l"^! HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 



value, and who are perhaps not worth 10/. each. These are, for the most part, tenants 

 of the great proprietors, possessing a life interest in their little farm. 



822. In Ireland there are no manorial rights separable from the right to the soil, as 

 in England, nor legal poor rates, which are circumstances materially in favour of the for- 

 mer country. ( Wakefield, i. 242. ) 



823. Leases are generally of long endurance ; and three lives, or thirty-one years, is a 

 common rate. The price of land varies in diflferent parts of Ireland. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Belfast, and thence to Armagh, it brings thirty years' purchase ; in the greatest 

 part of the island it does not exceed twenty ; and, in the richest districts, it may often 

 be bought for sixteen or eighteen. The exposure of landed estates to public sale takes 

 place very seldom, which is, perhaps, one cause of their not bringing so high a price as 

 they would otherwise do. ( Wakejield.) 



824. Farming in Ireland is, generally speaking, in a very backward state. With 

 a few exceptions, such as the county of Meath, and some other well cultivated dis- 

 tricts, the farmers are destitute of capital, and labour small crofts, which they hold of 

 middlemen interposed between them and the landlord. Tlie fact that in Ireland 

 the la,ndlord never lays out any thing upon repairs or buildings, coupled with the general 

 inability of the farmer to do either in a substantial manner, is very significant as to the 

 state of agriculture. (Tighe's Survey of Kilkenmj, 412. ; Wakejield, i. 244.) But the 

 worst features of the rural economy of this island are the entire want of capital in the 

 fanners, and the complete indifference of the landlord to the character, wealth, or indus- 

 try of his tenant. " Capital," says Wakefield, "is considered of so little importance in 

 Ireland, that advertisements constantly appear in the newspapers, in which it is stated, 

 that the preference will certrinly be given to the highest bidder. Bargains are con- 

 stantly made with a beggar, as a new tenant, who, offering more rent, invariably turns 

 out the old one, however industrious." 



825. The rent of land in Ireland from these causes, coupled with the excessive com- 

 petition of the peasantry for small fanns, as their only means of subsistence, has risen to 

 a great height. (Townsend's Cork, 218. ; Wakefield, i. 582.) 



826. Ireland is divided, by Wakefield, into nine agricultural districts, in each of which 

 the mode of culture is somewhat different from what it is in the others. 



827. The first district comprehends the flat parts of Antrim ; the eastern side of Tyrone, Down, Armagh, 

 Monaghan, and Cavan. Throughout this district, the farms are extremely small, and the land is ge- 

 nerally dug with a spade. Potatoes, flax, and oats are the crops usually cultivated, and these are grown 

 till the land is exhausted, and suffered to " lie at rest," as they term it, till its strength is recruited by 

 the cow, the goat, two or three sheep, and the poultry lying upon it for some years. The ploughs used in 

 this district are of the rudest structure, and perform their work in the most slovenly manner. Three or 

 four neighbours unite their strength to each plough, every one bringing his horse, his bullock, or his cow. 

 All the other operations of agriculture are performed in an equally slovenly manner. The little wheat 

 that is raised is " lashed," as they call it ; that is, the grain is knocked out by striking the sheaf across a 

 beam placed above a cloth : it is, however, afterwards threshed with a flail. The operation of threshing 

 usually takes place in the highway, and it is dressed by letting it fall from a kind of sieve, which, during 

 a pretty strong wind, is held breast-high by a woman. Many cottiers in this district have a cabin with no 

 land attached to it. They hire an acre or two, for grass or potato land, from some cottier in their vicinity. 

 The custom of hiring labourers is unknown. The neighbours all assist each other in their more con- 

 siderable occupations, such as sowing and reaping. The dwellings here are miserably small ; often too 

 small to contain the numerous families that issue from their doors. Land is every where divided into the 

 most minute portions. ( Wakefield, i. iHoi, ; Tiuhourdicu's Down, 39.) 



828. Under the second district may be comprised the northern part of Antrim, Londonderry, the north 

 and west of Tyrone, and the whole of Donegal. Agriculture here is in a worse state than in the pre- 

 ceding district. There is no clover, and hardly any wheat. 



829. Ttie ttiird district comprehends the northern parts of Fermanagh. Here the farms are much larger 

 than in the former, and the agricultural system pursued far superior. They plant potatoes on a lea, 

 twice reversing the lands ; and flax, oats, and weeds constitute the course. Some wheat is grown, but 

 oats still form the prevalent crop. In the neighbourhood of Enniskillen, the farmers are so rich as to be 

 able to eat butcher's meat daily, and drink smuggled wine. ( Wakefield, i. 379.) 



830. The fourth district comprehends Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, and parts of Roscommon, and 

 Longford. In some parts of this district the spade culture is pursued ; but, in general, the land is 

 cultivated by a plough drawn by four horses abreast. In Roscommon, the old custom of yoking the 

 horses by the tail is still continued ; although, as early as leS*, an act of parliament was passed against 

 this absurd practice. {Life of the Duke of Osmond, i. 79.) Oats are chiefly raised in this district, and, 

 along the coast, barley is cultivated. A large portion of the rent depends on the illegal distilleries, 

 and much of the district is let on lease to several persons jointly, according to the village system. 

 {lUd., i. 381.) 



831. In the fifth district, which comprehends Limerick, Kerry, the south side and northern part of 

 Cork, and the county of Waterford, cultivation is in a very rude state ; little corn is grown here, with 

 the exception of the southern part of Cork. Land is extremely divided, and the farms very small The 

 greater part is a grazing country. {Ibid., i. 387.) 



832. The sixth district includes the southern parts of Cork. The spade culture is here almost universal, 

 and the farms unusually small. Hogs constitute the main support of the poor. {Townsend's Cork, 194.) 



833. The seventh district includes part of Tipperary, with Queen's county and King's county. The best 

 farming in Ireland is observable in this district ; a systematic course of husbandry being pursued, by 

 which the land is kept in good heart. Oxen and horses are used in the plough, and hedgerows and good 

 wheat fallows are to be seen. Near Roscrea the cultivation of turnips is followed, and they succeed well. 

 Ninety acres are considered a large farm. Leases are generally for three lives. {Wakefield, i, 398.) 



834. The eighth district comprises Wexford and a part of Wicklow. Beans are here sometimes intro- 

 duced into cultivation, but they are sown broadcast, and never hoed. The mode of ploughing is very 

 awkward : one man holds the plough, another leads the horse, and a third sits on it to keep it down. 

 Notwithstanding this rude culture, however, the rents are enormous, owing to the demand for land 

 created by an excessive population, who, if they had not a portion of land to grow potatoes (getting no 

 employment), could not live. {Ibid., i 407.) 



