326 



TJic Country Gentleinaji's Magazine 



years of the quinquennial period kept close to 

 one figure — viz., about 1,040,000 — but this 

 year the acreage has (fortunately, perhaps) 

 decreased to 991,802. Turnips this year 

 shew an increase of 19,429 acres, and the 

 breadth under this crop is 7000 acres in 

 excess of that of any of the last five years, 

 while it is upwards of 26,000 acres in excess 

 of that of 1868. The acreage under mangold 

 and beetroot has increased each year, the 

 extent now being 34,920, as against 31,921 

 in 187 1, and only 19,109 in 1868. Cabbages, 

 carrots, and other green crops shew also a 

 considerable increase. 



The acreage of flax, on the other hand, 

 was, during the five years commencing 1868, 

 as follows : — 206,483, 229,252, 194,190, 

 156,670, and (in 1872) 122,003. The acre- 

 age under meadow and clover this year was 

 1,799,930, being in excess of the amount in 

 any of the preceding four years, except 187 1, 

 when the acreage was 1,829,044. The total 

 extent under crops in 1872 was 5,486,522 

 acres, the entire area of Ireland being (ex- 

 clusive of the larger rivers, lakes, and tide- 

 ways) 20,325,693 acres. The 15 million 

 acres not under crops are divided as follows : 

 — Grass, 10,241,513 acres; fallow, 18,512; 

 woods and plantations, 325,173; bog and 

 waste unoccupied, 4,253,973. The corre- 

 sponding figures in 187 1 were 10,071,285, 

 20,620, 324,998, and 4,287,361. 



It will thus be seen that the extent under 

 grass has increased by upwards of 170,000 

 acres within the year, while the bog and 

 waste unoccupied have been reduced by 

 upwards of 33,000 acres. 



The returns of live stock for 1872, when 

 compared with 1871, shew an increase in the 

 number of horses of 2650; of cattle, 80,781; 

 and of sheep, 28,682 ; and a decrease of pigs 

 amounting to 236,037. Taking the years 

 from 1862 to 1872 (inclusive) it appears that 

 the number of horses steadily decreased from 

 602,894 in 1862 to 524,180 in 1867, while 

 since there has been a continuous increase, 

 the average increase being about 3000 yearly. 

 Cattle have shewn, almost uniformly, an 

 increase during the eleven years, the number 

 in 1862 being 3,254,890, while in 1872 it 

 was 4,057,153 — the largest number during 

 the whole period. Sheep now number about 

 600,000 less than in 1867 and 1868, but they 

 are still much in excess of the number in 

 1862, which was 3,456,132, while in 1872 

 the number was 4,262,117, Pigs, which 

 number 1,385,386, although much fewer than 

 last year, are considerably in excess of the 

 average of the eleven years. 



The emigration tables shew that in the 

 first seven months of 187 1 the returns of 

 emigrants from the several ports of Ireland 

 indicate that 49,155 persons left this country. 

 The number for the same period in 1872 was 

 54,995, being an increase of 5840 persons 

 during this year. On the question of 

 labourers' dwellings, the Registrar-General, 

 when the ploughshare comes against any of 

 these states that the number of fourth-class 

 dwellings in Ireland in 187 1, each of which 

 had but one room for the entire family of 

 every age and each sex, was really much " less 

 than " the number in 1861, when it was 

 89.374- 



