Illustrations of Irish Farming. 
421 
hogget daily, and as much hay as they can consume. The 
hoggets are, usually, sold when shorn — say in April and first 
week of May — but some of those which are soonest ready go off 
in the fleece in the month of March, and even earlier. Out of 
the wool they' bring from 50s. to 63s. each, and their fleeces 
weigh from 8^ to lbs. Before the tenants of Bellegrove 
got their flock fully up in numbers, they were in the habit 
of purchasing a number of hoggets at the spring fairs at 
Kilkenny. The sheep bred in the Kilkenny district are not so 
fine as the Leicesters, nor do they fatten quite so readily. The 
best of the ewe hoggets bought at Kilkenny were selected and 
put to a Lincoln ram, while the remainder, after a summer's run 
on grass, were fattened on turnips. The produce of the Kilkenny 
ewes, with the Lincoln cross, were also fattened, none of them 
being kept as stock sheep. It was found that the Lincoln cross 
gave size and wool to the lambs, but the quality of the sheep was 
not equal to the Leicester, or even to the produce of a pure 
Leicester ram with Kilkenny ewes. 
From fifty to sixty head of cattle are fattened during winter in 
the stalls, and some young store cattle run in the yards. During 
summer, forty or fifty cattle, Kerries, and other light beasts, are 
grazed on some of the coarser pasture fields. The beasts 
intended for the stalls are usually purchased at the October fairs ; 
they are fed on turnips and straw until about six weeks of being 
finished, when they get each a daily ration of artificial food, 
consisting of 3 lbs. of crushed oats, 3 lbs. of crushed barley, and 
2 lbs. of cake, all mixed, which is continued until they go to the 
market. Some years ago the tenants of Bellegrove fattened more 
cattle than they have done latterly ; but the decrease in cattle 
has been made up by a corresponding increase in the number of 
sheep kept on the farm, and, considering the nature of the land, 
the slight alteration which has been made in the management is 
certainly an improvement. 
Wages in the district range as follows : — Ploughmen, 10s. a 
week, with free house and fuel (turf) ; ordinary labourers, 10s. 
per week, and during harvest 3s. per day ; women. Is., and during 
harvest 2s. 6c?. a day. The harvest wages are calculated without 
food. 
It is right to state that Queen's County has the advantage of 
possessing a number of resident landlords, who take a lively 
interest in promoting agricultural improvements. This circum- 
stance has proved of immense service to Queen's County and 
County Kildare, especially that portion of the latter which 
adjoins Queen's County, forming part of the estates belonging to 
his Grace the Duke of Leinster, and those districts have im- 
proved more of late years than almost any other in Ireland. 
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