462 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Swedish crops very good ; clover hay still in large cobs ; 

 barley crops fair ; pass a decent, not to say respectable, 

 farm-house; farm-stead bad; told it was the Earl of 

 Lucan's property, and his residence to the right; some 

 wheat stacked ; potatoes clean and good ; now the 

 stoukes of wheat are in eights and tens, and all capped. 

 Arrive at Hazlehatch and Celbridge Station ; very dark 

 stone subsoil, almost like black slate ; wheat crops thin 

 and not ripa ; some Tartarian oats ; the land does not 

 appear to be drained at all ; a good house to the right ; 

 potatoes here show symptoms of disease ; soil thin and 

 stony, and country undulating. We keep passing on ; 

 oats and barley quite green, all fair ; grass all preserved 

 and fruitful, but no stock ; wheat ripe and good ; plenty 

 of good potatoes ; wheat looks safe in stoukes ; clover 

 hay in cocks of about a load each ; green crops all good- 

 We now pass into a flat, marshy, or fenny district, 

 abounding with ditches, the soil rich ; hay everywhere, 

 none carted, much to make here and there ; we have 

 high hills all the way to our left, but distant ; on the 

 right all flat as far as can be seen. The rail runs in a 

 slight cutting along here ; rough grazing, but good 

 grass ; nearly all grass lands for miles, and wofuUy 

 pestered with weeds — abominable carelessness ! ragwort ! 

 ragwort ! ! ragwort ! ! ! then scabious, daisy-weed, 

 docks, sow-thistles, and all other weeds that can find 

 room to grow. The soil a fine clayey loam, capable of 

 anything under good culture ; now it is hay, hay, hay, 

 hay;* grazing the exception, but still much of it is 

 grazed ; the stock a mixture of Irish and Shorthorns. 

 What would not good grazing do for this district ? Many 

 English graziers would rejoice to occupy such useful 

 land — it would soon cut a better figure ; now it is 

 wretchedly grazed. The shorthorns are not good, nor 

 is the cattle generally of good character. 



We have now got through to the hills, " clay and 

 pebbles ;" pass a river (the Liffey, I suppose) ; now and 

 then through a limestone cutting ; now through into the 

 flat country again, some of it under corn crops ; we ar- 

 rive at Sallins Station. We again deprecate the shameful 

 state of the grass lands lately passed. Surely they could 

 be fed completely off once in the year ; if so, it would 

 do much to their restoration. Nothing teases me so 

 much, in passing along, as this wasteful mode of grazing. 

 After passing the station you are at once in a corn- 

 growing district, producing good crops, and c'liefiy of 

 white wheat ; oats very strong ; farm-houses very thin 

 as seen along the route ; pass the river again ; now hay, 

 hay, again — what is it all for ? rather a queer country 

 in which to winter cattle ; but I conclude that is its 

 destination. Oats tall and good ; grass is all in tufts 

 and patches. Oh for Fowler's under-draining plough ! 

 Country a little undulating now ; heavy hay crops; po- 

 tato tops failing; land still badly grazed. Now much in 

 railway cuttings ; grass land to the left ; on the right 

 very rough, subsoil "clay with pebbles ;" wheat put 

 together in very small cobs iu the iields, the men are 

 reaping, and the women tying and shocking; potatoes 

 here very good. Now a poor district — sorry, sorry 



* Before leaving England Ibe hay was all secured, and most 

 o( the corn cut, awi much stacked. 



doings, hay not yet made, cold and backward ; busy 

 mowing; oats green; better grazing ; Irish and Short- 

 horns, stores and others ; no sheep. We pass on ; hay, hay, 

 hay, and very good crops ; land badly grazed. Newbridge 

 Station ; for once a good farm-house to our right; flock 

 of good sheep, and other stock ; capital oat crops ; 

 heavy hay crops. Now getting to a higher country ; 

 valley rich, but not managed properly ; good swedes, 

 and fair grazing; "pebbles and loam." Through cut- 

 tings continually, low, but sufficient to obstruct the 

 view ; now into an extensive grazing flat, and far better 

 done, large fields ; Wicklow mountains to the left ; hay 

 in large hay-cocks, fastened with good hay-bands to the 

 ground. Now at Kildare Junction ; a fine old ruin on 

 our left, with its lofty round tower. It is an old walled 

 town, in a fine country for agricultural purposes ; a 

 darker and finer loam ; much hay, potatoes good, crops 

 thin; don't like the farm-houses; cottages, now bad ; 

 meet with the first Irish peat-bog, which extends for 

 miles ; Killarney rail to right ; digging immense quan- 

 tities of peat ; town off to the right ; now across the 

 bog, extending far to the right and left of rail. It has a 

 singular and forbidding appearance : not fen nor high 

 land ; some portions of the bog are many feet in thick- 

 ness, and several feet above the level — in fact, high 

 ground ; we pass along over it ; crops near, and wood 

 to the right ; more bog to the left; all wet and queer. 

 The cottages are meagre and wretched hovels ; appear 

 to be open commons and sorry doings; bog, bog — here 

 many feet thick ; rows of eight or ten wretched Irish 

 cabins, and some bad Irish cows ; hay-making ; the bog 

 is not black, but a i-eddish brown, and row on our left 

 about two feet thick, and containing thousands of acres. 

 A manufactory for making peat-charcoal, &c., &c., on 

 our left. We are at length over the bog into a clayey 

 loam district, where the crops are fair, but the land 

 badly managed ; woful country to reside in ; fair crops ; 

 red wheat ; farm-houses very thin, and all we see are 

 whitewashed and slated; cottages worse and worse; 

 specimens of whent-reaping ; sheaves very small, nine 

 inches girth. Barley-cutting ; noticed want of hands ; 

 satisfied that all the Irish may keep at home in harvest- 

 time. Now arrive at Athy Station. A large old town ; 

 very mean-looking country, der.oting poverty throughout 

 the district ; castles apparently in town ; the country 

 and its agriculture are both alike unfavourable ; as we 

 proceed, it does not improve in its general features; 

 counted six men, si.x women, and two lads, all at 

 harvest work, in a space not more than twelve yards 

 square, reaping, tieing and shocking ; pass some short- 

 horn cattle grazing near ; good barley crop ; oats good ; 

 more enclosures, but sadly done ; sheaves very small ; 

 saw a flock of large heavy Irish sheep, similar in cha- 

 racter to those found in Romney Marsh, but better ; 

 fancy a Lincolnshire fen-farmer farming here ! Country 

 rather better ; to the left, bad again. O for more 

 capital to be freely expended 1 What good might be 

 effected all around ! Better again, and fairly attended 

 to, but badly grazed. 



The soil is now a convertible loam, onlj requiring better 

 management. Wc soon arrive at a still better country, 



