No. 8. 



Tlie Potatoe Disease. 



253 



not one left, and the next week the same 

 scene will be presented. Of the different 

 breeds the Southdown may be considered 

 among the best. There is a little Welsh sheep 

 whicli is very popular. He had noticed them 

 from the deck of the steamer in passing the 

 coast of Wales, and they were as small ap- 

 parently as lambs; and though the hills 

 seemed almost bare of vegetation, yet small 

 patches of pasture might be discerned, and 

 by the aid of the telescope, paths by which 

 the sheep finds its way from near the waves 

 of the ocean to the top. These make the 

 finest mutton in England. Then there are the 

 Leicester and the Cotswold, and another black 

 and white faced variety from Scotland, with 

 long wool, which is a very superior sheep. 



The condition of their laboring popula- 

 tion is a very peculiar one, having striking 

 features. He went among the laborers on a 

 great many farms with perfect freedom. 

 The name of America was every where a 

 passport ; and though it was then in the 

 midst of the Oregon excitement, yet he did 

 not hear, from high or low, rich or poor, any 

 other feeling expressed towards America 

 but the kindest. They all seemed to say, 

 they would rather give all the disputed land 

 up than have one day of war. Nothing but 

 national pride would have ever led to diffi- 

 culty. His only difficulty had been to get 

 from place to place, such was the hospitality 

 shown — such the anxiety manifested to hear 

 all about America, that every where he re- 

 ceived an English welcome. 



All of them work, from the smallest child 

 to the man of great age. They must all do 

 so to live ; for, except on some favored 

 localities, where the landlords give liberal 

 recompense, the wages of the best of them 

 will not admit of their laying up more than 

 about eighteen pence or two shillings ster- 

 ling per week, when all were able to labor. 



Their food differs from ours chiefly in 

 this — that the laboring population eat very 

 little meat. Their breakfast is of coffee, bread, 

 oatmeal, &c. In Ireland they are very fond 

 of potatoes ; but he very seldom saw them 

 use meat — certainly not on week-days — per- 

 haps on the Sabbath they would have a little. 



And yet they are almost universally heal- 

 thy. He freely confessed that he had seen 

 no finer looking set of men than were the 

 English — and he credited the assertion that 

 perhaps the finest looking race of men in 

 the world were the English nobility. Their 

 constant exercise out of doors contributed to 

 make them remarkably healthy. 



He visited Ireland — which was a remark- 

 ably fertile country — more so even than 

 England; and if agriculture was carried 

 there to the same perfection which it has 



attained in England, Ireland conld support 

 itself from its own soil with perfect ease. 

 He was there in August, when the potatoe 

 plague had just made its appearance. In 

 July, when he had before seen the fields, 

 every thing looked well, and every heart was 

 filled with joy and gladness at the prospect. 

 In three or four weeks the blight began, and 

 there was exceeding distress in every part 

 of the country. 



No one can conceive how much the pota- 

 toe is planted. To every small cabin there 

 is a potatoe patch. It appears to be almost 

 their only subsistence. They raise a pig, 

 sometimes some poultry, eggs, and now and 

 then a cow ; and out of all this they have to 

 pay the landlord. So that their chief depen- 

 dence is on the potatoe. 



In travelling from Dublin through Drog- 

 heda to Belfast, he had met many very fine 

 farms, some as good as could be found in the 

 entire kingdom of Great Britain — all in fine 

 order and looking very beautifully. 



The tenantry are in a very low condition. 

 In this country we have no human beings 

 who live as many of them do. The shanties 

 on our canals, compared to them, are splen- 

 did edifices ! An Irish hut is made of mud. 

 Sometimes there is a hole in the top for the 

 escape of the smoke, but in many instances 

 the only ventilator is the door. Pig, cow and 

 hens all live in the same domicil with the 

 children. They sleep all together, and he 

 had never seen, in examining these abodes, 

 any thing like a bed. And yet they all ap- 

 peared happy and contented. All made him 

 free of their house, and all received him 

 kindly. There were evidently warm hearts 

 found there. — Ev. Journal. 



From the American Farmer. 

 The Potatoe Disease. 



It may be concluded by many of our readers, that 

 we devote more than a fair pioportion of room to the 

 consideration of this subject. Our excuse is in its vast 

 importance. If we advert to the fact, that not only 

 are districts in our own country seriously affected by 

 this visitation, but that also kingdoms are convulsed 

 with famine and fearful forebodings of the future, we 

 cannot fail to perceive in a moment the reasonable- 

 ness of giving toil a large share of attention. We 

 have no theory of our own. Wo believe it is among 

 the inscrutable dispensations of Divine Providence. 

 If science or experiment or any thing else can disco- 

 ver a remedy, it will be viell. We feel bound to throw 

 before our readers, much of what seems calculated to 

 give information in the matter. — Ed. 



To Robtrl Sinclair, Jr. Esq., Baltimore. 



December 20th, 184G. 



My Dear Sir, — Your very kind letter 

 reached me in due course of mail, but really 

 mv time has been of late so occupied by sun- 



