THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 267 



condition of the grass. In two or three years I 

 expect the extent ploughed may be reduced to 

 thirty acres each year, and with still more cake the 

 same winter stock be kept and fattened. Just now 

 I have a tract of cut-out bog that has been drained, 

 etc., coming in. This for its own sake needs 

 cultivation and turnip cropping, and so delays the 

 decrease of tillage. Oats with grass seeds follow 

 the turnips, unless the land is poor, when it is laid 

 down with rape and grass seeds, no corn crop being 

 taken. Experience can alone show how far we can 

 decrease cultivation, and keep up the condition of 

 the grass land. It can clearly be done to the extent 

 of one -half, i.e. twenty-five acres instead of fifty, 

 being ploughed each year. The net profit on the 

 farm is more than double the rent the tenants paid 

 for it when they failed, after charging to each year 

 all the cake and manure bought, bailiff's salary, and 

 every expense. The changed appearance of the 

 land is a pleasure to one's eyes. The stock are 

 more than double the number, and individually 

 double the weight of those the tenants kept. 



It may seem strange to say it, but religion and 

 politics have been brought in Ireland even into the 

 question of farming, and whether grass or tillage are 

 best for the country is sought to be decided by what 

 is most to the advantage of the Eoman Catholic or 

 Protestant interests. The power of the Eoman 

 Catholic clergy and their party depends on the 



