48 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. IV. 



where it is very steep, the ground is ploughed directly across ; tluis form- 

 int^ terraces, l/y which means much of the labour of tlie cattle is spared; 

 but land tlms situated is more rrenerally left under permanent prrass. 



Such are the chief processes by which the land is commonly tilled ; for 

 altliouoli there are many others — to some of which we sliall hereafter have 

 occasion to allude — which are employed by speculative or scientific farmers, 

 these are the means generally adopted throughout the United Kingdom. 

 In the operation of ploughing, the Scotch labourers have acquired the cha- 

 racter of being neater workmen than the generality of their southern neigii- 

 bours; but the soil of the Lothians, from which district they have chiefly 

 attained their reputation, though strong, is of a mellow description of loam, 

 which admits of being easier worked than much of the heavy clays in 

 many parts of England. In Ireland, very considerable improvement has 

 been lately effected in tillage by some spirited farmers and country gentle- 

 men; and there can be no doubt that, when the farmers generally acquire 

 that capital to which their present exertions seem to entitle them, it will 

 o-radually reach a high degree of perfection. We learn, however, from tlie 

 most recent of the Irish county surveys, published within these few years, 

 under the authority of the Dublin Society, that, except on the lands of 

 wealthy individuals, it still remains in a very imperfect state. " The 

 common plough of the small farmer is constructed on a bad principle, if 

 principle at all there be to guide the workman, since for the most part it 

 is put together by guess, and whether the instrument works well or ill is a 

 matter of chance. Ui)wards of twenty years ago it was remarked by Mr. 

 Wakefield, in his Statistical Account of Ireland, that if it was necessary to 

 ploutih deeper than the instrument from its original set would permit, there 

 existed no means of altering it; so that an extra person was employed to 

 press upon the beam, and most ploughs were accompanied by an attendant 

 with a spade to turn back the earth, which, after the plough had advanced, 

 would otherwise revert to its former bed, and the shovelling of the trenches 

 was always ])ractised, whether the plough or the spade had been emj)loyed. 

 riou"hin<T was, indeed, merely marking the land with the furrow, and even 

 this was executed so badly, that he ascribed the produce of corn much more 

 to the spade than to the plough*." 



These observations the reporter considers strictly applicable to a great 

 portion of the country at the present day ; though, as already stated, ex- 

 amples may every where be found on the lands of the principal gentry of 

 excellent tillage, with Scotch ploughs of the most approved construction, 

 drawn by a pair of horses and driven by the ])loughman. Much has indeed 

 been done by the distribution of ploughs, and by ploughing matches esta- 

 blished in many places by the late Farming Society of Ireland ; for, althoui^h 

 it is so difficult to counteract the jn-ejudice attached to old habits, especially 

 in farming, that the old plough continues in use to the present day, yet 

 manv of those who attended carried home useful hints to act upon. The 

 ploughman saw that the instrument was held level, instead of having one 

 stilt kept almost to the ground ; vet though held and worked in a manner 

 so different from his, the ploughing was nevertheless well ])erformed, and 

 with less labour both to the workman and his team. He tlierefore changed 

 his mode of holding, and the ploughwright also made a little alteration in 

 the fashion of his cumbrous machine ; by which means the furrow slice is 

 now more correctly cut, the whole surface more uniformly turned, and this 



"' Weld's Survey of Roscommon, p. (J'j7, 



