THE CLIMATE OF IRELAND. 273 



is such as has never been known or heard of, and 

 seems likely so to continue, certainly in a measure, 

 and possibly to a still larger degree. 



No doubt many cases can be given where culti- 

 vation to a considerable extent has been profitably 

 carried on in Ireland, but if the circumstances and 

 rotation of these farms are looked into, it will be 

 found that not more than a tenth or a twelfth of 

 their acreage is annually in green crop. This means 

 that a good deal more than half the farm is in grass 

 over one year old, and that the system is something 

 quite different from that of an arable farm in Nor- 

 folk or the Lothians. It will also, I think, be found 

 that many such farms have been in bad condition, and 

 their occupiers have been getting them into heart. 



I am far from saying that during this process and 

 under this system their farms have not paid well ; my 

 own farm has for many years been a proof to the con- 

 trary. But the fact is, that once land is in condition, 

 grass in the Irish climate will pay best with as little 

 cultivation as may be, and that there is plenty of 

 more profitable work for the displaced labour in 

 draining, etc. Sound political economy teaches that 

 the most profitable application of labour, whoever 

 may gain by it, whether landlord, farmer, or work- 

 man, is the greatest gain to the community ; and 

 that all artificial attempts to force labour in a par- 

 ticular direction for the sake of secondary (even) 

 good objects are a mistake, and sure to end in dis- 



T 



