Illustrations of Irish Farming. 
417 
farm : the gates are substantial, and the entire appearance of 
the place, and all that belongs to it, shows that minute attention 
is constantly bestowed on every detail of management. 
Mr. Patton began life as a farmer on a holding of 11 Irish 
acres in extent, that is, about 18 imperial acres. He gradually 
acquired more land, paying as much in some instances as 18/. 
an acre for the tenant right, until he had got together a farm of 
about 42 statute acres, which is now held by one of his sons. 
This was irrespective of the farm of Trynanny, which was sub- 
sequently purchased as described above. He has brought up a 
family in a most respectable manner, and his success shows 
what an industrious, persevering, and intelligent man is capable 
of doing. Having had a large experience among small farmers, 
the opinion of such a man as Mr. Patton is of considerable 
weight, and in talking over the matter with him, I found that 
he considers 30 statute acres the smallest farm that a man should 
have to make a fair living out of it. In this view, most people 
who know the circumstances of the average run of small farmers 
in Ireland, will fully coincide. 
Farms in Queen's County. 
Mr. Dennis Dunne holds 75 Irish acres — 121^ statute — in 
the townland of Coolroe, which is about 6 miles from Port- 
arlington Station on the Great Southern and Western Railway. 
Mr. Dunne and his father occupied the farm for at least 50 
years, without any lease, but about three years ago, a lease was 
granted by the landlord for 31 years at the former rent, namely 
76/., in consideration of the tenant having made a number of 
permanent and valuable improvements, without any assistance 
from the landlord. These improvements consist of a substantial 
set of farm offices ; draining the farm 3 to 4 feet deep, broken 
stones being used in filling ; making fences, reclaiming land, 
and keeping the farm generally in high condition by liberal 
manuring. 
The system of cultivation followed by Mr. Dunne is (1) oats ; 
(2) potatoes, swedes, and mangolds ; (3 and 4) two crops of 
barley in succession, the land, in common with the district 
generally, producing excellent crops of barley ; (5) young grass 
for hay, soiling, and pasture. Mr. Dunne has been frequently a 
winner of the county prize cup for the best barley. He manures 
heavily for his root crops, and besides the farm dung produced at 
the farmstead he buys annually 200 tons of dairy cow-dung, which 
is brought by canal from Dublin, a distance of over 40 miles. 
The station on the canal where the dung is unloaded is about 
two miles from the farm. In addition to the farmyard and 
