CH, III.] YEARLY OCCUPATION, OB CON-ACRE. 47 



From the replies given in every parish of Ireland, the 

 price of rent of the lot of land is fixed at from 41. 8s. to 

 101. 10s. per acre, according to the conditions to which 

 the farmer binds himself on yielding the land. Sometimes 

 the latter has to work and manure the land, and the la- 

 bourer in that case has only to burn it, find the seed, 

 plant, weed it, and gather in the harvest. In other cases 

 the labourer has to do everything. 



In some baronies the amount of the produce is not 

 equal to the rent, where the labourer has to manure the 

 ground largely before planting it. 



The Commissioners inquired what was the produce in 

 potatoes of an Irish acre of land cultivated on this system, 

 and found that it varied from 14,500 Ibs. to 29,000 Ibs. ; 

 that when the soil is bad, the crop consists only of refuse 

 potatoes, but in general regard is only paid to the quan- 

 tity of the produce. The potatoes grown upon manured 

 land are of a better quality than those produced upon 

 land which has been burnt. 



In some baronies the labourers sell a portion of the 

 crop, to repay money which they have been previously 

 obliged to borrow. In this case, the poor people, pressed 

 by their creditors, sell their potatoes as they dig them up, 

 at two-thirds of the price which they reach in the course 

 of the year. 



In other baronies the crop is divided into three por- 

 tions. The best sort serves for the tenants 5 food, the worst 

 is food for their pig, which pays the rent, whilst the middle 

 quality is reserved for planting. 



The Commissioners examined with great care the differ- 

 ent witnesses, with a view to ascertain the motives which 

 induced the poor to hire plots of land at so dear a rate. 



