into an indolent reliance on the natural powers of the 

 soil to meet every exigency. 



The character of landlords also is affected by the mod( 

 in which valuations are performed. Some are called good 

 merely because the standard adopted on their estates hai 

 been comparatively low; others, with equally good dispo 

 sitions towards their tenantry, have the character of bat 

 landlords, because a higher scale of valuation has beei 

 adopted on their lands. Thus the popularity of the on< 

 class and the unpopularity of the other depend in many 

 instances on this that the valuations of their respective 

 properties were made by persons of unequal qualifications 

 and experience. 



Not the characters of landlords and tenants merely, but 

 the physical aspect of the country itself, is influenced by its 

 valuation ; for the appearance of an estate where a fair and 

 moderate standard has been used, is very different from one 

 in which a higher scale has been adopted. 



But there are other causes, independent of the foregoing 

 considerations, to render attention to the subject indispen- 

 sable. None of the scales of valuation in former use are 

 now applicable to the country. 



Circumstances have lately caused a vast difference in the 

 present value of land throughout Ireland, as compared with 

 its value some years back. 



Poor rates were unknown in 1835, when the General 

 Valuation was begun ; they now press heavily on the land, 

 and in many unions completely paralyse all agricultural 

 industry. 



Free trade also ha& opened our ports to the produce 

 lands unrented and untaxed, and the old protective duti< 

 which gave a factitious value to corn are abolished. 



The potato crop has ceased to be a sure reliance to the 

 farmer, who, when he was able to grow it in untainted luxu- 

 riance, could calculate upon it as an inexhaustible source 

 of plenty. Its failure through a series of successive 

 has involved the country in incalculable misery, out 

 which it is only now beginning to emerge. 



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