STATISTICAL SURVEY OF IRISH AGRICULTURE. 317 



1 19.4 per cent, in Leinster ; 245.3 i^i Munster ; 361.5 in Ulster; 427.7 in 

 Connaught ; and 238.3 per cent, m all Ireland. The total number of hold- 

 ings " above i acre " decreased between 1841 and 1901 by 22.5 per cent, in 

 Leinster; 30.7 per cent, in Munster; 23.2 in Ulster; 25.5 in Connaught, 

 and 25.4 in all Ireland. 



The question of cultivation on a small and on a large scale has always 

 occupied the attention of economists, and is, beyond doubt, one of great 

 social and economic importance. The difficulties of any international com- 

 parisons as to size of holding, are, however, very serious. " That the average 

 size of a farm in France is 12}^ acres, while in the United States it is 137^ 

 shows simply (it has been well said) that the two systems of agriculture are 

 entirely different — nothing more."* This applies not merely to compari- 

 sons between different countries, but also, though probably in a less degree,, 

 to comparisons of different periods in the same country. The gradual sub- 

 stitution of pasture for tillage which has marked the last half century in 

 Ireland was necessarily accompanied by a consolidation of holdings and a 

 proportionate increase in the number of the larger-sized farms. Not many 

 people, perhaps, realize the full extent of this great transformation in rural 

 Ireland. With a view to bringing out its magnitude and significance, I 

 have prepared a table showing the number of each class of holdings above 

 one acre ; the percentage of each class to the total of holdings above one- 

 acre ; and the decrease by decades in the number of holdings. It will 

 be seen from this Table that, while in 1841 holdings between i and 15 acres 

 were 81.5 per cent, of the total of holdings above i acre, in 1901 they were 

 but 42.1 per cent. On the other hand, holdings between 15 and 30 acres 

 have increased from 11.5 per cent, of the total of holdings above an acre in 

 1 841 to 26.0 in 1901 ; and those above 30 acres in the same period from 7.0 

 to 31.9. In the decade 1 841 -51 — the famine decade — the number of hold- 

 ings above i acre shows the remarkable decline of 120,864 — the decrease of 

 those between i and 5 acres reaching the extraordinary figure of 222,353. 

 In succeeding decades the decreases are respectively — 1,854; 24,342; 

 17,399; 9'73i' s"d finally 1,165 between 1891 and 1901. From 185 1 to- 

 1 89 1 there was a gradual decline in the absolute number of holdings between 

 15 and 30 acres, though the percentage of this class of holding to the total 

 holdings above an acre has increased from 24.8 per cent, in 1851 to 25.9 in 

 1 89 1, while between 1891 and 1901 there has been a small increase in num- 

 ber and percentage, viz., 144 and o.i respectively. The holdings above 30 

 acres, have, on the contrary, continuously increased both absolutely and 

 relatively to the total number of holdings above one acre. In 1851 the 

 number of this class of holding was 149,090, and the percentage of the total 

 holdings above i acre 26.1 ; in 1901 the numbers were 164,483, and the per- 

 centage 31.9. The increase of large farms (that is, those above 30 acres} 

 between 1841 and 1901 has been at the following rates per cent, in the 

 different provinces: — Leinster, 119.4 per cent; Munster, 245.3 P^r cent; 

 Ulster, 361.5 per cent ; and Connaught, 427.7 per cent. The following 

 comparative statement is of interest in this connection : — 



Persons engaged in Agriculture, 



Farm Labourers, Farm Servants (Males), 



Holdings between One (i) and Thirty (30) Acres, 



Mayo-Smith — Statistics and Economics, 1899, p. 152, 



