5 14 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



" Drayning," which was " taking away Superfluous and Venomous Water 

 which lieth iu the Earth and much occasioneth Bogginess, Miriness, Eushes, 

 Flags, and other filth, and is indeed the cause of Barrenness in any Land of 

 this nature," was very fully explained. It was to he done by tapping the 

 sources of the superfluous water with trenches which were then to be filled in 

 as follows : — " Then thou must take good green Faggots, Willow, Alder, Elm, 

 or Thorn, and lay in the bottom of thy works, and then take the Turf thou 

 tookest up in the top of thy Trench, and Plant upon them with the green 

 Soard downwards, and then fill up thy works levell again." Or " Take great 

 Pibble stones or Flint stones, and so fill up the bottom of thy Trench about 

 fifteen inches high, and take thy turf and plant it as aforesaid, being very fit 

 for the Trench, as it may joyn close as it is laid down." 



The inclosed system of farming made possible a great improvement in the 

 live stock of the country. The good could now be kept separate from the 

 bad, and good herds and flocks could be established. This led to a great 

 importation of larger and better farm stock of all kinds from the continent 

 of Europe, but especially from the Low Countries, in which, till well on 

 in the eighteenth century, the best agriculture was to be found. The 

 invention of gunpowder and the eventual disappearance of soldiers 

 in armour led to the old war-horse — the ' great ' horse — being employed 

 instead of cattle in ploughing and other farm-work. Towards the end 

 of the eighteenth century several new crops were introduced ; but these 

 induced no great change. They were swedes, mangels, and improved 

 varieties of oats and barley. One crop, however, must be mentioned, 

 not because it was so new, but because it had become a field crop and 

 was eventually of great importance in Ireland. The potato was intro- 

 duced to Europe in the sixteenth century ; : but in England it was cultivated 

 only in gardens till early in the seventeenth century, at which time it became 

 a field crop first of all in Lancashire. 



We are now iu a position to approach the agriculture of the Celts. But 

 we must first of all consider the framework in which they had to work ; for 

 just as the agriculture of the English -village community was conditioned by 

 its peculiar constitution so also was that of the Celts by their tribal polity 

 which, for the lack of a modern example, is not easily reconstructed. 



From Caesar's description of the Celts we may extract so much as bears 

 upon our present problem. There were already two great classes in Gaul, the 

 ruling and the ruled, the gentle and the simple ; and the rulers treated the 

 ruled like slaves : " Among the Gauls there are two kinds of people enjoying 



See Wilson's Faim Crops. 



