T I P 



487 



T I P 



Grass or clover seeds are usually sown with the oats the 

 last crop of the tillage course; and for the two following 

 years the produce is mown, and then grazed until the land 

 is again broken up by the plough. Small farmers fre- 

 quently do not sow any grass seeds nor mow the crop ; 

 they also break up the ground after a shorter interval. 

 Owing to the warmth and moisture of the climate, and 

 from the later period (the month of August) at which they 

 are cut, the crops of hay are heavier than would be pro- 

 duced by land of equal goodness in Great Britain ; but it 

 is probable that from its more succulent nature the hay will 

 not support or fatten cattle better than a smaller quantity 

 of English hay. 



The long-horned Leicester breed of cattle was intro- 

 duced many years ago ; but the Durham and Hereford 

 breeds are more in request. The common Irish (Limerick) 

 breed is however most generally used, as being the most 

 hardy. The stock of all kinds is very good. There are 

 not so many cattle fattened for export as there were for- 

 merly, still some are ted for the English market, and are 

 exported from Waterford to Liverpool. Cattle are fit for 

 slaughter from three years and a half old ; they weigh 

 when fat from four cwt. to six cwt. Many young bullocks 

 are sold at a year old to Roscommon and Gahvay men ; 

 others for grazing are bought in the neighbourhood or at 

 Ballinasloe. The Ayrshire and Kerry cows are not much 

 used except by gentlemen. The quantity of butter made 

 is not great, but the quality is in general good, and the 

 mode of preserving it is improving : Clonmell is the prin- 

 cipal market. Very little cheese is made. 

 There are not many sheep kept : they are in general a 

 of the Leicester breed, and are large well-made ani- 

 mals. There are no large flocks, and folding sheep is not 

 in use ; the small fanners keep two or three sheep for the 

 sake of the wool ; and those who have dairies mix some 

 sheep in their pastures with their homed stock. 



The horses are of an active light-boned sort, very useful 

 i'ur all fanning purposes. Oxen are never employed in 

 labour. Pig's are numerous, and of an improved breed : 

 they are considered to be still improving. 



Agricultural implements have undergone much improve- 

 ment of late years. An iron plough, after the form of the 

 Scotch plough, has superseded the old-fashioned one, which 

 is now seldom seen in Use : the harrows, though not so 

 well made, yet, from I nature of the soil, do their 



work efficiently: ro' liing more common every 



year ; and these, as well as the harrows, are borrowed by 

 the farmers from each other. The carts are of cheap con- 

 struction, with narrow wheels and low sides formed of rails ; 

 Uiey carry only a small load, and are drawn by one horse. 

 The plough is used in the cultivation of every crop except 

 potatoes, for which, among the small farmers, the spade 

 it used; but the use of the spade is diminishing eu.y 

 year. The flail is used in threshing, except when the straw 

 Is wanted for thatching, and then the corn is often knocked 

 out against a board by the hand. 



The dairy-farmer have in general more capital than 

 other farmers. They have better houses, and these, with 

 their cattle-sheds and other farm buildings, are usually in 

 good condition. Mud-walls are found to answer best for 

 dairies, and little air is admitted. 



Many of the resident gentry have set an example of 

 ;or cultivation, and have been the means of introduc- 

 ing improved stock and implements. They crop the land 

 less severely than the common farmers, and give it longer 

 intervals of rest or more manure, in which they are fol- 

 lowed by the larger farmers. 



The con-ai'i'c system is common; these allotments are 

 commonly taken by the cottiers to raise their own food, 

 but a considerable number are taken by servants and 

 women with a view to profit from the sale of the produce. 

 The usual quantity taken by a family is a quarter to hall' 

 an acre; and the labouring class are always anxious to 

 obtain it. 



The demand for labour at the time of the inquiry was 



i to have <; while the population had 



increased. W;i h had in the course of ten years 



.inution of about two-pence per day, were 



v for men li</. a day with food, and in harvest 1*. a 



day with food ; or when hired for a whole year, 7i^- a day 



in sii a day in winter, without food. Hoys 



i I'ceived Hi/, a day in harvest-time, or if hired 



by the year 13*. per quarter, or in some baronies 20*-. per 



quarter. If a labourer worked 250 days in the year, at 8il. a 

 day, he received 8!!. 6s. 8rf., which may be considered as the 

 full average of the yearly earnings of the class. In the sea- 

 sons when work is slack, mid-winter and a month before 

 harvest, many of them resort to begging. To this the labourer 

 may add a little by eggs and about 3^. by his pigs. When 

 food is dear, the labourer has to work sometimes for six 

 weeks in July and August, merely for his food, consisting 

 generally of potatoes and milk. When a farmer feeds his 

 labourer, he gives him commonly better food than he would 

 have at home. If a labourer has a cottage, potato-garden, 

 and milk from his employer, as is usual, these are con- 

 sidered equivalent to a third or a half of his wages. The 

 labourers in the richest grazing districts are the worst otf. 

 The labourers when they obtain permanent employment, 

 at fixed wages, exhibit generally increased cleanliness and 

 decency of appearance, and their cabins are better fur- 

 nished. 



There is no employment for women, except in some of 

 the baronies in harvest-time, and perhaps in the potato- 

 planting and digging seasons, when they earn about (J</. 

 a day. Formerly they spun wool for their own clothes, 

 but this practice has ceased for several years, probably 

 because the manufactured article can now be purchased 

 cheaper. The rearing of fowls is the source of some profit ; 

 and a couple of pigs will bring in about 3/., which is 

 depended upon to pay the rent of the potato-garden. 

 There is no work for children under fourteen years of age : 

 they are not employed in hoeing or weeding corn or other 

 crops. 



The cottier tenants, occupiers of less than ten acres of 

 land, are enabled to feed and clothe their families better 

 than a labourer, but are themselves worse fed than the 

 labourers who are dieted by the fanners. Cottiers seldom 

 keep a cow ; they hold their land' from year to year, and 

 are generally in arrear for rent, which is always (if a man 

 holds five acres or more) expected to be paid in money. 



The potatoes which the labourer or small cottier grows 

 constitute the food of his family ; he himself is frequently 

 fed by his employer. Milk is not used in more than one 

 half of the families. The greatest expenditure on tobacco 

 is Gd. a. week. Candles for six months amount to 3;/. per 

 week, and other necessaries, under the general designation 

 of kitchen,' cost from M. 10s. to 21. 10.$. for the year. 

 The labourers do not consume any description of groceries. 

 The fees to the Roman Catholic clergy form an important 

 item in a labourer's outlay. The fee for marriage is liw., 

 for churching a woman 2?. Gd., and for blessing the clay 

 and saying mass at a funeral 5*. ; at confession at Easter 

 and Christmas Is. is expected : but these fees are often 

 remitted. 



The dwellings of the labourers are of the most Wretched 

 description, nor has any perceptible improvement taken 

 place of'late years. During the alarm of cholera they were 

 whitewashed, but that is now neglected. They are gene- 

 rally 20 feet long by 12 broad, with walls from 7 to 8 feet 

 high, divided into two or perhaps three very small apart- 

 ments, and never having a second story ; covered only 

 with a thatch of straw, and having nothing but the bare 

 ground for the floor, and that often full of holes, which in 

 wet weather become little pools of water. A hole in the 

 roof allows the escape of the smoke, and their windows, 

 15 inches square, are more commonly without glass than 

 with it, and almost universally destitute of shutters. They 

 have rarely any outhouse except a pigsty, and in many cases 

 where they have not even that, the pig sleeps in the house. 

 These wretched hovels usually cost in erection about It)/., 

 and the tenant pays from 20s. to 30*-. a year as rent ; with 

 a rood of land, the rent is near 21. 10s. The cabins are 

 always kept in repair by the tenant. They are usually 

 built separate, not grouped in villages or hamlets, and for 

 convenience near the road-side. 



It rarely happens that there is more than one bed for 

 the whole family; a bedstead, a dresser, two chairs, a large 

 iron pot, and some crockery, all of the worst description, 

 usually complete the catalogue. In some wretched cabins 

 even these are not found, and the family lie on the floor. 



The chief article of food is the potato : the peasantry 

 grow this in preference to corn, because it yields a more 

 abundant supply with less care and less manure. A 

 labourer, when employed, gets three meals of potatoes a 

 day, his wife and children only two. In July and August, 

 when the old potatoes have become unfit for food, and the 



