State Aid to Agriculture in Ireland. 57 



and proceedings are frequently taken in regard to eggs, butter, 

 or other commodities ottered for sale as Irish which are the 

 produce of other countries. In fact, the work of this branch 

 of the Department is of the most multifarious character and 

 invokes protection of the law for Irish industries in a variety 

 of ways. 



It would not be possible in the course of this article to deal 

 in detail with the Department's tobacco cultivation schemes, 

 poultry fattening, peat industry, &c. Creamery management 

 has already been _ adverted to in the preceding paragraphs. 

 The miscellaneous businesses of the Department also include 

 a certain amount of research work. Perhaps the most remark- 

 able and valuable of their researches was that undertaken by 

 Monsieur Nocard into the origin and treatment of " white 

 scour " in calves, in the course of which the micro-organism 

 w^hich produces the disease was discovered and an effective 

 method of treatment was laid down. Not the least of the 

 benefits conferred on the farmers by this discovery was the 

 establishment of the fact, generally accepted by the more 

 intelligent observers but not definitely susceptible of proof to 

 the man on the farm until after these researches, that it was 

 not, as had been supposed by less well informed farmers, the 

 Bkim milk which was responsible for the disease, but the lack 

 of sufficient cleanliness and care in the treatment of the calf 

 and its mother. Another valuable piece of research work is that 

 which was carried on in regard to the study of various milk 

 substitutes in calf feeding. Research into the value of certain 

 low grade imported compound manures has also been made. 



The Department's seed testing station, at which for a purely 

 nominal cost seeds are examined and reported upon, has been 

 of the greatest service. During the year 1909-10, 1,051 farmers 

 and 190 merchants availed themselves of this station, and the 

 Department themselves tested 507 samples under the Weeds 

 and Agricultural Seeds Act, 1909, and 203 other samples. 

 Under the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, also, samples of 

 both fertilisers and feeding stuffs have been examined. Of 

 course innumerable smaller details go to make up the full 

 volume of the Department's work, but enough has been said to 

 show its main direction. There still, however, remains the 

 work done in the Irish Congested Districts, in which, also, the 

 Department's remedial and educative influence has been in 

 operation, and which must be briefly noticed. 



It is in the wild and often barren stretches of Western 

 Ii'eland that the Congested Districts Board works. A refer- 

 ence to their last Report, published in 1911, shows that the 

 difficulties of the problem have called forth no less than ten 

 Acts of Parliament. The administration of State aid to 



