The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-24 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY MORNING.
THE IRISH AGRICULTURAL INTEREST.

The Banner of Ulster cont tins in its number of
yesterday au elaborate and, upon the whole, satis-
factory report of the probable yield of the late
harvest, together with some observations upon the
condition and prospects of the Irish agricultural
classes. The following is an extract
" Since the introduction of the tariff under Sir Robt.
Peel's measure the masses have been consumers of the
higher class of food to an extent which that ter-seeing
statesman never anticipated. If we take the experience
of our own country as data it will be found that, while
the bulk of food raised exceeds by many degrees the
highest ever before known, the farmer is in the enjoy-
ment of prices nearly 100 per cent. above the average
rates current for the lest 4 years of Protection, and this
even while the population of the present day is about two
and a half millions below, that of 1846. The area under
potatoes this year is about 1,100,000 acres— say one-
fourth above the average of the years from 1836 to 1346 ;
and yetlwe fled the value of good table varieties of the
potato 30 6d. to 4s, per owt , or twice the current rates
of the former period. If we turn to the grain market,
oats fresh from the flail or the thrashing machine sell
at 93. to 9s. 9.1. per cwt., and white wheat 134.
to 13,. 9d. per cwt.' Hay brings more than 100
per cent. above its former rates, and dairy pro-
duce is at a premium. Butchers' meat ranges
equally high, and, with the ports open for the free
import of continental and other foreign cattle, the
valu3 of farm stock is 60 to 100 per cent. above what it
was in 1842, when Prot.ictionists ran about in a state of
excitement, and the cry of ruin rang from the hall of the
landed chief to the home of the teuaet cotter. The qua•
lity of the food used by the masses of the people in this
country at present differs very materially from that
which formed the chief article of consumption 15 years
ago. Iu a country town, not 10 miles distast from Bel- -
fast, there are now three grocers and four meal deaLrs
for every one which existed there before the advent of
free trade. The number of me ster bakers, too, has been .
increased, and the amount of business done exceeds by
a high figure the most extensive turnover of former •
days. The wages of labour have been considerably in.
creased within the last few years. Whether we refer to
those who toil at the forge or work in the factory, the
carpenter at the bench, or the common labourer in the
field, all have been ascending in the scale of social ad-
vancement ; and their power to purchase higher and
more nutritious descriptious of f od has, of course, been
propoiLiueately Increased. Those who were obser-
vant of the condition of the working ranks under
the regime of the sliding scale will be able to
rememner that Ireland's poor in those days
not only subsisted almost solely on potatoes, but
their food generally consisted of the coarsest qualities .
then raised. The difference in point of nutritive and
even marketable value between the better cultivated and
the newer varieties of the potato was considerable, and
the poorer ranks of the people usually eked out life ou
the cheapest qualities. Not only, therefore, have the
masses of the Irish totally revolutionized the 'scale of '
dietary as regards the emclusive use of any description of
the once familiar root, but the consumption of tea and
sugar, and of course of grain food, has been in-
creased in some districts fourfold. This change
must of itself create an extensive demand for corn
of all descriptions. Besides the enlarged con-
sumption, the cross Channel trade has been very
active. Many of our local merchants find it .difficult to
meet the orders from Liverpool and Glasgow. Irish
oats sell at very high prices in each of these markets,
ant Irish wheat is no less anxiously sought after. All
these facts tel us that there is st 11 a wide field of agri-
cultural enterprise only partally develeped in Ireland.
It is really melanch, ly to find that out of a total area
exceeding 20,000,000 acres there should be only about
3,000,000 acres under cereal crops. The low range
of prices for wheat from 1848 to 1853 caused many
farmers to give up the cultivation of that grain ;
and the yield decreaFed from 3,641,198 barrels of .20
stones each, in 1849, to 1,904,302 barrels in 1853. High
prices have since caused a great extension of wheat
cultivation ; but the total breadth is still far under what
it might be. Millions of acres of the finest soil for the
growth of grain have yet to be turned by the plough.
Capital has of late years been increasing in the hands of
farmers. It will therefore be for the owners of land to
consider the question of better defined systems of tenure,
so as to give such security for the return of outlay as
will induce enterprising farmers to bring out in greater
strength the natural capabilities of Ireland's fertile soil."