Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF CORK. 



1157 



liecially the cabins of the farm laborers, which are miserable 

 muu-walled hovels, sunk below the level of the ground adjoin- 

 ing, and occupied by cows and pigs, in common with the U- 

 mily. The prmcipal food of this class is potatoes with chum- 

 milk, and occasionally oat-meal; butcher-meat being rarely 

 used even among the farmers ; and, to add to their privations, 

 fuel is very scarce in ditf'erent parts of the county. An unin- 

 terrupted succession of oats and other com crops for several 

 jears is common; in a few instances even for twenty years. 

 The common rotation is wheat, oats, fallow, potatoes, clover, 

 all without the application of manure. It is customary to 

 woric horses intermixed with oxen, of which six aie generally 

 yoked together, three pair deep, to a very ill-constructed 

 plough; yet, notwithstanding this management, the wheat 

 crops Eire in some parts excellent. 



Manufactures do not attbrd employment to any considerablt 

 part of the iropulation, though here, as in most parts of Ire- 

 land, that of Linen is carried onto some extent; and also the 

 weaving of cotton. On the Blackwaler and the Boyne there aro 

 several extensive Hour mills. 



7085. WESTME ATH. 378,880 acres of surface. The surface of this district is exceedingly diversified 

 with woods, lakes, streams, bogs, and rich grazing lands ; in no parts mountainous or flat, but gently 

 undulating or rising into hills of no great elevation; some of these are cultivated to their summits, and 

 others covered with wood, presenting, in several parts, some of the finest scenery in Ireland. ( Wakejield's 

 Satistical Survey of Ireland. Sup. Encyc. Brit-) a. 



sheep occupy the grazing grounds, which extend over much of 

 the best part of the distiict. Tillage is accordingly upon a 

 limited scale, though more com is raisea tnan the inhabitants 

 consume; and besides the crops common in other iplaces, flax, 

 hemp, and rape, are cultivated, with clover and turnips ; the 

 two latter, however, not generally. 

 Few or no manufactures. 



to 500 cows in a season, besides bullocks and sheep. These 

 they purchase at the beginning of the grass season, and dispose 

 of during the summer and autumn, as they are ready, instead 

 of keening a regular stock all the year. The pastures are c-on- 

 siderea too valuable to be applied to the rearing of stock. 

 Dairying is not carried to any extent, and the butter made 

 here is said to be held in little estimation. In some instances, 

 where farms are let out for the dairy, the landlord supplies a 

 succession of cows in milk, horses, and land, and the tenant 

 furnishes labor, utensils, &c. paying at the rate of from six 

 I>ounds to seven pounds ten shillings per annum, for each cow. 

 The English long homed 'cattle were introduced many years 

 ago into this district, which now contains some of the best 

 specimens of the breed. The sheep are brought from other 

 counties, and, like the cattle, the same stock is kept only for a 

 season. 



TUlage farms are larger here than in most parts of Ireland ; 

 but according to Curwen, the system of management is little 

 better than on the small farms of other districts. The houses 

 and fences are for the most part of the worst description, es- 



The principal river is 

 Ree, full of wooded islands. 



Shannon, and the lake Lough 



There are few large estates, but many gentlemen of mode- 

 rate fortunes, from iiOOO/. to 30(KW. a year, most of whom are 

 resident. The leases are commonly for twenty-one years and a 

 life, though in some instances for thirty-one years and three 

 lives, a' great many line long-homed cattle, and long-wooUed 



7086. LONGFORD. 234,240 acres, in great part bog, mountains, and waste; the climate on an 

 average giving 140 dry days in the year. ( Wakefield, ^c. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



Landed property is in estates of from 3000/. to 7000/. a year. 

 Leases are commonly tor twenty-one years and a life. Farms 

 are, for the most part, very small, where tillage is the principal 

 object ; but only a small proportion of the district is under the 



7087. LOUTH. 210,560 acres, mountainous towards the north, but in other parts undulating and fer- 

 tile, with little waste land, no considerable lakes, and a great number of gentlemen's seats, of which that 

 of Foster, a distinguished patriot, is the chief. { Wakefield.) 



dent gentry almost exclusively employ the farms which they re- 

 tain iu their own hands. Home luieii manufactures. 



LaTided property is in estates from 1,500/. to 2000/. per an- 

 num. Farms are, in general, larger than in most other parts 

 of Ireland; but there are still many very small; in some pa- 

 rishes, scarcely one above twenty-five acres, and in others they 

 seldom extend to eighty acres. As the land is chiefly occupied 

 in tillage, little attention is paid to the improvement of cattle 

 and sheep ; of the latter, though a few are kept on most farms, 

 the number is inconsiderable. Wheat and oats are the jirinci- 

 pal corn crops, barley being very little cultivated. The other 

 crops are potatoes, flax, and a little hemp. Clover and turnips 

 are almost confined to the farms of proprietors. It is only on 

 these that the general management is good ; that of the com- 

 mon farmers being, for the most part, slovenly ; and their 

 lands requiring heavy dressings of lime and marl to keep them 



7088. WATERFORD. 454,400 acres, the greater part hilly and mountainous, but rich and productive 

 on the south-east ; the climate so mild, that cattle sometimes graze all the year round. {^ Wakefield, Cur- 

 wen, Sjc. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



productive. Yet, many of the tenants are in easy circumstan- 

 ces, well clothed, use meat in their families, and in every thing 

 but their houses and farm buildings, are in a condition superior 

 to that of their brethren in most other parts of Ireland. It is 

 common to renew the leases some time bctbre the old ones ex- 

 pire, so that the tenancs are not often changed ; but fines are 

 frequently paid on these renewals, which carrj- away much of 

 the capital that should be applied to the soil. Tithes are very 

 seldom taken in kind ; their value is ascertained about the end 

 of harvest, and the tenants grant their notes tor the amount, 

 which, tliough payable in November, is in some cases not ex- 

 acted till almost twelve months after. 'I'he linen manufacture 

 is carried on to a considerable extent. 



Some very large estates, of which the most extensive belongs 

 to the Duke of Devonshire. Leases are commonly for'twenty- 

 one years and a life ; and on the banks of the rivers, where the 

 land is most valuable, farms are small. According to Wake- 

 field's information, " in this county, when the eldest daughter 

 of a farmer marries, the falhei-. instead of giving her a portion, 

 divides his farm between himself and his son-in-law ; the next 

 daughter gets one-half of the remainder, and this division and 

 subdivision continues as long as there are daughters to be dis- 

 {>osed of. In regard to male children, they are turned out into 

 the world, and left to shift for themselves the best way they 

 can." The rent is chiefly paid from the protluce of the dairy, 

 which is cond^icted on a greater or smaller scale over all the 

 county, and from the pigs, which are partly fed upon its offals. 

 Some of the dairy farmers, most of whom are in easy circum- 

 stances, pay 1000/. a year of rent ; and a great deal of butter is 



7089. CORK. 698,882 acres, of greatly varied surface; bold, rocky, and mountainous on the west, rich 

 and fertile on the south and east, romantic and sublime in many places, and one-fourth part waste. 

 (WaJcefield. Taw iiscnd's Survey of Cork, IHIO. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



made, even among the mountains, where small cows, suited to 

 the nature of the pastures, form the principal stock. In the 

 neighborhood of Watertbrd, cows were let for sixteen pounds, 

 eigftteen pounds, and even twenty |>ounds for the season. 

 Tiiere are very few sheep, and those of a bad description ; and, 

 comparatively, but a small portion is in tillage. Wfiere lime is 

 used as a manure, it must be brought from a distance, as there 

 is no limestone to the east of Biackwater, and it costs upwards 

 of five pounds for an acre. Orchards are numerous on the 

 banks of this river, and extensive plantations of tunber trees 

 have been formed in various parts. Fur^e is so much used as 

 fuel, that whole lields are kept luider this shrub for the pur- 

 pose. 



Hogs are an important branch of trade at Milford Haven ; 

 glass and salt the ]irincipal manufactures. 



The climate is mild, but a very genaral opinion exists that it 

 is changing for the worse. 



The rivers of this county flow with rapidity for the most 

 l)art ; a circumstance unfavorable to their being rendered na- 

 vigable, but presenting many eligible situations for the erection 

 of^achinery. 



The most useftd fossils are limestone, marble, and slate ; coal 

 and ironstone liave been discovered, but not worked to any ex- 

 tent. 



i4'<a/f* are generally large ; tillage farms are very small, sel- 

 dom above thirty acres ; and, when they are larger, often held in 

 partnership, and the shares of each further diminished by the 

 common practice of dividing the paternal possessions among 

 the sons. The leases used to be for thirty-one years, or three 

 lives; but of late the term has been reduced "to twenty -one 

 years, or one life; and the farms, instead of being let out to 

 middlemen, who used to relet the Ijind in small portions to oc- 

 cupiers on short leases or at will, are no^ held in most cases 

 by the occupier from the proprietor himself. There is here the 

 usual minute division of tillage lands, cultivated by the spade 

 in preference to the plough ; the usual deiiendence on potatoes, 

 as the common and almost exclusive article of food ; with mise- 

 rable cabins, crowded with filth, poverty, <and indolence. The 

 crops are iwtatoes, in favorable sitiuitions succeeded by wheat: 



and oats, for one or more years; sometimes ^ barley follows the 

 wheat. Flax is cultivated in many small patches. Hemp very 

 rarely. Turnips and clover are seldom to be seen on tenanted 

 lands. Sea-sand, sea- weed, and lime, form a useful addition to 

 the stable and farm-yard manure; which is, however, in many 



ases, allowed to be washed away by the rains, and greatly i 



uced in vame by careless management. I'ailng and burning 



is practised in every part of the county, as an establised mode M 



4 E 3 



ineparalion fui- the lirst crop in the course. The implements 

 of husbandry are generally bpd : the common Irish plough and 

 harrows, seldom tiirnisbed with u'on tines, drawn by horses or 

 mules, and in a lew instances by oxen ; wheel carriages have be- 

 come common. A coiisiderable number of dairies are kept in 

 the vicinity of the city of Cork, where the produce, in the shape 

 of butter and skimmed milk, finds a ready market. In general 

 the cows, which are chiefly of the half Holderness breed, are 

 let out to a dairyman, at a certain rate for each, by the year ; 

 yet, many farmers conduct the business of the dairy themselves. 

 The average number of cows in a dairy may be from thirty to 

 forty. A few sheep are kept on every farm, commonly in fet- 

 ters, and upon the most worthless pastures. Projirietors have 

 introduced stranger breeds, and find them to answer ; but 

 sheep can never tecome an object of importance in a district 

 where farms are so small. 



