FOR PEACE AND WAR. 55 



present in support of sucli a tlieoiy ; but, I think, a shal- 

 low dip beneath the surface Avill fix the changes in those 

 matters of decreased horse supply and advanced beef rais- 

 ing in Ireland to the consequences brought about from the 

 inexorable necessities attendant upon comparatively recent 

 legislative enactments and contingent changes, rather than 

 from any deficienc}^ of taste in horsebreeding or want of 

 faith in returns therefrom. 



Within the last quarter of a century, not only has the 

 entire aspect of the most fertile portions of Ireland under- 

 gone a singularly beneficial change, but also much of the 

 rough and waste lands that afforded good horse pasturage 

 have, under the reclamatory influence of draining and sub- 

 soiling, become rich pastures, suited to the occupation, 

 tastes, and habits of the English and Scotch settlers of 

 recent advent, whom the operations of the " Incumbered 

 Estates Act " brought amongst us, owners and workers of 

 Irish land. 



For a period extending far into the past, up to about the 

 last twenty years, a vast expanse of agricultural area of 

 acres in Ireland was mapped and plotted out into an 

 infinity of small " holdings." They varied from the cottier's 

 " half acre of garden " to the " strong farmer's " homestead, 

 with its appanage of from fifty acres upwards. But the 

 majority of the land was noted for the disparity of its 

 pasturable fields to those undergoing the culture of the potato 

 and cereal growing population. 



Like all lands remarkable for fecundity, the dwellers on 

 the soil were characterised by a much less beneficial and 

 (.lesirable style of agricultural economy than that which 

 marks the operations of the inhabitants in more sterile 

 lands. The natives of Scotland form an example of this 

 theory, as do those of Italy, Greece, and Ireland. Where 

 " Mother Nature " is most prolific and bountiful, there will 

 be found unsystematic and improvident sons of toil. 



