60 ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK I. 



The only means of subsistence for these poor people 

 depends on the quantity of small plots of land which 

 they sublet in con-acre by the year to still poorer tenants, 

 whilst the large farmers grant portions of their land only 

 to obtain labour cheaper. Under the present system, the 

 witnesses said it is impossible for these people to accu- 

 mulate any capital ; all they can do is to pay their rents 

 and get potatoes to live on. If they can lay by any 

 savings they seek to get their daughters married, in order 

 to insure to themselves support when they are no longer 

 able to maintain themselves by their own labour. None 

 of them reckons upon more than the crop which he has 

 planted, and if that fails the misery is inconceivably great. 



Thus, in these districts, the adoption of the recent im- 

 provements in agriculture is out of the question, since the 

 farmers have no other capital than the produce of their 

 own labour. Their lodging and clothes correspond with 

 their food; and if they do not pay their rents, and are 

 turned out of their farms, they become beggars. 



In the barony of Mohill it was stated, that the rental of 

 land at a price which appears excessive is much increased 

 by the universal custom of measuring into a farm half 

 the adjoining roads, ditches, and all the included wastes. 

 The Commissioners met with several cases of hardship 

 resulting from this practice, which bears the heavier in 

 proportion to the smallness of the farm. In one case a man 

 occupied seven acres of land, of which not less than one 

 acre and a half consisted of road. It is with a view to 

 obtain a shelter for their families that these poor people 

 take the land at such a high price, which is soon so ex- 

 hausted as to produce nothing. The only resource for 

 these small tenants is to work at 4d a day ; and, bad as 



