

THi: AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



Ill I 



Scottish limner), estimates tin gross ft ice at 200 

 francs per hectare (2} English acres), 3/. 12*. per 

 English acre. This corresponds verv ntarijr with my 

 owu estimate made a few years since in a paper I i • ad 

 before the Society of Arts. A farm horse would the 

 clear 7 acres instead of 6J, which was my calculation. 

 I will not go into the question whether 725. per acre 

 gross produce is creditable to British agricultu in the 

 liHh century, although I have a strong opinion about it. 

 la a future paper I will again consider the live stock 

 question. /. J. Meeki, Dec. 28. [It is a question, we 

 admit, not of what ought to be but of what us, but then 

 if we take acres according to their actual and not ac- 

 cording to their possible produce, we must take horses 

 not as they ought to be but as they are fed. And 

 we don't suppose that on an average farm horses cost 

 joearly 10s. a week apiece far food]. 



Health I amiaioners are being established in all 

 towns for the express purpose of examining drains, and 

 ■ttiakiu.: fresh sewers where required to carry off all 

 things offensive either to the eyes or nose— a rery 

 ^proper precaution to prevent effluvia from impregnating 

 the air, arising from decaying vegetable and animal 

 «ubstani'es so prejudical to life, where in certain states 

 of putrefaction. The removal of such nuisances from 

 the abodes of the working classes will be a boon to 

 them; but to be permanently useful and decrease the 

 amount of cholera, typhus, bowel complaints, fee., &c, a 

 better description of habitations must be erected for the 

 oor to live in, houses or cottages through which the 

 air of heaven may fnely circulate, not however through 

 the roofs, broken windows, or crazy <!oors— rooms large 

 enough for human beings to sleep in with common 

 decency, not dens into which are crammed men, 

 women, and children, so closely packed they touch 



each other OB the floor, the dead often COOeing ill contact 



with the living. The poisonous gas which these unfor- 

 tunate creatures are doomed to breathe, when crowded 

 together, is most disgusting. Not only have the 

 labourers and artisans to inhale such a pestiferous atmo- 

 sphere after a hard day's work, but they are doomed to 

 feed upon unwholesome food in the shape of diseased 

 meat, liberally supplied from the country to the large 



in 

 highly seasoned pies and sau-ages. The indulgence in 

 this gross food leaves on the palate a craving for 

 beer and spirits, in themselves anything but pure. 

 In addition to all this there is a scanty supply 

 of wnter for the daily purposes of cleanliness 

 and cooking. It is evident attention to sewage 

 will not remedy the crying evils, under which thousands 

 of industrious men and women are labouring. It must 

 be followed up by attention to other matters so inti- 

 mately connected with the comforts and respectability 

 of the working classes. No wonder drunkenntss and 

 debauchery are prevalent when the whole man is debi- 

 litated in body and mind by the horrors amongst which 

 he is compelled to exist, in many cases lie Mies to the 



ffin palace and beer shop to drown his cares and harden 

 his better spirit against the misery he endures. Ere- 

 queutiy the day chosen for his orgies is that set apart 

 — • ihiy of rest from toil, which should be spent in 



Encumbered Estates Court, which places betore us tacts 

 indicating the degrees in which crime and pauperism 

 have decreased, loyalty and peace advanced, and agri- 

 culture, trade, commerce, and manufactures acquired 

 development and expansion, even within the last ^twelve 

 months. From an official report of the Inspectors General 

 of Prisons, it appears that the number of gaol prisoners 

 throughout Ireland on the 1st January, 1854, was 5,755; 

 the number on the 1st January, 1850, having been 

 10,967; and in a gradually diminishing series through 

 the 



of Ireland — we 



intermediate years— less by nearly two-sevenths 

 than in the past year. Taking Limerick, according to 

 Mr. Locke's expression, as "a type" 

 would limit the typical illustration to the most socially 

 disorganised portions of the kingdom, for there are many 

 counties which have not exhibited political or agrarian 



we have this gratifying record of amendment : — 



Summer! S u m m e r 



crime 



County of Limerick. 



Spring 



Assizes, 



1849. 



Assizes, Assizes* 



1853. 



1854. 



Number of Crown witnesses and ) 



prosecutors ... ) 



Number of criminals for trial 



Of these for murder 



In arms, and attacking houses by ) 



night i 



Cattle stealing 

 Hi y robbery 



• • • 



• •• 



84 



19 

 1 







1 

 1 





towm, win re it meets with customers, disguised 





"Ribbonisni and offences arising from the competition for 

 land have almost disappeared from the face of the country they 

 bad so long disgraced and rendered insecure; and it is a gratify - 



ng fact that throughout the vast extent of land, comprising 

 2,000,000 acres, which has changed hands under the Encumbered 

 Estates commission, only four instances of agrarian crime have 



ccurred since the institution of that tribunal. Whatever be 

 the reader's previous impressions or knowledge of the subject, he 

 will be astonisbed and pleased at the extraordinary contrast 

 between these two periods (1849 and 1854); nor can any serious 

 mind feel otherwise than deeply grateful to an all-merciful 

 Providenc* for preserving Ireland intact from taint of crime and 

 disloyalty at the very season when organised disaffection would 

 be most perilous to society and the state." 



The tide of emigration is abating, as the necessary 

 result of the rushing efflux which various impulsive 

 agencies have been forcing onward ; and it is also turning 

 its course to British North America, whereas the 

 United States and Australia, in a much lesser ratio, had 

 principally been the localities to which it had 

 previously tended. Yet, though there were between 

 -5,000 and 20,000 Irish emigrants fewer in the year 

 1853 than in 1852, the sum of money remitted in the 

 former year by the pioneer colonists for their relatives 

 to pay for their passage to the colonies considerably 

 exceeded the sum sent in the latter, — the figures being 

 for three years : 



Years. 



1S51 

 1852 



1S53 



• * t 



• • • 



* » . 



• • 



Number of Irish 

 Emigrants. 



254.537 



224.997 

 199,392 



Money sent for 

 Passage. 



£ 990,000 

 1,404,000 

 1,439,000 



That the individuals who hi 



as a 



thankfulness for past mercies, as well as supp)ieat ; on 

 for future protection and in innocent recreation after 



the labour of the week. 



thus been quickly 

 enabled to remit money for the conveyance of their 

 friends and relatives to the new locations have been 

 benefited by their expatriation is obvious ; and it is 

 gratifying to reflect that the succeeding emigrants have 

 gone with hopeful assurances of success, which experi- 

 rience we believe has realised. We have, for our own 

 parts, no fears that the labour market will be uuder- 



Our deserted churches speak 

 volumes for the want of precept and example ID parents, | stoc ked 5 though wages have risen, they are yet far too 



l° w > all( l the Irish landowners and land cultivators must 

 learn to value the services of the agricultural labourer 

 much higher than they even now consider them. An 

 official report declares that the rise is " Is. per week on 

 the average ; * we should be better pleased to learn 

 that existing wages are doubled on the average. When 

 this shall take place, any local want of labourers will 

 be supplied from some source or other. 



and watchfulness in pastors. What might not the 

 clergy accomplish by a never-ceasing house to house 

 visitation, not driving but leading the ignorant, obsti- 

 iate, and prejudiced, to a due observance of higher 

 things, the only true safeguard against vice and 

 "wretchedness. Falcon. 



Blood as Manure. — Can any of your correspondents 

 state what has been proved to be the best mode of 

 applying blood as fresh from a London slaughter-house 

 as a weekly transit into the country \»ill allow \ The 

 slaughter-house owner says it is the "only thing he does 

 not turn to account," and has offered to collect it, barrel 

 it, and cart it to the railway. Will its value bear these 

 charges and SO miles of railway carriage \ The country 

 -folk do not doubt its being a good thing, but are ter- 

 ribly afraid oi its imparting all sorts of diseases to the 

 live stock and the land iiself. To meet this risk, it has 

 been proposed to cart it out directly on arrival, and 

 plough it into heavy clay land, with a fair proportion of 

 lime ; and by March next to have the land, so manured, 

 ready for Parsnip?, Globe, Mangold Wurzel, and Kohl 

 Kabi, all three of which have been produced upon the 

 same kind of land as large and good as want of manure 

 would permit. Is there a cheaper or better way of 

 applying it? Simplex. [Your best way of 1 ng it is 

 either m compost with earth, turned a fortnight before 



D rie( j i\ Q0 ^ would be worth as much 



u Emigration 



selves by their own industry, so highly has risen in p^ 

 estimation the moral and industrial training of the yJa 

 of the country, even in the very abodes of pauperis 

 We had occasion not long since to publish, in some not* 

 of a tour by our correspondent Martin Doyle, thever! 

 favourable return from the agricultural master of \Z 

 Enniscarthy workhouse. Mr. Locke has presented on* 

 from the Ballymoney workhouse, in the most nort! 

 county of Ireland, which shows a large amount of profj# 

 to the establishment after deduction of about 35J, fa 

 rent and rates. 



« It is a curious fact that this farm, which has be« 

 cultivated to so good purpose, has been tilled princi- 

 pally by the boys before and after school-hours. Q 

 appears that they are first-rate dirk-men— not a la m&i. 

 taire — and act as expert attendants on the dairy. When 

 sufficiently trained, their services are eagerly sought 

 after by the neighbouring farmers, the natural conse. 

 qnence of the information they are possessed of and the 

 good conduct which they evince while in service. In addi- 

 tion to the general instruction in farming which the larger 

 number receive, there is also a special class of 12 or U 

 who are taught "the theory as well as the practiced 

 agriculture, five hours being given to the latter and two 

 to the former every day ; and lately, with a view to 

 promote greater attention to the study in which they 

 are engaged, a plot of ground and seeds for green crop* 

 have been given to each, with a promise that the mo< 

 successful cultivator shall obtain a prize when the bar- 

 vest comes round." 



We would fain see something of this management in 

 our English unions, in which the youthful male inmates 

 are so frequently idle altogether, aud therefore medi- 

 tating mischief and turbulence, and keeping the master 

 in perpetual irritation or anxiety ; while the superin- 

 tendent of the Ballymoney workhouse is allowed by the 

 guardians — who fully co-operate in his views — to keep 

 every one occupied as he thinks best, and the resuls 

 are good order and the acquirement of industrious 

 habits. 



The agricultural report generally is very cheerin: 

 but it is clear that the Irishman of every class clings to 

 his Potato with irrepressible tenacity. Turnips, which 

 were threatening to beat them out of the field, have, we 

 have reason to think, retired a little as the others have 

 shown symptoms of returning vigour. In the year 

 1853, there were nearly 900,000 acres under Potatoes, 

 and about 600,000 under Turnips (400,000) and all other 

 roots included. And without a just proportion of 

 Turnips for sheep and cattle feeding, Ireland will 

 continue backward in agriculture. Both Flax and 

 Turnips had much increased in 1853 over 1852. There 

 is some falling off in both in the present year, 

 these two are especially suited to the climate and soiloi 

 Ireland. Flax cultivation is stated to have increased 

 500 per cent, since 1848, and of 956 scutch mills erected, 

 54 are worked by steam. And Ireland, so anomalous 

 in many things, gives an instance of the national charac- 

 teristic in the fact, that in the last year she exported 

 about 5000 tons of flax (at 58Z. per ton), with tow and 

 yarn, and imported nearly 9000 tons, at 651. per ton. The 

 yarn exported was valued at \05l. per ton, whereas the 

 imported (less than that exported) was valued at 1 80Z. per 

 ton. This would indicate superior skill elsewhere in the 

 spinning of fine yarns, or inferiority in the quality of the 

 native raw material itself for the manufacture of some 

 of the finer linens. It is gratifying to learn, that if 

 spinning by steam has thrown out of employment many 

 thousands of hand-spinners, the occupation of 460,000 

 females in muslin sewing throughout the kingdom fully 

 compensates for the disuse of hands in the former 

 labour, which also was less remunerative than the pre- 

 sent branch of emnlovment. Mr. Locke reiterates 



though 



branch of employment. 



, .,, .. . ., o .his opinion, that peat soils are suitable for continuous 



will ot necessity continue to withdraw its hundreds of green crops, instead of yielding, according to the 

 thousands annually, until deficiency in the labour market 



tion to the soil. 



aa woollen rags, perhaps rather more ; liquid blood niav 

 be^ worth six or seven times its weight of good 



farm- 



Ireland* Recovery; an Emty. By John Lockf 



J- II. Iarkerai.d Son, 445, West Strand.' 



A.B. 



compels all employers to raise wages, and landlords to 

 lease land on such liberal terms of rent and tenure as 

 may induce the working classes from motives of self- 

 interest to remain at home. 



Pauperism is of course decreasing rapidly in Ireland. 



On comparing the number of workhouse inmates for 



the year ending 22d April, 1854, with the previous 



corresponding interval, we find the diminution to he 



nearly 40,000 in each week throughout the series." 



1 he returns for last year give nearly 400,000 indoor 



and more than 13,000 out-of-door paupers : and these 



unfortunates were fed at the low average rate of U. Ad, 



per head weekly. The rates were laid it seems so low 



as to satisfy any reasonable and Christian man who has 



to pay his share :-« The average poundage on the 



current year will probably not exceed ],. 3d on the 



total Poor-law valuation of the island, which B euerally 



rates about one-fifth under the letting value." It is our 



good fortune to pay this year in an English rural district 



more than 5s. in the pound. 



The following information is worthy of deep considera- 

 tion m En-land, where the notion of employing the 

 workhouse poor in industrial occupations seems to be 

 strangely disliked by the rural magnates. Of the 163 

 unions in Irehmd.there were only 25 in Sept. 1853 in which 

 agricultural instruction was not given, and 1070 acres 

 are attached to the workhouses for the purpose of model 

 farms. At that period 3703 bojs were under a K ricul- 

 tura teaching, 3196 learning trades, and 14,273 eirls 



and- 



^twrfoM»m t: " Z m ™* ""questionable evidences of 



the useful pen of Hi. Locke"; w^Sd in the 



eon- 



i 



employed in household, useful, and ornamental h 

 work of various descriptions. It is a subject of w 

 gratulation that during last year upwards of 5000 boys 



ana put in a way of supporting them- followed by equally favourable results." Seven thou*** 



usual rotation, one green crop in four years ; and cal- 

 culating that there are 110,000 acres of peat soil yielding 

 one green crop in four years, he estimates^hat by sub- 

 stituting continuous green cropping for the four shift 

 system, there would be an increase of upwards of 

 | 5,500,000 tons of green food (16 tons per acre) equiva- 

 lent to the support of 580,000 black stock, young and 

 old. Sulphates of lime, everywhere obtainable on very 

 cheap terms, and in many districts easily formed on the 

 spot, by combining sulphuric acid with calcareous ear tbSj 

 are, according to communications made to Mr. Locke 

 by an agricultural gentleman who has used this nianuWj 

 certain fertilisers for the purpose. Mr. Irwin informed 

 the Commissioners of Public Works that * tracts of bog 

 and moor are now (in 1853) considered to yield a larger 

 and more speedy return than any other description of 

 improvement, as it is found that tracts of wet spongf 

 bog, which, while unreclaimed, were of merely nomm* 

 value, can now be let for a single crop at a rent ex- 

 ceeding the whole cost of reclamation ; and- that by 3 

 very moderate additional application from time to tt0 

 of clayey and calcareous material they can be profitably 

 continued in tillage for any length of time, being, * 

 already stated, easily and cheaply cultivated, and b^ 11 

 also the only lands in which the portable fertilisers c& 

 be permanently substituted for farm-yard manure. *» 

 excellent example of this important property of P e * '. 

 soil may be seen in the demesne of Mr. O'Connor, <> 

 Milton, whose green crops, grown on reclaimed »°$ 

 without any manure, except a moderate application ^ 

 either guano or superphosphate of lime, now rankam° D jj 

 the very best in the whole district ; and I am infor D1 * 

 that on the estate of Lord de Freyne the use of g«** 



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