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husbandry, of which the cultivation of the potato, the turnip, 

 and the flax plant, form essential parts. 



" In Ireland the cultivation of the soil, in three provinces 

 out of four, might be said to be based on the cultivation of 

 the potato alone ; whilst in Ulster, the most flourishing of 

 all the provinces, not only in manufactures, but in agriculture, 

 the Swedish turnip was beginning to be cultivated extensively, 

 and the cultivation of the flax plant was carried to such an 

 extent, and conducted with so much skill and judgment, as 

 to render it one of the most valuable sources of employment 

 for the people. 



" In England and the Lowlands of Scotland the greatest 

 attention had been given to the cultivation of the Swedish 

 turnip, which was carried to greater perfection in Great 

 Britain than in any other country of the world ; and it would 

 be found that the condition of the people was invariably 

 good in the districts in which this valuable root was exten- 

 sively cultivated. This was owing to the great amount of 

 employment which it afforded to women and children during 

 the spring and summer months, and the admirable rotation 

 of crops, of which it formed the basis. 



" In Flanders the cultivation of the potato was as well 

 understood as in Ireland ; that of the turnip almost as well 

 as in England ; and that of the flax plant much better than 

 in either. 



" Now, it was happily the fact that Ireland was decidedly 

 better situated for the cultivation of all these three plants 

 than any other country of Europe, owing to the openness of 

 the soil, the constant supply of moisture in the spring 

 months, and the unexampled mildness of its winters, which 

 allowed the tenderest plants, such as the arbutus, to grow in 

 the open country, at times when they required to be sheltered 

 in England ; and made Ireland really the ' Emerald isle,' 

 when all other countries in the same latitude were withered 



