130 RISE OF RENTS. 



cottars' " one or two cows" have disappeared, and very 

 few now have even a pig. 



It would seem, therefore, that the increased rent 

 now paid by the farmer, must have been made partly 

 from the increased produce already shown, and partly 

 from the higher rent exacted for the labourer's con- 

 acre, or (what is the same thing) for the less pro- 

 portion assigned to the labourer as his share of the 

 produce. It certainly cannot be said to have arisen 

 in any degree from the outlay of capital on the part of 

 the landlord in executing permanent improvements, 

 and thereby increasing the productiveness of his 

 land. 



That it has risen enormously there can be no doubt 

 whatever. 



1779. 1849. 



The rent of feeding land in the county of Limerick was 30s. 45s. 



„ of " corcase" rich alluvial meadow-land, . 30s. 70s. 



And this must in great part be ascribed to the ruin- 

 ous competition for land consequent on an increase in 

 the population far more rapid than is warranted by the 

 increased development of the resources of the country. 

 It could not have occurred, therefore, except by the 

 increasing numbers gradually deteriorating in their con- 

 dition, and at length becoming wholly dependent upon 

 one kind of food, which failed them at last. 



Here it will be right for a little to consider the ques- 

 tion of a redundant population. The following figures 

 show the proportions of people to the number of acres 

 under grain, in four of the best circumstanced agricultural 

 unions, and in four of the worst, in Ireland for 1848 : — 



