100 



Gahoay Fair. 



Vol. X. 



upon it in the fore part of November, with- 

 out any fear of pulling it up. They will se- 

 cure it from the Hessian Fly by eating olf 

 the larva. 



It is also very important to prepare the 

 Beed properly; you should have the most 

 plump and clean seed that can be obtamed. 

 Six shillings or a dollar more per bushel for 

 the best of seed, are no consideration when the 

 advantages are taken in the account. In a 

 barrel or half hogshead make a brine that 

 will bear an egg, from the old salt taken 

 from your meat and fish casks; or, if you 

 have not saved tliis, ordinary fine or coarse 

 salt, the former dissolving much the soonest, 

 and is generally preferred for that reason. 

 Put in one, two, or three bushels of wheat, 

 and mix well with the brine, and skim off" all 

 the chess and other foul seed and light wheat 

 that rises to the top. There should be brine 

 enough to cover the wheat three inches deep. 

 Stir up the wheat with a stick occasionally, 

 and let it remain in the brine three or four 

 hours. Some persons let it remain all night, 

 but I think there is some danger of swelling 

 the grain and acting upon the farina too 

 much, by leaving it so long in the brine, and^ 

 there is no real necessity for it. Draw off 

 the brine into another cask, and lay the 

 wheat on an oblique surface, so that the 

 brine may run oft'; then to every bushel of 

 wheat add three or four quarts of fine air- 

 slacked lime, and rake and shovel it through 

 every part, so that every grain is coated with 

 the lime, and the seed as much separated as 

 possible from each other. Some good far- 

 mers use more lime than the above. If you 

 have not lime, and cannot readily obtain it, 

 use unleached wood ashes instead. You 

 must measure your wheat before you pre- 

 pare it, or you will likely, when you sow it, 

 put less seed in than is proper. You will 

 also find it difficult, from the increased bulk, 

 to hold enough each time in the hand. It is 

 therefore better to sow twice, and at right 

 angles ; that is, take rather less than usual 

 in the hand, and when you have gone over 

 the field, begin and sow it over again in 

 due proportion across the first sowing. You 

 will thus have it more even, and secure suf- 

 ficient seed, which is rarely the case. When 

 you have taken pains to prepare your land 

 well, use plenty of good seed — a virtue rare- 

 ly practiced in this part of the world. The 

 object gained by the above preparation of 

 the seed is, first, you destroy all the smut, 

 which is a parasitical plant placed on the fur- 

 zy end of the grain ; also all the eggs of 

 insects, that frequently may be seen with a 

 glass on the same part of the grain. The 

 salt and lime also act as a manure to stimu- 

 late the germ of the young plant, so as 



greatly to invigorate it in the early stage of 

 its growth. Yours, truly, 



R. T. Underbill, M. D. 



The Galway Fair. 



A VERY large fair is held at Galway, Ire- 

 land, in the county of Galway, called the 

 Fair of Rose Mount, at which I was present. 

 This was chiefly for the sale of ponies, or 

 horses of a small breed, with some few cat- 

 tle. On this occasion, the collection of people 

 was surprisingly great; and I could then well 

 understand what was intended by the public 

 meetings in Ireland, called " monster meet- 

 ings," in respect to which, until I saw this 

 collection of people, I had always supposed 

 the account of the numbers assembled had 

 been much exaggerated. There were here, 

 on this occasion, some civttle and sheep; but 

 there were, also, four thousand ponies, the 

 catching of which, for examination or sale, 

 as they had, in general, neither bridle nor 

 halter, was sufficiently amusing, and I was 

 about to add, sufficiently Irish. The fair was 

 held on the sea-shore, where the receding 

 tide left a large bed of mud. The ponies, 

 when required to be caught, were surround- 

 ed and driven into this mud ; and here, in a 

 very ignoble way, they were secured, though 

 it was not always without some difficulty they 

 were extracted after being caught. 



1. Temperance in Ireland. — There were 

 two circumstances connected with this fair 

 at Rose Mount, a reference to which, though 

 not having an immediate connection with 

 the principal object of my Reports, yet hav- 

 ing a direct bearing upon rural manners and 

 customs, may not be considered wholly out 

 of place. Here, as well as at the fair at 

 Donnybrook, where immense numbers of 

 people were congregated, I could observe 

 most distinctly the beneficent effects of that 

 powerful reformatory movement, w-hich, un- 

 der the ministry of a good man, worthy of 

 the name of an apostle, has effected a glori- 

 ous moral triumph throughout Ireland, such 

 as the pages of history scarcely record. I 

 cannot say that at either place there was no 

 drinking and no quarrelling; but there was 

 comparatively little; and knowing, from re- 

 port and from the natural excitableness of 

 the Irish temper, what had been usual on 

 such occasions, I could not but feel how 

 much had been accomplished, when a for- 

 eigner might truly say, of such vast and 

 mixed assemblages, they were quiet, orderly, 

 and kind ; and a well-behaved man, disposed 

 to keep his elbows to his own sides, might 

 feel an almost equal security as he would 

 feel in church. 



2. The Galway Women. — There was an- 



