CORK. 



219 



Cork. 



comes chiefly from the breweries and distilleries in the 

 city of Cork, and partly from thebreweries in Bandon and 

 Cloghnikilty. There is also to be found here and there 

 a field of bere, or bear, affording a pretty good return. 

 Oats are sufficiently common. About 40 or 50 acres are 

 cropped with hemp. This crop is usually good and lu- 

 crative, not so much so, however, as flax, of which con- 

 siderably more than 1200 tons are annually raised. 

 In the year 1809 there were sown with flax about 

 1462 acres, out of which it is supposed that 44 81 

 bushels of seed would be saved, besides giving 43,860 

 stones of flax, at 10s. 6d. per stone. Clover is seldom 

 cultivated by common farmers, excepting on a small 

 scale, and in inconsiderable quantities ; indeed it is sta- 

 ted by Mr Newenham, that not more than 5000 acres 

 are sown with this grass throughout the whole island. 

 Potatoes are every where raised by the farmers in abun- 

 dance, engrossing almost the whole of their manure, 

 as well as of their labour In Doleraine, potatoe land 

 lets as high as six guineas an acre. One prepara- 

 tion for this crop is very commonly paring and burning, 

 especially on the coarser lands, where it is considered 

 as the most expeditious mode of reclaiming waste 

 ground ; and it is practised in spite of the legal enact- 

 ments against it, and the unwillingness of landlords to 

 permit it. In some places turnips are sown, and used 

 as food for sheep as well as cows. 



The following Table affords a view of the average 

 quantities of seed used, and of the produce, per English 

 acre, in the southern districts of the county, from which 

 the general state of agriculture there may be ascertain- 

 ed with some accuracy. The average is taken from 

 different years and different estates. 







Seed used 



Produce 



Proportion 





perEng. A- 



per Eng. A- 



between 



Crops. 



cre. lib. A- 



cre. lib. A- 



seed and 





voirdupois. 



voirdupois. 



produce. 



Wheat 



161 



1,400 



1 to 8.9 



Bear 



140 



"2,016 



1 to 14 



Barley 



147 



1,993 



1 to 13.1 



Oats 



154 



1,671 



1 to 10.9 



Potatoes 



952 



12,695 



1 to 13.1 



Flax j 



16 pecks 

 per Acre. 



1,040 



1 p. to 65 

 lb. 



rices of The average prices of labour, &c. estimated from re- 

 bour, &c turns made by persons in different districts, were, in 

 1 8 1 1, as follow :— For a man, per day, 1 1 -id.; a woman 

 6^d. ; a carpenter 2s. 1 If d. ; a mason 2s. 9^d. ; slater Ss. 

 5|d.; quarryman Is. 8^d. ; a thrasher Is. 5d. ; mason, 

 per perch, Is. 6d.; slater, per square, 6s. 8d. ■ bricklayer, 

 per perch, Is. 3d. ; blacksmith, per day, 2s. 5^d. ; labour 

 in harvest of hay or corn, per day, Is. 1 1 ^d. ; day labour 

 of children 6±d. ; mowing grass, per acre, 4s. 6£d. • fen- 

 cing, per perch, 2s. 3^d. ; for grazing a cow, per week, 

 2S 'j 4 i5 d ' ' t0r ^ razin ^ a horse, per week, 2s. 9d. ; a car 

 and horse, per day, 3s. 1 1 fd. ; a saddle horse do, 5s. 7|d. ; 

 a plough, do. 9s. 9f d. ; shoeing a horse 3s. 5±d. ; land- 

 carriage to Dublin, perewt. 8s. 3±d. ; wheat, per barrel, 

 L. 2 ; 5 : 6; barley, per do. L. 2, 5s. ; oats, L. 1 : 5 : 8 ; 

 potatoes, per stone, 4^1. ; hay, per ton, L. 5 : 3 : 5 ; beef, 

 per lb. 6d. ; mutton 6'ld.j veal 6^d. ; pork 4cL ; lambs, 

 per score, L. 10 : 2 : 6; eggs, per score, lOd. ; undressed 

 flax, per cwt. L. 3 : 17 : C> ; wool, per stone, L. 1 : 1 : 3. 

 unures. In the bay of Glengariff, and towards the north-west 



parts of Bantry Bay, there is an inexhaustible store of 

 coral sand, which is held in the highest esteem, and is 



much employed in the neighbourhood, as a manure. Cork. 

 Large quantities of it are dredged up for that purpose. '"■""V"" ' 

 It is purely calcareous ; and its effects are said to be 

 perceptible for twenty years. Sea sand, also, contain- 

 ing a great deal of calcareous particles, is very general- 

 ly used on the coast. It is usually laid upon the ground 

 just as it is brought from the shore ; and not unfre- 

 qtiently it is, in the first instance, put into the farm- 

 yards instead of straw, for the cattle to lie upon, and af- 

 ter being impregnated with their urine, and mixed with 

 their dung, is carried out to the fields. It is said 

 to ameliorate very much the quality of the ground, not 

 only by its operation as an alterative, but also in a me- 

 chanical way, by opening and mellowing the soil. A 

 great proportion of the manure in this country, ae 

 might be expected from its maritime situation, consists 

 of sea-weed, which is annually cut from the rocks, or 

 gathered in the coves and harbours. It is collected 

 with unceasing diligence, and is principally applied to 

 the potatoe grounds. It is a source of considerable pro- 

 fit to the proprietors on the coast. A small strand at 

 Donoughmore lets for £60 per annum, besides sup- 

 plying the farm within whose bounds it is situated. 

 Marl abounds in this county. It is a favourite ma- 

 nure, used in great quantities, and attended with pro- 

 portionate effects. Fossil shells also are found here. 

 Dung and straw manure, on which, in every agricul- 

 tural country, the farmer chiefly depends, is not an ob- 

 ject of much attention with the farmers of Cork, and is 

 made by them in very inconsiderable quantities. In 

 some parts, however, it is not uncommon for people to 

 pound their straAv into muck on the high road, and for 

 this purpose to have it always spread in front of the 

 farm-house. The roads being made of limestone, a 

 deal of this is scraped off when the pounded straw is 

 removed, and in this way an excellent manure is pro- 

 duced. The farmers, however, have no proper ideas 

 of the importance of manure, and of the necessity of 

 collecting as much of it as possible. As a proof of 

 their ignorance or their carelessness in this respect, 

 we are informed by Mr Townsend, that they often 

 erect their houses upon the very margin of a public 

 road, in the channel of which a great proportion of the 

 manure is washed away ; and that, on the same prin- 

 ciple — the principle of a most mistaken economy — they 

 grudge a few perches of ground to the use of a farm yard. 



Fencing is very imperfectly understood in this coun- fences 

 ty, and still more imperfectly practised. Nothing of 

 the tree kind is admitted, which not only gives an ap- 

 pearance of nakedness to the country, but deprives both 

 the corn and the cattle of that shelter which is so con- 

 ducive to their growth. The usual fence consists of a 

 bank from 4 to 5 feet broad at bottom, tapering to the 

 top, and rising to the height of 5 or 5| feet. It is form- 

 ed sometimes of earth dug up from either side, and 

 sometimes it is composed chiefly of stones. This is too 

 often allowed to remain quite bare. But in general it 

 is covered with furze, which, wlren well grown, makes 

 a tolerably good hedge ; — serving the triple purpose of 

 a fence to the field, winter food for the horses, and fuel 

 for the house. 



Most of the usual implements of husbandry are to be imple- 

 found here, but they are unskilfully constructed and mem» of 

 unskilfully managed. The plough in common use is husbandry, 

 extremely rude and defective ; as one proof of which it &c " 

 may be stated, that the coulter and sock are placed so 

 obliquely as to oblige the ploughman to turn it to the 

 left side, in such a manner as to keep the mould-board 

 entirely out of the ground. The plough is drawn very 



