Irish Agriculture. 
75 
give three years pasture, one year roots, and two years grain. 
Four years out of the six would thus be devoted to the production 
of food for stock, but practically the entire rotation would be 
directed to this object, for, unless under special circumstances, 
the grain grown on the farm could usually be disposed of more 
profitably by giving it to the stock fed on the farm, than by 
selling it in the public market. This, I must observe, is not a 
mere theoretical suggestion. It is a practice which is carried out 
by a number of persons who are farming at present in Ireland, 
and in all cases with satisfactory results. 
As the best system of management for the country is a very 
important point, 1 wish to quote an opinion which will be 
recognised as coming from a good authority. Ten years ago, 
Mr. John Algernon Clarke visited Ireland as Commissioner of 
the ' Times,' his object being to inquire into the agricultural 
condition of the country at that period. That gentleman went 
through nearly all parts of Ireland, and in summing up the con- 
clusions he had formed as to the special requirements of Irish 
agriculture, he stated that it was his " business to press the im- 
portance of enlarging the present proportion of plough land by 
breaking up inferior old pastures ; it having been shown," he 
said, " that the lighter soils — embracing one-half the entire 
surface of Ireland, and two-thirds of the area in cultivation — 
would furnish more meat and store animals, besides corn, dairy 
produce, and wool, if farmed as a mixture of grass and tillage 
land, instead of being purely grazed. And this addition of 
4,000,000 acres to the labour-needing area, would provide work 
for about 600,000 men, representing, as heads of families, pro- 
bably 2,500,000 inhabitants." 
What Mr. Clarke considered it his " business to press " in 
1861, is as much, and even more, needed at the present time; 
nor will the resources of Ireland, as a stock-producing country, 
become developed to their full extent, until the second-rate and 
lighter arable soils of the country are farmed on a system of 
mixed husbandry "instead of being purely grazed." I might 
easily have quoted other practical authorities in support of the 
opinions I have expressed on the subject, but I feel convinced 
that Mr, Clarke's statement is quite sufficient for the purpose. 
There is one other topic which 1 am anxious to notice as being 
intimately connected with the subject of these remarks. Before 
Irish cattle can reach their final destination in the English 
markets they must undergo the fatigue of a long journey by land 
and sea. That the animals suffer severely during transit is well 
known, and it is not necessary that I should enter into details. 
Their value, however, is much depreciated in consequence of the 
