Dairy Suggcsiions from Europe. 



183 



conducted. Yet, as was mentioned, the agricultural conditions are in 

 some respects deplorable. This is especially true of the more densely 

 populated region of the Southwest, where the land is poor. 



In the north of Ireland there is much mixed farming, while in the 

 south nearly all of the land is in grass. In the north and central east- 

 em parts of Ireland the farms are small. The owners of large estates 

 divide up the land and rent it out in small amounts to numerous ten- 

 ants, many of these having not over twenty acres. 



In striking contrast to the careful housing and care of the dairy 

 cattle in England and Scotland, 

 Ireland practices, in many re- 

 spects, the loosest kind of dairy 

 methods. Excepting near the 

 larger cities, where a constant sup- 

 ply of milk is required, the cows 

 are generally allowed to go dry in 

 the fall when the pastures fail. 

 During the winter their only shel- 

 ter may be an open shed. ]\Iany 

 of the barns are small and have 

 no loft or hay room, thus necessi- 

 tating stacking in a moist climate 



where the hay rapidly deteriorates. In the southern part, many of 

 the cow^s are fed nothing but hay or straw through the winter. As the 

 supply of these is often limited, spring finds many of the cows so badly 

 emaciated and in so weak a condition that they can scarcely get up 

 alone, and it takes a month of fine pasture in the spring to put them in 

 good condition to produce milk. This reduces the portion of the year 

 when the cows are producing anything like their maximum yield to 

 about three or four months, which means that the earning power of the 

 farm is run at full capacity for only one-third of the time, and for the 

 remaining portion of the j^ear not only the stock, but the labor, as well, 

 is partially or wholly idle. There is certainly little profit in this sort of 

 dairying, and its effects are detrimental to both man and beast. To 

 add to their folly, tliey attempt to make both milk and beef from the 

 same cattle, which are frequently scrubs and good for neither purpose. 

 Still, these are the conditions existing in a large and exclusively milk 

 producing district of Ireland, where the cattle are decendants from the 

 native stock which have been crossed with the Short Horns for many 

 years, and bred for beef and milk, until now^ they are almost a distinct 

 breed. 



The great problem is how to supply winter butter and keep the 



Irish farmer's cottage. 



