tja INLAND BOUNTY, 



was found practicable, which I fhould think it might be, no 

 public money (hould ever be given for barley, bere, or oats, 

 that did not fucceed turneps ; nor for wheat, or rye, that did 

 not follow beans, clover, or potatoes ; by this means the na- 

 tion would have the fatisfaclion of knowing, that if the plough 

 \vas introduced in valuable pafture land, it would at leaft be 

 in a good fyftem. 



Before I conclude this fubjecT", it may be proper to obfervc 

 a circumftance, which however ill it may be received in Eng- 

 land, has, and ought to have this weight in Ireland. The 

 avenue of that kingdom is under fome difadvantages which 

 England is free from ; the hereditary revenue is claimed in 

 froperty by the crown ; a great penfion lift is charged on it, 

 and much of the amount paid out of the kingdom ; there is 

 no free trade to compenfate this ; a large part of the military 

 eftablifhment is taken out of the kingdom, and of late years 

 the nation has run very much in debt : in fuch a fituation of 

 affairs, it is thought wife and prudent to fecure the payment 

 of fuch a fum as fifty or fixty thoufand pounds a year to- 

 wards the internal improvement of the kingdom. Nobody 

 can deny there being much good fenfe in this reafoning ; but 

 the ai'gumcnt is applicable to a well founded meafure, as 

 ftrongly as it is to an abfurd one ; and I fbould farther ob- 

 ierve, that if this or any bounty is the means of running the 

 nation fo much in debt that new taxes are neceffarily the con- 

 fcquence, 1:his idea is then vifionary ; the people do not fe- 

 cure an advantage but a burthen. I cannot here avoid a 

 comparifon of expending fo large a fum annually of the 

 public money rationally, or in a meafure at beft fo very 

 doubtful ; for indulge the prejudices of gentlemen, and fup- 

 pofe for a moment, that all the proofs 1 have given do not 

 amount to an abiblute condemnation, they certainly, even 

 then, give it the mod dubious complexion that ever meafure 

 bad. But fuppofe from the beginning, the money which has 

 been thus advanced, had been given in premiums of ten 

 pounds per acre on all land abfolutely wafte, which was 

 brought in and reclaimed. That fum I fhewed on another 

 occafion, will build excellent dwellings, fence, plant, drain, 

 pure and burn lime, plough, fow, and complete an acre ; the 

 premium would therefore pay the whole, and leave to the 

 proprietor no other bufmefs than to take the trouble of fee- 

 ing the conditions of the premium complied with. The fol- 

 lowing table will ihew what the effects of fuch a premium 

 would have been, calculating the annual produce at four 

 pounds an acre, which is much under what it ought to be. 

 The firft column {haws the fums paid as bounty, the next the 

 number of acres that fum would have improved at ten 

 pounds per acre, and the third the produce at four pounds 

 per acre, waiting three years at firft to give time for operations. 



