132 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



on their estates, in proportion to the number of acres. Among others who received 

 portions were, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Spenser, the poet. The former is said to have 

 then introduced the potato. 



809. The reign of James I. was one of comparative tranquillity for Ireland: the power 

 of the judges, and of the English government, was extensively fixed ; the Irish laws 

 and customs were abolished, and the English laws were established in all cases without 

 exception, through the whole island. Numerous colonies were also sent from England 

 and Scotland, especially the latter, to occupy the forfeited estates ; and seven northern 

 counties were wholly allotted to undertakers. This was called the " plantation of 

 Ulster," and was attended by the introduction of an improved agriculture, and by the 

 linen manufacture, which is still carried on by the descendants of the first colonists in the 

 same counties. 



810. The city of London participated in this distribution of land. The corporation 

 having accepted of large grants in the county of Deny, they engaged to expend 

 20,000/. on the plantation ; to build the cities of Derry and Colerain, and at the same 

 time stipulated for such privileges as might make their settlement convenient and re- 

 spectable. Under a pretence of protecting this infant settlement, or perhaps with a 

 view of raising money, the king instituted the order of Irish baronets, or knights of 

 Ulster ; from each of whom, as was done in Scotland with respect to the knights of Nova 

 Scotia, he exacted a certain sum, as the price of the dignity conferred. (Wakefeld.) 



811. Of the husbandry of Londonderry a curious account was published about a 

 century ago, by the archbishop of Dublin. He states that there was little wheat grown, 

 and that of very inferior quality ; the soil being considered as unsuitable to its production. 

 Potatoes remained three or four years in the ground, reproducing a crop, which at the 

 best was a very deficient one. Lime was procured by burning sea shells. The appli- 

 cation of them in an unburnt state arose from accident. A poor curate, destitute of the 

 means for burning the sea shells which he had collected, more with a view to remove an 

 evidence of his poverty, than in any hope of benefit, spread them on his ground. The 

 success which attended the experiment occasioned surprise, and insured a rapid and 

 general adoption of the practice. ( Wakefield,) The improvements made since the period 

 of which the archbishop treats, Curwen remarks, are undoubtedly very considerable : 

 and whilst we smile at the very subordinate state of agriculture at that time, may we not 

 on reasonable ground expect that equal progress will at least be made in this century as 

 in the last? {Letters on Ireland, vol. ii. p. 246.) 



812. A considerable impulse was given to the agriculture of Ireland after the rebellion of 

 1641, which was quelled by Cromwell, as commander of the parliamentary army in 1652. 

 Most of the oflBcers of this army were yeomen, or the sons of English country gentlemen ; 

 and they took pleasure in instructing the natives in the agricultural practices to which 

 they were accustomed at home. Afterwards, when Cromwell assumed the protectorship, 

 he made numerous grants to his soldiers, many of whom settled in Ireland ; and their 

 descendants have become men of consideration in the country. Happily these grants 

 were confirmed at the restoration. Some account of the state of culture in that country 

 at this time, and of the improvements which it was deemed desirable to introduce, will 

 be found in Hartlib's Legacy. 



813. The establishment of the Dublin Society in 1749 gave the next stimulus to agri- 

 culture and general industry in Ireland. The origin of the Dublin Society may be 

 dated from 1731, when a number of gentlemen, at the head of whom was Prior of Rath- 

 downey. Queen's county, associated themselves together for the purpose of improving 

 the agriculture and husbandry of their country. In 1749, Prior, through the interest 

 of the then lord-lieutenant, procured a grant of 10,000/. per annum, for the better pro- 

 motion of its views. Miss Plumtree considers this the first association ever formed in 

 the British dominions expressly for such purposes ; but the Edinburgh Agricultural 

 Society, as we have seen (793.), was founded in 1723. 



814. Arthur Young's Tour in Ireland was published in 1780, and probably did more 

 good than even the Dublin Society. In this work he pointed out the folly of the bounty 

 on the inland carriage of corn. His recommendation on this subject was adopted ; and, 

 according to Wakefield, " from that hour may be dated the commencement of extended 

 tillage in Ireland." (Wakefield's Statistical Account ^ Curwen s Letters.) 



815. The state of agriculture of Ireland, in the beginning of the present century, is given 

 with great clearness and ability in the supplement to the Encyclojieedia Britannica ; and 

 from that source we have selected the following condensed account : 



816. The climate of Ireland is considerably more mild than that of England, and the 

 southern and western part of the island greatly more so than the northern. The diflference 

 in this respect, indeed, is greater than can be explained by the difference of latitude ; 

 and is probably owing to the immediate vicinity of the western ocean. On the mountains 

 of Kerry, and in Bantry Bay, the arbutus and some other shrubs grow in great luxu- 

 riance, which are not to be met with again till the traveller reaches the Alps of Italy. The 



