378 
On Climate and the Suppljj of Labour 
showed that a portion of it had been manured in March with 
so-called London refuse manure. Tlie grass had grown more 
luxuriantly on this part, and the animals had shown a preference 
to feed upon it. A search for deleterious matters resulted in 
finding large masses of dried paint among dirt and rubbish of 
all kinds, the clearing-out of London ash-heaps. 
The Sussex case was precisely of the same kind, but in this 
instance the manure was not put on so early, and the animals 
were not turned out until May 23rd. At the end of nine days 
several were ill, and three died ; a fourth died on June 12th, and 
a fifth on June 14th. 
The opinion arrived at as to the animals being poisoned by 
the old paint, received a full confirmation by a chemical analysis 
of the contents of their digestive organs — the compounds of 
lead being found in great abundance. 
Boyal Veterinary College, 
June 28, 1873. 
XIV. — On Climate and the Supply of Labour as affecting 
Agriculture in Ireland. By W. Bence Jones, Lisselan, 
Co. Cork. 
Mr. Pringle's interesting paper on ' Irish Agriculture' in a 
recent number of this Journal * leaves untouched, except by a 
passing mention, one part of the subject which I think deserves 
especial notice. 
I allude to climate, which, in one of the ablest essays in the 
Journal (Whitley on the ' Climate of the British Isles,' vol. ii., 
p. i.), is well described as the ruling principle of agriculture. 
The Irish climate is proverbially wet. A glance at the Rain- 
map of Europe in Keith Johnston's ' Physical Atlas ' shows that, 
exclusive of exceptional mountain districts, the rainfall in 
Munster is the largest in Europe, a few small spots alone being 
equal to it. Whilst the rainfall in Essex and the East of 
England is about twenty inches, over forty inches is the average 
of Cork. The rainfall of the West of England and of the other 
three provinces of Ireland does not differ much — thirty to thirty- 
five inches. The rain increases down to Penzance, where it is 
the same as in Munster. Meteorological observations are kept at 
very few places in Ireland, and there is reason to believe that the 
local rainfall in many parts is much greater than any that has 
♦ Second series, vol. viii., Part I., No. xv. pp. 1-76. 
