PREFACE. 



hemp should prove successful, particularly in the south and 

 west of Ireland, where millions of acres lie waste that might 

 be turned to a national benefit, and increase thereby the 

 demand for more permanent and profitable employment. For, 

 under Flax cultivation, the remuneration of the labourer 

 would never be less than two shillings per day. 



For the ability to make the greater part of this collection of 

 his writings, the author has to thank the Editors of The Gar- 

 dener's Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, The Gardener's and 

 Farmer's Journal, Morning Herald, Bell's Messenger, Leeds 

 Intelligencer, Hereford Journal, and several other English 

 provincial papers ; also the Editors of The Armagh Guardian, 

 Newry Telegraph, Banner of Ulster, Cork Constitution, Tuam 

 Herald, Galway Vindicator, and also the Cork Southern 

 Reporter. The courtesy which he experienced from all these 

 gentlemen, and the instant cordiality of those with whom he 

 was best acquainted, merit his warmest acknowledgments, as 

 their never-to-be-forgotten assistance has proved to him a 

 tower of strength. 



He has little more to add, than that he has completed the 

 work to the best of his ability, and hopes the sincerity with 

 which he writes everything (especially against the enemy of 

 his cause), will procure him the usual indulgence for the many 

 defects that remain, and if it should appear to the new reader 

 a little beyond the pale of recognised style, or too exuberant 

 in the flow of animal spirits, it is hoped he will be good 

 enough to understand what former readers have long been 

 aware of, namely, that the writer comes from the " Emerald 

 Isle," and that what might have been considered affectation 

 in colder blood, was only enthusiasm in a warmer tempera- 

 ment. He is not conscious, however, of suffering anything to 

 remain which a reasonable critic could object to, and if 

 political opinions in some parts triumph, he cannot but say 

 that, had he attempted to alter the usual spirit of his writings 



