ON AGRICULTURE TO IRELAND 39 



A Large Farm 



Lord Bessborough's farm, extending to about 1200 acres, may- 

 be taken as typical of the large farms. It is mostly composed of 

 meadow and permanent pasture. Forty acres are devoted to crops 

 grown in the following rotation : oats ; roots ; oats ; hay (twice 

 cut); hay. The turnips are alternated with other roots to prevent 

 finger and toe. Silage is made freely in stacks in the fields. The 

 top of the stack is covered with earth a foot deep. The sides are 

 raked down carefully with a close-toothed rake as the building 

 goes on, and consequently they require no covering. Lord 

 Bessborough considers that carting grass to a central silo at the 

 steading involves far too much labour. All Irishmen, however, 

 do not agree. Colonel Everard has a silo at his steading and 

 apparently prefers to make silage there rather than on the fields. 



A prominent place is given to dairying on the farm. Sixty 

 cows ai'e kept, occupying a byre which by many would be con- 

 sidered novel, inasmuch as on the top of the byre there is a 

 large hay shed capable of holding about 40 tons of hay. This 

 might be thought detrimental from a ventilation point of view. 

 But if we may judge from the state of matters on a warm June 

 day, when we visited the farm, the ventilation is quite good. 

 The machinery for working the dairy and preparing the food 

 during winter is driven by water power carried overhead in large 

 tubes. Lord Bessborough is a breeder of shorthorn cattle as well 

 as a dairy farmer. The shorthorn cows we saw were a fine lot. 

 They were the produce of two families of the " Mydaline " blood, 

 bred by Mr Letham. The calves were sired by " Financier," a 

 two-year-old bull by " Pride of the Vale," and by " Gold Drop," 

 a young bull bought at Perth in 1905 for 80 guineas. They 

 were mostly blood-red with velvety skins. They had every 

 appearance of becoming good stock. In addition to the short- 

 horns, sixteen pedigree polled Angus cows were turned out, the 

 greater part being of the " Vine " blood. They were served by 

 two bulls of great substance. The produce is sold throughout Ireland 

 for the purpose of improving the store cattle of the country. 



Ireland has had more fame for breeding hunters than Clydes- 

 dales, but she breeds Clydesdales too, though some Irishmen 

 believe to little purpose. We saw a stud horse and eight 

 Clydesdale mares at Lord Bessborough's farm, six of them nursing 

 foals. They were what we should call undersized. But size as 

 a virtue in a horse depends on the work it has to do. The land 

 in Ireland is as a rule free land, easily wrought, and the farms 

 are small farms. The horse wanted is a lighter animal than is 

 in favour in Scotland. The specimens we saw had been carefully 

 selected for quality and pedigree, and had won many honours in the 

 showyard. The harness room was literally papered with prize tickets. 



This nobleman has also gone largely into the pig trade. He 

 has a range of first-class piggeries. He breeds animals that are in 

 great demand throughout the country, the Department of Agricul- 

 ture being among his customers. 



