ON AGRICULTURE TO IRELAND 21 



Board. They devoted a good deal of their time to the examination 

 of the arterial drainage on the Dillon Estate, the carving out of 

 the holdings, and the erection of buildings, and they did what the 

 Northern Section did not do, they made a thorough inspection of 

 the interesting institute which now occupies the Dillon mansion- 

 house, formerly the residence of Lord Dillon. The Congested 

 Districts Board, after they bought the Dillon Estate, sold the 

 mansion-house to the bishop of the diocese. It has been turned 

 into a school, under the control of the Franciscan Missionaries of 

 Mary, where the young women of Ireland are being trained to be 

 house- wives in the most practical fashion possible — to cook without 

 kitchen ranges, there being a dearth of these ranges in rural Ire- 

 land ; to milk cows and make butter on approved methods, without 

 tlie expense of modern machinery ; to rear poultry and grow 

 vegetables ; to make carpets and lace in the long winter nights, 

 when other work is impossible. The school is subsidised by the 

 Department of Agriculture, whose inspectors examine the scholars 

 periodically. It is doing a great educational work in the district. 



There was no time for more than a passing sight of the great 

 pasture lands of Eoscommon, as the Northern Section had already 

 set out for Dublin, where both North and South had agreed to 

 meet to bring their investigations to a close. 



After our arrival in Ireland, and before we had set out to 

 inspect the country. Sir Horace Plunkett was good enough to meet 

 the Commissioners at dinner, and address them on the subject of 

 i Irish agriculture. He pointed out that after they had seen things 

 for themselves they might have many questions to ask. In order 

 that these might be answered as far as possible, he suggested that, 

 on their return to Dublin, a conference should take place, at which 

 the Commissioners and the Members of the Department of Agri- 

 culture would be present. The Commissioners gladly accepted 

 Sir Horace's kind invitation. The conference was duly held in 

 the office of the Department of Agriculture on the day of our 

 departure, after we had paid a visit to the Irish Agricultural 

 Wholesale Society. Questions were put, and questions were 

 answered, in the frankest way, Sir Horace, as usual, revealing 

 the widest possible knowledge of the work to which he is devoting 

 his life. The conference over, we proceeded to the Vice-Kegal 

 Lodge, where Lord and Lady Aberdeen, thoughtful as they ever 

 are, had invited us to tea. We spent a pleasant hour in their 

 company, and then it was time to go. Thus ended our sojourn 

 in the Emerald Isle. 



