INTRODUCTION. Xlll 



the application of those methods which, in the sister coun- 

 tries, have been found so successful in rendering large tracts 

 of country, formerly considered incapable of profitable culti- 

 vation, productive of the richest crops. 



Ireland is pre-eminently at the present time, and is probably 

 long destined to continue, an agricultural country, and in her 

 soil and situation is nobly endowed with all the conditions of 

 fertility. It is, however, only of late years that agriculture 

 appears to have been much regai'ded. The ancient inhabi- 

 tants were occupied as hunters or shepherds ; and the tillage 

 of the soil seems to have received little attention even in 

 comparatively modern periods, as, except in the rich granges, 

 or farms of the religious houses, the wealth of the country, 

 to a great extent, was in cattle and not in corn. Here and 

 there, indeed, there might be a scanty patch of grain which 

 served the chieftain for bread, but our wooded hills and broad 

 plains exhibited for centuries but few traces of agi'icultural 

 occupation. The productive powers of the soils of this 

 country are most remarkable, and enable it, even with its 

 present imperiect culture, to produce crops which excite the 

 astonishment of the most skilful ftimiers of P]ngland and 

 Scotland. This island also possesses, in its geological stnic- 

 ture and genial climate, such advantages as to render it 

 equal to any country in the world for the growth of plants 

 and animals. May we not, therefore, conclude that it will yet 

 be made to yield an amount of food far more than sufficient 

 for rewarding the industry of any population which it will 

 ever contain. But Providence has so decreed that the gold 

 must be extracted with labour from the mine ; not only bodily 

 but mental exertion must be used to develop the resoiu"ces of 

 our soils. We must bring to the work the calculating but 

 ardent zeal, and the patient industry and science-directed 

 skill, which converted the once bleak and unprofitable fens of 

 Lincolnshire and the heaths of the Lothians into rich and 

 productive farms. Our farmers must not be unwilling to be 

 taught, or to abandon practices, though sanctioned and con- 

 irmed by the examples of fathers and grandfathers, if more 

 , advantageous plans can be pointed out to them. Our old 

 men must study the principles of their profession — the sons 

 of our farmers must be educated not as if they were intended 

 tor the counting-house, the pulpit, or the bar, but to under- 

 stand the composition of the fields and plants, upon the 



