The Prize System as applied to Small Farmers in Ireland. 397 
that the animals are dry dining winter and spring; and at the 
opening of the dairy season in May they come out in a half- 
starved state. 
Tillage is done in a slovenly fashion. By good, early, and 
deep tillage alone the annual return from every acre of arable 
land in tillage could be largely increased. Sufficient care is not 
taken to keep the land clean. In some parts of the country 
weeds are permitted to grow freely, and to shed their seed ; 
this causes a heavy loss. The yield of the crop is greatly 
reduced, as the weeds take up the food which would go to 
feed the crop if the land were kept clean. It is no uncommon 
thing to find ten tons of weeds and upwards in an acre of potato 
ground. 
The collection and preservation of farmyard-manure do not 
receive the attention they deserve. The manure made in the 
" bawns " of thousands of the small farmers of Ireland is not, in 
reality, farmyard-manure at all, but indifferent compost. A 
quantity of clay is carted from the headlands or old ditches, and 
thrown into yards or pits in front of the dwellings ; and on this 
is thrown, daily, kitchen refuse, giving rise to effluvia which 
poison the air that enters the dwellings. Again, in thousands of 
cases, manure is left to rot in small loose heaps, by which a good 
deal of its substance passes into the air ; and, in an equally 
large number of instances, the rain-water is permitted to drain 
away its substance into the nearest rivulets. It is not quite 
easy to estimate the loss of manurial matter annually incurred 
in this way by Irish farmers ; but the loss to the farmer is, in 
reality, far greater than the value of the manurial constituents 
dissipated, for deficiency in tillage or manure may reduce the 
crop one-half. The value of the deficiency in the crops of 
Ireland, arising from bad manures, amounts to several millions 
sterling per annum. 
In the treatment of all farm crops there is bad management 
in every county. In illustration of this, I may take the hay 
crop. First, it is often too much exposed to rain, which washes 
away a large quantity of its nutritive matters. 2nd. It is often 
too much exposed to the sun, which also lessens its value very 
considerably. 3rd. By too much exposure, or by fermentation, 
it suffers loss of fragrance and of colouring matter. We know 
by experience that there is an enormous difference in the feeding 
value of hay, according to its colour and fragrance. 4th. The 
hay is commonly allowed to remain so long in cocks in the 
fields, that the surface of these cocks becomes drenched by rain 
and bleached by the sun ; and the part in the bottom not only 
becomes unfit for use, but causes a loss of aftergrass. Putting 
these several sources of loss together, I estimated some time ago 
