Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF LEITRIM. 



203 



The mountains are chiefly occupied with youn^ cattle and 

 ^oats ; sheep, apparently the most profitable animal in such 

 situations, are neither numerous nor of a valuable kind ; and 

 the little cultivation to be found here is so generally performed 

 with the spade, that, in some enUre parishes, as Young assures 

 us, there was not a single plough. 



The prevailing soil in the low grounds is clay, of difFerent 

 qualities ; some of it seems to be a species of pipe-clay, and 

 other sorts might be converted into bricks and earthenware. 



Estates are very large, both in extent and value ; some of 

 them, according to Wakefield, worth 30,000/. a year. Leases 

 are in general for thirty-one years and three lives, and a con- 

 siderable portion of the whole county is let to partnership 

 tenants. Few of the tenants in the north quarter about Kerry- 

 head occupy so much land as to require them to employ labour- 

 ers; they pay their rents by the sale of butter and pigs, and by 

 turf which they carry to Limerick. It is the practice for farmers 

 to hire large tracts, which they stock with cows, and these cows 



are then let out to dairymen upon such terms as leave them but 

 a very sma!l return for thdr labour. The best com land is about 

 Tralee, and towards Dingle, where more flax is raised than in 

 any other part of the county. 



The principal articles which Kerry affords for export are its 

 raw produce, beef, butter, hides, and tallow. It does not raise 

 more corn than is necessary for its h me consumption, and 

 carries on no manufacture for sale but that of coarse linen, 

 which is only on a small scale. 



Agriculture is at a low ebb; and the g;neral face of the 

 country gives the impression of wildness and discomfort. In- 

 stead of hedges, mounds of earth and stone, called ditches, are 

 every where to be seen ; and as these atlbrd but a slight pro- 

 tection against the trespassing of cattle, it is customaryto tie 

 the legs of each quadruped together with wisps of straw, and 

 sometimes to yoke two together ; even fowls and turkeys are 

 thus bound. {Bicheno.) 



7882. ROSCOMMON. 556,847 acres of flat surface, in some places sprinkled with rocks, and in many 

 interrupted by extensive bogs ; the richest land on limestone, and adapted either for aration or pasture, 

 {IVakefield. Sup. Encijc. Brit. Edin. Gaz. 1827.) 



Coal and iron works were formerly carried on, but are now 

 neglected . 



Estates were once very large ; but they have been broken 

 down in some ins^snces, by the granting of leases in perpetuity ; 

 a practice which has given rise to a class of landholders, inter- 

 posed between a few great proprietors on the one hand, and a 

 numerous body of cultivators on the other. 



Some of the best long-homed cattle and long-wooUed sheep 

 in Ireland fed, but there are few dairies. During the late ar. 

 Its fine green pastures, under this management, afforded a very 

 ample irent, and tillage was therefore conducted on a small 

 scale ; but the plough has been more in request since the 



peace, both here and in other parts of Ireland ; and the soil ot 

 such rich grazing lands, requiring nothing more than the com- 

 mon operations of tillage to yield large crops, the growth of 

 corn throughout Ireland has been greatly increased ; yet, within 

 these few years, agriculture was here in a very backward state. 

 ' In Roscommon," says Wakefield, " I heard of horses being 

 yoked to the plough by" the tail, but I had not an opportunity 

 of seeing this curious practice. I was, however, assured by 

 Dean French, that it is still common with two-year-old colts 

 in the spring." Potatoes, oats, and flax are the principal 

 crojs. There are several fine lakes, and the Shannon runs 

 along nearly the whole of the eastern botmdary. 



7883. GALWAY. 1,659,-^20 acres of varied surface; above a third part bogs, mountains, and lakes, 

 and very unproductive, and thinly inhabited. {Button's Survey of Galway, 1824. Wakefield. Sup. 

 Encyc. Brit., Sfc.) 



The east part of the county is flat, warm, and fertile, with 

 many seats, though none of note. Rivers and lakes abound. 

 Lough Keagh and Lough Couti a are fine pieces of water ; the 

 latter is said to possess all the beauties that hills, woods, and 

 islands can impart to that feature of landscape. 



Several large estates, affording an income of from 5000/. to 

 10,000/. a year, and upwards. One of these, the most exten- 

 sive in the British Isles, stretches along the sea-coast for seventy 

 miles. Only a small portion is held by absentees. A full third 

 of the land is let on partnership leases, to an indefinite number 

 of persons, very often twenty, who by law are joint tenants, and 

 entitled to the benefit of survivorship. The leases are com- 

 monly for three lives or thirty -one years. " These people," 

 says Wakefield, " divide the land and give portions to their 

 children, which consist of a fourth or fifth of what they call 

 ' a man's share ; ' that is, of the land which originally belonged 

 to one name in the lease. A certain portion of the whole 

 farm, or take, as it Is styled, is appropriated for tillage, and 

 this portion is then divided into lots, perhaps twenty or thirty. 

 These lots are again subdivided into fields, which are parti- 

 tioned into small lots, each partner obtaining one or two 

 ridges ; but these ridges do not continue in the hands of the 



same occupier longer than the time they are in tillage. The 

 pasture is held in common ; and the elders of the village are 

 the legislators, who establish such regulations as may be judged 

 proper for their community, and settle all disputes that arise 

 among them. Their houses stand close to each other, and 

 form what is here called a village." 



The cattle of Galway are long-homed and of an excellent 

 description, fully equal, in the opinion of Wakefield, to any in 

 England. But sheep form the most valuable part of their live 

 stock ; " some of the first flocks in the world," says the same 

 writer, " are to be found in this county." The crops are the 

 same as in other parts of Ireland, but potatoes are not culti- 

 vated to so great an extent. They plant potatoes on an oat 

 stubble, or on ley that has been burned or manured, and follow 

 with wheat, here or barley, or oits ; the latter kind of grain is 

 not unfrequently taken after wheat and barley. Paring and 

 burning the soil is very common. The greater part of the rent 

 of some of the estates on the shore is paid from kelp, which 



with the greater part of Ireland, Galway em- 

 ploys some of its people in the linen manufacture, and it seem* 

 to be the only manufacture in it worth notice. 



7884. MAYO. 1,270,144 acres, in great part mountains, bogs, and lakes ; half-heathy mountains, with 

 valleys very fertile, but neither woods nor plantations, excepting on one or two estates. {M'Farlan's 

 survey qf Mayo, 1802. Wakefield. Sup. Encyc. Brit. Edin. Gaz. 1827.) 



Many valuable fossils ; iron formerly made, but discontinued 

 for want of fuel. Excellent slate ; and petro-silex semilucidus, 

 similar to what is Used in the English potteries. The low 

 grounds of the county are composed of limestone, Or limestone 

 gravel, and are equally well adapted to tillage or pasture. 



The estates worth "from 7000/. to '20,000/. a year ; but their 

 extent, owing to their containing a great proportion of waste 

 land, is still greater than the ratio of their value. 



The size of farms varies with the nature of the soil and sur- 

 face ; but, though several hundred acres are sometimes let out 

 in one farm, yet, as the farms are commonly held in partner- 

 ship, the space allotted to each tenant is generally only a few 

 acres. As each of them keeps a horse, it is computed that 

 there is one for every ten or twelve Irish acres. The leases are 

 for different periods, fifteen years, twenty-one years, and one, 

 two, and sometimes three lives, or thirty -one years. 



Agriculture is in a very backward state. The plough, com- 

 monly drawn by four horses abreast, is of the worst descrip- 



tion, and the harrows are often furnished with tines of wood, 

 instead of iron. It is still the practice, in the mountain dis- 

 trict, to yoke the horses by the tail. But in some of the baro- 

 nies, the plough is seldom or never employed at all, the tillage 

 being performed by the spade ; and in others they use the 

 spade in cultivating potatoes, and the plcfigh only for com. 

 \ et potatoes, oats, and on the sea-coast barley, are sown to a 

 considerable extent, and also flax. AVlieat is cultivated only in 

 particular spots, and chiefly by proprietors, a few of whom have 

 also introduced turnips, peas, beans, rape, mid cabbage. There 

 is some excellent grazing land for cattle in the barony of Ty- 

 rawley, and good sheep pastures in Kiliiiain. Some graziers 

 hold 3000 Irish acres. The English long-homed cattle, which 

 were imported by the principal proi>rietors, have greatly im- 

 proved the native breed. 



The habitations of the labourers, or cottars, are in general 

 very wretched, and shared by them with their cow and pig 



7885. LEITRIM. 407,260 acres, one half bog, waste, and water, and the remainder dark fertile soil, 

 incumbent on limestone. {M'Parlan's Survey qf Leitrim, 1802. Wakefield. Sup. Encyc. Brit. Edin. 

 Gaz. 1827.) 



Coal, ironstone, lead, copper, &c. are found, but not worked. 



Estates large, and nearly all the great proprietors are absent- 

 ees. The leases are commonly for three lives or thirty-one 

 years. Agriculture is here in a very low state. The tillage 

 farms are small, seldom exceeding fif^ or sixty acres, and these 

 are almost always occupied in common by a number of tenants. 

 The plough is very little used. The most common imi)lement is 

 the loy, a kind of spade eighteen inches long, about four inches 

 broad at the bottom, and five or six inches at the top, where it 

 is furnished with a wooden handle about five feet long. The 

 first two crops are potatoes, which are followed by flax, and 

 then oats for one or more years. Clovers and other green crops 

 are unknown to the practice of the tenantry. The county 

 raises grain and potatoes sufficient for its own consumption, 

 but exports very httle of either. Its cattle have been much 

 improved by the introduction of English breeds, to which 

 some of those now bred and reared in it are said to be not in- 

 ferior. There are no considerable dairies, yet a good deal of 



butter is made throughout the district. The sheep are of the 

 native race, small, and biit few in number. 



About the beginning of the eighteenth century, Leitrim is 

 said to have been almost a continued forest. There is now lit- 

 tle wood in it, and no considerable plantations. The proprie- 

 tors, however, have of late paid some attention to this method 

 of improvement, and several large nurseries have been esta- 

 blished for the sale of forest and other trees. 



There are several bleach-fields, and some coarse potteries ; 

 and a number of people are employed in weaving. But the 

 linen made here, as well as the coaKe woollen goods, is chiefly 

 for the use of the inhabitants themselves. ITie houses of the 

 lower classes are of the worst description ; even the more re- 

 cently erected farm buildings, including a littie bam and cow- 

 house, do not cost more than ten or twelve pounds. Turf is 

 their only fuel, and potatoes and oaten bre.'d the chief articles 

 of food, meat being used on extraordinary occasions only. 



4 H 2 



