Irish Agriculture. 
73 
the field, so that the cattle would drink out of troughs. It would, 
of course, require constant attention on the part of the herds, to 
see that the troughs were kept filled. Where the water is got 
from a running stream the case is different. The bank on one or 
both sides should be sloped and paved, and if the bottom of the 
stream is soft, it should also be paved. Mr. J. P. Bomford has 
adopted an excellent plan of a watering-place at Drumlargan, a 
grass-farm in the Summerhill district of County Meath. An 
opening 16 feet in length is made along the course of a main 
drain; one side is sloped down, and a perpendicular wall is built 
on the other, rising a little above the surface of the ground. The 
slope is paved ; but instead of allowing the water to flow back 
over the stones, it is confined into a channel running along the foot 
of the perpendicular wall. This channel is 16 inches wide, and 
the water is raised in it to a foot in depth by means of a slate or 
a small sluice put in the outlet. The bottom of the channel is 
paved, and the paving stones are kept in their place by kerb-stones 
which are sunk lower than the paving of the channel. The kerb- 
stones also rise fully three inches above the level of the paving of 
the slope, so that in paving up to the level of the kerb-stone a 
depression is made in the paving of the slope at that part, which 
has the effect, first, of preventing the cattle from slipping into the 
channel ; and, next, urine or other matter is caught in the depressed 
part, and is let off through an opening in the retaining wall built 
on the lower end of the watering-place. A retaining wall is also 
built at the upper end. There is a constant stream running 
through the channel, and as dirt cannot get into it, the water is 
always pure and wholesome. 
General Suggestions. 
Keeping in view that the production of live stock is regarded 
as the principal feature in Irish agriculture, and that which 
should be specially encouraged, it becomes necessary to consider 
how this can be done so as to produce the required results in the 
most certain manner. 
Having closely watched the progress of Irish agriculture from 
a period anterior to " the famine," I have long been convinced 
that the system which has been at work in Ireland for several 
years is not that which is best calculated to ensure a permanent 
increase in the stock-producing powers of the country. This, I 
think, must be evident from the tenor of the remarks I have 
already made ; and certain of the few illustrations of improved 
farming which will be given in a subsequent article, will tend 
further to support those views which I believe to be correct, 
i 
