The Country Gc/ULinaiis Magazine 



265 



STRAY NOTES FROM THE SOUTH OF IRELAND. 



T'HIS year will undoubtedly be set down 

 as an unusually bad one by farmers. 

 In fact, I think it may be set down at the 

 head of their "Black List." Those trust- 

 worthy personages, " the oldest inhabitants," 

 declare they never saw the like. We had a 

 Avet spring, a wetter summer, and the wettest 

 autumn on record. The hay, a small quantity 

 of which still remains uncut, has been damaged 

 a great deal. The potato crop is gone alto- 

 gether, or nearly so. It had a very fine ap- 

 pearance until the 25th ult., when we ex- 

 perienced a furious thunderstorm, which was 

 followed by a week's incessant rain. This, 

 besides laying cornfields wholesale, and 

 damaging hay in an awful manner, finished 

 the potato crop. 



You could not now " for love or money " 

 get a single green stalk. They are all 

 withered or burned up, and the potatoes are 

 entirely unfit for human food. 



The wheat is a good crop, and as a large 

 breadth was grown, the loss of the potato 

 will not be so much felt as it would have 

 been otherwise. Oats are a middling crop, 

 and turnips and mangolds are doing exceed- 

 ingly well. Only a small quantity of flax was 

 sown. 



This has also been a bad year for butter, 

 it scarcely running to 112s. per cwt. in the 

 Cork market. In fact, unless for dry stock 

 alone, it is an unprecedentedly bad year for 

 farmers. 



Foot-and-mouth disease has broken out in a 

 few isolated instances throughout the country. 

 I have heard of one or two cases near Water- 

 ford, one case near Killarney, and one case 

 near Dromcolloher, County Limerick. You 

 will see from this it is only a trifle, scarcely 

 worth noting. 



A fuel famine is also imminent. Coal, 

 which in other years was bought at i6s., is 

 now 33s. per ton; and, in consequence of the 

 extreme wet, it was impossible to get enough 

 of turf dry. " Necessity is the mother of 



invent "on," we are told, and I suppose this is 

 true, for the dearth of peat is now the principal 

 topic in all our newspapers. Alderman 

 Edward Purdon has offered the splendid 

 prize of ;!{^ioo, open to all comers, to the 

 inventor of " the best method of utilizing our 

 peat resources." That this prize will not re- 

 main unclaimed may be seen from the follow- 

 ing "card" which the worthy Alderman has 

 just issued : — 



Alderman Purdon has the pleasure of stat- 

 ing that the arrangements for the organiza- 

 tion and speeding of the intended commission 

 of inquiry for investigating the best modern 

 systems for making improved peat fuels that 

 may be found to be successfully in operation 

 elsewhere, have made important progress 

 this week;, and that the following noblemen 

 and gentlemen have, in the kindest manner, 

 tendered their willing and zealous co-opera- 

 tion for the furtherance of the objects of the 

 commission, to all of whom Alderman Pur- 

 don lakes this opportunity of off"ering his 

 most sincere thanks : — The Earl of Long- 

 ford, Lord Visct. Powerscourt, Lord Talbot 

 de Malahide, L. Waldron, D.L., Sir G. Hod- 

 son, Bart., Right Hon. More O'Farrell, Sir 

 John Gray, M.P., Sir W. Wilde, Major Knox, 

 D.L., Jonathan Pim, M.P., Mr V. O'B. 

 O'Connor, Mr W. B. Smythe, Rev. Dr 

 Haughton, F.T.C.D., Very Rev. Dean Kea- 

 linge, Mr Alexander M'Donnell, Mr C. 

 Cobbe, Mr G. Taylor, C.E., Mr E. Gratton, 

 Rev. W. Bagot, Mr H. U. Townsend, ISIr T. 

 O'Brien, Dr Hennis Green, Mr Brett, C.E., 

 Mr A. C. Taylor, Mr H. J. M'Fnrlane, Mr 

 B. Stoney, C.E., Mr H. Shaw, Mr John Bagot, 

 Mr R. Heron, Mr W. I). Webber, Ish J. Lom- 

 bard, Mr W. O'Brien, Mr J. R. Barry, Mr A. 

 Smith, Mr Hill, C.E., Mr J. Ward, Mr T. A. 

 Readwin, C.E., Mr V. Ryan, MrG. Seagrave, 

 Mr J. Meadows, Mr A. M'Nab, Mr T. Bald- 

 win, Mr J. Ganly. 



Alderman Purdon will be happy to receive 

 the names of any other gentlemen who may 



