404: Report on flio Agriculture of CurnherlanJ, 



large increase in the number returned ; to this, however, there 

 arc two exceptions. The most notable decrease is in the' 

 Returns for 1867, when the numbers were lessened by 5041. 

 Nor is this all. The Returns for 1866 were collected only on 

 holdings above five acres in extent, so that the figures I have 

 brought forward would have been under the actual difference had 

 the Returns been as complete as in after years. The diminution' 

 is to be accounted for by the sad ravages made by the much- 

 dreaded cattle plague, when a large number of herds were 

 seriously reduced in numbers, and others totally destroyed. In 

 1869 there was also a slight decrease. This was mainly owing 

 to the short commons of 1868, when farmers becoming chary, 

 lest a dearth of feeding substances should overtake them, kept 

 their herds within bounds, either by actually selling off the 

 surplus stock, or by refraining from buying in Irish cattle. As 

 a rule, however, the tendency has been for some years, and still 

 is, to an increase of cattle, a fact which I have already stated. 

 The advance from 1867 to 1873 has been set down at 24,354, 

 but 1867 being the year after the cattle plague, perhaps a surer 

 basis will be found in estimating the increase from 1868 to 1873, 

 which is given as 10,866, or 9'2 per cent. During the past 

 three years there has been a steady increase of upwards of 3000 

 per year ; and as trade has been very little restricted during that 

 time, and there have been no panics, arising either from war or 

 famine, the tendency may be considered natural. 



The extreme dryness of the weather, and consequent shortness 

 of food for sheep, in 1868, naturally caused farmers to be 

 cautious in purchasing lambs in the autumn, and the result 

 is, that the Returns of 1869 show a diminution from those of 

 1868. So with the following year to a certain extent. The 

 decrease in the two years was 36,741 in the aggregate, or 7*1 per 

 cent. In the past three years, however, there has been a steady 

 increase at the rate of 27,417 per year, upon an average. The 

 extraordinary demand for mutton, brought about indirectly by 

 the high wages received by labourers at the ironworks and 

 collieries, is causing many agriculturists to turn their attention 

 to the feeding of sheep, and so the Scotch markets are drawn 

 upon pretty extensively to stock the turnip fields and pastures-, 

 when the supply of home-bred descriptions fails. 



The number of pigs returned in 1867 very nearly corresponds 

 with that of 1872, but the number in 1873 shows a wonderful 

 reduction — 7115 in all, or 20* 1 per cent. This is chiefly owing 

 to the fact that as the consumption of beef and mutton extends, 

 that of pork and bacon falls off, iHasmuch as the poorer classes-, 

 whose animal food was at one time almost exclusively confined 



