, 1880-02-08
The Actual Condition of the. Irish
Farmers.
Mud Cabins-Perpetual Poverty-Des-
perate Struggle for Life.
An Utterly Discouraging State of
:. Society.
How Can It Be Otherwise While tho Landlords Drain
Away the Last Dollar7 !:

banks as its best built houses, comfortabl
inn, small market-ha1l in which corn an
wool are pitched on Saturdays, public steel
yard erected in the centre Of what serves 70
square, some oatmeal-mills whose. wheel
are driven by the qufck~fowing stream whicl
supplies the place with water, and close a
hand the grounds and plantations surround
ing the mansion of landowner, is In the hear
OF huge expanse of
BoG-ASD-sToNE-wALL COUNTRY.
You look in some directions over plain O
intermingled black bog and grass, unlike
the fens of Cambrid dgeshirein In being parcelet
out by grass banks or stone walls with fewel
drains, while towards other points OF tht
compass lie undulating stretches of country
cut up into small Enclosures by walls OF
bluish-gray limestone, or sometimes of sand
stone. But, with the exception of plantations
very far between, the district is bare of all
timber but scrub, and not thorn-hedge is to
I be seen unless the rough runaway fences
more than half gap, which appear on some
of the banks may be entitled to the name.
From some points of view so subdiyided
is the surface into diminutive fields
that more of stone wall than actual land
| fields are numbered with big leaps OF
| rather, STACKS Of stones, indicating the toll
by which the soil has been cleared for cult
iyation j., PooE grass for the most part oc-
of the prevailing black soil broken up for
| arabic, to bear potatoes in lazy beds, oats,
| grass seeds, and rarely plots of turnips.
Rnshes, stems of weeds which have been
| ment appear in the pasture land, while the
arabic is foul with grass and weeds, Oc-
casionally 2 decentrlooking farmhouse, two
stories high, with slated roof, may be in
SIGHT, accompanied by sheds representing q
farmstead. This is more particularly to the
east and north, approaching some Of the
largest grazing farms Of Roscommon. But
generally, and almost everywhere to the west
and northwest, extending for very many
partly in Galway, the landscape is dotted in
thatched cottages and
y MUD CABINS,
sometimes clustering a few together, but
commonly scattered at intervals " quarter
of a mile or much less. as if the dwellings Of
power been suddenly thrust apart and scat
tered with regularity over the face Of the
bleak country. In innumerable spots occur
floors Of bog beside inky drains and pools, on
the brink Of which are piled black and brown
acteristic Of this part of the country that the
bog, instead of stretching for thousands Of
acres together, as In many other localities, is
distributed with considerable equality in the
known as "townlands," j." q townland embrac-
ing 100 to 200 acres, usually, but not invaria-
ably, constituting an estate or the unbroken
unit Of an estate. Hence the residents in
these peasants dwellings, planted around
iring for WARMTH sl aad for % cooking tn: their % own
and their pigs food by labor in digging and
carrying, and they also, Craze the bog with
asses and goats, and, where the grassy and
cows or other CATTLE Sometimes the boz is
open as common; but some proprietors, as,
for example, Viscount Dillon, who holds ST.
600 acres in Mayo, have with intinit trouble
and at great expense
ApPoRr1oNE6 THE poGs AMONG THE FRONT
Ayers,
and by arrangement with the tenants allotted
them proportional shares Of good and infe-
Tior bog, now partitioned by grass banks, :
aWith tie little farms in lengths abut-
Ing upon the public highways or new
nuiber Of Of GOOD good hard hard roads s to
reace the myriads Of homesteads would
cost @ -. ! great part of the value Of an estate;
M aha 99aatapp!oach e to an immense number Of
ana an stone called q .'bohreen," which in the
English ttHs would be drove, but here not
Always Wld* enough for the passage of cart
bueeq; bv h;r;yde yEe esn getatmany Of the farms only
deed, are not always items for repair, as in
Very numerous eases entrances and exits are
through gaps left n the tumbledown grass
panhs or breaks IN The rude fence walls
1s or tne Plot meias emanlng perpetualy
when necessary for horse and cart to fetch
out the crop Of hay or grain.
In VAN you look for specimens of the quad
famgaihaf naag ftfaward With surrounding build
Except on the few large holdings there are no
straW--yards at all, and no farm premises be-
yond the small thatched houses
OR HovELs,
which are here honored with the designation
OF barns, cow-houses, and Enthusiastically
with manure heaped just outside the doors.
The one OF two cows and their calves on each
holding are in the field all winter,-a treat
ment WHICH the milaness of the climate rem
producing capability of the country from this !
exposure must be enormous. The calves are |
shut up at night and fed with hay, and theY !
are. not in very ,frstclass condition in the |
spaing When y SOLO @ IS yearllngs to the large
good use Of catt1e-sheds and food-houses If |
they had them; in fact, improved husbandrv /
IN root-feedlng and -mal1ing-thev very |
basis OF proper agrlculture-is prevented |
description of farnl-buildings. It is
puzzle how the tenants on hundreds Of farms
manage to shelter their live stock, Including
the active, well-fed ass, which so commonly
pulls their little cart to market with produce
or turf for sale. Many of the houses, invari-
ably one room high, are constructed with /
stone walls and roofs thatched with straw,
with mortar floors, and diminutiye class
without opening easements. In
vast numbers Of cases the walls
ARE OF MUD;
but the interiors are by no means so destituta
1f comfort as might be imagined, when there
IS q. good roof, 4 sound floor, and chimney
really letting ont the smoke. have been IN
houses having spared roof sufficiently lofty
% make the principal apartment airy, with
! separate sleeping room, and a little
room. for setting milk, though the
principal dairy operations are conducted
n the larger part of the house. Instances
ire rare IN which the COW and the family are
housed together, though they exist. Nobody
leeds the Intrusion Of the well-fed, well-be-
laved pig. have seen cabins devoid Of any
window; the sole aperturcs for light and ven
ilat'On being the always open door and fhe |
lole in the roof which discharges part Of the
ye-vateriQg smoke of the peat fire. One |
ingle-roonled house, without any window.
found to have beennewly lime -wllited in
ide, the floor washed clean, and the mo1er-
te stock OF furniture and of cooking and
Ia 14r+tr$3 $3.,*r +-s.-