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great evil, I beg leave to suggest what appears to 

 me best calculated to effect so desirable an object^ 

 and thereby to amehorate the distress of the suffer- 

 ers. To all who have the means of knowing the real 

 state of Ireland, they will most readily allow that 

 the great cause of the want of clothes of every de- 

 scription among the poor, is their inability to pur- 

 chase either the cloth or the raw material ; the wool 

 at present produced in Ireland being of a good qua- 

 lity, and of course higher in price than what the poor 

 people can afford to pay for, consequently they re- 

 main in many cases the pictures of misery. Now, 

 were the mountainous parts of Ireland farmed after 

 the manner practised in the Highland districts of 

 Scotland, the inhabitants of Ireland might be clothed 

 fully as comfortably as the lower orders of people in 

 Scotland generally are. It is a well-known truth, 

 that the labouring classes of people throughout the 

 whole of Scotland make a decent appearance in their 

 wearing-apparel, and have in their cottages plenty of 

 comfortable blankets for themselves and families. 

 This is chiefly owing to the abundance of wool, which 

 at all times is easily and cheaply procured in every 

 part of the country, oftentimes as low as from ,5s. to 

 6s. per stone of 24 lib. This arises from the moun- 

 tainous, and most rugged parts of the kingdom being 

 stocked with numerous flocks of what is called 

 Scotch black-faced sheep, which produces abundance 

 both of wool and mutton, thereby enriching the 

 country with food and clothing. Every labouring 

 family in these parts of the country buy a little wool 

 from the sheep-farmer, which the wife and younger 

 branches card and spin. They procure a little al- 

 der, larch, rowantree, and other barks, with which 



