392 
On Climate and the Supply of Labour, Sfc. 
It is a very old opinion that the successful farmer is he who, 
with skill and knowledge of general principles, most clearly 
recognises the particular facts and circumstances under which his 
farm is placed, and applies his skill and knowledge to them 
accordingly. That is all I contend for under the very exceptional 
climate of Ireland, at a time when labour is dear, and when the 
value of grass products is such as has never been known or heard 
of, and seems likely so to continue, certainly in a measure, and 
possibly to a still larger degree. 
It is an old saying in the Co. Meath that the labour needed 
on their grazing lands is, " A man and a dog to 1000 acres 
of land." Of course there is not much land so good as the 
Meath grazing lands and that can be managed with so little 
l^ibour ; but the principle involved in this queer saying is 
decisive wherever fairly good grass can be anyhow grown. 
No doubt many cases can be given where cultivation to a 
considerable extent has been profitably carried on in Ireland, 
but if the circumstances and rotation of these farms are looked 
into, it will be found that not more than a tenth or a twelfth of 
their acreage is annually in green crop. This means that a good 
deal more than half the farm is in grass over one year old, and 
that the system is something quite different from that of an 
arable farm in Norfolk or the Lothians. It will also, I think, 
be found that such farms have been in bad condition, and their 
occupiers have been getting them into heart. 
I am far from saying that during this process and under this 
system their farms have not paid well ; my own farm has for 
many years been a proof to the contrary. But the fact is, that 
once in condition grass in the Irish climate will pay best with 
as little cultivation as may be, and that there is plenty of more 
profitable work for the displaced labour in draining, &c. Sound 
political economy teaches that the most profitable application of 
labour, whoever may gain by it, whether landlord, farmer, or 
workman, is the greatest gain to the community ; and that all 
artificial attempts to force labour in a particular direction for 
the sake of secondary (even) good objects are a mistake, and 
sure to end in disappointment. I think this mistake is made 
by some authorities on farming in Ireland ; and as political 
economy is little else but the correct statement of facts that are 
sure to produce the same results, whether correctly or incorrectly 
stated, only with serious loss in the meantime to those who are 
misled, good may be done by putting forward the above views. 
