706 



FARMERS' REGISTER— IRISH FARMING, 



rows of corn, would have been efiectual, but the 

 loss of the corn crop by that plan was too serious; 

 BO that it has been abandoned. At least I, alter 

 losing two crops on my experiment of that kind, 

 have given it up. And I have in lieu adopted the 

 Ibllovving. I flush round the hills as deep as possi- 

 ble, then harrow. I then lay oft' my rows lor 

 planting, horizontal!}' Avith a two horse McCor- 

 mick plough. I follow immediately the same fur- 

 row with a coulter, inserted as deep as possible, 

 cover either with a j)iough or hoe, and then har- 

 row the whole land with a Ibur-ox harrow. This 

 makes the soil smooth. Immediately on the corn's 

 coming up, I run lour or five times with the coulter 

 between the corn rows — two ploughings with the 

 shovel or bull-tongue, and a weeding with hoes, 

 complete the crop. " If from excessive rains, guUeys 

 are produced, fill them innnediately with straw or 

 leaves, and they speedily recover. Our grand 

 restorative, however, is the clover. Every farmer 

 should save his own seed. It takes much better 

 in the chaftj than clean, and the clover haulm 

 from which the seed has been extracted, when 

 spread on the poor spots, works a miracle in their 

 speedy restoration. But as yet I have tbund no 

 satistactory plan, by which successfully to root out 

 the annoying growth to which I have reltjrred. 

 Severe grazing will, in time, pretty elfectually de- 

 stroy all but the persimmon. Nothing will eat 

 that. And for one I am ready to pronounce him a 

 benefactor, who will discover an effectual method 

 of destroying it. To such an one I would vote a 

 premium of the whole funds of the society. Upon 

 the whole, as it seems to be agreed that in the eco- 

 nomy of Providence, something like equality was 

 designed in his distribution — applicable not only to 

 the various parts of the globe, but to our moral 

 condition, let us, the inhabitants of the South 

 West Mountains, rejoice and be grateful, that our 

 benefits greatly preponderate over our ills. And 

 as far as my testimony goes, resulting from actual 

 observation of near one-third of the entire circum- 

 ference of the earth, I ftjel no hesitation in declar- 

 ing, that I deem them the most desirable abode I 

 have ever seen. 



JAMKS BARBOUR. 



Barboursville, Orange, Nov. 1st, 1834. 



From the [Britisli] Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 



ON THE MANAGEMENT OF LANDED PROPER- 

 TY AND SMALL FARMS IN IRELAND. 



[The followii)g details of the improvements pro- 

 duced by the exertions of a single judicious individu- 

 al, among a population so miserable, degraded, and 

 almost hopeless, as the poor tenantry of Ireland, must 

 be interesting to the philanthropist and the political 

 economist, as well as to the agriculturist possessing 

 expanded views. Of all the reformers and benefactors 

 of mankind, the working reformers are the most use- 

 fiU. It was because he was a working reformer, fur- 

 nishing examples as well as precepts, that Oberlin 

 was, within his humble and limited sphere of action, 

 one of the greatest as well as one of the best of men — 

 the one who seems to have more completely fulfilled 

 his duty to God and man, than any of the heroes, the 

 sages, or the saints, whose fame and virtues have been 



illustrated by modern history. The agent of the im- 

 provements which are described in the following ex- 

 tracts was a mere man of business; but one who has 

 well proved this truth — that the same enlightened and 

 judicious system is best to promote the several inter- 

 ests of the owners, and the laborers of the soil, and 

 also of their country at large. The whole article 

 from which these extracts are taken, is an extended 

 review of two essays by Mr. Blacker, one of which 

 had been honored by a prize awarded by the Royal Dub- 

 lin Society. The parts omitted here relate more exclu- 

 sively to the peculiar circumstances of Ireland and of 

 the poor Irish cultivators.] 



The principal causes of the inferiority of the 

 agriculture of Ireland, are the want of minute su- 

 perintendence on the part of the land |jroprietary 

 of that country, and carelessness or want of judge- 

 ment in the selection of agents. 



Few country gentlemen, comparatively speak- 

 ing, are either disposed or competent to undertake 

 the trouble of introducing an improved system of 

 fLirnung, in defiance of old customs and long in- 

 dulged jjrejudices, and fewer still are judicious in 

 the choice of proper substitutes. 



The agent, however honorable he may be in 

 principle, and clever in the art of collecting rents 

 lor his employer, is too generally ignorant of rural 

 economy; or if not so, he is too frequently without 

 authority to act on his own judgement, and under 

 the necessity of acting on a prescribed system of 

 illiberal and defective management. Whde under 

 the strictest obligation to remit to the absentee 

 proprietor, under penalty of dismissal, a given 

 sum on prescribed days, his representations of 

 any circumstances connected Avith the actual state 

 of the rent-roll, are unheeded and unfelt. 



The absentee landlords in p-articular, with a few 

 honorable exceptions, look only to the amount of 

 remittances, and select for their agents, attorneys 

 resident in the metropolis, merely on account of 

 their knowledge of legal technicalities, and their 

 ingenuity in collecting rents at a moderate per 

 centage, without due regard to those more impor- 

 tant talents which a land-agent should possess. 



It is with reason that we complain on the part 

 of Ireland, of the general indifference which pre- 

 vails among the agents of Irish properly, on the 

 essential points of minute management and unre- 

 mitting vigilance, regarding the condition of cot- 

 tages, garden husbandry, culture of green crops, 

 planfing of orchards, &«.; all which important 

 objects could easily be effected through the instru- 

 mentality of active overseers, subordinate to the 

 principal agents, if their time be otherwise occu- 

 pied. 



It is with no ordinary degree of satisfaction, 

 therefore, that we have read the publications of 

 Mr. Blacker on the management of estates. 

 These coming from an Irish agent, we estimate 

 most highly, not so inuch for the details aflbrded 

 of remarkable improvements eftected on one or 

 two estates, as for the results which we confident- 

 ly anticipate these will produce. The zeal and 

 energy of Mr. Blacker are beyond all praise, and 

 must have a prodigious influence in stimulating to 

 similar eflorts the important andhhherto inefficient 

 class to wliich he belongs. 



In the preface to the second of these Essays, 

 Mr. Blacker observes: 



