1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



103i 



drank most cordially. The mention of tiie pro- 

 duce of INlr. Inijrani's dairy atfonled much sur- 

 prise, as he ivceps three, tiinii servants, and must, 

 iherelbre, have <jreat consumption at iiome. The 

 chairnian, however, said he uuilerstood tiiere was 

 another in the list that would surprise them still 

 more. He then passed a hi<;'h encomium on Mi- 

 chael Clarke's farm, in which, he said, there was 

 not the space of a siuijle ibot neglected; and also 

 noticed Ruth INl'Connel, wlio, by her own exer- 

 tions, had made a small piece of ground (which 

 liad merely fed a goat belore, and never yielded 

 more potatoes than hxsted until Christmas,) now 

 to keep a cow right well, and supply potatoes for 

 the whole year, and made 12 cwt. of oatmeal be- 

 sides, Irom a rood and six perches of land — add- 

 ing, that he was glad to hear her industry had got 

 her a husband. lie then called on John Hogg, of 

 Drumgaw, who bore the same testimony as all 

 others — viz: to the increase of his stock from one 

 cow and a heiti^r to two cows, a heifer, and a horse; 

 to the increase, likewise, of the manure, and the 

 increase of his crop, and his intention to persevere 

 in what he foimd so beneficial. Atier him, James 

 Rollston, of Drumminis. was called on, to whose 

 profit, by butter, the chairman had alluded. He 

 stated that "he had 8^ acres, and that he had 

 made, by selling milk and butter, £16. and by 

 exchange of cattle, £2; that he had also the pro- 

 duce of four bushels of flaxseed (near two acres,) 

 and one hundred and thirty stooks of oats: his stock 

 consisted, through the summer, of two excellent 

 cows and a pony; he had saved off his clover and 

 rye grass, four small cocks of hay, sufficient to 

 make one six fathom cock, and had at present 

 likewise two sheep." The chairman here drew 

 the attention of the strangers, and, indeed, all the 

 company, to this extraordinary produce from only 

 two cows — and Mr. Rollston was questioned very 

 closely as to how he could realize so much by his 

 milk and butter; when it was explained that he 

 lived within about 2^ miles of Armagh, and sold 

 his fresh butter there at lid the pound, and his 

 buttermilk at ^d per quart; and calculating at those 

 prices it appeared that the money might very read- 

 ily be made. 



Mr. Herd, steward at Gosford, here observed, 

 that good keep the previous winter tends greatly 

 to increase the milk the following summer, which 

 all seemed to agree in. 



Mr. William Martin, addressed the chairman, 

 said that "John M'Connell, close to Gos.'ord, had 

 made £6 from one cow, which was as much in 

 proportion, and that he had improved his farm as 

 much as any one on the estate." 



The chairman said he was fully aware of what 

 had been mentioned — and, to prove the fact, he 

 read a portion of a letter he had received that day 

 irom the Earl of Gosford, from Canada, in whicii 

 his Lordship writes — "Do not forget to tell Jockey 

 M'Connell (the name he is known by among his 

 neighbors,) how glad it made me to hear of his 

 improvements in the management of his land." 

 ''Now," observed the chairman, "this extract 

 shows you all, gendenien, how willing and atten- 

 tive I have been in reporting the improvement 

 Mr. Martin has alluded to; and it also shows 

 another thing, which I alluded to in proposing his 

 Lordship's health, namely — that although he 

 niight, in person, be far away, yet liis heart was 

 with us. in this statement! am, 1 think, fully 



borne out, by the kind interest he has shown in 

 his humble tenant's improvements, at a time 

 when he hiinseli; as we ail know, must be vexed 

 and disheartened by the difiicullies and annoy- 

 ances which liiction and party spirit throw around 

 him." 



Mr. Bruce here said, that he knew John M'Con- 

 nell hatl made more by his cow than Mr. Martin 

 thought; he having sold two firkins of butter, and. 

 they must come to more money than £0. 



The chairman here alluded to the great produce 

 Mr. Ingram had derived from his farm, aiul added, 

 "I am fully aware that this is not to be obtained 

 by him, or by any other person, without very con- 

 siderable additional labor; lor, when the whole sur- 

 tiice is under a course of cropping, it must naturally 

 take more labor than when the half of it is in grass; 

 but is it not evident that this labor is well remune- 

 rated? and what has been the complaint in Ireland 

 tor centuries, but a want of employment, and a 

 want of remuneration for such employment as did 

 offer? Here, then, seems to be the means of re- 

 moving the complaint which has so long existed; 

 and I must say, that many landlords from different 

 countries in Ireland, seeing the thing, I suppose, in 

 the same light in which I have represented it, have 

 been anxious that I should send them persons Irom 

 this, to take farms u|)on their estates; but this plan 

 of introducing better examples of industry has hitli- 

 erto failed, from the apprehensions which people 

 here entertain lor their personal saliity, in going 

 among strangers, who they may chance to find 

 hostilely disposed towards them: but it just occurs 

 to me that the thing might be accomplished iii 

 another way, without any chance of failure, and 

 I mention it here, in order that the idea may gain 

 publicity. We all know that in Scotland, farmers 

 who have acquired a reputation for skill and good 

 management, are in the practice of receiving ap- 

 prentices, with very considerable fees, for being 

 taken into the family and allowed to labor on the 

 farm, and learn a proper system of cultivation; and 

 I really cannot help thinking that any landlord in 

 the southern countries, who wished to have some 

 of his tenants' sons properly instructed, should 

 have recourse to the Scotch plan, and send them 

 down as apprentices to such men as Mr. Ingram, 

 or to such agriculturists as Mr. Bruce, Mr. Ander- 

 son, or Mr. Milne, where they would be taken 

 round an estate of, perhaps, many thousand acres, 

 consisting of every kind of soil, and might thereby 

 receive much more general instruction than they 

 ever could do in any agricultural school or any 

 single farm whatever, and become qualified to act, 

 on their return home, as agriculturists." This idea 

 seemed quite new to the company, but they all ap- 

 peared sensible of its great utility if carried into ef- 

 fect. Capt. Barker here said, that he knew the in- 

 terest taken in the southern countries, as to the ag- 

 ricultural improvements carried on in this neighbor- 

 hood, was greater than could be vv^ell imagined; and 

 that a friend of his, from the county of Cork, would 

 have been very happy to have been able to attend 

 the present meeting. 



Mr. W . M'Garry, from Lord Downshire's estate, 

 also observed, "that Mr. Ingram's name had gone 

 farther than ever he could go himself; for he took 

 many English and Irish farming publications, and 

 in all he had seen mention of Markethill, and of him 

 and others who were distinguished as premium- 

 men." 



