'252 The English Spade preferred by the Irish. 



general on each not exceeding ten pounds. 

 Mr. Bertie has introduced the valuable practice 

 of letting out work by the task, or job, to the 

 laborers, who always, in such cases, petition for 

 an English spade ; but when they work by the 

 day, they cannot be induced to abandon the 

 lay or shovel. The wages paid here by his 

 Lordship are twelve pence a day for nine 

 months, and nine pence for the other three ; 

 much above the general rate of the country, 

 which may be estimated at seven pence and 

 eight pence : half a guinea is paid for cutting 

 an acre of grain, and four shillings for mowing 

 the same surface of hay. The cartage of turf 

 in the spring interferes very much with all the 

 arable operations of a farm, as a large portion 

 of that valuable season which ought to be de- 

 voted to preparing for the green crops is thus 

 unavoidably lost. The enormous turf stacks 

 bear testimony of the labor in digging, drying, 

 and transporting this species of fuel from the 

 bogs j the subsequent delivery of which to dif- 

 ferent parts of the house in winter, occupies 

 the time of several persons : when the canal is 

 completed, it is the general opinion that coal 

 will be found a more economical fuel. Rents 

 have doubled in the last thirty years; and 

 tithes have, probably, been proportionably in- 

 creased. The composition for wheat and barley 



