272 A LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND. 



3s, per week, however, has broken down, as the 

 labourers have no potatoes. Labourers can now be 

 had in plenty for any job paying fair wages, and 

 next spring will show a larger emigration to 

 America than for years before. 



It may seem presumptuous in one mainly con- 

 nected with Irish farming even to offer a hint to 

 English farmers, but I cannot help saying that I 

 think in many parts of England the difficulties as to 

 labour, etc., are the same as our difficulties, and the 

 remedies that suit us will also suit them. It seems 

 a safe general conclusion that wherever grass will 

 grow well, more grass will lessen labour. Where 

 permanent grass is attainable with difficulty, the 

 Scotch five -course rotation instead of the Norfolk 

 four-course, i.e. two years' gi'ass instead of one, must 

 save near one-fifth of the labour on a farm. 



More grass, with higher manuring and more cake, 

 seems to me the remedy, wherever possible, for dear 

 labour, at a time of great demand for all grass 

 products. 



It is a very old opinion that the successful farmer 

 is he who, with skill and knowledge of general 

 principles, most clearly recognises the particular 

 facts and circumstances under which his farm is 

 placed, and applies his skill and knowledge to them 

 accordingly. That is all I contend for imder the 

 very exceptional climate of Ireland, at a time when 

 labour is dear, and when the value of grass products 



