Irish Agriculture. 
69 
ji^rown bullock to each acre Irish, equal to 1 acre 2 roods 19 
perches imperial. Some reckon a bullock and a sheep to the acre, 
but this is usually considered an extreme estimate. On other 
pastures \\ acre Irish, or 2 acres 1 rood 28 perches imperial, will 
be required, and, in many instances, the pastures are stocked at the 
rate of 40 to 50 bullocks or heifers to the 100 acres Irish, or nearly 
162 acres imperial. There are exceptional cases, and I have 
met with such in Meath, where the highest amount of stocking, 
as given above, has been exceeded, such as 58 bullocks being 
finished on 52 acres Irish. In most cases the pastures have 
existed for a longer period than any one can remember. The 
soil which produces these pastures is usually a strong, rich loam, 
on a limestone subsoil ; but land of this description is frequently 
interspersed with veins of a much inferior quality, generally 
cold clays, or hungry gravel ; and on such soils pastures 
deteriorate much after a time. 
In genera) very little has been done, artificially, to the fattening 
grazing lands, although in very many instances it is evident that 
thorough draining is much required, as there are numerous 
marshy spots amongst the better parts of the land. Where 
draining has been effected the results are very striking. Rushes 
and other semi-aquatic plants have disappeared, and the grass 
on the drained parts is eaten down close, whereas, before, it never 
was touched by cattle until the better portions of the land were quite 
bare. Thorough draining is equivalent, therefore, to an increase 
of the feeding power of the land ; and thus we find that a 
greater number of cattle are kept where the pastures have been 
well drained than could have been maintained while the land 
remained in its natural state. 
With regard to the system of management pursued on these 
pastures, if we take the description given in Mr. Thompson's 
' Survey of Meath,' published 70 years ago, we find much that 
is applicable to the present time. Thus, he says, "The first 
week in May graziers generally open their pastures for the 
admission of the summer stock, which are intended to be fed 
fat, as this is more a feeding than a breeding or rearing county ; 
the lands being generally too valuable to be employed for the 
latter purpose, the graziers are under the necessity of going to 
other parts of the kingdom for the major part of the cattle fatted 
by them. Those beasts the graziers buy at different fairs — some 
in Connaught, some in Munster, and some in the neighbourhood. 
When brought home they are turned out into the fields where 
they are to be fed, and suffered to remain until fat, each field 
being stocked, almost from the beginning, with its full com- 
plement." 
