A Practical Viciv of the Irish Land Question 



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The farmers, being satisfied that they must 

 conform more to nature, depend less on 

 tillage, and more on pasture, have now laid 

 down large breadths to grass, and thus re- 

 duced their labour. The small men, for 

 want of room and means, have joined the 

 unemployed labourers and swelled the tide 

 of emigration to the west. 



Whilst the arable portion of the country is 

 in a state of poverty from over-cropping and 

 bad cultivation, the unreclaimed portion, 

 which is large, is in even a worse condition. 

 There are few farms, however small, which 

 have not some tail of Avaste, and this instead 

 of being developed or improved is as far as 

 practicable despoiled by the tenant. If it is 

 fortunate enough to possess a skin of a turfy 

 nature it is flayed off for the fire ; if of a 

 heavier description of soil, it is drawn up into 

 the yard for manure — a costly operation pro- 

 ductive of little good to the soil to which 

 the manure is applied, and destructive of the 

 land whence it is drawn. For our considera- 

 tion the unreclaimed land may be divided 

 into two classes; that which c'xx^ profitably be 

 reclaimed and that which cannot. In the 

 first class may be included all land that 

 would bear an outlay of say ^10 per acre 

 for drainage and cultivation. To do this, it 

 is clear after reclamation that each acre must 

 be able to bear an additional rent, as a matter 

 of permanent investment, of los. annually, 

 and if the improvement be effected under a 

 limited occupancy of a considerably larger 

 sum, in order that the occupier may be able to 

 obtain both principal and interest before the 

 expiration of his term. Now, the obstacles 

 to be overcome where thorough drainage is 

 required must not be very formidable, or this 

 expenditure will be exceeded. Time is re- 

 quired for the consolidation of the surface ; 

 the mechanical and chemical working of the 

 constituents of the soil is a slow and gradual 

 process tardily developed. The first course 

 of tillage rarely pays more than the expenses, 

 and is often a losing game, so that the sub- 

 jects fit for reclamation simply are far from 

 being all the waste lands of Ireland. I am 

 of opinion, too, that the proportion of land 

 stated as waste in the agi'icultural returns is 



much exaggerated; the tenants being inter- 

 ested in putting the worst side out, and the 

 agitators upon the land question readily avail- 

 ing themselves of so extensive an argument 

 for their purposes. A knov.-ledge of the value 

 of land, like a knowledge of horse-flesh, is 

 generally considered to be in the possession 

 of every one. All persons believe that what 

 they see continually before them must pre- 

 sent some feature with which they are fami- 

 liar, and hence the number of suggestions 

 which have appeared upon this Irish Land 

 Question from editors, lawyers, and priests 

 — in fact, from every one except farmers. If 

 those who are so ready to suggest remedies 

 would be as persistent in a practical appHca- 

 tion of their views, the Irish problem would 

 soon be solved, and the unfortunate land- 

 lords and occupiers, who are generally sup- 

 posed to know nothing of their own affairs, 

 would not be slow to follow the example set 

 them by their obliging and benevolent 

 teachers. I see nothing to prevent any 

 of our land reformers fi-om investing any 

 sum they please, either as owners in fee, 

 where they could personally indulge in tenant- 

 right, with all its phases up to fixity of 

 tenure, or from becoming leaseholders with 

 the object of reclamation. One real live 

 example would do more for us than all the 

 theories that have been propounded for the 

 past twelve months. The amount of land tO' 

 be reclaimed must depend upon its quality 

 when brought into cultivation, and the cost 

 of reclamation. Erratic attempts have been 

 made here and there upon every class of 

 waste, but unless the work be profitable it is 

 impossible it can make continued progress. 

 In considering this Irish Land Question, I 

 have often been surprised that the records 

 of the Landed Estates Court have not been 

 used as furnishing, not the theoretical, but 

 the actual value of land, and that, too, upon a 

 very large area. It will be found that there 

 is no occasion to spend ;^io in reclaiming 

 an acre of waste, because land which needs 

 nothing but cultivation can be purchased in 

 fee for litde over that sum. I have said 

 thus much upon value, to shew that the exist- 

 ence of waste of the second class is not due to 



