50 
Irish Agriculture. 
calls it, to give them " the last dip." On second-rate pastures, 
also, the cattle are sometimes assisted with artificial food, parti- 
cularly when the grass fails in autumn. As I hold that this is a 
system which might be extended in Ireland with much advan- 
tage, I may be permitted to describe a case which shows the 
benefit which may be derived from it. A large grazier held a 
farm, upon which there was a field that had been constantly 
" meadowed " every summer for a series of years. Under this 
system the produce of the field became very scanty, so much so 
as scarcelv to repay the expense of converting it into hay. The 
field could not be conveniently broken up ; no part of the farm 
was cultivated, nor did the occupying tenant, although he held 
a large extent of land, possess such an implement as a plough. 
With the view, therefore, of improving the field in question, he 
had recourse to oil-cake, and during winter he put a large flock 
of sheep on the land, and gave them cake in boxes, taking care 
that the boxes were regularly shifted, until the entire surface of 
the field was gone over twice. Next year the grass, as usual, was 
saved for " meadow,' and the produce in hay was double what it 
had been for several years previously. During the following winter 
the same course was followed, and next year there was a further 
increase in the quantity of hay obtained off the land. The cake 
feeding was carried out during the next two winters, with de- 
cided advantage, although the results were not, perhaps, so 
marked as at first ; but thev showed that the svstem proved 
materially beneficial in fertilizing the land. There could be no 
mistake in this case, because the hay was mown each summer ; 
and besides the increase in hay there was a large profit derived 
from the sheep, quite sufficient to pay well for the artificial food. 
There is much grass land in Ireland that stands in need of im- 
provement, and this, therefore, is a recuperative mode of effecting 
it which deserves the attention of those who are so placed that 
they cannot break up their worn-out pastures, in order to put the 
land through a course of good cultivation preparatory to laying 
down afresh. ^ 
The Agricultural Returns bear testimony to the fact that of 
late years a large extent of land has been laid down to grass in 
Ireland, and, also, that the process is still going on. A consider- 
able proportion of the land so laid to grass was not in good con- 
dition at the time, nor were proper means taken to secure good 
pasture. To this point I have alreadv in some measure referred, 
and it is from the defective treatment which the land received 
that we find so many instances of pastures becoming soon run out, 
or falling off rapidly in their capabilities for maintaining stock. 
Even when broken up, with the view to renovate them, the svstem 
which is frequently followed is far short of what the necessities 
