THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



433 



fruit trees planted and arranged with neatness ; 

 shade trees and groves planted in such places 

 as they are needed, and where they will present an 

 attractive appearance ; to lay off the fields in con- 

 venient, regular, and symmetrical forms ; keep the 

 fences, &c., in a good state of repair ; keep down 

 the growth of bushes and briers ; keep the fields, 

 not occupied with grain, in clover, or some other 

 green crop — and let neatness and order have 

 pretty full sway. — W. H. M. Mahoning, Pa" 



" Probably ' the easiest manner ' in which a far- 

 mer may 'adorn and beautify ' his home and farm 

 is by the judicious skilful planting of trees, vines, 

 and shrubbery. I might qualify by adding either, 

 or both useful and ornamental : but, to my mind, 

 that which is truly beautiful is always useful, 

 although its utility may not be measured by dollars 

 and cents." 



" I answer the first question decidedly in the 

 affirmative, and now is the time to do it. How ? 

 I answer, by setting out trees. Keep your house 

 well boarded and shingled, and painted a dark 

 brown or chocolate colour, as being the cheapest 



and most durable. Keep your barn tight, warm, 

 well lighted with windows, and don't forgot to have 

 ventilating chimneys, reaching from each separate 

 stable out at the top of the barn. Wash your 

 barns and sheds with blue lime, adding some 

 brown pigment to correspond with your house. 

 Then take the extra expense that German lead 

 would cost and lay it out in trees. There is 

 nothing so beautiful as a brown-coloured house 

 seen through a clump of trees. If you cannot get 

 trees any other way, run in debt for them. Apple, 

 pear, plum, or maple trees will pay for themselves 

 in a few years, with all the interest on the outlay. 

 — H. Stearns, Felchnille, Vt." 



" In locating a house, follow convenience and 

 economy ; and still I would in no case put the 

 woodhouse in front, nor the house behind the barn. 

 In building, remember that there are two sides to 

 a house — the inside for yourself and family, and 

 the outside for other folks ; and the golden rule 

 does not require you to do more for others than 

 you would, or can do, for yourself. Depend upon 

 it, your friends will admire your inside comforts 

 rather than your outside show." 



IRISH AGRICULTURE. 



An adjourned sectional meeting of the members 

 of the Royal Dublin Society was held at the 

 Society-house, Kildare-street, on the 4th of June 

 last. Mr. James Haughton presided. 



Mr. Thomas Miller read a paper on Irish 

 agriculture, of which the following is a summary : 



Mr. Miller stated that in visiting, in the years 

 1847 and 1850, the provinces of Ulster, Leinster, 

 and Connaught, he was much impressed by the 

 scenery and the natural fertility of the soil, which 

 was, however, worn out by the bad husbandry of 

 the small farmers. The famine and pestilence had 

 committed terrible ravages on the people; the 

 poor-houses were filled with the attenuated skele- 

 tons of the living, and the graveyards with the 

 corpses of the dead. The poor-rates were often 

 higher than the rent-rolls of the estates. Estates 

 were hurriedly, and often mercilessly, thrown into 

 the Encumbered Estates Court, and sold; and many 

 families of rank and respectability were reduced to 

 poverty. For mile after mile, in traversing the 

 country, hardly a human being was to be seen, 

 but here and there the cottages of the caretakers of 

 the depopulated estates. Even the very ground 

 partook of the sadness which pervaded the coun- 

 try; and the land was humbled under the judg- 

 ments of the Almighty. At this period many farms. 



from the foregoing causes, were in the hands of the 

 proprietors. Emigration had also begun, and 

 added more farms to those already in the landlords' 

 hands. The prospect of agriculturists, at this 

 period, was very different in Great Britain. Farms 

 there were letting freely, at enhanced rents — in- 

 deed, for more than double the rents of Irish 

 farms ; and properties brought greatly more than 

 twice the price of Irish properties. Knowing 

 these facts, he thought he might do some good 

 to Ireland, if he could induce Englif/li and Scotch 

 capitalists to buy lands, but more especially if he 

 could induce Enghsh and Scotch farmers to settle 

 in Ireland, where, by their intelligence, industry, 

 and agricultural ability, they would not only show 

 an example to Irish farmers, but also greatly bene- 

 fit themselves. With these objects in view, he put 

 himself in communication with a number of the 

 Irish nobility and gentry; and many fine farms 

 were placed in his hands, to let to Scotch and 

 English farmers. The Commissioners of the En- 

 cumbered Estates Court also authorized the rentals 

 and particulars of estates for sale in that court to 

 lie at his Edinburgh office ; so that parties in Scot- 

 land, who might be inclined to purchase Irish pro- 

 perties, might see the rentals. He spread informa- 

 tion through Scotland and England by advertise- 



