ON AGRICULTURE TO IRELAND 97 



Ireland, yet it is only at extremely wide intervals that even 

 small patches of it are met with. The bulk of the hay crop 

 in the north is perennial rye grass for seed, fiorin, and natural 

 meadows, all of which are useful in their way, but none of which 

 gives a large supply of hay of the best quality, such as is necessary 

 for winter dairying, and might be produced by Timothy. In the 

 damp and uncertain climate of Ireland it is at all times difficult 

 and sometimes impossible to make good hay from fiorin or natural 

 meadow grasses, whereas Timothy is easy to make into hay, and 

 two acres of it can at all times be secured at the cost of one 

 of any of these other grasses. The Department have been 

 attempting to encourage the growth of this crop and have 

 issued a leaflet on it, and offered seed on favourable terms to 

 all who care to try it, so that in tlie future some inciease in 

 the area of this crop may be expected. Nothing has done more 

 to make dairying profitable on the clay lands of Scotland than 

 the growth of Timothy, and all experience seems to indicate that 

 if given a fair trial it would have the same effect in Ireland. 



Cow-Houses 



The cowhouses on the medium sized and small farms would 

 not come up to the requirements of a Scottish County Council in 

 regard to cubic space, ventilation, lighting, or general cleanliness. 

 It is, of coui-se, only fair to remember that in the south the cows 

 are generally milked in the fields, and that in the north they also 

 live in the open, though they are brought to the byres to be 

 milked. But when every allowance is made for this, there is still 

 great room for improvement. 



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