278 IRELAND 



or individual societies could hope to secure for 

 smaller lots. 



In regard to fertilizers it was found that the 

 average Irish farmer had the most elementary 

 ideas on the subject, for he generally called all 

 artificial manures by the one name of " guano," 

 and he judged of their quality by their smell, 

 which he concluded must be strong, if not nasty, 

 if they were good. To-day, on the contrary, 

 Irish farmers will talk about artificial manures 

 in a way that would do credit to a professor of 

 agriculture. Whereas, also, they once paid at 

 the rate of £4 or £5 per ton to some local 

 trader for manure of very inferior quality, they 

 obtain to-day the highest grades through their 

 Agricultural Wholesale Society for about £3 

 per ton, the total purchases of that Society now 

 representing about 12,000 tons of artificial 

 manure the year. 



But if the position of the Irish farmer was 

 once bad enough in respect to artificial manures, 

 it was still worse as regards seeds. Before the 

 formation of the Agricultural Wholesale Society 

 the west coast of Ireland, from Sligo to Tralee, 

 was the dumping-ground for all the " refuse " 

 and " cleanings ' of seeds from England and 

 Scotland, as well as from the Continent in 

 general, just as the Welsh coast, from Holy- 



