IRELAND. 



2C5 



Pin. 



grown for seed in King's and Queen's Counties, and in 

 tome parts of Tipperary. 



Ireland has long been celebrated for the immense 

 quantities of potatoes it produces, as well as for their ex- 

 cellent quality. They are planted on every kind of soil, 

 either in drills or on lazy beds. The former method 

 has been introduced lately, but it is gaining ground 

 fast. In general the potatoes are stored up by the 

 poorer classes in their cabins ; where they are in large 

 quantities, they are pitted in the fields where thev 

 grow. A potatoe pit, lined with turf, is deemed pre- 

 ferable to one lined with straw. Potatoe land rents 

 from 6, 6s. to 10, 10*. per acre ; the whole expence 

 of growing them, including rent, varies from 13 to 

 per acre. The produce varies very much ; per- 

 haps from -H) to 50 tacks, of 20 stone to the sack, and 

 SI Ibs. to the -.tone, may be deemed not unu-ual pro- 

 duce on good land. 



Flax is cultivated through almost the whole of Ire- 

 land, except Wicklow and Wexford ; but it is princi- 

 pally grown in the province of t Uter : it follows po- 



Down. The method practised in Dorsetshire, Devon- Statistic*. 

 shire, and other counties in the west of England, of ""V""' 

 letting dairies to dairymen, at so much a cow per an- 

 num, is followed in the south of Ireland. The average 

 number of cows on a dairy farm is about 30 or 40; three 

 acres of land, of middling quality, are deemed neces- 

 sary for the subsistence of each cow. The average 

 produce of milk is 8 quarts in 2 1 hours in summer ; 

 and 5 quarts in winter ; four good cows will give half 

 a cwt. of butter in a week. The best butter is made 

 in Callow, and the worst is produced from the rich soil 

 of Limeric and Meath. Butter of the first quality is 

 sent to England, where it is either consumed or ship- 

 ped for the East and West Indies; the next sort is sent 

 to Spain, and the third to Portugal. The fattening of 

 calves for veal is little practised in any part of Ireland. 



The grazing husbandry of Ireland is not, as in Eng- Grazing, 

 land, uniud with the tillage husbandry ; nor are there 

 Urge tracts of land, exclusively devoted to the breeding 

 of cattle, as in the Highlands of Scotland. The moun- 

 tains of Ireland, instead of being grazed by those who 



oats, and barley. The plough is seldom em- farm them, are frequently let, on a partnership-lease, to 



r 



|g 



i | , ,- . 



the ground, for the most part, being prepared 

 y tlie spade, but the earth taken from the trenches is 

 not always shovelled over the beds. 



The culture of hemp was formerly pretty extensive 

 on the rich lands in tlie county of Limeric ; but it i 

 now abandoned there ; nor has it succeeded in other 

 parts in any considenble degree, notwithstanding go- 

 vernment afforded premiums for that purpose. The 

 quantity of land sown with hemp, as returned to the 

 Linen Board in I8O8. was only 525 acres. 



the indigenous grasses of Ireland, it does not seem 

 necessary to specify any, except the fiorin grata, or 

 b.- '..,,, ' 



HIT. 



> obmifer, which ha* been lately very highly 

 Richardson. Its merits, however, are 

 not nearly so great as he represents then ; and, indeed, 

 n for which it is adapted, is sea-walls, 

 where Ms root* run and bind them together. 



Considering tlie very imperfect and back wan 1 nature 



of Iruh hubandry, it is not to be expected, that laving shire, 

 j i _ i . ii i - 



the inhabitants of a neighbouring village, each of whom 

 turns in a cectain number of cattle, horses, goats, or 

 geese, according to the rent he pay*. The few cattle 

 that are fed on the mountainous districts are generally 

 very }xx>r. The most extensive and valuable lands Cor 

 I ittfinng cattle are in Munster, viz. the Caucaseson the 

 bank* of the Shannon and Fergus, and in parts of the 

 counties of Limeric and Tipperary. Some parts of 

 Cork, Queen's County, West Meath, a small part of 

 Louth and Kildare, also contain rich grazing land. 



The native Irish cattle are nearly extinct ; they are Cattle. 

 narrow in the loins and thin in the quarters; with 

 -in rt legs, large bellies, and white faces. The Kerry 

 lock are a distinct breed. The Holderness, .Stafford- 

 shire, and Devonshire breeds, are the principal ones 

 which have been introduced from England : tlie Staf- 

 fordshire is the most common on the grazing lands, or 

 rather a mixture of the native Irish and the Sutford- 



P .- ;. 



down land to grass is well understood. In fact. tin. i- 

 s*Mom done with seeds; but, in most places, the pr 

 is suffered to clothe itself with its mtur.il herlxage. 

 Soon after grass is cut for hay. it i* formed by the lu'nd 

 into what are called lap-cock*," each of which i* < 

 much as a woman can twist round her arms like a muff; 

 these being laid on the ground in the direction of the 

 wind, which blows through them, are soon dried ; and 

 re then put into a " tramp-cock." In this state it be- 

 comes tailed, and its qualilv < injured by the 

 heated bey being put int.. n.-ks, so that the quality of 

 by for the greater pan of Irish hay is very indifferent. 

 From the account of the arable husbandry of the diffe- 

 rent diitn , already been een that very little 

 '> r i- ( uhivated. In ih.- wr t .,n.l .nitli.we.t. it n 

 scarcely known ; and, according to Mr. Newenhatn, 

 there are not SOW acres in the whole island ; where it 

 w. cultivated, it i< sown on exhausted and foul land, 

 are few quickset hedges in Ireland. In th- lime- 

 nets, stone-walls, and in tlie other 

 earthen banks a.e the usual fences. In the <onthern 

 ooontin. furze is sometimes planted on these banks. 



The dairy husbandry i* the most and the 



I---? mn.,ir-<l IT. Inlnd. Kerry, < .,.!>. \\ .,v r f,,r.l. an. I 



K of Kilkenny. Carlow. Mealh. WW Meath, Lonir- 

 aad Fermanagh, as well us the mountainous parti 

 of Lettrttn and.Sligo, are principally occupied by dairy 

 farms. Butter i the only produce : a great deal it aim 

 I on the small (enures in Cavao, Monagi.an, and 



A greater extent of country is employe:! in Inland Sheep. 

 for the grazing of sheep, than for the grazing of bul- 

 locks. Roscommon, (ialway, Clare, Limeric, and 

 i rary, are the great breeding counties for sheep. 

 In Uie piovince of Ulster there is not a > ,ling 



flock. Galway, Clare, Kosconimcm, Tipperary, and 

 M'-ath, are the principal fattening counties. Mr. U'ake- 

 field says, that in the whole course of his tour, he never 

 saw a abeeplbld ; and only once sheep feeding on tur- 

 nips. The native Irish sheep are small, and are co- 

 vered with nearly as much hair as wool ; but they are 

 now not common. In connoqu. been 



trosstil with different kinds of i u , .>, tin' Irish 



sheep at present, are of the polled, long-wooliivl kind, 

 and, in the great breeding counties, very larijc. In 

 many parts of Ireland, they are kept only for thru- wool, 

 and this only for the use of the family. A breed of 

 fine woolled sheep, peculiar to the mountains ol \ . 

 low, exhibit the only traces of a distinct race of short 

 woolled sheep in the i-i u:'l. 



The native lrih horse is a very useful animal : it Hone*. 

 ulilniii exceeds I.', hands in height, and is very hardy 

 and sure-footed. This breed is viry niiicli u-i-<i by the 

 linen-merchants of I'luter, in riding from market to 

 market. A large, long, blood horse is much reared in 

 Meath, and is to be found in most of the rich grazing 

 counties. But the horse, usually employed for all 

 kinds of labour in Ireland, is the one first described. 

 There are few parts of this country in which goats are 



