f4 Survey of tJjc County of Kilkenny, Fetr. 



ceflively in his left hand, and la)-s them together, t -.vo of which 

 are faid to make a (heaf. In this way the {heaves muH neceffarily 

 be very fmall, which, no doubt, is preferable to the cuflom of 

 making large iheaves, as followed, though very unvvifely, in many 

 places. Six men reap an acre of wheat per day, and tjiree women 

 are required to bind it ; but a greater number are neceffarv for barley 

 and oats. Corn is usually ft icked in the field the day after it is 

 cut (a cuftom very prevalent in Great Britain about fifty years 

 ago\ removed home when properly winned, and built in large 

 Hacks. A few farmers mow their fpring corn, but the fickle 

 feems generally ufed. 



Our readers are not unacquainted that potatoes are extenfivelj 

 cultivated in Ireland, but perhaps they are not aware that the-- 

 lo:\^er ranks are almoft wholly iupported upon this root. It is 

 ftated, in this work, that a family of five perfons will confumx 

 three ftones of potatoes per day through the year, which is an extra- 

 ordinary quantity indeed. They are eat with milk when it can be 

 got ; at other times, with a herring, and often hmply with fait. 

 Oat-meal appears to be feldom ufed ; or rather, as an honourable 

 gentleman fapiently remarked, at a Scots county meeting, it is con- 

 fidered as a luxury ; nor bread of any kind, when potatoes can be 

 be got. No wonder, then, that Britain is deluged with oats, 

 when the rate of markets permits a free importation to be made. 

 In dcfcribing potatoe-hufbandry, the author does not convey 

 much new information to us, and we were difappointed at finding 

 the curl fcarcely mentioned. The mode of culture is principally 

 with the fpade, fometimes in drills, and nearly the whole manure 

 of the county is applied to this root. Scooping does not feem 

 much approved of. An extract from the v»ork \\\\\, however^ 

 elucidate thefe matters better than a curfory defcriptiou. 



* Scooping the eyes is a pradice well adapted to fave food in 

 the years of fcarcity ; but the refults of the practice have been 

 too various for the farmer to hazard his crop upon ; in a dry fea- 

 fon, and in ground not very well tilled, they are liable, like the • 

 fiioots, to be ftarved, and, from their fniallnefs, they require more 

 attention in fetting. From their form, however, they might be 

 fown by a drill-machine, which would fave much labour. By 

 planting fcoopcd eyes, Mr Robert St George faved eight barrels in 

 twenty, out of a mixture of large and middling fized potatoes : the 

 produce in a fquare perch was feven pounds fuperior to the com- 

 mon fets, in ground well tilled and fine. Mr Sheckleton, of CaUleco- 

 mer, tried them in 1800 and j8oi ; his ground was rich and well 

 manured, adjoining to, and perhaps formerly a part of the church- 

 yard : in the firft year he faved half the wei-ht of the potatoes, 

 ia the latter, three-fourths : he found them anf vver fo well, that 

 I he 



