OBSERVATIONS ON GARDEN HUSBANDRY IN IRELAND. 395 
and the mother, amidst a scene of the most apparent poverty, and the 
most unquestionable filth, was tidy in her own person, and of a smiling, 
contented countenance. She assured me that f her children did not 
mind being without clothing in the summer, and that she hoped to 
put something on them before winter.’ 
“ In answer to my inquiries as to the fashionably late hour at which 
the family were taking their morning meal, I was informed by the 
woman, that none of the labouring poor of the county of Kerry (and I 
have since ascertained that she stated an appalling fact) take more than 
two meals in the day—one at ten or eleven—the other at the conclusion 
of the day’s work ; and that the children lay in bed until a very late 
hour, for the purpose of putting the hunger over them. 
<f The father of the family did not appear to feel their wretchedness; 
he sat listlessly at the fire, and appeared to be without any source of 
employment; yet, opposite his door is a bit of peat soil (which a pro¬ 
fessed gardener would value at a high rate), in a state of absolute 
unproductiveness, although, in two days, James Moriarty might drain it 
completely, and render it a fine cabbage-garden, to supply, with a bit 
of bacon, the want of potatoes, then selling at fivepence and sixpence 
per stone. 
This small piece of fine garden soil is bounded on the mountain 
side by a picturesque rock, and by a fence on the road side, with a dyke, 
into which Jemmy has only to conduct two or three small drains, that 
would effectually drain the now waste spot, which has an inclination of 
two feet in twenty, insufficient, in the estimation of the owner, as he 
assured me very gravely, for the simple operation which I earnestly 
suggested. Now the condition of this man (and there are many thou¬ 
sands under precisely similar circumstances in the south-west parts of 
Ireland) might be incalculably bettered by energy and a desire for 
comfort. Moriarty is one of a joint-stock company—two or three 
brothers or cousins—who hold an undefined (as to acreage) extent of 
mountain land, for which they pay ten pounds per annum, and which 
has several boggy flats within its limits, requiring but a few unexpen- 
sive drains, and a little lime, which, though in the neighbourhood, is 
rarely, if ever, applied. 
“ The advantage of having early spring cabbage, when potatoes are 
bad and dear, would, it might be supposed, induce even such a lazy 
creature as Jemmy Moriarty to cultivate them ; for, if they be inferior 
as food compared with potatoes, they are at least better than no potatoes, 
and would supply a third meal, which is surely indispensable to the 
adequate nourishment of every poor man’s family. But Jemmy won’t 
render this spot productive of anything;—this I foresee from the 
