CORN CROPS 293 



production nor the call upon the energies of the farmer 

 that arable land provides. 



The arable land of the farm we were visiting was 

 worked on the four-course system, though oats largely 

 took the place of wheat, and potatoes occupied the 

 greater part of the root break. Barley-growing was 

 an important feature, Tipperary being one of the chief 

 barley-growing counties of Ireland, second only to 

 Wexford. Our host did a considerable trade in seed 

 corn, both of barley and oats, and on his farm we saw, 

 in addition to the Archer barley which has been intro- 

 duced through the experiments of the Department, 

 one field of black land sown with the Sprat barley we 

 had only seen elsewhere in the Fens. It had grown 

 with great vigour, and formed a coarse and rank crop, 

 partially lodged even after the fine summer ; but its 

 most extraordinary feature was its deep red purple 

 colour, suggesting an affinity with some of the Oriental 

 barleys with their black or purple-skinned grain. The 

 farm carried some specially heavy crops of oats, good 

 for any season, but remarkable for 1911; indeed, the 

 whole of the land was being maintained at a high 

 pitch of fertility by a considerable expenditure on 

 artificial manures. Harvest was in full swing though 

 August was barely a week old, and the settled weather 

 promised that it would be carried through cheaply and 

 quickly at an early date, such as few men could 

 remember in Ireland. Indeed, we heard later that the 

 Irish farmer got his threshing done if anything too 

 early, for he sold the greater quantity of his barley 

 before the great and quite unexpected rise in price 

 that occurred in the autumn of 1911 had taken effect. 

 After the slump in barley prices in the previous winter 

 and the accounts one had of the stocks carried by the 

 maltsters, with a fair if not heavy crop in prospect, 



