38 
Irisli Aynculture. 
tunnelled through, which provided a passage for the water, while 
the bridge, or unbroken space above, acted as a wedge, and pre- 
vented the drain from being filled up in consequence of the 
lateral pressure arising from the gradual subsidence of the bog. 
These drains were afterwards deepened, if required, and kept 
clear. Once they were fully in operation, the drainage and 
reclamation of the adjacent land became comparative! v easy. 
As an illustration of what has been done on tliis estate in the 
reclamation oi deep bog, I may refer to the proceedings adopted 
by the late Mr. jNIoore, of Killucan, who was one of Lord Long- 
ford's tenants. About 50 statute acres of red bog, fully 18 feet 
in depth, having been taken in hand, the first thing done was 
to put up a house in the centre, for the purpose of serving, in 
the first instance, as a shelter for the labourers employed, and 
afterwards as part of a farmstead. Before this could be done a 
large quantity of brushwood had to be carried to the intended 
site of the house on men's backs, the ground being too soft to 
admit of anv other mode of transport. The brushwood was 
intended to serve as a foundation and a floor for the building. 
All the other materials, wood and clay, were carried to the place 
in the same manner, no four-footed animal capable of carrying 
a burden being able to walk safely over the shaking bog. The 
next step taken was to lay off the land into squares, containing 
about three acres in each, with an open drain five feet deep 
between each lot. The covered drains were then cut four feet deep 
on the wedge-drain system. The first crop taken was potatoes^ 
which were planted with the spade in ridges, or beds, four feet 
wide, with open spaces two feet wide between each ridge. On 
part of the land two successive crops of potatoes were grown 
before sowing a grain crop with grass seeds, whilst another por- 
tion of the bog was brought in without breaking the surface. In 
this case the land was laid out in beds, and the soil from the 
intervening spaces was spread over the unbroken surface. Oats 
and grass seeds were then sown, and covered with a compost 
made of old earthen fences and stable-dung. The crop of oats 
was very fair, and the sward of grass was better than that on tlie 
land where the surface was broken. The crops of potatoes 
grown on this bog were most abundant, and being quite un- 
tainted with disease, realised very remunerative prices as seed. 
The entire appearance of the land when reclaimed and laid down 
in grass presented a remarkable contrast to the expanse of brown 
heath bv which it was surniundcd. It now grazes a number of 
Kerries during summer. 
In the case of the Earl of Arran's estates there was the same 
sul)division and confused mixture of patches to contend with; 
and, until liiey were remedied, they completely frustrated every 
