1 i \D OF TO-DAY. 51 



agested c total 



ion of the 429 di n 1891 



1 l 9 l >S77i population 505,723; 



>le value per iml. was therefore 



ijd. 1 



tion of ular districts as 



conge- ^ of course an arbitrary one. 



Tli- iy be electoral divisions the condition 



which is much worse than in the conge 



is, only these poor divisions do not form 

 20 population of the county. 



Tl ict many such districts; the 



'Bested districts therefore contain only a par- 

 section of the Irish population living on 

 uneconomic 1 s. The kernel of a deficit 



;i of this kind is always the potato patch, the 

 s of which vary according to the 

 r of mouths in the family. It supplies 

 main article of diet; the surplus, if any 

 1 for pi^s' food. The potatoes are grown 

 in so-^ * lazy beds," in broad drills 



sep. from each other by deep trenches, 



land these trenches sen *he 



for drainage purposes, especially 

 potato field is situated on peat 



tubers were simply laid on the bed 

 and earth out of the trench shovelled over 

 They arc now set in the ground. The work is 

 itly done with the spade, for the fields are 



igested Districts Board Report, 1903, Append i 

 and 26. 



