398 The Prize System as applied to Small Farmers in Ireland. 
that, on an average, the hay crop of Ireland is deteriorated to 
the extent of one-fifth of its value. About 1,500,000 acres are 
meadowed annually ; the average yield is two tons per acre ; the 
total produce is, therefore, 3,000,000 tons, which, at 21. 10s. per 
ton, amounts to 7,500,000/. ; and one-fifth of this, or 1,500,000/., 
is lost. 
The Live-stock of Ireland is not made as profitable as it ought 
to be. The quality of the animals kept in many places has im- 
proved very much of late ; but there is still great need for 
further improvement, especially in the stock kept by small 
farmers. Evidence of the enormous loss suffered in this way by 
our small farmers is afforded in the fairs and markets held 
throughout the country. 
Dairy business is badly managed in many parts of Ireland. 
In butter-making alone there is room for improvement to the 
extent of 1/. per cwt. or about 1,000,000/. a year. 
The want of drainage is a crying defect in Irish agriculture. 
In Ireland at least G,000,000 acres of land are in need of drain- 
age. This work could be effected at a cost of 5/. an acre, 
which, at 5/. per cent., would give a rent-charge of 5s. an 
acre ; while the increased value of the land consequent on 
drainage would, on hundreds of thousands of acres of bog and 
wet cold clay, after a few years, be 11. an acre and upwards. 
Taking the average at 10s., the annual letting value of the 
land of the country would be increased by 3,000,000/. a year. 
Many persons will ask, Where is all the capital to execute this 
work to come from ? I answer, that the greater part of it is in 
the labour of the people. The working farmers of Ireland have 
a great deal of labour in their families which could be most 
usefully employed in draining their land. 
The want of proper fences is another serious impediment to 
the progress of improvement on the small farms of Ireland. 
There are several other defects which need not be specified in 
this paper. 
Every experienced agriculturist who carefully considers the 
foregoing category of defects, and who has had any experience 
of Ireland, will agree with me when I say that the small farmers 
of that country could, by adopting modes of management which 
are within their reach, double their incomes. The facts adduced 
in this Report will, I believe, confirm this view. And what a 
happy solution of many existing difficulties would be effected if 
the small farmers of Ireland — who form the very backbone of 
Irish society — could be induced to double their incomes ! 
1 do not say that the Spencer prize system would be a panacea 
for the evils of Ireland ; but, with a knowledge of the wants ot 
the country, which few men have had the opportunity of studying 
