THE IRELAND OF TO-DAY. 41 



up and given over to agriculture, an economic 

 crisis would probably result in the West, for 

 breeders of young cattle and unfinished cattle 

 would necessarily lose their market. Cattle 

 rearing is in a certain sense the national indus- 

 try of Ireland. It is, with the exception of calf 

 rearing, essentially a business of speculation. A 

 man buys a beast cheap, lets it graze for a 

 certain time, and sells it off at a higher price in 

 as short a time as possible. It is not only the 

 professional cattle breeder and the professional 

 farmer who follow this business ; in Meath 

 servants often invest their wages in cattle, 

 which their employer allows to graze in his 

 pastures for a small payment ; they thus make 

 a little extra profit from this cattle speculation. 

 The good meadows of the West are often set for 

 1 1 months to the village shopkeeper, the solicitor, 

 or the doctor — even the clergyman himself does 

 not scorn sometimes to increase his scanty in- 

 come by this means. A good proportion of these 

 transactions are carried on by credit. It is more 

 than likely that the majority of deposits lodged 

 in Irish banks, in so far as they are not sent 

 to England or employed by parties who have 

 interests in the town, are used for speculation 

 in cattle. When the Irish people are spoken 

 of as a race of agriculturalists, what is really 

 meant is cattle-dealers. The mere fact that 

 to 545,202 occupiers of farms there are 615,933 

 cattle-owners, points to this conclusion.^ 



* Agricultural Statistics, 1904, pp. 28, 95. 



