142 BRITISH RURAL LIFE AND LABOUR. 



tea, and in summer, when they are cheap, a couple of eggs. 

 Dinner. Bacon and vegetables (rarely fresh meat), plenty of 

 potatoes and milk. Tea. Bread, butter, and tea. Supper. 

 Oatmeal porridge and fresh milk. Note. Each labourer's wife, 

 even those who have only a small garden, keeps a good deal of 

 poultry (hens and ducks). These they feed very well in winter, 

 and they add greatly to their income by the sale of eggs. The 

 egg industry in this and all the western towns is a great source 

 of capital, and thousands of pounds are paid annually. Each 

 market day in the western towns you meet droves of women 

 and girls with baskets of eggs, bringing them to the street 

 corners, where they dispose of them to the men who buy, and 

 send them to the English and Scotch markets. 



PROVINCE OF LEINSTER. 

 CARLOW. 



WEEKDAYS Breakfast. Bread, butter and eggs. Dinner. 

 American bacon, potatoes, and cabbage (occasionally). Often 

 potatoes and milk alone. Tea. Bread, and occasionally 

 butter, tea. Supper. None. SUNDAYS. Same as on week- 

 days. Note. Some labourers keep a goat, as milk is otherwise 

 impossible to get. 



KING'S COUNTY. 



Breakfast (between 4 and 5 a.m. in summer). Girdle bread 

 (home-made), butter, tea. Dinner. Bread and butter and 

 tea, potatoes and milk, and about once or twice a week a bit of 

 bacon. Supper. Tea, an egg, bread and butter. This is the 

 principal meal. A labourer correspondent says that in his 

 village there is no one so well off as " the farmer's boy." His 

 dietary is : Breakfast. " Stirabout " andfmilk, with bread and tea 

 to follow. Dinner. Meat (bacon) and potatoes or eggs, and 

 butter and potatoes. Tea. 4 p.m., bread and tea. Supper 

 (9 p.m.). Same as breakfast. Happy " farmer's boy" ! 



LONGFORD. 



WEEKDAYS Breakfast. Tea, bacon and eggs, bread and 

 butter. Dinner. Potatoes, bacon and cabbage. Tea. Tea, 

 bread and butter. Supper. " Stirabout " (porridge) and new 

 milk. SUNDAYS Breakfast. Same as on week days. Dinner. 

 Butchers' meat, or salt or fresh pork, potatoes, cabbage. 

 Tea. Same as on weekdays, with generally the addition of 

 potato cake. Supper. Generally the remains of potato cake 

 from tea, and tea, cocoa, or new milk. Note. Potatoes and 

 other vegetables are always grown ; many have patches of oats 

 as well, and some have cows or goats. 



