IRELAND. 



Imple- 

 ments. 



pcrary. and King's and Queen's Counties. Here a great 



" -.-' dc.d of oirn is nniv.-n ; mid the agriculture is good, in 



inri-i;n with that which is pursued in any ot' the 



pn-CTitiiv,' districts. More attention is paid to a sys- 



ti-m.itic rour.-c of cropping, and keeping the land in 



good he-art. Oxen and horses are used for the plough. 



hi Minn- p.irts turnips are grown, but they are seldom 



hoed. Ninety acres are considered a large tillage farm. 



The eighth district comprises Wexford, and a part 



of Wii-klow. In some parts of this district beans are 



cultivated; but they are sown broadcast, and never 



hoed. Even here, their mode of ploughing is very 



awkward. One man holds the plough, another leads 



the horses, and a third presses on the beam, to keep it StatUtics. 

 down. * ' ' r ' 



The last district comprehends the ftorthem part of 

 Kilkenny, Kildare, and the cultivated parts of West 

 Meath, Meath, and Lowth. Wheat enters into the 

 common course of crops; but the fallows are bad. 

 Clover has been introduced, but it is sown on exhaust- 

 ed land. The farms are much larger here than in any 

 other parts of the country. The ploughs are very bad- 

 ly constructed, and are drawn by six oxen and horses. 



The following Table, given by Mr. Wakefield, exhi- Averafe 

 bits, according to him, the average produce of the nine produce, 

 districts : 



Wheat, &c 



The rudeness of the Irish plough has been already 

 adverted to. It is made chiefly of wood, with a very 

 long beam, without a swillyard : the breast, which is 

 also of wood, has seldom any ground ; and the share 

 has hardly any wing. In Wexford, the beam is shorter 

 than in any of the other counties, and the sock in ge- 

 neral is of cast iron. The Scotch plough has been in- 

 troduced within these few years. The flail is seldom 

 heavier than a schoolboy's whip. The spade is much 

 narrower than the English spade ; the handle generally 

 five feet long : .the handle of the shovel is still larger, 

 it is sometimes rounded, sometimes pointed, and often 

 square at the end. The loy, which is much used in 

 Ireland, is a long narrow spade, which projects entire- 

 ly on the right side of the' handle : its breadth is that 

 of the foot. The slane is a double loy, used in cutting 

 turf. The sliding cars have no wheels : the ends of the 

 shafts are shod with iron, with a wicker basket suspend- 

 ed between them. Cars are small carts, having the 

 wheel fixed to the axle-tree, which turns round along 

 with it. The wheel is not spoked, but solid. The cars 

 are difficult to be turned. 



Little labour is bestowed on fallows in Ireland ; and 

 that little is very ill done. Three ploughings are deem- 

 ed amply sufficient ; and in consequence of these being 

 performed with a rude and inefficient plough, not fol- 

 lowed i.y the other necessary operations, the ground is 

 generally full of weeds. The Irish, however, bestow 

 a great deal of labour in trenching their land. By this 

 operation they form it into beds, and shovel out a deep 

 trench between them, throwing up the earth ; this is 

 done to all land, whether ploughed or dug. while the 

 crop is growing : the expence is eiglit shillings per acre. 



When Hoate wrote his natural history of Ireland, 

 wheat appears to have been cultivated only in a very 

 partial manner in the province of Counaught ; and, from 



the account which has been given 'of the agriculture of 

 Ireland in its different districts, , it will be seen that, 

 even at present, its cultivation is very limited. There 

 is little or no wheat grown in the counties of Monaghan, 

 Tyrone, Derry, Donegal, Sligo, Mayo, Leitrim, or 

 Cavan ; the principal wheat districts are the counties 

 of Kilkenny, Carlow, Dublin, Meath, Louth, and parts 

 of Limeric, Tipperary, Clare, and Cork." The red Lam- 

 mas is the kind most in use. Spring wheat grows well 

 near the sea coast of Wicklow. Wheat is generally 

 sown after potatoes, or a fallow : little attention is paid 

 to it while growing. The Irish wheat is for the most 

 part coarse, and of inferior quality ; in consequence 

 either of the wetness of the climate, or bad harvesting, 

 it all requires to be kiln dried. Barley is by no means 

 generally cultivated in Ireland : it is of inferior quality 

 to that grown in England, not yielding so much saccha- 

 rine matter by 20 per cent. Where barley is cultiva- 

 ted it is sown after potatoes. Bere, or big, is grown in 

 Kildare, Meath, West Meath, Longford, and in the north . 

 on cut-out bogs. Meslin, or a mixture of wheat and 

 rye, is sown near Drogheda, at the market of which it 

 finds a ready sale. 



Of all the species of corn, oats are the most ex'ten- Oats. 

 sively cultivated ; forming the principal part of the 

 food of the people, a market for them is every where to 

 be found. It is calculated, that throughout the whole 

 kingdom, there are ten acres of oats for one of any other 

 species of corn. They are sown after wheat, potatoes, 

 flax, and barley ; and even year after year in succes- 

 sion, till the land is quite exhausted. In the mountain- 

 ous, districts, the black oat is generally sown; of late 

 years the potatoe oat has been introduced into the lower 

 grounds. The Irish oats are not equal in weight or 

 quality to the Enj>li>h. Beans are cultivated no where 

 except in parts ot the county of Wexford. Rape is 



