The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-03 00:00:00

to their country, and, we will add, to themselves,
should pursue at the present moment. The winter
sad spring of 1847 will prove, we firmly believe, the
crisis of Ireland. If means are wisely taken to give it
a favourable turn, we may hope to see that country
rise from a bed of misery to a prosperous and happy
condition; but if the opportunity is lost, if palliatives
are prescribed instead of remedies, or if the remedies
adopted are unsuited to the case, Ireland will surely
find that there is an abyss of wretchedness yet lower
than the lowest.
Among the evils of the Irish system, one of the
worst, if not the very worst, is the reliance for food
upon one kind of crap alone, and that a bad one, poor
in quality, precarious from its very nature, and hav-
ing no other merit than that of abundance. To say
that a whole northern kingdom after centuries of civi-
lisation, trusts for support to a plant which will bear
no cold, and which, when it is harvested, consists of
three pounds of mere water out of every :four pounds
of supposed nutriment, is to proclaim. a state of
society hardly worthy of the New Zealand savage.
Yet such is the fact iu Ireland. One-fifth ;part of its
cultivated land is admitted, by the First Minister of
the Crown, to be cropped with potatoes. If we were
told that in any country, out of a million acres,
750,000 were placed under water, and,..the residue
occupied by a dry crop, one of the least nutritious; that
Europe is capable of yielding, and that this was done
by way of turning land to its best account, the state-
ment would be tre monstrous for belief. It,would be
pronounced incredible that any country in which such
a system exists coald be occupied by rational beings,
numbering among thins many, of the most highly
civilised, intelligent, and enterprising individuals in
Europe. Yet such is the true case of Ireland, as re-
gards the potato system. Four acres are cultivated
for the sake of reaping the produce of one.ll The
Ameers of Scinde did nothing worse when they con-
verted their country into Shikargahs. Well, then,
may Lord JOHN HUiSELL appeal to the landlords of
Ireland to put an end to such a "system ; well may he
point out to the excellent Dublin Agricultural
Society, that their immediate attention should be
directed to ascertaining what is the best substitute

for the potato.
"It to clear," s irs his lordship, " that potatoes cannot be relied
upon tae they hare been hitherto. A cottier cannot hope to be able to
pay a large rent fur consw re, and toe farmer cannot hope to
obtain
the coffin's labour by allowing him land
important question
which may,
probible, fall. It is, therefore, a most important question for the
peep" of Ireland. in what manner the deficiency of food is in futon.
to be supplied. The aware of the grain or mot which is best adapted
for this pup:re—the mores of husbandry which ought to be followed
—the mean. of procuring reed—all these are important problem, to
whic:i the attentiou of the Agricultural Society of Ireland cannot too
noon be directed."
'We cannot think that this solemn 'warning will
fall upon relectant ears. It is so manifestly the in-
terest of the Irish landlords, as well as their dotty, to
second this recommendation, to the utmost extent of
their power, that we confidently expect to find even
the worst of the class heartily cooperating with the
wise, generous, and good among them, to endeavour
to extract future prosperity out of the evil that has'
fallen on their land.
The improvement of their husbandry,' upon rational
principles, offers the only possible resource; butlttuit
will be effectual. We say rational advisedly, for the
sake of at once drawing a distinction between what
is practicable and certaia, and the chimerical specula-
tions of men who are more zealous than wise. This is
sot the time for wasting resources upon doubtful ex-
riments ; upon trying to grow Maize, and' Arra-
lat
cat ha, and Mulberry-trees, or the profitless indigesti-
No roots of a North American prairie. Such schemes
11111 S •• at least, be deferred until the first condition of
-
sock ty is fulfilled—that of securing sufficient food of
some kind, known by experience to suit the country.
Of such food high in rank stand grain and pulse
_wen . whether wheat, barley, oats, or rye, and peas
or Leidy e They are certain in their yield, well suited
to the country, and, as we all know, of very high
value as food. An English acre of land, which will
produce 1,1001 bee of wheat freed from all damp, will
britig I,llx tilts. of oats or peas, and 1,3001b5. of barley
or beans.
It is not, h 'mover, to corn crops that we desire on
flux occasion to direct the attention of the public;
their value is s ;utticiently understood. The more ma-
terial question i. t what the root crops are which may
be advantageoa sly substituted for the potato.
Of these we incline to believe that the
most useful is, upon tho whole, the Jerusalem
artichoke, a plant chiefly confined to gardens
at the present day, but once an occupant of the fields.
Its absolute yield may be estimated at one-third more
thou the potato; and not only will a piece of ground
capable of producing 20 bushels of potatoes give 30
bushels of Jerusalem artichokes, but the value of each
bushel of the latter, as food, is that of a bushel of
potatoes, while its straw is of considerable value, fur-
nishing good fueLexcellent fodder for cattle when dried,
food for pigs when green, and an enormous quantity
of it. Sixty tons an acre of the straw of the Jeru-
salem artichoke, double an average turnip crop, is
produced by land in ordinary condition; while the
scanty yield of potato straw is fit for nothing but
manure or fuel. Add, that inferior sandy soil is best
suited to this plant, which is not improved by much
manure, and that no instance is on record of its ever hav-
ing been known to blight or mildew, and a case is made
out to justify our recommendation of the Jerusalem
artichoke as the first root to be introduced into a
better system of cultivation among the Irish conaere
men. We may add that if it is baked instead of
boiled, it is far more palatable. The same pot and
fuel which now serve to boil the potato, will bake the
Jerusalem artichoke.
Second only to the Jerusalem artichoke is the
Belgian carrot, a large white variety, now greatly in
use in England. It will not yield, perhaps, so great a
weight as the potato, unless in rich sandy land, bat
its value as foal is higher ; for it appears that where
an acre of potatoes will yield 3,450 lbs. of food, the
water being deducted, 3,730 lbs. of carrots may be
obtained, not inferior in nutritive qualities to the
potato.
So also of parsnips. An acre of fair land, fairly tilled,
will produce at least ten or twelve tons of this root;
well tilled, much more : this is equal to 5,000 lbs. of
dry food, a greater weight than the potato will fur-
nish under similar circumstances, and, as a means of
nutrition, it ranks above the potato.
In this country beetroot is almost unknown in
agriculture, except in the form of the coarse mangel-
wueeel. In France, however, sweeter and better
varieties arc cultivated for the sugar makers, and
their seed can be procured in large quantity. Nothing
will yield more real food than the beet, its dry weight
per acre being computed at above 8,000 lbs., or more
than twice that of the potato.
Last in this list, but by no means last in value, is
the cabbage, which will yield more really nutritive
matter, acre for acre, than any known crop, sad
which stands second only to the beet in the quantity
of dry food to be obtained from a given space of
ground. In some respects the cabbage is better
suited to a poor man's table than several of the pre-
ceding ; and its hardy constitution enables it to resist
our winters without injury. An English acre of
land, planted with cabbages at two feet apart. will
receive 10,890 plants, which may be averaged at 81b.
each, if good sorts are procured, and land is in good
heart. The objection to the cabbage consists in its
requiring very good land and plenty of manure.'
If we have abstained from introducing turnips into
this enumeration, it is because they are in fact inferior
in value, as food for man, to any other common crop,
whether as regards the quantity of their dry produce
per acre or its nutritive value. The excellent flavour
and hardiness of the Swedish turnip have brought it
into favour with English cottagers, and we hope to
see it also form a part of the economy of an Irish
peasant.
Such we believe to be the crops to which Ireland,
in her present condition, should mainly look ; not

• The C,rt Eraseiser mentions turnip., "four a penny," with
"luta and cabbages," to be the chief food of the inhabitaoti of that
Tart of the south of Ireland.