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STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part IV. 



7099. CAVAN. 499,957 acres, almost entirely covered with hills ; the surface, soil, and climate, being 

 alike bleak and uncomfortable. (Cooie's Statistical Account. Wakefield. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



Near Famham, the appearance of the country is favorable ; 

 the lakes there are picturesque, and communicate with each 

 other by a river. The fossils are various, but neglected. 



Two estates are of 30,000 and 26,000 acres, besides these 

 there are none of very great extent. Nearly the whole of the 

 land is under tillage, but the agriculture in every respect is 

 very bad. The size of the farms is from 50 to 100 acres, but 

 these are generally subdivided into farms of from two to twenty 

 acres, which are re-let to the manufacturers or " cottars", who 

 pay a high rent for them, by means of their other employments. 

 Their principal object is to raise a sufficient quantity of oats 

 and potatoes to feed their families, and of flax to give employ- 

 ment to the women and children. Most of the land is dug 

 with the spade, and trenched : where the plough is used, they 

 put three or four horses to it ; and when Young visited the 

 county, he found that till over it, the horses were yoked to the 

 ploughs and harrows by the tail ; that practice, however, is 

 now disused. Almost the only grain sown is oats, which are 

 reckoned to be in the proportion of seventy to one, to all other 

 grain ; there is scarcely any wheat. In 1809, there were 4500 

 acres of flax, from which 6500 bushels of seed were saved. 



Though the very tops of the hills are tilled, yet it does not ap- 

 pear that this county produces more grain than is necessary for 

 its home consumption ; nor has the bounty on the inland car- 

 riage of com to Dublin, (increased the very trifling quantity 

 brought to that market. From the coldness and moisture of 

 the climate, all the com of Cavan is obliged to be kiln dried. 



The stock farms generally consist of about 100 or 150 acres, 

 the farmers buy young cattle, and sell them again without fat- 

 tening ; a few, however, fat bullocks or sheep, but the latter 

 are very poor. There are very few dairy farms, though from 

 these, "as they are in the richest parts of the county, a good 

 deal of butter is sent. Many pigs are kept by the cottars, and 



near all the cabins are to be seen goats tethered to the tops of 

 the banksj 

 the fields. 



the banks, or " ditches", as they are here called, which 



tops 

 divi 



ide 



Cavan was formerly celebrated for its extensive woods, and 

 trees of an immense size ; but at present it is, in general, bare 

 of timber, except near Kilmore, Famham, and a few other 

 places, Wakefield remarks, that the ash is confined to parts of 

 this county, and to Tyrone and Fermanagh. 



The linen manufacture is the staple. ^...^ 



7100. FERMANAGH. 450,000 acres, in great part covered by water, and much of the rest of the sur- 

 face rugged and mountainous, but better wooded than other parts of Ireland. {Wakefield. Sup^Encyc. 

 Brit.) 



The aah grows in the hedgerows ; beeches come to a large 

 size, and also the yew, near Lough Erne ; and fir, oak, and 

 yew, are found in the bogs. The grand feature in the natural 

 scenery of this county is Lough Erne, which occupies about 

 one-eighth of the surface, and contains more than three hun- 

 dred islands. It contains most of the fish that are found in 

 other fresh water lakes, and is noted for its salmon and eels, 

 particularly the latter. Four of the eel weirs near the falls of 

 Beeleck, afford a rent of 100/. each. 



Bstafes aro large, three proprietors mentioned bv Wakefie'd, 

 have 13,000/. a year each, and other three from 6000/.to 7000/. 

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



In the northern part of the county, the farms are larger and 

 more productive than in most other parts of Ulster. Oats, bar- 



ley, potatoes, and flax, are the principal crops; very little 



wheat, clover, or turnips being cultivated, except in small 



tches near the towns. The high grounds are chiefly occupied 



in rearing cattle, and much of the better pastures with dairy 



stock. There are no large flocks cf sheep, and their breed of 

 this animal is of a very inferior description. 



Linen seven-eighths wide, is manufactured to some extent, 

 and there are several bleach-fields, which finish for sale the 

 linens sent to England. Illicit distillation is said to be very 



7101. MONAGHAN. 325,760 acres of low grounds, with detached hills, and a considerable space 

 occupied by bogs and small lakes. {Coote's Survey of Monaghaji, 1801. Wakefield. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



There are a, few large estates, but the greater part small ones, 

 many of which do not yield a free income equal to the ordi- 

 nary wages of labor. A few years ago, there were only 172 

 freeholders 'of 50/. and upwards, out of nearly 6000, most of 

 the considerable proprietors are absentees, and very little of 

 the landed property is in the hands of Catholics. 



Farms were so small a few years ago, as not to average ten 

 Irish acres over the whole county ; and the management, as 

 might be expected, was exceedingly unskilful and unproduc- 

 tive. The spade was used much more than the plough : the 

 latter being an implement which, with the team required to 

 work it, and the party to attend and direct it, could be brought 

 into action only by the united efltbrts of several tenants. The 



general term of leases is twenty-one years, and a life, or some- 

 times three lives. The principal crops are oats, jwtatoes, and 

 flax, with wheat and barley in a small proportion ; these last, 

 however, extend over a much greater tract now than they did 

 a few years ago. They make a good deal of butter, but there 

 are no large dairies. Goats are in greater numbers than sheep, 

 which is of itself a sufficient proofof the low state of its agri- 

 culture. 



The linen manufacture is said to have averaged twenty years 

 ago, about 200,000/. a year. It is carried on by the greater 

 portion of the inhabitants of both sexes, all the small formers 

 being also weavers. 



7102. TYRONE. 813,440 acres in great part mountainous, and containing, among other mountains, 

 Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, celebrated in song. The territorial value of this inland and northern district 

 is much inferior to that of most others. {M'Evoy's Survey of Tyrone, 1802. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



Various valuable /o**its found, but not worked: the best pot- 

 tery in Ireland, near Dungannon. Lough Neagh, the largest 

 lake in Ireland, covers 110,000 acres, but is not celebrated for 

 its scenery. 



Estates are of very great extent, many of them worth from 

 5000/. to 7000/. a yeai\ and the productive or arable land di- 

 vided into very small farms, not often exceeding twenty Irish 

 acres. The chief proprietors are the Marquess of Abercorn, 

 Lords Belmore, Northland, and Mountjoy. The leases are for 

 various periods, thirty-one years and three lives, three lives, 

 and twenty-one years and a life. On some estates the land 

 passes through the hands of middlemen, in portions of various 

 sizes, till it reaches the actual cultivator, for the most part, in 

 very minute subdivisions. It is customary for several persons 

 to be concerned in one townland, which is held in what is 

 called rundale, the cultivated land being divided into shares. 



sheep are accordingly of a very inferior description ; and the 

 latter, which are not numerous, may frequently be seen teth- 

 ered upon the small pstches of herbage which are interspersed 

 among the shares of these partnership concerns. The tillage 

 land, too, is more frequently stirred with the spade than the 

 plough ; and where a plough is used, the team, consisting of 

 horses, bullocks, and even milch cows, must be supplieaby 

 the contributions of three or four neighbors, who unite their 

 means for the purpose, each attending the operation, lest his 

 poor animal should have more than his' proper share of the la- 

 bor. Potatoes, oats, and flax, are the principal crops. 



The linen manufacture is carried on to a great extent, and the 

 potteries and collieries employ a considerable number of 

 hands ; to which we may add illicit distillation, which prevails 

 throughout all the north-western counties of Ireland. The 

 food of the lower classes is oat-meal and'potatoes ; wheaten 

 bread and butcher meat never being used but on extraordi- 

 nary ( 



7103. DONEGAL. 1,100,000 acres of ragged, boggy, and mountainous surface, with a cold, wet climate, 

 and neither woods nor ])lantations to shelter from the blast. {M'Parlan's Survey of Donegal, 1802. 

 Wakefield. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



are growing, and in many parts they are allowed to graze pro- 

 miscuously as soon as the crops are removed. Sea-weed and 

 shell-sand are used as manures, but very little limestone, or 

 limestone gravel. The practice of paring and burning, so 

 common in many parts of Ireland, is seldom resorted to in 

 this county. Leases are granted for twenty-one years and a 

 life. 



The staple manufacture of Donegal is linen. WomenTare 

 much employed in knitting stockings. Kelp is prepared along 

 the north-west coast; and, diuring the fishing season, three or 

 four salt-pans tised to be kept in full work. But whisky, says 

 Dr. M'Parlan, particularly in the mountain re^on, and all 

 around the coast, is the chief manufacture. " It is by running 

 their barley into this beverage that they provide for one halt- 

 year's rent. This is, therefore, a tax raised by the rich on.thc 

 morals and industry of the poor." _ 



Landed property is in few hands. 



Agriculture is in a very backward state in Donegal. The use 

 of the plough is confined to a small proportion of the cultivated 

 land, and is generally of a bad construction ; spade labor is pre- 

 ferred in most places. Barley is the chief grain crop, and it 

 is almost all used in distillation ; oats are only grown for home 

 consumption, and wheat is confined to a few favorite spots. 

 There are only two flour mills in the county. The culture of 

 flax is considerable in the barony of Raphoe, and is extending 

 even in the mountain districts. Potatoes are cultivated every 

 where; turnips, clovers, and other green crops, are almost un- 

 known among the tenantry. Village or partnership farms still 

 abound, but farms now begin to be let to individuals as separate 

 holdings. In the low country they are from ten to fifty acres in 

 extent, and from 40 to 500 in the movmtains. The fences are 

 commonly nothing lietter than ditches, with banks of turf or 

 clay, so that the cattle require to be herdetl while the crops 



