163 



both for food and clothing, but give them Is. 4d. and 

 Is. 6d. per day, as the work will afford it, and Ire- 

 land is at once finally emancipated. The lords of 

 the soil are enriched ; the labourer and his family are 

 fed, and clothed with cloth from the merchant's 

 shop, instead of old rags ; the manufacturer and 

 merchant has each in their turn more trade, and all 

 will be contented and happy without poor laws, 

 without emigration, and without starvation in soul 

 and body. Government, or some joint-stock com- 

 pany, should make the experiment on an extensive 

 scale, and I am bold to aver, they will soon have 

 profits to their satisfaction ; still, I cannot help say- 

 ing, that, as has been shown, the thing is so easily 

 done, and so soon brought to pay every outlay, that 

 the proprietors of all such lands should themselves 

 be roused from their lethargy and indolence, and 

 set immediately about the grand work. It is well 

 known, and will be argued, that plantations keep the 

 ground wet and damp when they grow ; this must be 

 the case, because the sun does not get in amongst the 

 trees to dry the surface, and this is the very life of 

 the plantation ; if this was not the case, the trees 

 would die for want of moisture and nourishment. 

 Give a plantation of soft wood trees a dry surface, and 

 plenty of moisture and sap below or around them, 

 and they will grow rapidly. I need hardly mention, 

 that where it is necessary to have a pond, it must be 

 at least one foot deeper than the ditch, and the ditch 

 must be first made to contain the water till the pond 

 is cast out, but this will be easily secured, as the cir- 

 cumstances of the case may require, by any one the 

 least acquainted with such work. 



