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 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Clasz 
 
 
 
 
 
 GENERAL 
 
ff J i 
 
 r ftVM'i X\ 
 
 
 $ 
 
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 oFT Hh 
 
 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 r for 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 tw r elve 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 w r ith 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 
 w T ooded 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, w T ooded 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, ) 2 5 a 
 
 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. 
 
 Ph 1 ^ 
 
 
 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 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 9 
 36810 
 
 £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 
 
 • 2 T ' 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 statement 4 '" 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 
 
 Clonfert and Kilmaiduagh, — Ecclesiastical, . 8,839 
 
 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 
 
 8,099 6 9 
 
 7,000 16 7 
 
 10,431 3 10 
 
 25,294 3 
 
 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. 
 
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