Christie, who has been long in the coun-
try, that the people are well-disposed, and very grateful
for employment.

Leaving Limerick next morning, I proceeded, by
steamer, down the river to Tarbert, a distance of thirty-
two miles. The sail down the river is most interesting,
both banks being rich and fertile, and ornamented with
mansions surrounded by fine wood. Here and there a
church-spire peeps modestly from among the trees,
while on both sides are seen the ruins of ancient castles
perched on the summit of a lofty rock, as Carrigogun-
niel; or more picturesquely situated on the water's
edge, like Bunratty. The ruins of old castles, abbeys,
and churches are so numerous, as to lead one to suppose
that, in former times, this country had been in a much
more prosperous state than it is at present. From
Limerick to Tarbert, on the south bank of the river,
there are not fewer than twenty of such ruins ; and on
the north bank nearly as many, castles and churches

74 LIMERICK TO TARBERT BY RIVER.

being in about equal numbers. Many green islands
are passed near to the mouth of the Fergus river.

At Cahiracon, on the north bank, the coast becomes
bold and wooded, and, with a west wind blowing strong,
we here experienced some of the pulsations of the
Atlantic. This is a very picturesque spot, and one
can fancy that the time may come when the wealthy
citizens of Limerick will have their villas along this
shore for sea-bathing and summer residences. Foynes
island, on the opposite side, with its wooded eastern
shore, seemed equally eligible for this purpose. Leaving
the low limestone district at Foynes, the country be-
comes more elevated ; Mount Trenchard, the residence
of Lord Monteagle, embosomed in wood, being passed
on the left. Except two large ships, close to Limerick,
and two brigs about half-way down, we did not see
another vessel till we came to Tarbert, where a few
small coasting brigs were waiting for a wind. Twenty
years, we may hope, will tell a different tale ; and that
this magnificent river, washing a country far more ex-
tensive in fertile land than the Clyde, will bear on its
waters a hive of busy steamers and noble merchant-
men.

Tarbert is a small seaport town in the north of
Kerry, situated on an estuary of the Shannon, and close
to the western boundary of the county of Limerick.
There are two extensive grain stores here, the property
of wealthy corn merchants, which are always open for
the purchase of grain from the farmers in the surround-
ing country. Not far from the village, a tile- work has
been erected by Mr St John Blacker, a gentleman who

MR BLACKEE'S TILE-WORK. 75

has exerted himself greatly in this neighbourhood to
meet the distress by giving increased employment. In
one electoral division in which he has property, he em-
ployed three to four hundred men, with the view of
keeping down the necessity for out-door relief, but with-
out any perceptible effect, as the rates in that division
now amount to 12s. 4d. in the pound.

At Mr Blackens tile-work, pipe-tiles of the best
quality are made — as good an article as any one could
wish to see. The selling price is 15s. per thousand for
inch-pipes. The pipes are glazed by a simple process,
which may add to the durability, but perhaps does not
improve the permeability of the tile. The porous
character of the unglazed pipe permits the access of
water through its substance as well as at its joints, and,
of course, in that way, assists the action of the drain.
Mr Blacker has also established a pottery-work here.
The clay seems of fine quality for the different purposes
to which it is applied.

About 2 miles inland from Tarbert, the country rises
to an elevation of five or six hundred feet above sea-
level, and a great tract of good strong land is here met
with. It is susceptible of much improvement by drain-
age and fencing, but I should fear the climate — so near
the Atlantic, and at this elevation — is too moist for grain
crops. The dairy farming of the upper parts of Ayrshire
might probably be introduced with success. Whether the
thievish propensities of the natives is greater than usual
here, I cannot say ; but the bailiff on an improved farm
which I visited is an old soldier, and pointed out, with
much satisfaction, the masterly arrangement of his corn-

76 PEAT COAL — GLIN — ASKEATON.

stacks, so placed that lie could command each one of
them with a gun from his bed-room window !

On the Rev. Mr Fitzgerald's estate here, there is a
peat of a hard and compact quality, almost approaching
to the nature of coal. It is said to be prolific of gas,
and had been tried with much success, in one of the
Queen's steamers, for fuel. This gentleman has exerted
himself much to encourage the people in habits of
industry.

Returning towards Limerick by land, we pass Glin
Castle, a very handsome edifice on the shore, near the
village of that name, with a good deal of wood round
it, and the fields along the sea-side very improvable.
The farmers are said not to be in a prosperous condition,
and certainly the appearance of the land indicated some-
thing wrong. But it is capable of very great improve-
ment, and its situation, a few feet above the level of
the waters of the Shannon, makes it a pleasant and
desirable locality. A few miles farther east, we pass
the grounds of Mount Trenchard ; shortly after which
the road descends into the low-lying limestone district
at Foynes, through which it proceeds to the river Deel
at Askeaton, where are the ruins of an ancient castle
of the Desmond family ; and farther down, the very
common accompaniment of an old castle in this country
— the ruins of an abbey. For the next eight miles the
land continues of the same character, light green-crop
soil on limestone, capable of much improvement under
a better system of management. As we approach the
river Maig, a tributary of the Shannon, we cross some
of the rich " corcase lands," and rising out of these are

TERVOE — CAERIGOGUNNIEL. 77

gentle hills of excellent tillage-land. At Clarina, Car-
rigogunniel, and Tervoe, the country is very fertile, —
deep red earth when turned up by the plough, and the
finest pastures when in grass.

At Tervoe, the residence of Mr Monsell, M.P., a
large party were assembled, including Mr Horsman,
M.P., Mr Augustus Stafford, M.P., Mr De Vere, and
others. This house is beautifully situated on a lofty
bank about half-a-mile from the Shannon, in a finely
wooded country, and commands a view of the shipping
and the water up to the city of Limerick. The walks
and drives in the grounds are varied and extensive ;
the land is mostly in pasture of the finest quality.

Within a mile of Tervoe stands the ancient castle of
Carrigogunniel, finely situated on the summit of a mound
of trap rock, protruding through the limestone, and rising
to a height of nearly 200 feet from its base. Entering
through the breach made by the soldiers of Cromwell,
and ascending the stairs of the last remaining tower, we
beheld a prospect which is beyond all things rich and
beautiful. The day was sunny and warm, the grass of
the rock on which the castle stands of a refreshing green,
the same verdure continued for more than a mile over
the fat "corcase" land to the river : the noble Shannon
gleaming in the sun, and seen from the spot on which we
stood, winding its way for miles through the fertile
country ; one or two large ships floating up with the
rising tide, their white sails hanging loose in the still
air : on the farther side of the river, the same rich land
rising, through Cratloe woods, into a lofty background ;
to the east, the city of Limerick overhung by smoke,

78 VIEW FEOM CARRIGOGUNNIEL.

behind it the Keeper mountains of Tipperarj ; to the
south, a background of hills dividing Limerick from
Cork ; and between them and us, and beneath us, miles
and miles of a rich wooded country — the whole present-
ing a scene of natural fertility and beauty which can
scarcely be surpassed. With a change of names, the
words of Scott describe this scene, —

" The wandering eye could o'er it go,
And mark the distant city glow

With gloomy splendour red ;
For on the smoke-wreaths, huge and slow,
That round her sable turrets flow,

The noonday beams were shed,
And tinged them with a lustre proud,
Like that which streaks a thunder-cloud.

" While eastward far, with purer blaze,
On Keeper mountains fell the rays,
And as each heathy top they kissed,
It gleamed a purple amethyst.
Yonder the shoaes of Clare you viewed,
Bunratty's walls, and Cratloe's wood ;

And, broad, beneath us roll'd,
The Shannon's stream, the eye might note,
Whose islands on its bosom float

Like emeralds chased in gold."

Leaving this beautiful scene, we walked down into the
country, to examine it more narrowly. The richest
verdure clothes the field where nature has been allowed
to do her work unheeded. Weeds and thistles are the
unfailing accompaniment of a tillage, guided by the reck-
less necessity without the industry of man ; and here
the rich soil covers itself luxuriantly with these, as soon
as the careless cultivator removes his scanty crop and
leaves the land to nature for the winter.

Below Carrigogunniel there is for sale a very valuable
farm of 740 English acres. Three-fourths of it is

PRICE OF AN ESTATE. 79

" corcase" land, said to be capable of producing, in its
natural state, 7 tons of hay to the Irish acre. The rest
is dry tillage-land of the best quality. It is held on a
lease for ever, at a rent of about 14s. an Irish acre, and
will be sold subject to this rent and the other conditions
of that lease, besides a jointure of £92 payable to a lady
aged 70. The yearly rents and tithe rent-charge paid
by the present holder are stated to be . £1374 9 8
The head rent £326, 15s. 5d., and re-
ceiver's fees, £8, 3s. 5d., .... 334 18 10

Nett yearly profit, as stated by the adver-
tisement, £1039 10 10

£18,000 was offered for this estate some years ago,
but not accepted; and £10,000 was offered last year,
and again refused. It is said this sum would now be
taken. Adding 5s. per pound for poor rate and county
cess, the present rent averages 46s. an English acre, or
about £3, 14s. an Irish acre : which seems high, but
the land is very good.

Walking to an adjoining height, we clambered over
a wall, and found ourselves in the centre of a cluster of
miserable huts, which the owner of the land permitted
the people to build on rent-free. The space occupied
might be about a quarter of an acre in extent, the sum-
mit of a trap rock, without a particle of earth on it, or
any vegetation except what floated in the green stagnant
pools in the crevices of the rock, and before the doors,
or grew luxuriantly on the damp thatch of the roofs.
On this spot were huddled together about a dozen huts,
several of which we entered. Some of them were occu-

80 WRETCHED HUTS.

pied by old women living by themselves, others by
families : they had no gardens of any kind, and said
they could get no work ; and, if this was true, they must
exist either on out-door relief, or by plundering their
neighbours. They expressed themselves as very thank-
ful to the owner of the land for the privilege of occupy-
ing this barren rock !

It was the only barren spot I saw in this very fertile
neighbourhood. From this point to the river runs a
ridge of fine dry land, about a mile in length, with rich
"corcases" on each side of it, having river frontage, and
a road to the water-edge. It would make a farm of
the most valuable description. In the " good times,"
the best of the land let at about 44s. per English acre.
It is within four or five miles of Limerick.

CHAPTER VII.

castleton — rates deserted land auxiliary poor-house school

one mode of becoming a farmer mr cox's farm sir d.

roche's farm, its advantages — caherass — adare manor — rath-

keale — newcastle lord devon's estates advantage of a

resident agent who understands his business beneficial

arrangement with tenants, and satisfactory result — spring-
field castle — instance of fertility charleville castle

oliver —description of country kilmallock to limerick

CRATLOE.

On the morning of 29th October, Mr Monsell, Mr
Horsman, Mr Barry, and I, started early for along
drive through the country, proceeding to Castletown,
within a mile or two of the southern boundary of the
county. In this union, out of an area of 4900 acres,
2500 are " waste," neither producing anything nor
paying any poor-rate. The rates and county cess
amount to 21s. 6d. per pound, and another rate will be
required before the end of the year. This was not
mountain land nor bog, but an extensive open plain of
good sound land, deserted by the landlord, the tenants
having fled to escape the ruin of indefinite rates, and the
labourers being driven to the workhouse to avoid starva-
tion. Here the process of changing owners was going
rapidly on, inasmuch as one mansion-house is already oc-
cupied as an auxiliary poor-house by 340 pauper women.

82 POOR-HOUSE — SCHOOL.

A melancholy sight it was, to stand looking from one of
the drawing-room windows of that house and witness
the sad scene. In front was what had once been a
handsome pond, with a little island on which still stood
a rather rickety statue ; beyond this a fine park with
old timber, and immediately below, on the gravel, were
squatted a great number of women, wearing out the
day by picking grass from among the stones. Within
the room other women were spinning, some picking
oakum, many doing nothing at all. The house was quite
full, and yery clean and well managed. More than two-
thirds of the females were young girls and women,
healthy and intelligent-looking, who would be a great
acquisition to some of our Australian colonies. Many
of them looked very happy, but others were weeping.
It was a sad sight altogether.

On Mr Mod sell's property here we visited a school,
which is divided into two apartments, one for girls, and
the other for boys. There might be fifty of each, the
children of the neighbouring small farmers. They were
clean and neatly dressed, and showed much proficiency
in geography, reading, writing, and arithmetic, in all of
which we witnessed their examination. The school is
under the superintendence of the priest of the parish,
and the children do much credit to their teacher, who
takes his instructions from the priest.

Crossing some high land, we again descended into
a valley, where we drove through a well- wooded and
picturesque demesne, surrounding a handsome mansion.
The stables and coach-houses, &c, commodious and
extensive. Two cows were wading in the long rich grass,

TAKING A FARM. 83

which would have pastured twenty. But things had
gone wrong here too ; rates were in arrear, and rents
unpaid ; and at that moment a watch was kept on the
road to give timeous warning of the rate-collector's
approach, so that the cows might be hid out of sight for
fear of seizure.

Very few of the farmers here begin with any capital. )(
When a man manages to save £100 or £200, he goes
to a landlord and offers a certain rent for a farm, back-
ing his offer with all the capital he has, as a douceur or
fine in hand, to induce the landlord to accept his terms.
The offer is accepted and the fine paid. Having thus
exhausted his capital, the tenant then advertises that on
the following Sunday he will set out a certain field for
potatoes. Several hundred people assemble, and each
marks out the piece he wishes to have. A rent is fixed
for it, probably £10 an acre ; one -third of which must
be paid before breaking the ground, and the other two-
thirds before removing the crop. The tenant thus gets
all his rent out of perhaps the fifth part of his holding.
The same thing is repeated, on the same field, a second
and sometimes a third year, after which the tenant takes
two or three crops of oats, and then lets the land "rest"
to recover itself. This process is pursued with other
parts of the land till all is gone over, by which time the
first is ready to begin upon again. The money paid in
advance, by the potato-renters, enables the farmer, with
what credit he possesses, to stock the rest of his land,
and in this way he manages to carry on without capital.
But the potato failure put an end to this rotten system ;
and the tenant who depended on it, and the landlord

84 MR COX'S FARM.

who was enriched by it while it lasted, are now equally
"^ helpless.

On our return, we visited the extensive farm of Mr
John Cox, inspector of drainage for the county, where
we saw excellent green crops and sown grasses. Every-
thing here betokened good and careful management.
This farm is held on a long lease, at a smart rent ;
every improvement has been done by the tenant —
houses, fences, and drains — entirely at his own expense.
The rates and taxes have increased, since the lease was
entered into, till they are now a second rent ; but the
landlord will give no abatement, and altogether refuses
to relieve the tenant from any part of the unforeseen
and ruinous rates to which the distress of the country
has subjected him ; thus taking advantage of the capital
and labour which have been expended by the tenant, in
improving the farm, to hold him to a bargain which
he would otherwise have been too happy to surren-
der. What a melancholy contrast to the liberal system
and mutual confidence which ought everywhere to pre-
vail between landlord and tenant, and how ruinously
opposed to the true interests of both, and the general
improvement of the country !

On the morning of 30th October, accompanied by
Mr Cox, I left Tervoe to examine a farm of Sir David
Roche's, about two and a half miles to the west of
Limerick. It consists of 300 Irish acres (485 English)
of fine dry red land, laid out into large fields, with an
excellent dwelling-house, and extensive, well-arranged
farm -buildings. It is adapted for all the usually culti-
vated crops, and particularly good for grazing. The

CAHERASS -ADARE MANOR. 85

proximity to Limerick will enable the tenant to draw-
three loads a-day of manure from town with the same
horses, paying only Is. a load of 30 cwt. for the
manure. It, of course, has the same facility for getting
away produce. The farm is all in the proprietor's
hands ; no one will be dispossessed, and a favourable
entry would be given to a suitable tenant. It has been
farmed for some years by Sir David, and no expense
spared to put it in good order. It will be let on lease
for £2, 5s. an Irish acre, (about 28s. an English acre,)
the tenant being freed from all rates and taxes. The
people are quiet and well disposed ; of this I am assured
by Mr Irvine, the bailiff, who is a Scotchman. I can
very strongly recommend this farm as being well worth
the attention of a tenant with adequate capital. Such
a man could not fail to make it answer, as there is no
risk of his being swamped by an indefinite increase of
taxation.

At Caherass we breakfasted with Sir David Roche,
who is carrying on extensive improvements, judiciously,
on his estate, besides working large flour-mills on the
river Maig.

From Caherass, the land is pretty good, to Adare
Manor, the residence of the Earl of Dunraven. The
ruins of seven abbeys in this demesne are both singular
and interesting ; and combined with the beautiful
scenery of the park, every part of which is marked by
admirable good taste, are highly picturesque. The
castle, a modern building, stands on the left bank of the
river Maig. It has been nearly all built under the
direction, and by the plans, of its noble owner ; and

86 EATHKEALE — NEWCASTLE.

presents, in every part of it, evidence of the perfection
to which Irish artificers can attain. The carving of the
stone of the outer walls, cornices, and balconies — of the
chimney-pieces, and the oak-work throughout the
entrance-hall — but beyond all, of the noble picture
gallery, 180 feet in length, is exquisitely wrought. The
stone, marble, and oak, are the produce of the estate ;
and I was informed by Lord Dunraven, that the work
was all done by natives of the place. Beneath the
windows of Lady Dunraven's boudoir, a beautiful
apartment, the river is seen gently flowing through
green slopes which are clothed with fine trees, and
stretch away through the extensive demesne.

Continuing our journey westward to Rathkeale, we
passed much good tillage-land. From Rathkeale to
Newcastle it is still better. All this tract forms a good
field for enterprise — deep dry land, capable of producing
all kinds of usually cultivated crops.

At Newcastle I was introduced to Mr Curling, an
English gentleman, who is resident agent on the exten-
sive estates of Lord Devon. It was quite refreshing to
hear him speak hopefully of the country. His plan to
meet the difficulties of the time was agreed to by the
trustees on this estate, and it was as follows : He
found, when he succeeded to the agency, that it had
been usual to give notices to quit, to every tenant on
the estate every year, and that all arrears had been
carried forward against the tenants, however old stand-
ing these arrears might be, many of them, indeed, being
the arrears of the predecessor of the tenant in posses-
sion. This state of things prevented all exertion, as a

lord Devon's estates. 87

man never was sure that he would be allowed to reap
the reward of his own industry, and he might fear that
his accumulated arrears would be exacted if he exhibited
any signs of prosperity. The notices to quit were put
an end to ; but in forgiving arrears it was necessary to
discriminate betwixt good and bad tenants ; and it was
therefore resolved to wipe off all arrears up to 1846,
thus placing the man who had paid his rent punctually
for the last two years, in a better position than the
defaulter for the same time. It was also necessary to
re-value the whole estate, some farms being let too
high, others too low. This was done by Mr Curling,
and he gave this new valuation a retrospective effect.
The rental of the previous year, 1848, was charged on
the new valuation, and all rent which had been paid
beyond that amount was returned. The effect of this
return of money to the tenants was surprising. Those
who had not paid even the new valuation last year,
are now called upon peremptorily to do so ; but the
arrear of the previous two years, where such exists, is
divided by instalments over several years. The effect
of all this is, that while other landlords are getting
scarcely any rent, Mr Curling is collecting nearly his
whole rental, and a good portion of this arrear. His
new valuation was calculated on a certain price for
butter, (which is the chief produce of this dairy dis-
trict,) and that being much higher than this year's
price, a farther corresponding deduction, for the time, is
made on each man's rent. Not one of the tenants are
leaving, and Mr Curling hopes to bring the estate
safely through all the difficulties of the time, especially

88 SPEINGFIELD CASTLE.

as the subdivision of the Unions will now bring it,
in so far as regards the poor-law, entirely within his
control.

How much may be effected by an agent who under-
stands his business thoroughly, and acts with manly
honesty between the tenants and their landlords ! How
different would the state of the country be now if there
had been many agents like Mr Curling, and many
proprietors like Lord Devon's Trustees, who could
appreciate the value of such an agent, and give scope
to his plans !

This estate is principally occupied by small dairy
farmers, much of the land being of a stiff, retentive
nature, and not well adapted for tillage. The farmers
being thus more dependent on dairy produce than crop,
they are not so much affected by the fall in the prices
of grain, and the estate will no doubt be more easily
brought through, than one where returns from tillage
only were trusted to.

A flat country, with an undeviating straight line of
road, ten miles long, brought us to Springfield castle,
where we were very hospitably received by Lord Mus-
kerry. It is all strong good land, principally in grass,
and much in need of drainage. The quality of the
soil at Lord Muskerry's may be judged of from the
following treatment of a field by a tenant, as related to
me by his lordship. It was con-acred twice in succes-
sion with potatoes, neither time receiving any manure ;
it was then cropped with two successive crops of wheat ;
after which, with seven successive crops of oats, all good
— the last said to be a splendid crop. The land was then

CHARLEVILLE — CASTLE OLIVEE. 89

left to nature, without a particle of grass-seed, and in
three years it became, and now is, very fine feeding land !
A farm of 300 acres is now to be let by Lord
Muskerry. Springfield castle is a fine old place, with
some good timber, and a busy noisy rookery, the only
one I remember to have yet seen in the west of Ireland.

Next morning, October 31st, we left Springfield castle,
returning eastward along the borders of Cork and
Limerick, by Drumcollogher and Charleville, to Castle
Oliver and Kilmallock. Charleville, a station on the
Dublin and Cork Railway, is a nicely situated town,
with a very handsome new church. A good deal of
bustle and some business was going on in the principal
street. On the steps of the market-house about twenty
women were seated, each with large wooden pailfuls of
butter-milk for sale. Several cart-loads of fine large
apples were also on sale, and four loads of turf, for
which two shillings each were asked, the distance to
the "mountain" being considerable. Several wool-
packs and carts with furniture were passing through
the town. Nearly every fourth shop was shut up from
want of trade.

At Castle Oliver, important improvements are being
effected by the Misses Gascoigne, who have planted,
drained, and improved their property to a very con-
siderable extent. I may give an interesting quotation
from the report of Mr Cox, Inspector of Drainage,
from the seventeenth report of the Board of Public
Works. He says, — " Many old prejudices have
given way, and particularly that generally entertained
against deep-draining, as compared to shallow. In

90 THE

illustration, I may mention that upon the property of
the Misses Gascoigne, (where the most extensive works
of land improvement in the county of Limerick are
being executed,) some of the occupiers were so opposed
to what they designated spoiling their land by making
deep useless holes, that they have been known to use
pitchforks in driving away the overseer who ventured to
commence such works on their lands ; but so differently
do they now feel, that they make anxious applications
to have their lands included in the drainage operations."
The Misses Gascoigne have erected a flax -mill to en-
courage the flax culture, and a tile-work, at which one-
inch pipes are sold at 12s. per thousand.

The valley through part of which this day's ride led us,
extends to near Cahir in Tipperary, a distance from New-
castle of about forty miles. The breadth of the valley is
from six to nine miles. It improves towards Tipperary,
and then becomes what is known as the " Golden Vein."
There are few such tracts of land in any country, all of it
being soil of good quality, and very much of it the primest
feeding land. Notwithstanding this, many farmers are
surrendering their leases and going off to America, on
account of the twofold action of depressed prices and
increasing rates. The railway from Cork to Dublin
traverses a great part of this valley. We joined it at
Kilmallock, where one of those common but heart-
rending scenes of an emigrant-parting was witnessed.
A dozen men and women, with children, were about to
bid adieu to their relatives, before parting with them
for ever to go to America. Strong men were embracing
each other, and sobbing aloud ; while women, with more

CRATLOE. 91

unrestrained grief, gave way to the feelings which
almost overpowered them.

From Kilmallock by railway to Limerick, a continu-
ous line of fine country is passed through, stretching into
Tipperary, and then bending back into Limerick. This
land is chiefly in grass, and by no means in an exhausted
condition. But all careful management is unknown.
Fences, if they may be called so, of low turf walls, very
numerous and insufficient, and no farm-offices what-
ever.

The same afternoon I proceeded to Cratloe, the resi-
dence of Mr Augustus Stafford, M.P., four miles west
of Limerick, on the north bank of the Shannon. Along
this road the land is very fine, and fairly managed. A
remarkable instance of the advantage of a workhouse
test was mentioned here, in the case of the two electoral
divisions of Limerick and Bunratty. The former has a
larger population and smaller rental than the latter, yet
the rates of the latter are one-third greater than the
former. Limerick possesses ample workhouse accom-
modation, and has never admitted out-door relief to the
able-bodied ; Bunratty has not sufficient accommoda-
tion, and, being obliged to give out-door relief, there
is no sufficient check on the increase of that ruinous
system.

CHAPTER VIII

CRATLOE — MOUNT TRENCHARD LORD MONTEAGLE's ESTATE — FOYNES HAR-
BOUR— MODEL FARM — AGRARIAN OUTRAGE TARBERT TO L1STOWEL

TURF TRAFFIC — STATE OF THE PEOPLE HOPES OF THE LANDLORDS — ■

TRALEE — CASTLE ISLAND — MR HERBERT'S ESTATES K1LLARNEY.

On a fine morniug, on the 1st of November, I left Crat-
loe early, after enjoying a walk with Mr Stafford. A
heavy mist hung over the river, which fortunately cleared
up in time to enable the boatmen to see the steamer as
she came down. I got on board, and, after a couple of
hours' sail, was landed at Cahiracon, the wooded coast
opposite Foynes, already mentioned. Here I engaged
the boatmen to take me across to Mount Trenchard,
the residence of Lord Monteagle. But we had to wait
about ten minutes before starting, till one of them se-
cured from his house a blazing peat with which to light
their pipes. This was brought into the boat, and
stowed away in the bow for use when required. The
sail being set, all hands turned to and got their
pipes in order, and so, calmly enjoying the sail, we
swept along. How odd that such inveterate smokers
have not yet learned the ease and economy of the
simplest box of matches !

1 arrived at Mount Trenchard in good time for a

MOUNT TEENCHARD — FOYNES. 93

walk over part of Lord Monteagle's estate with his lord-
ship and Mr Stephen De Vere. That part on which
the mansion is built, and the country behind it, is a
slate-clay, interspersed with iron and culm, but neither
yet found in sufficient quantity to repay the expense of
working them. The land here rises rapidly from the
sea-level to a height of 350 feet, a few fields above the
house. About two miles to the east, we descend into
the limestone country at Foynes, where an excellent
deep-water harbour is being constructed, at the joint
expense of Lord Monteagle and the Government. Lord
Monteagle contributes £4500, the half of the estimated
expense, and the Government complete the work at
their own risk. The tolls to be levied are to be ap-
plied exclusively in keeping the harbour in repair. This
port will form a most convenient outlet for an extensive
agricultural district to the south of the Shannon, and
will bring into play one of the best limestone quarries I
have seen, which is not more than half-a-mile from the
harbour. From the regular stratification of the rock
here, blocks and slabs of any thickness and size can be
got, suitable for the various purposes of building and
pavement. The opposite coast of Clare, and the north
of Kerry, are entirely deficient in lime, which is an
excellent manure for soils on slate clay, and which may
now be conveniently supplied from this quarry.

The island of Foynes, immediately opposite the har-
bour, is fertile, chiefly in fine old grass, and, containing
several hundred acres, would make an excellent farm.
The east side is wooded and picturesque, and the loca-
lity very desirable. Sea-weed and calcareous sand, as

94 MODEL FAEM.

well as alluvial sludge, can be had in great quantity on
its shores. The adjoining farms on the mainland also
belong to Lord Monteagle, and are principally rich dry
feeding-ground, with some alluvial flats partially flooded
by the tide.

Leaving the flat limestone land and returning over
the hill, after passing one of Lord Monteagle's schools,
we found ourselves again on the slate-cjay, on which there
is here strong grassy land, capable of much improve-
ment by draining. We saw some well-executed drain-
age work on the home farm, and looked at the ground
where it is purposed to plant a model farm of 30 acres.
The land is of fair quality, and not being better than
the average, will of course form a fairer criterion for
comparison to the surrounding farmers. It is about
350 feet above sea-level, and will be managed by Mr
Conner, a Templemoyle scholar, part of whose duty
will be to instruct in agriculture, on two days of each
week, the scholars of three neighbouring national schools.
Lord Monteagle showed me the plan of farm-buildings,
with school-room, master's house, &c, as sent down by
the Commissioners of Education. It seemed well-
arranged, but I should think much too costly. The
estimate amounted to a sum which is more than the value
of the fee-simple of the 30 acres to be accommodated
by it. It includes, however, dormitories for apprentice
pupils, a lecture-room, &c, and is intended to afford
examples of different modes of dealing with stock and
tillage. A less expensive description of building would,
in my opinion, be equally useful.

We visited Mr Sharp, Lord Monteagle's steward, a

AGRARIAN OUTRAGE. 95

Perthshire man, who was dreadfully mangled by a set
of ruffians here a few months ago. These men were
hired by a person on the estate, who had taken offence
at Mr Sharp for nothing more serious than this — yiz. :
This man, having had the privilege of helping himself
to fodder and turnips for his cows from Lord Mont-
eagle's yard, unavoidably caused a waste, to stop which
the steward required that the cows should be fed at the
same time, and in the same way, with the others on
the farm. In revenge for this very proper and reason-
able arrangement, one Sunday forenoon, as he was pre-
paring to go to church, a party of ruffians entered the
house, and cut and wounded poor Sharp most shame-
fully ; it having afterwards appeared, in the evidence
on the trial, that their instructions were to give him a
" beating/' and, above all, to cut him about the legs, so
that he might be ever afterwards unfitted for the office
of a steward. The scoundrels were got, and eleven of
them transported ; but poor Mr Sharp will never
recover, perhaps not long survive, this brutal and
dastardly attack.*

I cannot forbear mentioning the noble conduct of Mr
Stephen De Vere, as related to me by Lord Monteagle.
A large body of the tenants of Sir Aubrey De Vere,
foreseeing the calamity likely to fall on them from the
effects of the famine, resolved to emigrate to North
America. To guard them against the wretched treat-
ment to which they were then exposed on the voyage,
this young gentleman accompanied his father's tenants,
taking a steerage berth, and sharing in their privations.

* For statement of Agrarian Outrages, see Appendix, No. 7.

96 TAEBERT TO LISTOWEL — TURF TRAFFIC.

The fever broke out on board ; he tended the sick, and
caught the fever himself, from which, after being in great
danger, he fortunately recovered. After landing the
people, he accompanied them up the country, remained
with them till they were fairly set a-going, and then
returned home.

Leaving Mount Trenchard next morning, I proceeded
through Kerry to Tralee. From Tarbert to Listowel
the country is high, bleak, and unpromising. There are
numerous huts along the road on the edge of the bog,
and from these an active traffic was going on, by men
carrying loads of turf on their backs to Tarbert for sale.
Each load at present brings only a halfpenny. The
poor creatures manage to go two or three times a day,
according to their distance from town, bringing back
Indian meal with their money. Such a traffic as this
would not be persisted in if the people had any wish to
go to the workhouse. I was told by a man who had
been an inmate of it for some time, that the food is
sometimes insufficiently cooked, and too small a quantity
given, and that they all would rather be half-starved at
home than enter its walls.

At Listowel the river Feale is crossed by a handsome
bridge, and the valley of the river is fertile and pictu-
resque, though miserably cultivated. The good land
continues for some miles further towards Tralee, when
the road again ascends into bleak bog. Within about
two miles of Tralee a great traffic was being carried on
from the bog, by donkeys in carts and with panniers,
and by people — men, women, girls, and boys — all carry-
ing burdens of turf on their backs to the market. Here

STATE OF THE PEOPLE OF KERRY. 97

the demand being greater, somewhat better prices are
realised than at Tarbert, a donkey-load bringing 6d. to
8d., and a back-load Id. to 2d. The landlords are said
to realise considerable rents from bogs well situated for
roads and markets.

In all the line of country I came through to-day,
some thirty miles in extent, I passed only one comfort-
able rick-yard, and moderately respectable live stock.
At one place on the estate of Mr Crosby of Ardfert,
some draining and enclosing was going on ; but with
these exceptions there seemed no industry whatever,
other than the traffickers in turf. Improvements, I was
told, are going on at some distance from, and out of
sight of, the mail-road.

That the people in this part of Kerry are suffering
most severely from the consequences of the famine, no
one can doubt who travels along the road. I was told
by a very intelligent person connected with the constabu-
lary, that in going through the country to make out their
annual returns of the cultivated crops, for the informa-
tion of Government, they find the greatest difference in
the state of the people, as compared with what it was
three or four years ago. Houses that were then com-
fortably furnished and provisioned, they find now with
not more than a single chair, and bereft of the most
common articles of furniture ; while, in the matter of
provisions, the people are reduced to the very humblest
fare, living on turnips as their principal food. The
children, who followed the car to beg, had generally
rather a healthy and cheerful appearance ; though now
and then one saw the pinched features and crouched

98 HOPES OF THE LANDLORDS — TRALEE.

form of some one in the group, whose smileless face
bespoke the famine through which they had all passed.
The desire for emigration, in this quarter, among the
labouring classes is universal ; and the sums of money
sent back by emigrants to their friends, show how
anxiously they urge them to follow. I was assured that
one person, who had gone out to New York only six
months ago, had already sent home to his friends £10,
which was received at the post-office the day before I
passed through Tarbert. The people look to America
as their home — Ireland as no longer theirs.

Conversing with a land-agent I met at Tralee, I find
that many landlords here are looking to the revival of
the potato as their chief hope of better times. They
are willing to reduce rents fifty per cent, and bear a
proportion of rates, but only for a time, till the crisis is
got over.

Tralee is a good town, with considerable trade, and
several handsome streets. It is connected with the sea
by a ship-canal, about a couple of miles in length. The
surrounding country is low-lying and fertile. To the
south it is wooded, and interspersed with villas, the
view from which to the sea, and the magnificent moun-
tain range to the west, running up from the water
nearly 3000 feet high, is very fine. From the
canal the land rises in gentle slopes, laid out in good-
sized fields of excellent soil. For several miles along
the coast the land is very superior, and great quantities
of sea- weed and calcareous sand are found on it. The
good quality of the land, and the command of sea-
weed, &c, enable the tenants to get on better here than

CASTLE-ISLAND. 99

in most other parts of the country. Rents are said to
be high, but I was not able to learn with precision what
they really are.

From Tralee to Castle-island the land is in some
places excellent, the best of it being supposed to be a
continuation of the "golden vein" of Tipperary. It is all
a highly improvable district, with abundance of lime-
stone and turf.

At Castle-island I again met MrHerbert,M.P.,and ac-
companied him over several farms in that neighbourhood.
Much of the land here is in grass, and none of it appears
to have been racked by the tenants. Several very superior
farms would be let here, ten miles from Tralee and an
equal distance from Killarney. Mr Herbert has for some
years back been pursuing a course of improvement on his
extensive estates. He has built a good slated dwelling-
house and out-houses on the greater number of his farms,
and encouraged an improved system of cultivation among
his tenants. Having engaged an agriculturist to reside
on his estate, and go among his tenants to instruct
them, every one of them has now portions of well-
managed green-crops. Some turnip-crops which I saw
to-day would do no discredit to the best farm in East
Lothian, either for the quality of the crop or the clean
state of the cultivation. I walked over a number of
these farms, and feel satisfied that, in thus encouraging
the native farmers, Mr Herbert is pursuing a wise course.
But he does not begin by merely telling them how to
grow green-crops. He first erects housing for the stock
in which to consume the green crops profitably ; then he
provides his agriculturist with mixed grass-seeds, to dis-

100 mr Herbert's estate.

tribute among such of the tenants, free of charge, as have
land prepared for them : the only condition being that an
equal extent of land must be laid down with good seeds
every succeeding year, or, failing that, the first cost of
the seeds must be repaid. Then, at present, he pays
the whole of the poor-rates, and for some time has also
given reductions of rent, averaging twenty-five per cent.
His tenants are all dairy farmers, which is probably the
safest system that can be followed in their circumstances.
They are comfortable, pay their rents with regularity,
and there is not on this estate any unoccupied land — a
statement which cannot, perhaps, be made of any other
considerable estate in the county. Taken as a whole,
there seems to be as much prudent foresight exhibited
in the management of this property, and as favourable
results to both landlord and tenant, as any which I
have yet seen in the west of Ireland; and I attribute
this chiefly to the fact that Mr Herbert has, for many
years, made it his study to understand and see to the
discharge of his duties as a landlord.

Approaching Killarney, the country becomes well
wTooded and rich. The streets were crowded with
country people. Proceeding through the town, we drove
on about two miles along a finely wooded road, till we
reached Muckross, after passing the houses of several
resident proprietors.

In the afternoon I rode out with Mr Herbert,
through his grounds and round Muckross Lake, about
eight miles. There is not probably in the kingdom
a more beautiful ride, through woods of native oak
and evergreens, among which the arbutus is a pecu-

SCENERY OF KILLARNEY. 101

liar feature. That tree grows here naturally in great
profusion and luxuriance, and this is said to be the
only place north of the Alps where it is found indi-
genous. The yew and the holly, with the arbutus,
make a perpetual verdure in this drive. It runs along
a peninsula, dividing Muckross from the Lower Lake
of Killarney ; and every now and then skirting their
banks, it affords views of the majestic mountains which
overhang them. From the bridge over the stream which
connects the two lakes, the prospect is most beautiful. The
fine mountain Glena on the right, rising abruptly from
the lake, with oak and evergreens fringing its base, and
the feathery larch and fir stretching far up its rugged
sides • and on the left the brown Tore, wTooded from
the lake nearly to its summit ; while immediately
beneath, the waters of both lakes are rippling on their
shores — all form a scene which one is unwilling to leave.
Crossing the bridge, and riding onwards, a neat cottage
is seen, where tourists are allowed to enter and eat their
repast. Landing-places from both lakes are near it.
But I must not pause on the picturesque, for pages
might be written without conveying more than a notion
of the varied beauty which everywhere greets the eye.
Wooded mountains, lakes, and islands, glens and water-
falls, the shooting of the " rapids " through the arch of
the ancient bridge, the quiet bays and winding shores,
must all be visited to be understood.

Next morning we rowed from Muckross to the west-
ern extremity of the lower lake, a distance of eight
miles, passing on our left a continuous wood stretching
from the lake far up the glens and sides of the moun-

102 BUILDING SITES ON THE LOWER LAKE.

tain. Herds of red deer frequent this wood, the last
place in which they are now to be found wild in Ire-
land.

We landed at the western extremity of the lake, and
walked over a considerable extent of ground, skirting
its shores, and running along the river Loune to nearly
opposite the castle of Dunloe, which Mr Herbert is
desirous of letting in building lots. It is within three
or four miles of the town of Killarney, near an excellent
road ; the soil is good, dry sharp land, easy of cultiva-
tion, and, sloping towards the south, it commands views
of the finest description. The Gap of Dunloe, Mac-
gillicuddy's Reeks, with the wooded mountains on the
south shore of the lake, the lake itself, and its islands,
are all before you. The boating on the lakes, and fish-
ing in the river, the banks of which are highly pictu-
resque, add to its attractions. When the railway, now
partly constructed, shall be completed to Killarney, this
ground will be eagerly sought after, as in few parts of
Great Britain could a sweeter spot or a milder climate
be found.

The country from this point to the sea, an extent of
several miles, is a good agricultural district ; generally
dry, sharp land, with a good depth of soil, easily culti-
vated, and peculiarly suited to green crops.

CHAPTER IX.

THE BLACKWATER ROSNALEE — SUBLETTING — DROMAGH KING WILLIAMS-
TOWN RECLAMATION OF WASTE LANDS — SUCCESS OF THE EXPERIMENT

DEPENDENT ON CON- ACRE LABOUR CON-ACRE LABOUR DESCRIBED

VALLEY OF THE BLACKWATER MALLOW TO CORK MR JEFFRYEs'

FARMS EXCELLENT MANAGEMENT OF STOCK — RENT OF LAND — " WASTE

LAND " BECAUSE DESERTED — TIPPERARY — LORD HAWARDEN's FARMS

— ROAD SESSIONS MR BIANCONI HIS ESTATE LORD STANLEY'S

FARMS — GOOLDS CROSS TO DUBLIN — GLASNEVIN.

On November 5 th, after visiting Muckross Abbey, I
proceeded by Killarney towards Kanturk, the first few
miles passing through a rather interesting country. On
reaching the rising ground three or four miles from
Killarney, one is struck with the neatness of the farm
houses, stackyards, gates, and turnip fields, all reminding
you of the tidiness of small English farms. The hand
of improvement has been here, teaching industry and
skill, and reaping through these the reward of a comfort-
able and prosperous tenantry. This is again the estate
of Mr Herbert, and no one can pass it by without
inwardly thanking the man who has dealt so wisely and
so well with those committed to his charge.

After passing this estate, the road leads through a high
cold country, till, crossing the Blackwater, we enter the
county of Cork. Along the banks of this river the land

104 ROSNALEE — KANTURK UNION.

is of better quality, and continues so for some miles
farther. It is wet and undrained, but would pay well
for drainage in the improved quality of the grass for
pasture, though not suitable for extensive tillage. It
is stocked by the small farmers with dairy cows.

Approaching Rosnalee, the property of Mr Leader,
you enter a coal district, where an anthracite coal is
worked, which is used principally for burning lime. The
fields are laid out in large divisions, neatly fenced with
thorn hedges, and interspersed with plantations. Here
the farming is under the management of Scotch stew-
ards. The turnip crops are excellent. Mr Leader
keeps a large dairy, comprising 70 Ayrshire cows. The
milk is made into butter for the London market.

The management of this farm appeared careful and
judicious. There are excellent green crops and ample
house accommodation; but, being situated in the pau-
perised union of Kanturk, the whole profits are con-
sumed by the claims of poverty. Last year the net
returns of the farm for rent were 24s. 6d. an acre ; the
rates and taxes on it 25s. an acre !

Walking through the fields I came to the estate
of a neighbouring non-resident proprietor, who had
let his lands to a middleman, and he again had
parcelled them out to cottiers. The whole land
was swarming with miserable huts, in some of which
as many as three families were congregated. They
had no crops or stock of any kind ; the land was
waste, and the people must perforce live by plundering
their richer neighbours. Now, this estate and its
paupers must be supported by the industry of the well-

COTTIERS — DROMAGH. N^jCAft05

T » - .

conducted farmers of the union, which is a monstrous
hardship. So wretched are many of these people, that
a poor boy, whom we saw gleaning in a potato field,
had secured from his forenoon's toil only about two
handfuls of half-rotten potatoes. He was starving,
and came running like a hungry dog ; and I fear no
care in the workhouse now can bring that poor ne-
glected creature through. He said he would go to it
next day, but the repugnance to the workhouse is uni-
versal. Anything will be endured, short of absolute
and continued want, rather than enter its imposing
gates.

Proceeding on to the Blackwater river, I walked
with Mr Leader along a tract of excellent holm land
on its banks, passing some first-rate green crops, tur-
nips and mangold, on one of Mr Nicholas Leader's
farms. We soon reached an extensive flour-mill, where
the grain of the surrounding district is bought and
manufactured.

Next morning I accompanied Mr Nicholas Leader to
his farms at Dromagh, one of the ancient castles of the
O'Keefes, now converted into a comfortable farmyard.
Mr Leader keeps a dairy stock, rearing and feeding off
their produce. His stock and green crops were well
managed. As to the cheapness of labour in this coun-
try, I saw here a proof that low wages and cheap labour
are not synonymous terms. Two men, at 8d. a-day
each, were employed to feed 32 cattle, cutting their tur-
nips and cleaning the feeding-houses, &c. In Scotland
one man would do the whole with ease. Hay, by task-
work, costs 3s. 6d. an Irish acre for mowing. It could

106 KING WILLIAMSTOWN.

be done for the same in Scotland. Ploughmen do
nearly as much work in the field as a Scotch plough-
man, but here they require help in cleaning out the
stables. Theft is so common that green crops must be
watched night and day ; and, for the same reason, it
is not safe to keep a sheep stock in this part of the
country.

Mr Leader kindly drove me to King William stown,
where an experiment was made by Government on a
portion of the crown lands, to ascertain whether waste
mountain land, at a high elevation, can be profitably
cultivated. After driving some twelve miles through a
cold bleak country, we reached this estate, which is very
extensive. It is situated near the source of the Black-
water in the county of Cork, and bordering with Kerry.
It is 850 feet above the level of the sea, generally deep
bog, but part of it black land resting on clay, and part
dry sharp land. It is by no means the worst quality of
mountain bog ; and, though at a high elevation, it is
reached by a gradual ascent along an excellent road ;
and the land is an easy slope, with a northerly aspect,
on the spot where the model farm has been placed. The
improvements were begun in 1833, under the superin-
tendence of the Board of Works, and the immediate
management of Mr Boyan. The first thing was to open
up the country, by constructing an excellent road com-
municating with Kanturk and Tralee, the estate being
about fourteen Irish miles from the former. It was
then partitioned out into small farms with suitable
steadings, in each of which the individuals who formerly
held the lands were placed. A village was built, with

GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENT. 107

an inn, a school, carpenter's, blacksmith's, and other
tradesmen's houses. The model farm of 300 acres was
then laid out, and farm-buildings erected.* The land
was divided into fields which were drained — though,
from the rushj appearance of the fields, that operation
seems to have been very imperfectly done. A limestone
quarry being fortunately discovered at no great distance, a
kiln was erected, and this valuable manure for reclaiming
mountain land got at a very moderate expense on the spot.
In this, the experiment had a peculiar and a very great
advantage. A stock of dairy cattle was gradually intro-
duced, green crops cultivated, and a regular rotation
established.

The land was worked by con-acre labour. That is,
the people assembled in spring, and agreed to pay
£6 an acre for the use of wild heath land, to grow
potatoes. They got lime for it, but put in the seed and
tilled the land at their own cost, giving their labour on
the farm till it paid this exorbitant rent. A second
crop of potatoes was taken, dung being applied to the
land, and the rent proportionally increased. The land
was then ready for turnips or oats, after which it was
sown out with grass seeds, and laid to pasture. The
moor was thus converted into grass at no other expense
than that of seed, inasmuch as the labour of the people
in cultivating their own potato crops reclaimed it from
its natural state, and the rent they paid for the use of
the ground repaid their labour in the subsequent pro-

* The Government pay rates and county-cess for all their tenants here.
Some of those who are most favourably situated are said to be going on
well, but many of them will be obliged to give up their holdings on account
of the failure of the potato.

108 EECLAMATION OF WASTE LAND.

cesses of improvement. As long as the potato remained
sound, the experiment prospered ; but now that money
wages must be paid, it does not succeed.

The success of the system was thus totally based on
the potato ; and the scheme seems rather to have been
intended to show how many people could be kept alive
by the cultivation of waste lands, than to exhibit an
example of an improvement in the condition of the
people resulting from the reclamation of land. Better
far that this tract should be left to the undisturbed pos-
session of the curlew and the solitary raven, than that
it should be made the means of perpetuating a system
which only thrives through the misery of the people.

The failure of an experiment may be as instructive
as its success. At this moment, if the fee-simple of the
model farm, with the stock and crop on it, were sold, they
would not repay the capital sunk in the undertaking,
while it is acknowledged that, without con-acre labour,
the returns will not pay the expenses. The experiment
at King Williamstown may therefore serve as a beacon
to warn others against any similar attempt.

It does not follow, however, that these waste lands
are irreclaimable. Lying four hundred miles farther
south than the sheep farms of Sutherland and Caith-
ness, whence come the finest Cheviot wethers of the
great Inverness sheep fair, they have the advantage of
a much milder climate. Surface drains, for the improve-
ment of the land as sheep pasture, might be cheaply
executed, and lime, for top-dressing it, obtained on the
spot. There are now excellent roads of access, and the
whole district lies within twenty miles of the line of

KANTURK — CON-ACRE. 109

railway from Cork to Dublin. In this district, and the
adjoining tract in the county of Kerry, it is said that
there are upwards of 200,000 acres of land, which, I
have no doubt, might be converted into valuable farms
for grazing sheep or cattle.

We returned from King Williamstown through New-
market, where a whole street is converted into an auxi-
liary poor-house. In Kanturk also several houses,
tanneries, &c, are in requisition for the same purpose.
Extensive improvements are here going on by Sir
Edward Tierney, who is enclosing, draining, and culti-
vating his estate, and giving a great deal of employment,
for which he pays in cash.

I make this remark, as the con-acre system was
hitherto the universal plan of conducting the labour of
farms in this part of the country. According to the
quality of the land, it was charged to the labourer at
from £6 to £8 and £10 an acre per annum, the most
worthless heath being let, when limed, at the former
sum. The rent was paid by the labourer's work ; and
the system was, to let out as much land as paid the
whole labour bill of the farm. In every way the neces-
sities of the labourer were taken advantage of. The
highest rent was charged, and that was paid by the
lowest rate of wages. This system of course fell to
pieces when the potato failed ; and the farmer, having
no capital to pay his labourers in cash, failed also.

On the 7th of November I left Rosnalee for Cork,
proceeding down the valley of the Blackwater as far
as the railway station at Mallow. I passed through
many miles of fine country in this valley, which improves

110 MALLOW TO COEK.

towards Mallow, becoming more wooded also, and pic-
turesque. Some of it is under good management, some
very bad, and much of it would be greatly improved
by drainage. Limestone is abundant. This valley
continues to Youghal, where the Black water falls into
the sea. The soil seemed a fine free alluvial loam.

For some miles we skirted the banks of an unfinished
canal, which had been commenced many years ago, but
never completed. Coming from Killarney I passed
the new line of railway which is formed, and consider-
ably advanced towards completion, for about ten miles
from that town. The genius of the country seems to
lead the people to jump too rapidly to conclusions,
commencing undertakings without sufficiently counting
the cost. The canal is superseded by the railway,
which will no doubt be completed in a few years ; for,
independent of the tourist traffic to Killarney, it will
open up a rich and extensive tract of country, extending
to Tralee. But it appears most inconsiderate to have
begun the railway at Killarney, instead of continuing it
by degrees from the point of junction with the main
line. Beginning at the wrong end, the whole work
must of course be isolated till completed ; whereas, if it
had been begun from the main line, the distance would
have been gradually shortening, and the capital expended
would sooner come into play.

From Mallow to Cork by railway the country is a
succession of eminences, not of a very promising charac-
ter, but capable of much improvement by drainage and
good farming.

At Cork I was fortunate in meeting with Mr

EXTENSIVE FARMING AT BLARNEY CASTLE. Ill

St John Jeffryes of Blarney Castle, to whom I had
an introduction. This gentleman farms about 2000
acres of his own estate, which is about three miles
to the north-west of the city, and over which he
kindly accompanied me. It is divided into several
farms, with threshing- mills on each. Turnips are
grown very extensively, and white carrots for the
farm-horses. There are about 300 acres of irrigated
meadows, which afford excellent food for the dairy
and other stock. The dairy consists of 170 cows,
partly short-horn and crosses, but all of a large size.
On one farm the cows are fed constantly in the house,
and they do quite as well as those which are pastured,
while the same number do not consume nearly as many
acres of produce, and make a vast quantity of manure.
The whole stock are fed daily on cut hay steeped in
distillery wash. This seemed an excellent and very
palatable food. The milk-cows get draff mixed with it.
They are fed four times daily ; in the morning and
evening with the hay mixture, twice during the day with
turnips. All the turnips are cut with gardeners' cutters.
The milk is sold at a fixed price to a man who takes it
daily at the farm.

Besides the cows, Mr Jeffryes feeds out part of their
produce — viz., 100 calves, 100 year-olds, and 100 two-
year-olds, which are turned out fat annually. The
calves are first fed in pens singly ; they are then put
into loose-boxes, three in each, for the winter. These
boxes are constructed on the plan of Mr Blair Warren
of Norfolk, with a feeding passage in front of them,
and a door to each for removing the dung when

112 MANAGEMENT OF STOCK AND CROP.

it accumulates. They are very cheaply and simply
made with home wood, thatched, the walls of inter-
laced wicker-work. The calves are fed on the hay
mixture, and as many cut turnips as they can eat.
They were in a very thriving state. The year-olds are
kept in sheds and open courts, twenty or thirty in each,
fed on turnips and straw. The two-year-olds live partly
in small courts with sheds, three or four in each, but
principally housed in loose-boxes. They get turnips
three times a-day, besides the cut hay mixture. They
were very thriving cattle.

A sheep-shed has just been completed, in which
about 200 sheep will be fed this season on Mr Hux-
table's plan. The sheep were clipped before being put
in, and yielded Is. 3d. worth of wool each.

The horses are fed on cut hay, 70 lb. each of white
carrots, and a few pounds of oats daily.

Mr Jeffryes sows his wheat on clover lea, using
furrow pressers, without which he thinks it would
be imprudent to sow it at all after grass or clover.
The Suffolk drill is used for sowing after fallow
or green crops, where the land is loose. For winter
beans, which are now coming up, the stubble is dunged,
and the seed sown in every third furrow, the surface
being harrowed afterwards.

The soil generally is a red gravelly turnip soil, rest-
ing on a very stiff and obdurate subsoil. It is being
drained 4 feet deep and 21 feet apart. The cutting,
which is very hard to do, costs 6d. per rood of 18 feet.

The land would let here at 20s. to 30s. an English
acre, rates 4 s. to 7s. an acre more. Any quantity of

IMPERFECT MODE OF CLEANING GRAIN. 113

manure can be got from Cork, where there is also a
market for all kinds of produce.

The old castle of Blarney, with its " blarney stone/'
and famous " groves," stands in the middle of this exten-
sive occupation. The water-meadows are in the valley
below the castle. The land surrounding it is old pas-
ture of fine quality, resting on limestone, a mass of
which is here most usefully protruded through the
surface.

So near Cork, I was surprised to find that Mr
Jeffryes did not set a watch on each of his turnip
fields, like everybody else in this country. He takes a
different plan, having offered a reward of a guinea to
any person who prosecutes to conviction any one who
is found thieving his turnips. The first year this plan
cost about fifteen guineas, but it gradually fell off, and
now he has never a complaint of loss.

Mr Jeffryes has spent many years of his life in
bringing these farms into their present high state of
cultivation, and especially in perfecting the arrange-
ments of his dairy and feeding stock. He might be
disposed to subdivide, and let them in suitable-sized
occupations, to skilful and enterprising tenants.

In cleaning grain for the market, in this country, it
is not considered necessary to prepare it so carefully
as we do in Scotland. Light grain and seeds of weeds,
which would be blown or sifted out with us, are here not
found injurious to its sale. This may in some degree
account for the apparently low price of Irish grain,
when it comes to the English market.

It is difficult for a stranger, going through the

H

114 LAW OF EJECTMENT.

country, to form a correct judgment as to whom he
should blame for the wretched cottages and villages he
passes. On many estates these are built on land which
is held from the head landlord on long leases, and sub-
let by his tenant. In such cases the landlord may
have no more control in the matter than the traveller,
who hastily concludes that, because So-and-so owns the
land, therefore he must be a heartless fellow to permit
such a state of misery to continue.

Leaving Cork on the morning of 8th November, I
returned by railway to Mallow. Thence to Buttevant,
the country along the line is much in need of drainage.
After passing Buttevant northwards, the land improves
on to the county of Limerick, where the railway soon
after enters the " golden vein." And here " waste "
land is seen — that is, land deserted by the tenant, and
unoccupied by the landlord. The law of ejectment is
somehow defective in permitting a tenant to leave his
land, and yet not giving the landlord power to enter to
it. If the tenant quits the farm himself, taking with
him stock and crop, and performing no act of tillage,
but only keeps a person in the house, the landlord,
before he can serve notice of ejectment, must allow one
year's arrear of rent to accrue. The ejectment cannot
be enforced for six months more, and the tenant may
redeem his farm any time during another six months.
In this way, the land may be, and often is, waste for
two successive years, rates and taxes accumulating all
the while.*

* We have a law in Scotland, which might be very usefully introduced
into Ireland — that, where a tenant deserts his farm and leaves it un-
laboured, at the usual time of labouring, the landlord may obtain an imme-

115

From Charleville to Tipperary, and thence to Dun-
drum, the land is all good, though generally in need of
drainage. At Dundrum House I saw Lord Hawarden,
who kindly took me oyer his grounds, and also showed
me his sheep and cattle. The variety of wood and ever-
greens in the pleasure-grounds is very pleasing ; and
the rich pasture-lands, extending as far as the eye can
reach, interspersed everywhere with fine old trees, and
fat beeves and flocks of sheep grazing beneath them,
form quite an English landscape. The rapidity of the
growth of trees here is surprising. Lord Hawarden
pointed out to me three large oak-trees planted by him
no longer ago than 1813. Hollies and laurels grow to
the size of forest trees ; and these again shoot up to a
great height with clear bright stems, showing the rich-
ness of the soil and genial climate. There is a great
extent of plantations on this estate, which is very un-
usual in any part of Ireland farther west.

Lord Hawarden has about 3000 acres of land in his
own occupation, a great proportion of which is in
grass. The stock consists of two or three hundred head
of cattle, and 1400 sheep. The sheep are bred on the
land, and are of prime quality. The cattle are mostly
half-bred Durhams, bought in the country as calves,
and kept till turned out fat. 200 acres of hay are
made annually.

I accompanied his lordship to a road session, where
the gentry were met to pass the accounts for making

diate order on the tenant to find security for the rent ; and on his failure to
do so, may procure authority at once to resume possession by an exceedingly
simple process.

116 PROSPECTS OF TIPPERARY.

and repairing roads for the half-year. The contracts
had all been taken by small farmers, (a mile or two by
each,) of whom a great number were present.

In the afternoon Mr Stewart, Lord Hawarden's agent,
accompanied me in a drive through the adjoining
country. There will be many fine estates in this quarter
for sale ; and, as the people are now surrendering their
farms, it is thought that a stranger would incur no
danger by purchasing or leasing land here. Yet there
are disagreeable legends associated with bushes here and
there on the road-sides, whence issued the deadly shot,
too recent to make one feel altogether comfortable. Iron
shutters, pistols on the mantel-piece ready capped and
loaded, hall doors heavily barred and bolted, indicate a
present of insecurity. A well-appointed railway, with
handsome road-side stations, setting down and taking
up punctual busy people six times a-day, running through
the centre of the county, with roads diverging from every
station, and coaches and cars constantly traversing them,
point to an early future of prosperity and peace for
Tipperary. It is not the lowest class, or the most des-
titute, who commit the murders which have shocked
society and made the name of this county infamous :
the small farmers, who themselves traffic in subletting
to those below them at exorbitant rents, grinding the
faces of the very poorest, are said to be the perpetrators
or chief instigators to crime.

On the morning of 9 th November, I breakfasted with
Mr Bianconi, at his mansion on the Suir, within a mile of
Goold's Cross station on the Dublin and Cork railway.
This well-known and remarkable man is an Italian by

117

birth — a proof, as he himself says, that a stranger may
succeed in Ireland. He commenced his career, between
thirty and forty years ago, in Clonmel, " making," as he
told me, " a shilling a-day, and living upon eight-
pence." After saving a little money, he started a car
in 1815 from Clonmel to Cahir. With the profits of
this he extended it to Tipperary and Limerick, and
then to Cashel and Thurles, and subsequently to Car-
rick and Waterford. He paid everybody in his employ-
ment fair and liberal wages, and insisted on punctuality,
sobriety, and honesty in return. Gradually he extended
his line of communication further over the country, and
by his enterprise contributed much to open up and
civilise it. As the railways drive him off the main lines
of traffic, he extends into remoter districts, and every
part of the west of Ireland is now daily traversed by
his conveyances. While accommodating the public, he
has also realised a fortune for himself, and purchased a
fine estate on the Suir, a few miles from Cashel.

The house is well situated, commanding a view over
a rich country, with the river Suir about 100 yards
from the front door. The grounds are ornamented with
statues and vases in the Italian style, and the rooms
adorned with paintings by the old masters. I accom-
panied Mr Bianconi over his estate, where he appears to
continue the same liberal system which insured his suc-
cess with the public. His land is very moderately
rented, and he is building commodious and comfortable
slated farm-houses and out-buildings for his tenants.
The plan, which is the same in all, for heating the dairy

118 GLASNEVIN MODEL-FARM.

is worth noting. The dairy is immediately behind the
kitchen, and, by an economical and ingenious contriv-
ance, the flue of the kitchen fire is carried all round the
dairy, thus heating it cheaply in winter, while another
flue, leading directly up the chimney, is used in summer.
The farm-buildings will cost from £4 to £5 an acre over
Mr Bianconi's estate.

Near Cashel, Lord Stanley's agent will be glad to let
one or two farms of 300 to 400 Irish acres each : said
to be very good land on limestone, principally in grass.
He will build suitable farm-houses and out-buildings.
The rent expected is upwards of £2 an Irish acre, the
tenant paying county rates and half of poor-rates.

Joining the railway at Goold's Cross, I proceeded
direct to Dublin, passing through Queen's County and
Kildare. Farmers might examine the land on the line
of this railway all the way to Limerick. Plenty of the
best land, it is said, will be let on moderate terms.

At Dublin, after having been honoured with an au-
dience by the Lord Lieutenant, I, at his Excellency's
request, visited the model agricultural school and farm
of Glasnevin, where I met Dr Kirkpatrick, Inspector
of Agricultural Schools in Ireland, and Mr Donaghy,
the teacher and manager of this farm. I accompanied
them over the farm, which now extends to 128 English
acres, a very large addition having been recently made
to it, involving a change of plan, and the erection of a
new range of farm-buildings. Scope has now been gofr
for exhibiting in operation a 3, 4, and 5 course rotation
of crops, so that the pupils may learn the details of each

CROSSING THE CHANNEL, 1779-1849. 119

system, and be able to apply whichever is thought most
suitable in the locality to which they are afterwards
transferred. We then went to the school-room, where
we found about forty young men, agricultural pupils.
Mr Donaghy examined them on the theory and practice
of agriculture, in which they appeared to have acquired
great proficiency.

This concluded my agricultural observations in Ire-
land, as I left Dublin next day for Kingston and Holy-
head. The mail packet, notwithstanding a heavy gale,
landed us in about five hours at Holyhead. Seventy
years ago, Arthur Young, returning from a tour in Ire-
land, thus describes his perilous voyage. On the 17th
October, he got on board the packet, but was landed
next morning, as the wind was foul : — " On 1 9th Octo-
ber, the wind being fair, I went back to the ship ; met
with a fresh scene of provoking delays, so that it was
the next morning, October 20th, before we sailed.
f * * We were, by contrary winds, blown oppo-
site to Arklow sands ; a violent gale arose, which pre-
sently blew a storm that lasted thirty-six hours, in which,
under a reefed mainsail, the ship drifted up and down,
wearing in order to keep clear of the coasts. The wind
blew in furious gusts ; the waves ran very high ; the
cabin windows burst open, and the sea pouring in set
everything afloat ; and among the rest, a poor lady who
had spread her bed on the floor. We had, however,
the satisfaction to find, by trying the pumps every
watch, that the ship made little water. It pleased God

120 1779—1849.

to preserve us ; but we did not cast anchor in Milford
haven till Tuesday morning, the 22d, at one o'clock."
Five days were thus occupied on a voyage which is now
regularly made in as many hours. Would that an
improvement equally great could be discerned in the
comfort and condition of the people of Ireland !

CHAPTER X.

REFLECTIONS — FARMERS* INVESTMENTS — LANDLOBDS* INVESTMENTS

OBSTACLE TO THE LATTER — INDEFINITE NATURE OF RATES — COMPARA-
TIVE STATE OF THE COUNTRY IN 1779 AND 1849 — ARTHUR YOUNG'S
TOUR — RISE OF RENTS — REDUNDANCY OF POPULATION — PROPORTION IN

EAST COMPARED WITH WEST DEPENDENCE ON POTATO RELIEF-WORKS

UNAVOIDABLY UNPRODUCTIVE — INCREASE OF GRAND- JURY CESS AND POOR
AND LABOUR RATES ALL PRIMARILY THROWN ON THE TENANT — ABAN-
DONMENT OF FARMS NECESSITY OF A LIMITATION OF RATES TO ENCOU-
RAGE IMMIGRATION OF CAPITALISTS EMIGRATION VARIABLE AMOUNT

OF VALUATION PROPRIETY OF DISCOURAGING CON-ACRE — SIMPLIFICA-
TION OF SALE AND TRANSFER OF LAND — INCIDENCE OF GRAND-JURY
CESS UNJUST TO TENANT ADVANTAGES OF TRANSFERRING IT TO LAND-
LORD CURE FOR ABSENTEEISM UNEXHAUSTED IMPROVEMENTS POPU-
LATION OF CONNAUGHT COMPARED WITH ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

NECESSITY FOR A COMPREHENSIVE MEASURE.

In briefly recording the general impression left on my
mind by my visit to the west of Ireland, altogether apart
from the social state of that country, which will be after-
wards considered, I may state that I was much sur-
prised to find so great an extent of fine fertile land.
The interior of the country is very level, and its general
character stony and dry ; the soil deep and friable.
The humidity of the climate causes a very constant
vegetation, which has both advantages and disadvan-
tages. It is favourable for grass and green crops, but
renders it necessary to employ very vigorous and per-

122

severing efforts to extirpate weeds. The abundance of
lime everywhere, both in the rock itself, and as sand and
gravel beneath the surface, are of the greatest value.
The roads, in all directions, are good, and the railway
to Galway when opened, and that to Limerick and Cork
already opened, offer great facility for the disposal of
produce. The best breeds of cattle and sheep have
been introduced with the greatest advantage.

A farmer taking land in any of the western coun-
ties with a view to its cultivation, will be welcomed as
a benefactor by the labouring population. He will of
course wisely avoid any interference with the parties
still in possession of land, as there is plenty of land in
the country unoccupied ; and numerous demesnes which
have always, hitherto, been in the proprietor's hands,
but which many are now desirous to let. These are
generally provided with good buildings ; but, at any rate,
there are several landlords willing to erect, at their own
expense, all necessary buildings, as mentioned in the
foregoing pages. On making their agreements, they
must take care that the party with whom they wish to
agree has full authority to conclude a bargain ; and I
would again caution them not to enter into any engage-
ment without fixing precisely the amount of rates of all
kinds, as well as rent, for which they are to be liable.
If prudent, skilful men, with sufficient capital, go to
that country, they can scarcely fail to succeed. Rents
are now considerably lower than land of similar quality
can yet be got for in this country. Indeed, I think the
outlet which farmers from England and Scotland are
likely to find in the best parts of the West of Ireland,

LANDLORDS' INVESTMENTS. 123

may prove a wholesome check to the gradual, but con-
stant, rise of rents, which has been going on for many
years back on all the green-crop lands of the northern
division of Great Britain. There is one point of prac-
tical detail in which new men would probably introduce
a change. I mean as regards the earlier maturity of
sheep. On the great proportion of good land in the
West of Ireland there can be nothing to prevent sheep
being sold fat at 12 to 15 months, instead of three
years as at present, turnips or other artificial winter
food being of course provided. The accomplishment
of this change would make a very material increase to
the wealth of that country.

The immense number of estates which will now be
brought to sale under the Encumbered Estates Act,
renders it necessary for me to offer one or two remarks on
the probability of purchasers being found to offer for
them. Irish proprietors, or their encumbrancers, must
not delude themselves with the idea that a capitalist
will fail to consider the difference betwixt a dilapi-
dated estate, without buildings, fences, or any other of
those improvements which the care and outlay of years
have accumulated on an English property. They will
make all due allowances for the difference of having
everything to send to a distant market, instead of find-
ing a market at home. The state of the cottages on
estates will be considered, as no humane man would
wish to see the present miserable hovels continued, in
the event of his becoming a purchaser. He will there-
fore calculate on an annual deduction from his rental
for improving them. Then, without a very adequate

124 OBSTACLES TO SALE OF ESTATES.

inducement, a man will not leave this country, with all
its conveniences and luxuries, the society he has been
accustomed to, the well-ordered people among whom he
has hitherto dwelt, — to exchange these for a residence
in the West of Ireland, where, for some years to come,
there must of necessity be much misery to be witnessed
and encountered. He will look to the causes which
produced an unsound, and, in many cases, too high
rental, and to the possibility that the burden of grand-
jury cess may be laid hereafter on the right shoulders —
those of the landlord instead of the tenant. And when
all these things are taken into account, a purchaser still
has before him one thing which, if not settled by the
interposition of Government, will render the Encumbered
Estates Bill a dead letter, in so far as regards the dis-
tressed districts of the West of Ireland, and that is —

THE INDEFINITE INCREASE OF RATES.

Until a limit shall be placed, beyond which individual
property cannot be made responsible for the whole
poverty of a union, there can be no improvement, and
no hope of new men, with capital, venturing it in a specu-
lation, the result of which is placed altogether beyond
their control. The consideration of this leads me into
a large question, which I will merely attempt to touch
upon.

In passing through the western counties of Ireland, it
may not strike the stranger that there is any apparent
redundancy of population. The numerous habitations
are generally in bye-roads, huddled together ; or on the
margins of bogs ; or walled in on the summit of a bar-
ren rock, (as I saw one case in the county of Limerick,)

CONDITION OF IRELAND IN 1779. 125

and therefore unnoticed by the traveller ; or on very
rocky, stony ground, where the plough cannot be eco-
nomically used, and where, from the frequent rocky
obstructions, one does not see at once the dense popula-
tion which is sheltered by many an Arabia Petraea in
the West of Ireland. Numbers of the people also are
lodged in the union poor-houses. It is only, therefore,
by consulting the statistical returns that accurate infor-
mation on this point can be obtained.

Before proceeding to do so, however, it will be
instructive to compare the state of the country at the
time of Arthur Young's visit, with what it is now. In
1779, just seventy years ago, that celebrated agricultural
writer made a tour through Ireland, an account of which
he soon after published. It is full of agricultural infor-
mation as to the state of the people, the landlords, and
the land. It gives very full details as to rental, pro-
ducts, tenantry, labouring poor, price of provisions,
roads, waste -lands' improvement, public works, flax
culture, free trade ! Indeed, nearly all the questions
which now occupy the public mind in reference to Ire-
land are there treated of ; and much that Arthur Young
says is as applicable to the present condition of Ireland
as it was then. " I have reason to believe," he says,
" that five pounds sterling per English acre expended
over all Ireland, which amounts to £88,341,136,
would not more than build, fence, plant, drain, and
improve that country, to be upon a par in those respects
with England. And farther, that if those 88 millions were
so expended, it would take much above 20 millions more
— or above 20s. an acre — in the hands of the farmers

126 PRICES IN 1779 AND 1849.

in stock of husbandry, to put them on an equal footing
with those of her sister kingdom ; nor is this calculation
so vague as it might at first sight appear, since the
expenses of improvement and stock are very easily
estimated in both countries. This is the resolution of
that surprising inferiority in the rent of Ireland : the
English farmer pays a rent for his land in the state he
finds it, which includes not only the natural fertility of
the soil, but the immense expenditure which national
wealth has in the progress of time poured into it ; but
the Irishman finds nothing he can afford to pay a rent
for, but what the bounty of God has given, unaided
by either wealth or industry." — Part II. p. 12.

Can it be said, in the immense majority of cases, that
there has been any change in this, or that the landlords
generally have expended any capital in providing neces-
sary buildings, &c, on their farms. In that respect there
has been no change ; but as regards rent, the advance
has been enormous, arising partly, no doubt, from the
general accumulation of wealth throughout the kingdom,
but principally from the competition for land caused by
the rapid increase in the population, and the encour-
agement of the con -acre potato system. The following
table shows a comparative view of

Prices and Bates of 1799

ara£1849, in the

County of Limerick.

Oct. 1779. Oct. 1849.

Wheat per stone,

Is.

Is.

Beef per lb.,

3d.

3d. to 4d.

Butter,

7^d.

7|d.

Wool,

lid.

lOd.

3 years old wethers on good land, ) 25a

40s.

per head,

Labourers' wages,

. 6|d.to8d.

7d. to lOd.

ACREABLE PRODUCE IN 1779 AND 1849. 127

Oct. 1779.

Oct. 1849.

Rent of feeding land per Irish acre,

30s.

45s.

Rent of "corcase" (rich alluvial) land,

30s.

70s.

Price of a ton of hay,

35s.

20s.

Con-acre rent of potato ground per )
Irish acre, )

100s. to 120s.

120s. to 200s.*

Grand-jury cess per acre,

3d. to

6d.

2s. 6d. to 53.

Poor-rates per £,

nothing.

3s. 7d. to lis. 2d.

In the foregoing table there is much to explain the
bad feeling which exists between landlord and tenant.
But it must not be overlooked that the present scale of
prices is lower than has been known for some years,
and probably below the future range, on account of the
quantity of stock and crop thrown on the market through
the general alarm of falling prices, and the fears of,
and necessity to provide for, the payment of heavy
rates.

It will be noticed that the price of butcher-meat does
not stand much higher than in 1799 ; but the size and
quality of the animals have greatly improved, as may
be seen by the relative prices of three-year old
wethers, which have thereby increased in value 60 to
70 per cent.

Some progress in the same direction, though not in
an equal degree, is shown by a comparison of the ave-
rage produce of grain crops for the whole of Ireland, as
estimated by Arthur Young, with that of the constabu-
lary returns for 1848.

PRODUCE OF GRAIN CROPS PER ENGLISH ACRE.

1779. 1848.

Wheat, in bushels, . . . 18 21

Oats, ... . . " . 28 35

Barley, ... . . . 28 35

Potatoes in barrels, of 20 stones, . 52 30 (bad crop.)

* Eent previous to potato failure.

128 CONDITION OF LABOURERS IN 1779,

To complete the picture, it will be necessary to
examine the condition of the labourer in 1779 and
1849.

" A cottar/' says Young, "with a middling family,
will have two cows : there is not one without a cow.
All of them keep as many pigs as they can rear, and
some poultry. Their circumstances are rather better
than twenty years ago. Their acre of garden feeds them
the year through : nine months on potatoes, and the
other three on oaten bread from their own oats. The
consumption of potatoes not increased in twenty years.
A family of five persons will eat and waste forty -two
stone of potatoes in a week. They are not addicted in
any remarkable degree to thieving." (Part I.) " I have
been in a multitude of cabins that had much useful
furniture, and some even superfluous ; chairs, tables,
boxes, chests of drawers, earthenware, and, in short, most
of the articles found in a middling English cottage ;
but, upon inquiry, I very generally found that these
acquisitions were all made within the last ten years,
a sure sign of a rising national prosperity." (Part II.
page 36.) In the county of Kerry, however, the state
of the poor is represented-as " exceedingly miserable,
owing to the conduct of men of property, who are apt to
lay the blame on what they call land-pirates, or
men who offer the highest rent, and who, in order to
pay this rent, must and do relet all the cabin-lands at
an extravagant rise, which is assigning over all the
cabins to be devoured by one farmer. The cottars on
a farm cannot go from one to another in order to find
a good master, as in England ; for all the country is in

AND IN 1849. 129

the same system and no redress to be found. Such
being the case, the farmers are enabled to charge the
price of labour as low as they please, and rate the land
as high as they like. Owing to this, the poor are
depressed : they live upon potatoes and sour milk, and
the poorest of them only salt and water to them, with
now and then a herring. Their milk is bought ; for
very few keep cows ; scarce any pigs ; but a few poultry.
Their circumstances are incomparably worse than they
were twenty years ago ; for then they had all cows."
(Part I. 125.)

Seventy years have passed away, and the cottars of
Kerry are in a worse condition now than they appear
to have been even then. Those of Limerick, Clare, and
Tipperary, as described in the two first extracts, are
forgotten ; their descendants, instead of showing any con-
tinuance of that " rising national prosperity" mentioned
by Young, have fallen into a state of the utmost wretched-
ness. Their mud hovels are worse ; their wages nomi-
nally a little more : but as wages are usually paid by
con-acre, and as con-acre rent has increased in a still
greater degree, the condition of the cottar is really
much worse than in 1779. This is, of course, without
considering the failure of the potatoes ; for that has
completed their ruin.

The following figures place the matter clearly before
us : —

1779. 1849.

Labourer's wages, .... 5d. to 8d. 6d.tol0d.

Con-acre rent of potato groifhd per acre, 65s. to 120s. 120s. to 200s.

The rise in wages has been from a fifth to a sixth,
that of con-acre rent about a half to a third. The

130 RISE OF RENTS.

cottars' " one or two cows" have disappeared, and very
few now have even a pig.

It would seem, therefore, that the increased rent
now paid by the farmer, must have been made partly
from the increased produce already shown, and partly
from the higher rent exacted for the labourer's con-
acre, or (what is the same thing) for the less pro-
portion assigned to the labourer as his share of the
produce. It certainly cannot be said to have arisen
in any degree from the outlay of capital on the part of
the landlord in executing permanent improvements,
and thereby increasing the productiveness of his
land.

That it has risen enormously there can be no doubt
whatever.

1779. 1849.

The rent of feeding land in the county of Limerick was 30s. 45s.

„ of " corcase" rich alluvial meadow-land, . 30s. 70s.

And this must in great part be ascribed to the ruin-
ous competition for land consequent on an increase in
the population far more rapid than is warranted by the
increased development of the resources of the country.
It could not have occurred, therefore, except by the
increasing numbers gradually deteriorating in their con-
dition, and at length becoming wholly dependent upon
one kind of food, which failed them at last.

Here it will be right for a little to consider the ques-
tion of a redundant population. The following figures
show the proportions of people to the number of acres
under grain, in four of the best circumstanced agricultural
unions, and in four of the worst, in Ireland for 1848 : —

PKOPOKTION BETWEEN POPULATION AND FOOD. 131

ill

11°

res of
toes p<
acres o
rain.

WORST.

pie per
acres o
rain.

res of
toes pe
icres oi
rain.

Ph1^

11° *is°

8

West Port (Mayo)

1039 62

20

Bantry (Cork)

1221 120

12

Clifden (Galway)

1593 84

17

Kenmare (Kerry)

1530 175

Dunshaughlin (Meath) 100
Enniscorthy (Wexford) 103
Ardee (Louth & Meath) 129
Downpatrick (Down) 124

456 57 5383 441

Average, 114 14£ Average, 1345| 110£

The first four unions thus show an average of 114
people for every hundred acres of grain ; the last four
of 1345 people for the same quantity. The second
column shows the natural consequence of this difference
of population. Fourteen acres of potatoes for every
hundred of grain sufficed for the necessities of the popu-
lation in the four best unions, while the prodigious
numbers in the four worst compelled a resort to an
inferior but more productive food, and produced a pro-
portion of 110 acres of potatoes to every 100 acres of
grain. There was thus nearly a total dependence on
the potato ; for, if we take the four first unions as ap-
proximating to a right proportion between population
and grain produce, we shall find that twelve out of every
thirteen people in the worst unions were wholly depen-
dent on the cultivation of that root.

The social system of the West of Ireland may truly
be said, therefore, to have been based on the potato.
The con-acre labour enabled men without capital to
compete with each other for land ; hence the rents
steadily increased ; and the evil was perpetually
extending, from the effects of this food producing a
contented indolence in the habits of the people,

132 RELIEF WORKS.

whose potato cultivation required no continuous labour,
but, on the contrary, induced a " precocity consequent
on an inferior amount of vital energy," now considered
by economists the condition most favourable to the rapid
increase of the population.

When the potato failed, the whole system tumbled
to pieces. The people, no longer able to trust to their
potato garden, ceased to con-acre ; the tenant, deprived
of con-acre labour, had no money to pay wages in cash,
and his land became unproductive ; the landlord found
his rent disappearing, while a new order of things was
at the same time growing out of the confusion.

To prevent the fearful consequences of famine, im-
mense sums were advanced by Government for the em-
ployment of the people in " relief works." These were
administered by the grand juries, on the understanding
that the money so advanced was to be expended in
reproductive works, and to be repaid by instalments in
a limited number of years. The pressure was so great,
however, that it was generally found impossible to con-
trol the expenditure in such a manner as to make it
reproductive ; and, accordingly, vast sums were squan-
dered on works, some of which, if completed, might be
beneficial, but very many can never, under any circum-
stances, be of the least value to the community. In
consideration of the exigency, parliament forgave half
the debt, but now insists on the repayment, by instal-
ments, of the other half.

The famine brought disease and crime in its train.
Infirmaries, fever hospitals, dispensaries, and prisons,
were filled to overflowing. The expenses of these

INCREASE OF KATES. 133

establishments were enormous, and have increased
the grand-jury cess in many instances nearly 100 per
cent.

The poor-rate, of course, progressed in a far more
frightful ratio, increasing in one of the unions of the
county of Limerick from 4Jd. per pound in 1846, the
first year of the famine, to lis. 2d. in 1849. For the
whole county of Limerick, it is shown, by a report on
the financial condition of that county, which was unani-
mously agreed to by the magistrates and grand jurors,
on 24th November last, that the annual expenditure of
grand-jury rate, poor-rate, and labour-rate, had in-
creased from

1845.

1849.

Grand-jury rate,

.

. £37,821

to

£57,817

Poor-rate,

.

10,310

»

133,081

Labour-rate,

•

—

»

38,871

£48,131 £229,769

When it is considered that two-thirds of this enor-
mous increase was laid exclusively on the tenant, the
reader will be at no loss to understand what he sees in
the newspapers about " the flight of tenants/' and
" abandonment of farms." When the tenant goes, the
landlord gets the land to himself, with all its engage-
ments. No rent is coming in ; the rate-collectors call
regularly for their rates ; the bankers are applied to for
advances, which they are very chary of making on such
doubtful security ; and, by degrees, if a definite limit is
not put to the increase of poor-rates, the landlords must
follow the tenants.

The abandonment of farms, and consequent diminu-

134 REMEDY.

tion of cultivation, is constantly aggravating the distress
by throwing people out of employment, thereby increas-
ing the rates, and at the same time decreasing the annual
produce of the land, whence alone the rates can be paid.

The easiest remedy for this disastrous state of things
would be the revival of the potato, and its renewed
cultivation. To this many landlords cling with despe-
rate hope. Things will mend, they say, if we can only
"get over" a year or two. With the revival of the
potato, con-acre labour will return, farms will be culti-
vated, rates reduced, rents paid, and the whole machine
be again set in motion.

The lesson which the whole empire has got, however,
has been of too sharp a nature for them silently to
acquiesce in a return — even if it were possible — to
such a rotten state of things. A new foundation must
be laid now for building up hereafter a nation which
shall be strong in the vigour of its own self-supporting
power, the right arm of England, instead of its bane
and its disgrace.

The only remedy therefore that can be listened to, is
a total change in the agricultural management of the
country. That can best be effected by the application
of capital to the land, capital on the part of both land-
lord and tenant. The want of it at present among
the landlords is sufficiently shown by the immense
number of estates which are already before the new
Encumbered Estates Commission, and the generally
dilapidated state of the farms in the western counties ;
while the impossibility of giving any effectual aid to a
pauper tenantry by expending capital in draining and

WANT OF CAPITAL. 135

improving their land, is well illustrated by the following
extract from the report of Mr J. M. Hussej, inspec-
tor of drainage for the middle district of the county of
Cork.

" The advantages derived from the loans made under
the Land Improvement Act, appear to be greatly
dependent on the class of persons who obtained them.

" When a proprietor obtained a loan for the im-
provement of land, either in his own occupation, or in
the hands of intelligent tenants, the advantages were
considerable ; and lands which, previously to draining,
were unsuited to the cultivation of green crops, imme-
diately produced crops not exceeded by those raised on
naturally rich dry land, and hence a stimulus was given
to the occupiers to commence liming, deep ploughing,
and otherwise fertilising the soil ; and they now begin to
feel that, by increased skill and energy in farming, it
may be possible to meet the present depression in the
prices of agricultural produce.

" But turning to those cases where loans were taken
on large estates for the purpose of employing the
labourers, and thereby lessening the taxation, the results
were not such as would warrant a larger and continued
outlay.

" A considerable portion of the land thorough drained
in small lots on the farms of a poor and nearly pauper
tenantry, who were generally unaware of the advantages
derivable from thorough drainage, did not follow it up ;
and, in consequence, the ground has been left untilled
and waste.

" These remarks apply particularly to the extensive

136 LIMITATION OF RATES.

estates of the Earl of Ban try, who has expended a con-
siderable sum, under the Land Improvement Act, on
the lands occupied by tenants having small holdings,
who have been completely ruined by the loss of the
potato crop, and who do not understand the cultivation
of any crops except potatoes and oats ; hence the
works have not been followed up.

"From these, as well as similar cases, I am of
opinion that, where a proprietor undertakes large works
of improvement for a depressed and unskilful tenantry,
without sufficient funds to render the lands suitable for
a superior class of farmers, the drainage works under
the Act will not return the required percentage on the
outlay ; but, on the contrary, where the works are fol-
lowed up by skilful farmers, that the return will amount
to from ten to twenty per cent ; and I am happy to
say that the latter is the predominant character of the
works that have been undertaken in my district, the
comparative failures being the exception, not the rule."
— 17th Report of the Commission of Public Works,
p. 23.

An influx of capital must therefore be encouraged,
whether it is to come from England, or, as many believe,
from the coffers of wealthy men in Ireland, who are
said to be waiting for the security under which alone
capital can flourish. That security may be attained
by the interposition of parliament to fix a limit to the

AMOUNT OF POOR-RATES.

The effect of an unlimited rate has been already
shown to discourage cultivation and increase pau-
perism. If carried much farther, it may end in total

LIMITATION OF RATES. 137

bankruptcy. When that period arrives, the State must
interpose to prevent absolute starvation ; so that it is but
a choice of evils ; for there can be little doubt that at
some point assistance must be given.

It may be said, — why tax others for the faults of
a particular union, so long as there is property of any
description in the union 1 No one will buy that pro-
perty with its present liabilities : the sooner you come
to its relief, the easier will it be to render it effectual
aid. Nor are the circumstances of the union of a
common kind: its entire food has been mysteriously
blighted.

And yet, again, upon what principle is the proprie-
tor of a well-managed estate to be made responsible
for the pauperism which has been occasioned by the
mismanagement of his neighbours, merely because his
property is locally situated within some district which
has been arbitrarily assigned to it 1 Upon no just
principle, so far as I know, except one which would
include an equal burden on all who are embraced
within the limits of the same civil government.

Let a limit be fixed, at whatever point the wisdom of
Parliament shall decide. When the rates in any union
go beyond that point, let experienced officers be sent
down to take the management. Economise the cost of
collection by transferring the duty to the officers of
Inland Revenue : give them the power of compelling
payment of the limited rate, offering inducements to
prompt payment by liberal discounts, rather than by
exacting penalties for arrears, and let the balance be
advanced by the State.

\

138 EMIGRATION.

With this should be united Emigration — confining
assistance to the unions in which government is obliged
to aid the rate-payers. Let it be in the power of some
safe authorities to send out to our colonies, as free
labourers under proper precautions, such able-bodied
persons as apply for relief, if they are otherwise clearly
ascertained to be redundant, as compared with the require-
ments of the land in their union. And, until the neces-
sary arrangements are made, let such labourers be
employed by task-work in tilling some portions of the
" deserted " land in the unions, the produce of which
will contribute to the maintenance of the poor.*

As the state would thus adopt heavy liabilities, it
might be right to take security against these by some
equalisation of taxes between the two countries.

A limit being thus placed on the increase of poor-
rate, the only other difficulty in the way of a capitalist
is the variable amount of the valuation on which his
rate is chargeable. The more he improves his property,
thereby adding to the resources of the State and the
employment of the labourer, and the less his neighbour
follows the same course, the more unjust is the hard-

* In the electoral division of Castletown, in the county of Limerick, about
a fourth of the land is deserted, and the workhouse and auxiliary houses are
filled with able-bodied paupers. Much of the land so deserted is of superior
quality, and could be tilled with advantage. It would seem a simple arrange-
ment for the guardians to offer the able-bodied, employment by task-work in
digging such land at the ordinary rate, after which, it could be sown with
oats, also by task- work; and at the same time be manured with a little guano.
The crop would at least pay expenses, and the employment would of course
lessen rates. Other portions of the deserted land might be let for grazing,
if in grass ; the takers being of course relieved by the guardians from paying
arrears of rates. It is a lamentable absurdity to see the land kept totally
unproductive. If the guardians have not sufficient power for the purpose, it
ought to be given to them.

DISCOURAGEMENT OF CON-ACRE. 139

ship when that neighbour has it in his power to
demand a new valuation, by which to increase the
improver's proportion of the rate, and diminish his own.
The period at which such renewed valuation could be
demanded, should probably be extended; — say to twenty-
one years.

The way being thus opened for the influx of capital,
and its secure investment in the land, and the safety
of the redundant population being also provided for,
measures should be taken to guard against the undue
increase of population, and the possible recurrence of a
second calamity. Nothing has contributed so much to^
the entire dependence on the potato, and the consequent
increase of a miserable, half-fed, naked population, as the
system of con- acre labour. No truck-system is com-
parable with this. It encourages a tenant without means
to offer an exorbitant rent for land, which he pays by
exacting one still more oppressive from his labourer.
Its two-fold action is to raise rents, and depress wages,
by over-competition. Enormous rents are exacted for
the patches of potato ground, which are paid by the
very lowest scale of nominal wages. It compels an
entire reliance on the potato, inasmuch as the labourer
can get potatoes only for his food, no money-wages being
ever paid. It encourages the landlord to expect a high
rent for his land, without demanding from him in return
any outlay for its permanent improvement.^ *

* " A social condition where each family, or nearly each individual, has his
field, which furnishes his immediate nutriment, without any necessity for
marketing, without the assistance of the miller or the baker, without occa-
sion to demand assistance from his neighbours — that society is deficient in the
elements most necessary to the progress of its civilisation." — M. De Jonnes.
Industrial Resources of Ireland, by Sir Robert Kane.

•

UO FREE TRANSFER OF LAND.

It will be for the wisdom of Parliament to determine,
whether, bj removing its causes, they can prevent the
renewal of a system which has been so fatally inter-
woven with the social condition of the West of Ireland.
Confidence in the potato is now completely shaken among
the labouring classes, and perhaps a better time may
never arrive for encouraging a resort to money -wages.

It is equally important to guard against a recurrence
of encumbered estates, and the disabilities of landlords.
The country has learned a bitter lesson on this point ;
and the state of Ireland demands that we should not
perpetuate a system which locks up the land for family
advantages against the just claims of a creditor, and to
the general injury of the community. Much good will
be done by the Encumbered Estates Act. But the
further simplification of the sale, and the removal of all
undue impediments to the transfer, of land, are matters
of paramount importance.

It has been already shown, by an extract from the
Seventeenth Report of the Board of Public Works, that
no change to a better system of husbandry can be ex-
pected from a pauper tenantry. It will ever be the duty
of a wise Government to remove all burdens which press
with actual severity on the cultivator of the soil. It is
of the utmost importance that the means by which the
annual produce is got from the land should be left
unfettered. Whatever interferes with this tends to
diminish that produce, and simultaneously to increase
the demand upon the surplus, by throwing labourers out
of employment. Rent is the surplus after all the
expenses of cultivation, including a return for the

COUNTY RATES. 141

tenant's capital and skill, are paid. That surplus
must ultimately bear the burden of all taxation on the
produce of land, for, without profit to the cultivator,
there can be no permanent cultivation. If the taxation
is laid directly on the landlord, the cultivation of the
land will still go on, however burdensome that taxation
may be.

It can scarcely be believed that, notwithstanding
these obvious truths, the tenant's capital in Ireland has,
by repeated acts of the Legislature, been made respon-
sible for all the expenses of the county, and primarily
for the entire support of the poor. The fearful ratio
in which these expenses have increased during the
famine has been already shown in the case of the
county of Limerick, where, in the present year, a sum of
£181,638, in addition to what the same rates amounted
to in 1845, is made a first charge on the capital of the
tenant ! And yet the rate-payers have but a semblance
of control on the amount of county cess, as it is in the
power of the gentry, who, as magistrates, are ex officio
members of the sessions at which such control is exer-
cised, to step in and outnumber the representative rate-
payers.

No one, therefore, can wonder at the entire prostra-
tion of the occupying farmers in the West of Ireland. To
relieve them from this unjust burden, and to encourage
tenants of capital, either from other parts of Ireland, or
from this country, to embark it with safety there, it
will be necessary to transfer the grand-jury taxa-
tion, INCLUSIVE OF THE LABOUR-RATE, FROM THE

142 TRUE INTEREST OF LANDLORDS.

tenant to the landlord. * Whether it may be a
prudent act of clemency, on the part of the Government,
still further to abate the amount of repayments for
labour-rate, in consideration of the unparalleled cala-
mity, and the comparatively unproductive character of
the works, it will be for the wisdom of Parliament to
decide.

To this proposal it will be answered, that the county-
rates are borne by the tenant in England. True; but
public opinion there prevents an undue advantage being
taken of the tenant. There is not the same suicidal
competition for land, nor any of the circumstances which
force that competition. Rents, therefore, are fixed,
after a full deduction for rates. It has been already
shown, that this has hitherto been quite impossible in
Ireland. In Scotland, the tenant pays only one half
of a very moderate poor-rate, a share of a trifling road-
rate, amounting often to less than Id. per pound, and no
county-rates or expenses whatever.

The adoption of this change, besides affording security
to tenants of capital, would in the end, I am persuaded,
be conducive to the true interests of the landlord. It
would insure the watchful superintendence of the expen-
diture by the most educated class in the country, — the

* It would, of course, be right to guard the proprietor against any injus-
tice in this change on the part of holders of beneficial leases. If, for instance,
a man held an old lease " for ever," at a rent of 10s. an acre, and the land
was now worth 40s., he would be allowed to deduct from his head-rent only
one-fourth of the rate, that being the proportion due by the principal land-
lord. And in all current leases, it would be equitable that the tenant should
continue liable, during their currency, for so much of this rate as was pay-
able by him at the period of his entry.

DISCOURAGEMENT OF ABSENTEEISM. 143

very men who are most deeply interested in the right
application of the funds, and least liable to the influence
of private jobbing in the works to be performed. The
improvement of access to farms and markets, the dis-
couragement and punishment of crime, the support of
fever hospitals and dispensaries, the patronage of the
public offices of the county, are surely the true business
of the landlord. They are matters of such importance,
that they require a degree of intelligent supervision,
such as the landlords only have time for. This is
at present both their duty and their privilege, and it
needs only the stimulus of self-interest to make it be
heartily performed.

To the want of such a stimulus may be owing much
of the absenteeism, which has so long contributed to
drain the resources of the country. An Irish landlord,
with no direct interest in the county business, no
improvements proceeding on his own estate, a competi-
tion for his land which made it far more profitable to
him to let it than farm any of it himself, had very little
inducement and no occupation whatever to keep him at
home. Let him feel the pressure of mismanaged rates,
and he will awake to the necessity of learning his own
business. Living among his tenantry he will acquire a
taste for country affairs, softening by his intercourse the
asperities unhappily too common in Irish social life,
promoting the views of improving farmers, and teaching
all classes, by his own example, the inestimable value of
humanity, integrity, and truth.

With regard to the poor-rate, there are reasons for
dividing this burden which do not apply to the county

144 UNEXHAUSTED IMPROVEMENTS.

expenses. By making the farmer liable for a share of
the rate, you are assisted by his personal knowledge in
detecting the deceptive statements of claimants for
relief, while you make him feel the pressure, which he
himself causes by unwisely dismissing his labourers
during a temporary " dulness of times."

A measure which should secure payment to outgoing
tenants for unexhausted improvements, would greatly
encourage the expenditure of capital by farmers, and
their active co-operation with the landlord in all
improvements. I do not allude to such a " tenant
right " as is sometimes claimed, where very often no
improvement whatever has been made by the occupying
tenant, and yet he conceives himself entitled to a right
of property, which he has never contributed anything
to create ; but to that custom which has arisen in
Lincolnshire, and some other English counties, of pay-
ing a tenant for such improvements as can be ascer-
tained to be left by him in the land when he quits the
farm, thus encouraging the most perfect husbandry to
the very close of each man's period of occupation. In
regard to improvements of a permanent character, I
think it is a better system, as I will have occasion
afterwards to show, that these should be wholly pro-
vided by the landlord.

For these it might be advisable to extend the Land
Improvement Act, so as to include farm-buildings, with
such restrictions as should guard against extravagant
outlay, or indeed any outlay unless it could be clearly
shown that other active operations in husbandry were
to be followed out. Without that, such expenditure

POPULATION OF CONNAUGHT 145

would yield no return ; with it, probably no other per-
manent outlay would be more remunerative.

I do not disguise from myself the very grave liabi-
lity which this country would assume by pledging itself
for the safety of the enormous population of the West of
Ireland. According to the census of 1841, the popu-
lation of Connaught was 1,418,359. The proportion
of the people for all Ireland engaged in agriculture was
66 percent, and the proportion is very probably greater
in Connaught, as there is scarcely any other indus-
try in that province. Taking it, however, at 66 per
cent, this would give a population of 936,408 persons,
or 187,281 families, wholly dependent on the culture of
the soil. The total number of acres under crop in 1848,
including corn, green crops, meadow and clover, was
619,000. Suppose these were cultivated on the most
approved system of modern farming, with an expendi-
ture of 40s. per acre in labour, (wages lOd. a-day,) they
would afford employment to 99,040 labourers, heads of
families, representing 495,200 of the population. And
assuming that, by such a change of system, the agricul-
tural population were to divide itself into employers
and labourers, in the same relative proportions as in
Scotland, there would remain in Connaught upwards of

* It is here necessary to point out an apparent inaccuracy in Sir Robert
Kane's valuable work on the Industrial Resources of Ireland, p. 312. He
there states that Professor Low, in his work on agriculture, gives some
estimates, from which it results that a 500-acre farm yields an amount of
occupation equivalent to the employment of twenty persons throughout the
entire year ; and upon this he founds an argument, showing the inapplica-
bility of the large-farm system to Ireland. He overlooks the fact, that these
twenty persons are heads of families, and represent one hundred individuals ;
and this mistake leads to a conclusion involving an error of 2,880,000 of the

K

146 COMPAEED WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

50,000 agricultural labourers, for whom employment
would still haye to be found.

The following table, compiled from the returns of the
census of 1841, shows the relative proportions of popu-
lation to arable land in Scotland, England, and Con-
naught : —

I

<

1

i

1

Percentage
dependent on
Agriculture.

Arable Acres.

Population
dependent on
Agriculture.

Scotland, 220

per 100

of which 27 being 814 for each 100

England, 175

... 100

25 ... 700 ... 100

Connaught, 150

... 100

66 ... 227 ... 100

Making every allowance for the land to be made
arable by the arterial drainage, (which may add one-
twentieth to the available land,) there still remains
an alarming disproportion between the West of Ireland
and Great Britain. And an immense influx of capital
must take place, before Connaught is put on a level with
this country in the materiel necessary for an equal
development of her agricultural resources.

But, in effecting the preliminary steps for that pur-
pose, there will be a great demand for labour — less or
more, of course, in proportion to the comprehensiveness,
or otherwise, of the scale on which it is carried on. It

population. I do not, however, wish to contend for the entire adoption of
the large-farm system in the West of Ireland. It led to great results in Scot-
land, and the east and north of England, while prices of corn were high.
But large farms, with corn for their main staple, are not now found profit-
able. Green crops and stock have become of, at least, equal importance ; and
the more elaborate cultivation and management required by them, as well
as the greater capital necessary, have a sure tendency to lessen the demand
for large farms, and gradually to lead to their subdivision into an extent more
in proportion with the capital of their occupants.

NECESSITY FOR A COMPREHENSIVE SCHEME. 147

may be possible to operate on such a scale as shall absorb
the greater proportion of the labourers ; and it is con-
ceivable that this might continue till the whole arable
land was so improved as to be capable of affording
regular employment to the entire agricultural popu-
lation.

This assumes that that population does not at the
same time increase in an equal ratio. "A tendency
to increase can exist only with a power to spread ;
when the power to spread ceases, there begins a ten-
dency to decay." * The discontinuance of con-acre, and
the payment of wages in cash, will unquestionably assist
in directly producing this result; while, indirectly, the
circulation of money will encourage many of the people
to become bakers, butchers, shopkeepers, tailors, shoe-
makers, carpenters, &c, and thus tend, in the course of
time, materially to alter the proportion of the population
entirely dependent on agricultural employment, f

It also assumes an amount of capital at once expended
in the permanent improvement and cultivation of the
soil, (landlord and tenant's capital,) such as has been
effected by the slow but steady progress of years of labo-
rious accumulation in this country. Under the most
favourable circumstances, it will be a work of time also in
Ireland, and consequently a large proportion of the popu-
lation of Connaught must in the mean time be sup-
ported from other sources.

* Mr Hickson on " Laws of Population," in Westminster Review, for Octo-
ber 1849.

+ This process has been going steadily on in Great Britain, where the
proportion dependent on agriculture in 1811 was 35 per cent, and in 1841
was only 25.

148 NECESSITY FOE A COMPREHENSIVE SCHEME.

The disproportion between population and employ-
ment is at present of such magnitude as to put it quite
out of the question for the country to right itself, un-
aided. If left to do so, nature will soon restore her
own equilibrium ; but the very thought of such a crisis is
too hideous for a civilised nation to contemplate for a
moment.

Sooner or later we must give effectual aid to the
West of Ireland. Individual immigration by capitalists
or farmers, however excellent, is too slow a remedy
for the disease ; nor can the ordinary action of Govern-
ment cope with such extraordinary circumstances. A
comprehensive scheme, like that developed by slr
Robert Peel in the last session of parliament, is
absolutely necessary for the safety of the west
of Ireland.

CHAPTER XI.

WHAT IS NOW BEING DONE FOR IRELAND — BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS —
ROADS, PIERS, ARTERIAL DRAINAGE, LANDED PROPERTY IMPROVEMENT,
FISHERIES NATIONAL SCHOOLS STATISTICAL RETURNS OF AGRICULTU-
RAL PRODUCE — AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTORS.

I cannot conclude this volume without shortly referring
to some of the many excellent measures which I saw in
operation for the improvement of Ireland. These consist :

1. Of the improvements effected under the Board of
Public Works.

2. The schools under the management of the commis-
sioners of national education ; including also, agricultural
schools, model farm-schools, workhouse schools, and
schools of industry.

3. The statistical returns of agricultural produce col-
lected by the constabulary.

4. The appointment of practical agricultural instruc-
tors in different districts, under Lord Clarendon's
letter.

The Public Works under the charge of the Board
comprise—

INLAND NAVIGATION.
ROADS AND BRIDGES.
HARBOURS.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
LUNATIC ASYLUMS.
MAYNOOTH COLLEGE.

NEW COLLEGES, BELFAST,

CORK, AND GALWAY.
PIERS AND HARBOURS.
DRAINAGE.

LANDED PROPERTY IMPROVEMENT.
FISHERIES.

150 PUBLIC WORKS.

The expenditure under these different heads is detailed
in the 17th Report of the Commissioners, where the
objects of the several items are explained.

The " Roads and Bridges" include the construction
and maintenance of 1046 miles of roads now available
for public traffic through poor and uncultivated districts.

The "Public Buildings" include the charge and
erection of Government buildings in and near Dublin ;
Dublin General Prison for Convicts ; Central Criminal
Lunatic Asylum ; Queen's Colleges ; Maynooth Col-
lege ; Lunatic Asylums ; Customs buildings ; Constabu-
lary buildings.

" Piers and Harbours." The applications received by
the commissioners for aid towards the construction of
these, have been 134 in number. Grants have been
sanctioned towards 45.

Dkainage. Under this head most important in-
formation is given as to the execution and progress of
the arterial drainage of Ireland. From the flatness of
a great portion of the interior of that country, an im-
mense extent of the low-lying lands were annually sub-
ject to floods, which rendered all individual attempts at
improvement impossible. To this natural difficulty was
added the artificial obstructions made by unsuitable
bridges and their approaches, encroaching upon the
water-way of rivers and streams. These injudicious
erections reduced the natural scouring power of the
rivers, and gradually led to the formation of shoals and
deposits ; while every addition to reclamation, improved
drainage, and cultivation of the higher districts, brought

ARTERIAL DRAINAGE. 151

down an increased volume of water, and a fresh accumu-
lation of deposit.

To remedy this state of matters, loans have been
granted, to be expended under the superintendence of
the Board. Works have been commenced, consider-
ably advanced, and some carried on to completion, or
nearly so, in 101 districts, extending into or through
nearly every county in Ireland. In these, the area of
land drained, or in the course of being drained, com-
prises 239,922 acres, and a length of 993 miles of
rivers or main drains, and 1 72 miles for navigation, at
a cost exceeding £600,000. The works having been
undertaken for the twofold purpose, 1st, of their own
utility as works of improvement ; and 2d, as a means of
affording relief, by reproductive employment, to the dis-
tressed labouring classes, — as many as 20,000 men were
daily employed during part of 1847, and 17,000 a-day
during part of 1848. The following extract refers to
the works executed in Connaught, and more particu-
larly applies to the improvement of a district treated of
in the foregoing pages.

" The works were last year commenced in the exten-
sive districts of Loughs Corrib, Mask, and Carra, in the
counties of Galway and Mayo. The object proposed
is, in addition to the drainage of extensive tracts of low
lands, the connexion of Lough Corrib with the sea, by
means of a navigable canal through the western part of
the town of Galway, and a navigable connexion through
a very difficult line of cavernous rocky country between
Lough Corrib and Lough Mask — thus making a con-
tinuous line of navigation of about fifty miles from the

152 ARTERIAL DRAINAGE.

sea at Gal way to Maam in Joyce's country, and by
Cong to Ballinrobe, and within a few miles of Castlebar
in Mayo.

" Combined with these objects of navigation and
drainage is a very important measure of improved
manufacturing power at Galway, applied for under
the provisions of the Drainage Acts, by the parties
possessing the water-power at present existing, the
project involving the remodelling and increasing nearly
all the mill sites in Galway, and the formation of
new sites ; to nearly all of which it is proposed to
make available the full fall between Lough Corrib
and the level of the sea, by means of main con-
duits, on each side of the river Corrib, whereby each
mill-owner may draw his supply of water-power directly
from Lough Corrib, which contains an area of 43,480
acres of water.

" In connexion with this latter object it may be ob-
served, that water-power can, under these arrangements,
be made available — if the necessary funds be provided
by the town — for supplying the highest parts of Galway
with water for all sanitary purposes.

" Looking to the natural position of the place as the
terminus for the important line of railway from Dublin
to the west, and as the natural market centre for the
vast extent of country around it on every side, but
especially to the north-west, it appears difficult to set a
limit to the advantages of opening the great natural
navigation of the lakes in question, with the important
manufacturing power thus contemplated to be conferred
on Galway, taken in combination with the extensive

ARTERIAL DRAINAGE. 153

measures of drainage, not only along the Lough Corrib
district, but in the various other adjacent drainage dis-
tricts of Oranhill, Dunkellin, Lavally, Turloughmore,
Monivea, Dunmore, Shrule, Kilmaine, Lough Mask,
and river Robe."

The advantages of the drainage, increase of water-
power, and connexion of Lough Corrib with the sea
for purposes of navigation, cannot be over-estimated.
The lowering of the level of Lough Mask, and the con-
sequent drainage of the adjoining country and the basin
of the river Robe, are also matters of the highest im-
portance ; but the extension of the navigation between
Lough Corrib and Lough Mask, by means of locks and
a canal cut through the solid limestone rock, however
desirable, will, I fear, be attained only at a cost dis-
proportioned to the ultimate advantage. The naviga-
tion for steamers must stop at Cong, at the head of
Lough Corrib ; and the distance to this point from the
surrounding country, including both sides of Lough
Mask, is not great.

The peace and good order of the country have been
greatly promoted by the execution of these works. The
system of task-work introduced by them, with its stimu-
lus to energetic labour, the regular cash payments, and
the evident utility of the works, have all enlisted the
confidence of the people. During the excitement of
last year, the regular employment afforded by them is
understood to have been the means of preserving the
peace of many districts, besides lessening the tempta-
tion to crime.

The following table shows the satisfactory results in

154

ITS EFFECTS.

two cases in which the operations have been com-
pleted : —

JO

■s
p

i

■
1

fc-f-S

Pi

sis

i

— « >»

•If

III

ill*

•a

■s «S

§=^

| 3.2

1* or-

a
o

■2 .
N

P

5

If

Blackwater,
Oranhill,

Kildareand

Meath,

Galway,

A. R. P.

3827 2 18
974 0 16

£ S. D.

1034 7 9
31510 1

£ S. D.

382 4 1
139 17 7

£ S. D.

1839 15 9
190 16 2

£ S. D.

10,276 0 9
36810 0

£s. D.

2 13 6

3 15 7

The benefits to the country generally of these great
drainage operations, are of the highest importance.
The area of flooded and injured lands, estimated to be
drained or improved, amounts to 300,000 acres, "that
for a large portion of the year were only the fit resort
of wild ducks," and are now expected to be converted
into rich and fertile plains, fresh and unexhausted.
The general amelioration of the climate by the drainage
of such an extensive evaporating surface may be ex-
pected to be very considerable. In the counties of
Mayo and Galway, I had an opportunity of riding over
many hundred acres of fine alluvial land, laid dry by
these works, and can therefore testify to their value.
In some of them the depth of the main drains had not
secured a sufficient outfall for the perfect drainage of
the adjoining lands ; and wherever this is the case, the
effect produced will fall short of what the owners were
entitled to expect when they pledged themselves for the
repayment of the sums advanced. But, on the whole,
the system is one peculiarly adapted for the manage-
ment of a Government board, involving as it does such
a multiplicity of interests, — mill-owners, county bridges,

LAND IMPEOVEMENT ACT. 155

fisheries, navigation, rights of neighbouring proprietors,
all of which could be reconciled only by an impar-
tial central authority ; while the immense magnitude of
the works, involving great engineering skill and appli-
ances, and uniformity of operation, would have set at
defiance all chance of benefit from individual energy.
For these reasons, a similar scheme might with great
propriety and advantage be applied on the British side
of the Channel.

Land impeovement is the next branch in which
most important benefits are being produced under the
management of the Board of Works. For this purpose
they grant loans to proprietors, repayable in twenty- two
instalments of 62 per cent, for thorough drainage,
fences, sub-soiling, clearing land of stones, making farm-
roads, and irrigation, for which purposes loans have
been sanctioned to the amount of £1,420,600. The
progress of the works has been very satisfactory.

" At the commencement, even in our most advanced
districts, the works were not conducted in the regular
and systematic manner necessary to insure ultimate
success and a beneficial return in proportion to the
expenditure contemplated by the Act. The superin-
tendents employed by many of the proprietors had
never previously executed, or seen works of thorough
draining completed, according to the modern system,
and many did not think it necessary to adhere strictly
to the plans laid down, or the dimensions of the drains
given in the specification for their guidance ; but
through the means of frequent inspections, and the

156 FENCES.

instructions given on each occasion, the works gradually
assumed a different character ; and the overseers, grati-
fied by their own success, became zealous in the perform-
ance of their duty. Even in the most remote and back-
ward districts of the west, drainage works are now being
executed in a manner which two years ago would have
been considered in our best districts worthy of imitation."

And in our best districts, too, in Scotland. The
care and attention paid to the out-falls of main drains,
and the security with which the junctions with the sub-
mains are formed, as I witnessed both in Mayo and
Galway, are worthy of imitation anywhere.

The number of acres that have been thorough drained
under the Land Improvement Act, from the commence-
ment up to 31st December 1848, amounts to 38,860,
giving an average cost of £4, 10s. an acre ; and a great
portion of the drained land has also been subsoiled.

In regard to fencing, it has been recommended to
divide each tract into a number of moderate-sized farms,
according to the quality of the land, surrounding each
farm with a fence, and then erecting subdivision fences.
In the western localities, where the climate is considered
more favourable for stock than cereal crops, and where
drained lands continue to improve in pasture for a
certain time, eight, or even more, divisions are recom-
mended to be made ; while in the middle and eastern
districts, six equal divisions are thought most suitable
for a regular system of rotations.

The soils requiring draining are principally clayey
loam, intermixed with limestone pebbles, in which
drains 4 feet in depth, and from 36 to 45 feet apart,

TILE DRAINS. 157

are found effectual, especially if the operation of sub-
soiling, either by plough or spade, is at the same time
performed. Subsoiling by the spade is an excellent
operation, and can be very cheaply executed by con-
tract ; in some districts for £2 an acre, to a depth of
18 inches ; though anything below £3 an acre, for effec-
tive subsoiling to that depth, is believed to be an
excellent and remunerative expenditure.

In the clay-slate districts of the west of Clare, west
of Limerick, Kerry, and North Cork, I should fear the
draining would not be perfectly efficient with drains at
a much greater distance apart than 24 feet.

There are now tileries, in forty-seven different localities
in Ireland, where pipe-tiles of excellent quality are manu-
factured. To the increase of this branch much encou-
ragement should be given. I have no hesitation in
expressing my opinion of the superiority of tile over
stone drainage, especially on level land, and particu-
larly in regard to the better adaptation of the tile for
circulating air through the subsoil, the ameliorating
effects of which are now recognised as a most import-
ant adjunct to thorough drainage.

The cost of progress inspections amounts to £l, 16s.
per cent on the expenditure, which is thought very
moderate, when it is considered that the works are
scattered over every part of the country, even to the
most remote of the western promontories, while the
inspectors had frequently to deal with proprietors who
were not men of business habits, with unskilful over-
seers, and, in the western districts, with labourers whose
spirit of industry and self-reliance had been deadened,

158 EMPLOYMENT AFFORDED.

if not destroyed, by the pauper dole of food, or by
pauper employment. Employment has been afforded
by the works to upwards of 20,000 labourers con-
stantly during the past year, the larger proportion of
which has been in the more distressed districts of the
country.

" The effect of this Act in directing the attention of
proprietors, previously careless on the subject, to agri-
cultural improvement, is very remarkable ; and every
one connected with the district has observed the change
of habits which has taken place among many of the
leading sportsmen, who now vie with each other in
attention to farming improvements ; and gentlemen of
different estates, who formerly employed labourers as a
matter of duty, now take a personal interest in the
works." — Report of Mr Prendergast for the county of
Leitrim.

In the county of Galway, Mr Irvine says : —
"The most remarkable portion of the works is the
reclamation of more than 1000 acres of bog and moor,
which, by draining, levelling, and gravelling, have, at a
cost of £4, 14s. 6d. per acre, been increased in value
fully 7s. per acre, making a return exceeding 8 per cent
on the amount expended. The successive operations
by which the improvement has been effected were, first,
the dividing the several tracts proposed to be reclaimed
into fields varying in extent from 3 to 15 acres, by open
drains 6 feet in depth ; the surface of the bog then
received a general levelling, after which, a top-dressing
of 120 cubic yards per acre of clay or clayey limestone
gravel was laid on and carefully spread."

ITS EFFECTS — FISHERIES. 159

Many more instances equally instructive might be
given of the benefit conferred on the country by the
Land Improvement Act. These are thus summed up in
the Report by the Commissioners.

" Three striking effects have been produced : —

f'il; The proprietor who obtained the loan has gra-
dually become sensible of the great pecuniary advantage
to be derived from thorough draining, and in conse-
quence has used his best exertions to carry out the works
successfully.

" 2. Excellent cereal and green crops have been pro-
duced on land previously of little value. And,

" 3. The labourers have been weaned from the old
system of day labour, which always engenders idleness,
and have adopted piece or task work, according to which
each man receives the just reward of his industry and
exertion, and is paid in proportion to the amount of
work done."

Conducted, as this department of the public works
is, under the very able direction of Mr Griffith, it can-
not fail to be attended with the most important benefits
to Ireland.

Fisheries form another department under the
charge of the Board of Works. The Commissioners
recommend that direct Government interference be
confined,

1. To the maintenance of peace and order among
the fishermen, and matters immediately connected there-
with.

2. To the provision of suitable public accommoda-

160 CUEING STATIONS — NATIONAL SCHOOLS.

tion and protection by harbours, landing-places, and
roads for the persons engaged in the trade ; and,

3. To any assistance which can be given through
existing establishments to promote practical education
in the habits, modes of capture, and curing of fish.

These, they admit, will effect but little, without a
steady market and a remunerating price. " These
attained, boats, gear, tackle, and comfortable habitations
will soon be found ; and self-interest will powerfully
aid education to banish ignorance and prejudices, which
are now rather unwisely charged as causes of deficient
fisheries."

To encourage the fisheries by providing a market, the
Commissioners established a number of curing stations
on the West coast, which have since been made over to
private parties, to be carried on as private mercantile
speculations. Their example has been extensively
followed. It has been found that in these most remote
places, fish can be cured in a manner equal to any pro-
duced in any other country ; while the curing-house
supplies the want of a local market for surplus produce.
The trade has been thus commenced, and the founda-
tion laid for permanent improvement.

The National Schools of Ireland form another
great branch of the means in operation for the improve-
ment of that country. The number of schools open at
the close of 1848 was 4109, and of pupils on the rolls
507,469 ; the increase of attendance during the year,
as compared with 1847, amounting to 104,837 children.
The amount of salaries paid to national teachers for the

NATIONAL SCHOOLS. 161

year, was £57,013, 10s. 8d. The system of paid
monitors has been tried with much success : the amount
paid under this head, for 1848, was £924. The teachers
are divided into three classes, with different scales of
salaries ; each teacher being assigned to the class to
which he is found qualified on an annual examination by
the head inspectors.

The national school-books used are so much valued,
that a large demand for them has arisen in England,
Scotland, and the colonies.

The daily average attendance in the model schools of
Dublin for the year, has at various times considerably
exceeded 1000. During the year, 267 teachers were
trained and supported at the public expense, of whom
177 were males, and 90 were females : 11 were of the
Established Church, 37 Presbyterians, and 219 Roman
Catholics. The total number of male and female
teachers trained from the commencement has been 231 1.

The greater number of the workhouse schools have
been placed under the superintendence of the Commis-
sioners of Education, who remark, in their report, " that
the Boards of guardians of the different Unions com-
prise Protestants and Roman Catholics, and have
amongst them men of the highest rank and station ;
that the schools are attended by Protestants and Roman
Catholics indiscriminately ; and that the duty of giving
religious instruction to those of each creed belongs to a
chaplain of their own communion. That here, there-
fore, we see the national system carried into complete
effect ; that here we see how peculiarly adapted it is to
the circumstances of Ireland ; and that here, too, we

162 MODEL FAEM SCHOOLS.

see how decidedly it carries the opinion of the country
with it."

Besides schools for general education, there were also
50 agricultural schools in connexion with the Board at
the end of 1848.

The model farm at Glasnevin, and school of train-
ing for agricultural teachers, under the skilful manage-
ment of Mr Donaghy, has been already referred to.
Much interesting information as to this and the other
agricultural model schools of Ireland, will be found in
the able report of Dr Kirkpatrick, the agricultural in-
spector under the Board, at page 252 of the appendix
to their fifteenth report.

The establishment of model agricultural schools, the
commissioners find, will be attended with far greater ex-
pense than was at first anticipated. It may be doubted
whether there is really any great practical advantage
to be obtained by teaching agriculture as a branch of
the national school education. In fact, I have never
been able to understand why agriculture should form a
subject of elementary education, any more than baking
or brewing, tailoring or shoemaking, or any other of the
usual occupations of industry. A few successful and
intelligent practical farmers in a district, carrying on
their business on strict principles of commercial profit,
would form, in my opinion, more useful instructors in
agriculture to their neighbourhood, than is at all likely
to be attained by the somewhat theoretical farming
taught in an elementary school.

Where, however, the schools are united with con-
siderable farms, like Glasnevin and Templemoyle, the

STATISTICS OF PRODUCE. 163

practical instruction afforded must be of the most valu-
able kind. Young men, who have already obtained an
elementary education, go there to learn the business of
life ; and from centres such as these are diffused over
the country a class of intelligent, educated, active young
men, fitted admirably to take the management of farms
on their own account, or to act as land-stewards for
others. The extension of such schools and farms
throughout the different districts of Ireland is un-
doubtedly of the first importance.

The total expenditure by the commissioners for a
year, up to 31st March last, for purposes of education
in Ireland, was £127,777, 7s.

The Returns or Agricultural Produce form an-
other of the important series of measures now in opera-
tion for the improvement of Ireland.

They are compiled from information collected by the
Constabulary force from every district of the country ;
and great care has been taken, both by establishing a
variety of checks, and by local information, to insure
very great accuracy in the performance of this duty.
The power of comparing the detailed extents, in the
different returns, with the field divisions in the ordnance
maps, insured a degree of correctness probably unat-
tainable where the ordnance survey has not been made.

The returns show, 1st, the "Extent of land under
crop," (specifying each kind of crop,) the " Quantity of
produce/' the " Area in statute acres/' the " Poor-law
valuation/' and the " Population in 1841," of each
county, of each province, and of the whole country.

164

STATISTICAL RETUENS

2d, " The stock on holdings above one to five acres,"
(distinguishing each kind of stock,) " Ditto above five
to fifteen acres/' " Ditto above fifteen to thirty acres/'
" Ditto above thirty acres/' " Ditto householders and
holdings not exceeding one acre ;" also for each county,
province, and for the whole country.

3d, The same information on both heads is given for
each union in Ireland, and for each electoral division of
such union.

In this most important branch of statistical informa-
tion, viz., correct returns as to the food of the people,
Ireland has taken the lead of Great Britain. The
whole quantity of food in that country can now be
accurately estimated, and the material progress or declen-
sion of the country be at once ascertained. A great
variety of facts may also be elicited by an attentive
examination of these returns. One or two of these may
be here noticed.

Four of the best and four of the worst circumstanced
Unions in Ireland show the following comparative amount
of grain and potatoes to each person : —

Grain.

Potatoes.

BEST.

lb. per head.

stones per heart

Dunshaughlin, (Meath,)

1442

• n

Enniscorthy, (Wexford,)

1322

6

Ardee, (Louth and Meath,)

1279

• 2§

Downpatrick, (Down,)

1226

• 4|

WORST.

Westport, (Mayo,)

166

. • 2i

Bantry, (Cork,)

103

• 2T'5

Clifden, (Galway,)

102

. 2j

Kenmare, (Kerry,)

71

. li

We thus learn at once the disproportion between
population and food, in the worst, as compared with the

OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE. 165

best circumstanced Unions, and find that the fearful
shortcoming in grain, in the most distressed, is not in the
slightest degree counterbalanced by a larger proportion
of potatoes per head.

Again, it has been already shown (p. 130) from these
returns, that the average proportion of people to acres
of grain, in the four first-mentioned Unions is 114 to
100 acres, and in the four last 1345 to 100 acres ; and
it might be reasonably inferred that, in the latter, with
such an overabundant population, there could be little
occasion for horse labour at all. On asking this ques-
tion of the returns, we receive the following reply : —
The average number of acres in cultivation to each horse
in the first four Unions is ...... . 8

In the last four 4

So that, while the competition of labourers in the
worst is as 12 to 1 in the best, the displacement of
horse labour by this competition is only as 2 to 1 ; and
even that may be accounted for by the larger propor-
tion of potato cultivation, in the worst, requiring more
manual labour.

It appears from these returns, that there is a marked
decrease in the number of small holdings, and an increase
of the larger ones, showing a decided progress in the
consolidation of farms.

They show also a decrease of 4108 acres of flax,
(equal to one-thirteenth of the whole breadth cultivated,)
as compared with the previous year.

The following particulars with regard to stock in
Connaught are interesting. Last year, as compared
with 1847, shows a decrease of one sixth in the horses,

166 AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTORS !

and between a fourth and a fifth in the whole sheep
stock ; while there has been an increase of about one
fortieth in the "mules and asses," one ninetieth in
cattle, and about one fourth in pigs. The increase in
pigs is partly accounted for by the increased breadth of
potatoes cultivated in 1848 as compared with 1847,
that having occupied 109,012 acres in 1848, and only
29,417 in 1847.

The want of statistical information of a similar cha-
racter to this, has long been felt in Great Britain. The
importance of correct data as to a matter of such vital
consequence as the food of the whole nation, would cer-
tainly warrant the necessary expenditure. Nor does
it seem that that should be great. In Ireland advan-
tage has been taken of the presence in every district of
that efficient body, the Constabulary force, through whom
are furnished the returns on which these statistical
tables are founded. We have no similar body in this
country ; but the same information might be obtained, at
very moderate cost, through the poor-law officials, now
stationed in every parish in Great Britain.

The appointment of Agricultural Instructors is
a plan which originated with his Excellency Lord
Clarendon, who for each of the last two years has placed
£1000 at the disposal of the Royal Agricultural
Improvement Society of Ireland, to aid them in this
object. Subscriptions were likewise opened, and con-
tributions sent in, by local agricultural societies, and a
fund of £2583 collected. To each of fifteen local
societies, which had contributed a portion of the ex-

THEIR DUTIES. 167

pense, one agricultural instructor, qualified to teach the
small farmers practically, was sent ; and to twelve
districts in the more distressed parts of the country,
instructors were sent gratuitously.

The instructors are directed to devote their time
exclusively to the instruction of the working farmers,
stimulating them to habits of industry at all times in
the year ; showing them the advantage of deep digging,
the preparation and collecting of manures, the necessity
of house-feeding stock, the advantage of rotation of
crops, the benefits attending the cultivation of green
crops, and the culture of flax. They are directed, as
far as practicable, to superintend personally the several
operations on the farms in their districts, from time to
time ; and to furnish reports monthly.

The benefits conferred by this method of practical
instruction are said to be very considerable, though
much marred, in the most distressed districts, by the
poverty and consequent inability of many of the work-
ing farmers to carry out the better plans recom-
mended. Where the people have not become hope-
less, the instructors are more successful ; and the
extent to which the people are benefited by this method
of imparting information, can be accounted for only
when the great ignorance of this class, as to the advan-
tages of good cultivation and economy of manure, is
understood. The admirable example set by his Excel-
lency the Lord Lieutenant should be followed by the
proprietors of large estates ; for, if the instructor was
seconded by the means which the landlord ought to
contribute to enable his poor tenantry to adopt better

168 ORGANISM OF

plans, the advice he would then give would be listened
to with a more reasonable prospect of improvement.
The necessity for the system at all has arisen chiefly from
the want of practical knowledge on the landlord's part,
and the same on the part of his agent ; as otherwise they
never would have permitted their tenantry to fall so
much behind in the most ordinary agricultural know-
ledge.

The reader who has followed me through the fore-
going details, will see that very much is being done to aid
the material improvement of Ireland. The whole
mechanism of a perfect body is, as it were, being put
into order by the directing hand of Government. The
brain is being prepared by national schools, colleges,
and agricultural instruction ; the bones covered with
sinews by the means of communications, promoted by
the Board of Works ; the arteries and veins are repre-
sented by the arterial and thorough drainage of the
country ; while the pulsations which indicate health or
disease are obtained by the statistical returns of food.
To set all in vigorous motion, a full heart of capital is
required, whence would issue the life-blood itself which
is requisite to the healthy action of the whole frame !

Whilst there can be little doubt that many of these
improvements have outrun the rate of individual pro-
gress in the country, and that the repayment by instal-
ments of the outlay incurred, will only add more to the
burdens of the already deeply-embarrassed proprietor,
who has no means left to develop the additional resources
thus laid open to him, it is very different with the pur-

PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 169

chasing capitalist. He goes to a country where the
imperial resources of a great state have been lavishly
expended, in opening up excellent roads in all parts of
the country, and in laying dry, by arterial drainage, the
low-lying lands which individual effort could not have
coped with. In short, he would have little more to do
than to confine himself to the improvement of his own
estate, as he would find all those channels already pro-
vided by the care of Government, which in other coun-
tries have been the slow growth of years.

CHAPTER XII.

FARM-BUILDINGS ECONOMICAL PLAN OF, DESCRIBED ESTIMATE AND COST

EXTENSION OF LAND IMPROVEMENT ACT NECESSITY OF DEFINING

PROPORTIONS REPAYABLE BY LANDLORD AND TENANT RESPECTIVELY

GOVERNMENT LOANS RENDERED NECESSARY BY ENCUMBRANCES AND EN-
TAILS UNSOUND STATE TO WHICH THESE HAVE LED FREE TRANSFER

OF LAND THE ONLY REMEDY EXPEDIENCY OF GOVERNMENT LOANS IN

THE MEAN TIME.

The general want of suitable farm-buildings in the
West of Treland has already been frequently referred to.
An improved system of agriculture cannot be com-
menced without the accommodations for stock, crop, and
manure which are necessary for carrying it out. Plans
of farm-buildings are frequently conceived in such an
expensive style as to impose a very heavy annual charge
for interest, or even to deter a proprietor altogether
from venturing on their execution. And in a country
where everything has to be done, a landlord, however
well intentioned, finds his means totally inadequate to
the general erection of any expensive system of housing.
This I found, in the West of Ireland, a very common
answer to any complaint of inadequate farm-buildings.
The plans usually recommended by architects, or in
books, such as Low's Practical Agriculture, or Stephens'
Booh of the Farm, are of so costly a character, that

FARM-BUILDINGS. 171

Irish landlords saj they cannot attempt them. An out-
lay, ranging from £2000 up to £4000 for the accom-
modation requisite for seventy or eighty head of cattle,
fourteen horses, and corresponding implements and crop,
involves a present outlay, and a constant charge, for
which they can get no adequate return. Designs of a
cheaper character are much sought for ; and having been
frequently applied to for information on this matter, I
have, with the assistance of my friend Mr M'Culloch
of Auchuess, prepared the annexed Plan, which will be
found to afford nearly the same accommodation, for, I
believe, about one-third the expenditure of those already
referred to.

The buildings of a farm are required to afford accom-
modation for the working stock, the rent-paying stock,
feeding conveniences, the threshing of the corn crop,
and the collection and manufacture of manure. They
should be placed in the most central part of the farm,
at which a constant supply of water for the stock can
be insured. Advantage should be taken of water-power
for machinery, if it can be got.

A level piece of ground should be chosen for the
site of the buildings, in order that no unnecessary
expenditure may be requisite in earth-work. And for
the West of Ireland, the stables, as in the annexed plan,
should form the west side ; the barn, straw-house, &c,
the north side of the range ; thus securing the shelter
of the highest part of the buildings against the prevail-
ing winds.

The farm-house, with dairy, &c, are supposed to
occupy the south front of the plan ; but they are not

172 THEIE CONSTRUCTION

included in the estimate ; nor are the labourers' cottages,
which should be situated at no great distance from the
farm-buildings.

It will be seen that this plan affords accommodation
for ten horses and eighty cattle in stalls, besides imple-
ment-house, barn, granary, straw and chaff house, clover
or turnip house, boiling-house, covered dung-house and
tank for saving liquid manure, pig and poultry houses.
It is suitable for a farm of 200, 300, or 400 acres,
according to the proportions of tillage and the style of
farming pursued, being sufficiently extensive for a 400-
acre farm managed on the system described by Mr
Stephens in his Booh of the Farm, and not a bit too
large for a 200-acre farm cultivated in the more im-
proved system now believed requisite to ensure profit
with a moderate scale of prices.

The preservation and accumulation of dung is the
foundation of this system; and, accordingly, the plan
includes a dung-house roofed over to prevent the action
of the air and weather, and beneath it an arched tank
capable of containing about 8000 gallons, into which
covered drains, from the stables and cattle-houses, con-
duct the whole liquid manure. This is unquestionably
the most important part of the whole farm-steading,
and yet it is almost the only portion which is wholly
omitted in the expensive designs already mentioned. *

The wheeling of the dung from the different stables
and cattle -houses is so arranged, that the heaviest part

* For full particulars as to the mode of accumulating, mixing, and apply-
ing solid and liquid manure, the author refers the reader to his pamphlet on
" High Farming," published by Messrs Blackwood.

DESCRIBED. 173

of the labour is brought nearest to the dung-house ;
the farm-stables, where each man carries out from two
horses only, being the most distant. For the same
reason, the turnip-house, and straw and boiling houses,
are placed in the most convenient juxtaposition with
the cattle -houses. ,

A considerable extent of granary room is shown on this
plan, which may be divided for various purposes, accord-
ing to the wants of the tenant.

Windows in the walls of the cattle-houses have been
avoided, as leading to expense in lintels, corners, &c.
The access of light is equally secured, and at much less
cost, by skylights in the roof. Ventilation is provided
by large drain-tiles being built through the walls, one to
every pair of cattle, a little above the ground-level,
behind each row of cattle ; while the escape of foul air
is secured by an equal number of tile-holes, a little
under the eaves, as shown at b on the section of the
plan.

It will be observed that the system of stall-feeding is
that shown in this plan. A considerable comparative
experience has convinced me that no other method will
give equal accommodation for the same outlay ; whilst
I am also persuaded that, in regard to economy of food
and litter, facility of labour in attendance, health and
progress of the cattle, and systematic arrangement
altogether, stall-feeding is superior to any other that
has yet come under my notice. The progress of the
soiling system, or house-feeding of cattle in summer as
well as winter, will lead to a more general recognition
of the superiority of stall-feeding, both from the neces-

174 SPECIFICATIONS,

sity of economising litter, and the advantage of not
wasting the labour of the cattle-feeders and others in
traversing unnecessary distances while attending to the
stock.

The east front of the plan is left vacant ; but it can
be filled, as shown by the dotted lines, either with
increased cattle-houses, or sheds for sheep-feeding, as
may in the course of time be found requisite.

The cattle-stalls may be devoted either wholly to the
feeding of cattle, to the accommodation of a dairy
stock, or to a mixed stock of breeding, feeding, and
dairy cattle.

The expense of erection will be very materially
lessened by the use of pan-tiles for roofing ; and for
this reason the proprietor of an extensive estate would
find it to his advantage to manufacture them on his
own account.

The specifications for masonry, wood, &c, are as
follows : —

Stable and Cart-shed.

Masonry of walls, 22 inches thick. 12 barrels of lime to the

mason rood of 36 yards square.
Joists, 9 inches by 2£ inches, 20 inches from centres.
Flooring, 1J inch thick.

Couples, 7 inches at bottom, 6 at top, 2J inches thick.
Lath, 1 J inch by f inch.
Cast-iron skylights, glazed.
Windows, glass above and sliders below.
Stall-posts, 6 inches square, divisions 1^ inch thick.
Manger, wood 1 inch thick. Heck sides, 4 inches by 2

inches.
Heck spars, 2 inches square.

AND ESTIMATED COST. 175

Barn and Straw-house.
Roofing, same as stable.
Sleepers, 5 inches by 2 J inches.
Flooring, 1 J- inch thick.

Cattle-Houses.

Walls 20 inches thick. No windows in walls.

Couples, 6 inches at bottom, 5 at top, 2 inches thick.

Slating lath, 1J inch by f inch.

Stalling, posts 4 inches square. Division spar, 4 inches broad

by 1 inch thick.
Soletree, 5J inches by 4 inches.
Board on top of soletree to form feeding-trough, 6 inches

broad by 1J inch thick.
Lath for tiles, (if tile roof,) 1^ inch by 1 inch.
Couples placed 2 feet 2 inches from centres for tile roof.
Do. 1 foot 9 „ do. slates.

General Specifications.

All doors to be 1 inch thick, with 3 bars, 7 inches by 1

inch.
Door styles, 6 inches by 2J inches.
Feeding troughs bottomed with flooring tiles.
All paving executed with sea, or river, or suitable land stones.
Tank, arched with common bricks, cemented with Roman

cement, and bottomed with flooring tiles.
Iron gratings and cesspools for urine drains as shown on the

plan.

Estimated Cost.

Wood, Is. 6d. per cubic foot. Stone paving, 3d. per yard.

Ridge-tiles for roofs, 2d. per foot. Lead for gutters and

valleys, 5 lb. per foot, at 2 Jd. per lb. Flooring tiles, Id.

each.
Building, including lime and sand, 56s. per rood, for stable,

cart-shed, barn, and straw-house ; and 54s. per rood for

the remainder of the building.
Slater's wages, lis. per rood.

176 EXTENSION OF

With the foregoing prices, and using a cheap descrip-
tion of slates on lath, called " Tons/' of which one ton,
costing 35s., covers twenty-four yards, the estimated
cost of these farm-buildings is £612.

Roofed with pan tiles, (500 of which, costing 16s. 6d.,
cover one rood,) the estimated cost is £478.

These estimates allow no profit to the contractor, and
assume the whole materials to be laid down free of
carriage.

The propriety of extending the Land Improvement
Act, so as to embrace the erection of farm-buildings,
as one of the objects for which Government loans
should be made, has already been referred to. Tt
seems to be assumed by the Devon Commission, that
farm-buildings are not strictly a reproductive out-
lay, and they therefore do not recommend assistance of
this kind to be given. Upon what grounds they
formed that opinion, it is not for me to say. But I am
quite sure that no improved course of agriculture can be
entered upon in the West of Ireland, without building
accommodations. It will be vain to drain the land,
and fit it for the culture of green crops and grain, if
no suitable housing is at the same time provided for
the economical and profitable conversion of these into a
marketable form.

The almost universal want of farm-buildings renders it
impossible for the present proprietors to provide what
is required at once, or for many years to come, if
unaided by Government. A loan, repayable in twenty-
two years, might be perfectly safe, if a limitation of

LAND IMPKOVEMENT ACT. 177

rates is adopted. Without that, it would be clearly
imprudent, in the more distressed districts, to lend
money for this purpose on the security of the land.

But if any comprehensive scheme is adopted for the
West of Ireland, this should form an important feature
in the plan. The immediate employment provided
would include masons, carpenters, nailmakers, sawyers,
and a numerous class of tradesmen and contractors, who
receive no direct benefit from the other operations going
on at present under the Land Improvement Act. This
would also benefit the towns and villages, and thus
diffuse employment generally throughout the country.

The chief thing to be guarded against is, that landlords,
already embarrassed, might still farther involve them-
selves, by becoming bound for the repayment of the Govern-
ment loan, without having the capital necessary to turn the
buildings to a profitable account. Very stringent regula-
tions would be required to prevent such an occurrence.

In granting Government loans for the improvement
of land, it is here necessary to remark, that Parliament
committed an oversight in not assigning the proportions
in which the instalments are equitably due by the land-
lord and tenant severally. The almost universal rule
in Scotland has been to lay the whole burden on the
tenant. There can be little doubt but that draining,
if judiciously executed, will be profitable to a tenant,
even at 6| per cent, and that he would be quite right to
take upon himself the whole 6 J per cent, (which includes
principal and interest,) on obtaining a lease of his land
for twenty-two -years, and on being guaranteed the differ-
ence of value which his farm would thereby be worth to

M

178 LAND IMPROVEMENT ACT.

the landlord at the expiry of his lease — that difference
of value being the just property of the tenant, as it has
arisen from his unassisted outlay and labour. But it is
quite clear that, without such a guarantee, the landlord, at
the end of twenty-two years, will receive an addition to his
rental of 6J per cent, on the amount expended in drain-
ing— a sum amounting to a fifth, a fourth, in some cases
even a third, of his rental — obtained by him without
risk or labour, and diverted from the returns justly due
to the tenant, who has repaid the whole outlay. For
the experience of the past does not entitle us to believe
that landlords will refuse to avail themselves of the in-
creased rent to be obtained at the end of an improving
lease, even though that increased rent is the result
entirely of the tenant's labour and capital. It may
therefore be fairly concluded, that, if the operation is
sufficiently remunerative to enable the tenant to repay
the whole expense to the Government in the course of
twenty-two years, the landlord will then divert into
his own pocket the 6£ per cent hitherto paid to the
Government. In short, the landlord who has had the
shrewdness to apply for, and the good fortune to obtain,
£10,000 or £20,000 of the public money for land im-
provement, and who has been able to persuade his tenants
to pay the whole 6i per cent, will at the end of twenty-
two years just find himself a richer man by £10,000
or £20,000, though he has submitted to no present out-
lay or inconvenience to obtain this very important future
advantage.

At the end of twenty-two years, no doubt, there will
be repairs necessary to maintain the benefits of the out-

THE PERIOD FOR REPAYMENT. 179

lay, and for these the landlord is entitled to take some
security. But it is quite unfair for Parliament to leaye
the tenant at the mercy of the landlord in this matter.
The landlord says to his tenant, " I do not force you to
take this loan : judge for yourself; but if you do take it,
you must repay the whole." This places the tenant at
a great disadvantage. He knows he cannot get on at all
without drains, fences, and farm-buildings ; and rather
than want them altogether, he accepts the landlord's
terms. But why is the landlord allowed to make terms
with the money of the State ? That money is advanced
for the general good, and all who participate in its
advantages are entitled to pay for doing so.

It would, therefore, be an act of justice to the
tenantry of both countries — at the least, to extend the
period for repayment of the loans, and so diminish
the tenant's annual instalments.

In the present state of landed property in Ireland,
these outlays cannot be made without the aid of Govern-
ment. The advances of Government are charged on
the land in spite of encumbrances and entails. The
Government alone can do it with safety, and therefore
the burden is laid on the Government.

Yet it is an unnatural and perilous necessity which
compels a constitutional government to become a
gigantic mortgagee ; and it may undoubtedly come,
at some future period of our history, to give to the
executive a dangerous control over the aristocracy.
Surely it would be a safer as well as a simpler remedy
to remove all impediments, of whatever nature, to the
free transfer of land, and thus to try whether there is

180 FREE TRANSFER OF LAND.

not enough of private capital and energy to develop
the natural resources of the country, which hitherto have
been " cabined, cribbed, confined " in all that relates to
the ownership and improvement of land.

The following statement4'" will show more clearly, at
a glance, some of the liabilities to which the locking up
of the land has led : —

For the four counties of Limerick, Clare, Gal way, and Mayo,

the annual rental of the land is £1,671,410

Annual tithe rent charge, . £81,384

Expenditure on poor for last year, 639,305

Grand-jury presentments, . 167,816

Labour-rate repayable annually for

10 years, . , . 99,517

Relief loans, do., 23,237

£1,011,359

I have already shown that the enormous increase of
the rates is driving tenants of capital out of the coun-
try, and that eventually the whole burden may fall upon
the rental ; and if to this be added the annual liabilities
of proprietors for encumbrances of every kind, to private
mortgagees, whether left to them by their predecessors
or created by themselves, we cannot wonder at the pre-
sent bankrupt state of so many Irish proprietors.

We must therefore keep steadily before us the limited
interests of landlords in their estates, (whether under
entails t or encumbrances,) as undoubtedly the master

* For particulars, see Appendix, Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6.

■f "As to landlords allowing the tenants for improvements upon the
farms, that would be a most desirable thing ; but there is one step before
that, to enable landlords to do it. Most of us are tenants for life in this
country." — Evidence of T. S. Lindsay, Esq., land proprietor, before Devon
Commission. 486. Q. 287.

* Estates through Ireland generally are so entailed that the immediate
occupier cannot, or will not, expend money in the improvement of the
estate."— Arthur Baker. Esq., Solicitor and Agent. 1068. Q. 25.

CONCLUSION. 181

evil of Ireland. For the latter, the act of last session
of Parliament will probably be found a sufficient
remedy, and public opinion is gradually gaining strength
for the cure of the former. Still we must endeavour, in
the mean time, to alleviate her condition as much as
possible, by the remedies which are within our reach.
And if public loans can be justified at all, there are
the strongest grounds for their application to Ireland.
Nor can they ever be applied to any private object more
generally beneficial than the improvement of land ;
thereby at once providing employment for the people,
and increasing the annual produce of the country.

Having thus brought to a close my observations on
the state of the West of Ireland, I cannot conclude with-
out expressing an earnest hope that a happier under-
standing between all classes in that country, based on a
juster perception, and a more conscientious fulfilment of
their respective duties, may soon form a moral power,
stronger for the future preservation of order than the
50,000 armed men whose presence is now found neces-
sary to maintain it.

APPENDIX

No. I.

As an instance of what can be done by an Irish farmer, I here
give the particulars, ascertained by myself on the spot, of the
farm of Mr Boyd of Castle William, on the estate of Lord London-
derry, about seven miles S.E. of Belfast. He has 60 Irish acres, (94
English,) land of fair quality, red gravelly soil, partly but not
thoroughly drained. The dwelling-house is much larger than in
Scotland would be thought necessary for the extent of the farm.
The steading includes a dairy of two apartments, floored with
tiles, fitted with horse-churn, stove, and thermometer ; pig-houses ;
cow-houses for forty-seven cows; barn over the cow-houses, with horse
threshing-mill and straw-cutter attached \ stable for seven horses.
The dung court is at a lower level than the cattle-houses, the liquid
from which flows over the dung. Moss is carted from a consider-
able distance to mix with the dung, and great attention is paid to
increasing and accumulating this valuable substance. The farm
is managed in a four-course rotation. But as a great stock is kept
on this small farm, principally by house-feeding and cultivating
green crops, it may be worth while to note particularly the system
followed by Mr Boyd.

8 acres are kept in permanent pasture near the cow-houses, on
which the cows are turned out daily for exercise and water.

1. 13 acres are in wheat, 9 of which are sown out with Italian rye-

grass ; 4 after the wheat is cut with winter vetches.

2. 13, — 9 in Italian rye-grass, cut for soiling, and watered with

liquid manure after each cutting ; 4 in winter vetches ; after
which, white turnips.

3. 13, — 9 acres after Italian rye -grass are sown with oats ; 4 with

rape, after the turnips are taken up.

4. 13 acres. One half of this is planted with early potatoes —

" cruffles ;" and immediately after they are raised, the ground
is filled up with transplanted swedes. The other half of the
ground is partly sown with swedes, and partly with mangold
and beans.

184 APPENDIX.

Of these 60 acres there are thus annually 13 in wheat, 9 in oats,
and 2 in beans — or 24 in grain crops altogether ; 9 in Italian rye-
grass, 4 winter vetches, 4 white turnips, 4 in rape, 6 in early
potatoes, 7 in swedes, 1 in mangold, and 8 in permanent grass — or
43 acres in green crops and grass ; 7 acres thus bearing a double
crop in the year.

The stock kept on this farm were 46 milk-cows, mostly large
half-bred stock ; a few pigs, and 7 horses ; but the horses also do
the work of a 40 -acre farm about a mile distant. Mr Boyd has
besides a 20-acre farm in pasture, and on these two adjoining
farms he keeps the young stock and such cows as are not giving
milk. On the 60-acre farm there is constantly kept a stock of
46 milk-cows. A considerable quantity of distillery draff is
purchased to aid in feeding ; and by top-dressing the Italian rye-
grass in spring with guano, and subsequent liquid applications,
three heavy cuts have been obtained. The farm is very well
managed, though all the crops might be greatly heavier by an
increased application of manure. Of this Mr Boyd is fully sensible ;
and his intention is to go on progressively, not content with what
he has yet done.

No. II.
POOR LAW

EXPENDITURE for Year ended 29th September 1849, in the
Unions in the four Counties of Limerick, Galway, Clare,
Mayo.

N.B. — It is to be observed that Unions and Counties are not cotermi-
nous ; but, generally, what is included of other Counties— in Mayo
Unions for instance— is balanced by the portions of Mayo included
in the Unions of other Counties.

Bounty Limerick—

Population.

Expenditure.

Valuation.

75,687

Kilmallock,

£32,233

£177,934

132,067

Limerick,

44,939

203,022

60,007

Newcastle,

40,536

96,148

68,174

Rathkeale,

30,730

120,806

335,935

£148,438

£597,910

APPENDIX.

1

County Galway-

Population.

Expenditure.

Valuation.

99,026

Ballinasloe,

£25,790

£152,167

33,465

Clifden,

21,277

19,986

88,973

Galway,

36,702

90,903

43,543

Gort,

20,996

46,514

71,774

Loughrea,

25,824

91,267

74,974

Tuam,

32,006
£162,595

84,573

411,755

£485,410

County Clare—

77,840

Ennis,

£46,551

£100,238

49,935

Ennistymon,

38,503

63,793

82,353

Kilrush,

39,338

59,247

53,563

Scariff,

34,595

55,274

263,691

£158,987

£278,552

County Mayo —

120,787

Ballina,

£54,231

£89,151

85,031

Ballinrobe,

35,779

85,216

61,063

Castlebar,

31,068

49,988

73,529

Swineford,

19,846

46,164

77,952

Westport,

28,361

39,019

418,302

£169,285

£309,538

185

No. III.

ANSWERS to Inquiries made in the Months of July and Au-
gust 1849, as to the expediency of affording Assistance for the
Emigration of Destitute Persons in the Distressed Unions,
(in the Counties of Limerick, Clare, Mayo, and Galway,) who
would otherwise be dependent on the poor-rates.

I. Limerick.

There are thousands of young unmarried women, (say be-
tween 18 and 25,) in this and the adjoining counties, who
would gladly emigrate, there being little or no employment
for them, and many being consequently compelled to enter
the workhouse and remain there. For this class especially,
such a measure would be most desirable.

186 APPENDIX.

2. Clare, (central part.)

Agricultural labourers with families, and families deserted by
husbands and fathers who have emigrated, might advan-
tageously be enabled to emigrate. In some of the com-
munications from other districts, sending out deserted
families is objected to, as affording encouragement to
desertion.

3. Clare, (west coast.)

Although the population would not be too great if the land
were properly cultivated, there are many who must either
be enabled to emigrate, or be permanently chargeable to
the Union.

4. Clare, (south-west.)

The great majority of the destitute class here are so extremely
ignorant and helpless as to be unfit for emigration ; but
there are many intelligent ones who could do well in the
colonies, but must here be permanently chargeable.

5. Clare, (east,) and adjoining part of Gal way.

There are many able-bodied men with large families, as well
as young unmarried persons of both sexes, who, being un-
able to obtain employment, are a burden here, and whose
emigration, especially that of the latter class, would afford
permanent relief.

6. Galway, (south.)

The largest class dependent on the poor-rates here consists
of able-bodied unmarried women. These, and men with
large families, who can never support themselves at the
present rate of wages, might advantageously be sent out,
but not unmarried men, nor men with small families.

7. Galway, (vicinity of Galway town, and part of Connemara.)

The largest and most increasing class of paupers here also is
that of able-bodied unmarried women, farm-servants un-
employed in consequence of the distress, but well fitted for
the labour of colonial life. There are also many able-bodied
men who are unable to support themselves, and are not
likely to be wanted for a considerable time.

APPENDIX. 187

8. Galway, (extreme west.)

Unmarried females are the only class here whom it is desir-
able to remove : of these there are great numbers destitute,
and who would gladly go.

9. Galway, (north.)

The same class (destitute unmarried females) exists here in
large numbers, from the discontinuance of employment of
farm-servants, and must be a permanent burden unless
enabled to emigrate.

10. Galway, (west,) and adjoining part of Mayo.

The same class, and that of young single men, but the latter
not in so great number as the former, fill the workhouses
here, and their removal would be a permanent benefit.

11. Mayo, (south.)

Single men and women, especially the latter, and widows
without children, under the age of 25, might be advan-
tageously sent. Farm-servants are now scarcely ever
sought.

12. Mayo, (near Westport.)

13. Mayo, (east.)

There are hundreds of healthy unmarried females, between
15 and 30, destitute, and who might be relieved by emi-
gration.

14. Mayo, (central.)

Emigration is desirable as an immediate relief, until capital
can be introduced and employment provided.

15. Mayo, (north.)

Emigration affords the only hope for the wretched evicted
families now in the most miserable hovels. The only
objection to this is the fear that evictions might thus be
encouraged.

188

APPENDIX.

No. IV.

GRAND-JURY PRESENTMENTS, &c.

Counties.

Amount of ordinary

Grand-Jury Presentments

granted in 1849.

Amount of Assessment

under Labour- Rate Acts

in 1849.

Mayo county,

Clare,

£30,229 11 10

53,011 13 8
29,784 1 7
54,792 13 5

*819 16 6

13,138 7 3

t38,342 2 3

Gal way,

Limerick,

No. V.

RETURN, up to 20th November, of Labour-Rate and Relief-
Loans to Counties of Galway, Mayo, Clare, and Limerick ;
and the amount paid.

I. Labour-Rate Loans : —

1. County of Galway,
Town

2. County of Mayo,

3. ... Clare,

4. ... Limerick,
City do.,

Loan repayable.

Repaid

£262,892

nil

16,682

nil

199,397

nil

280,304

nil

231,312

£18,422

5,607

623

£996,194

£19,045

* This sum appears to have been exclusively for damages.
f This sum is for three half-yearly instalments.

II. Relief Loans, 10 Vic. c

Unions.

Ballina,

Ballinrobe,

Castlebar,

Swineford,

Westport,

Clifden,

Ballinasloe,

Gort,

Galway,

Loughrea,

Tuam,

Ennis,

Ennistymon,

Kilrush,

Scariff,

Limerick,

Kilmallock,

Rathkeale,

Newcastle,

APPE

NDIX.

7 (Burgoyne's Act.)

Loan.

Repaid.

£13,716

nil

12,183

nil

7,282

nil

6,620

nil

5,624

nil

3,228

nil

20,346

nil

7,663

nil

14,029

nil

10,295

nil

12,300

nil

14,340

nil

9,644

nil

8,555

nil

6,406

nil

25,119

£2021

22,228

nil

17,857

nil

14,944

505

189

£232,379

£2526

Labour-rate loans (to Counties),
Relief Loans (to Unions),

Loans repayable. Repaid.

£996,194 £19,045
232,379 2,526

£1,228,573 £21,571

190 APPENDIX.

No. VI.

By the Tithe Composition Keturns of 1835, the amount of Lay
and Clerical Tithe Composition in the under-named Dioceses,
which may be taken as comprising the Counties of Mayo,
Galway, Clare, and Limerick, appears to have been as
follows : —

Tuam,— Lay, . . £650 8 5£

„ Ecclesiastical, . 18,810 15 6

say £19,461 4 0

Clonfert and Kilmaiduagh, — Ecclesiastical, . 8,839 0 0

Killala— Lay, . . £1,533 14 5

" Ecclesiastical, . 6,565 12 6

Achonry,— Lay, . . £2,721 6 10£

„ Ecclesiastical, 4,279 9 8|

Emly — Lay, . . £2,950 5 10

„ Ecclesiastical, . 7,480 18 0

8,099 6 9

7,000 16 7

10,431 3 10

25,294 3 0

29,387 4 3

Total, . . £108,512 18 5

Limerick,— Lay, . £5,873 4 3

„ Ecclesiastical, 19,420 18 9

Killaloe & Kilfenora— Lay, £4,483 9 8
„ Ecclesiastical, 24,903 14 7

75 per cent on this sum amounts to £81,384 13 10

which may therefore be taken as an approximation to the amount
of tithe rent-charge in their dioceses.

APPENDIX.

191

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