, 1880-04-03

}OhH t'OA@AN " ~ WI
is really that the ground wants draining.
Study by all means the peculiaritieS OF
moisture, rainfall, temperature in various
Situations and the influences Of altitude
and aspect, of baroness or plentifulness of
timber; but before a judicious and more
productive ~husbandry is condemned on
account of the atmosphere, be sure that
agricultural art has made O trial of it's
fundamental process of sound drainage,
which in other quarters of the kingdom
has been found to work wonders in the
ameliOration Of climate as well as the fruc-
LITIGATION of the soil. Leaving out of view
the ea~sily-explained advocacy Of pasture
land grazing by those fortunate gentlemen
who either own such lands, or who can
stock their hundreds of acres with purchas-
ed animals, and bargain for large lots at
fairs, and weigh UP their hundreds of feeces
after shearing day with no dependence
upon labOurerS, and no incessant painStak-
ing IN the management OflandS and manureS
anf crops,-ltmay be properly asserted that
the strongest forces operating against an
extension of tillage ~husbandry are the want
o~flagricultural ability, want of means, and
want of inducement existing among the
small tenantry; to which must be added
the like want of means and Of goodwill on
the part Of the prOprietOrs. | have des-
Gribed. examples of the persevering labour
Of little farmers in land reclamation and
the winning of q livelihood for themselves
and their families, where they have dared
to commit years Of effort and expenditure
int0nthe hands of landlords too righteous
to take, advantage of the trust. But too
generally the picture is that of an INDECENT
hnsbandry incapable of Nentuling upon
any new course out Of the usual routine
of spade-w0rk and cattle-tending, unless
under the pressure Of Indictment from
without; and, excepting at the wonted
times and about operations in ordinary
course, the peasant farmer, upon his lSo!a-
ted or perhaps remote holding, will lean on
his shillelagll or loll upon a bank, smoking
his short clay, and watching for hours his
cow cropping her bite of grass or his goat
wandering half-hid among heath or noun
tain bent.
However, one direction for Irish improve
ment is i'll extending productive tillage
over the area now yielding a poor return
as inferior grass land. And to those ec0nO-
lnists who look with cOmplacency on the
continued depletion of the population of
this country, on the ground that IreIand'S
natural destiny is to serve as a raiser Of
store cattle and ofmeat and dairy products
for Great Britain, | would earnestly repeat
that this proposition for more tillagc is
not toward reducing, but for augmGnting
the production OF the meat and the dairy
products which England requires. Plough
or dig the pasture, and you will gain more
meat, milk, and wool, besides raising mar
vests of corn for cattle food and horse food,
for bread, and for beer. There may be a
question as to the State policy of encour-
aging in Ireland a comfortable and content
ed %peasantry. AS it was put i'll a familiar
manner to me:-
"Ihe Queen cannot want here q nation
of paupers; but a full population Of loyal
and well-to-do subjects will be more valu-
able to her than a half population of
grazing gentlemen and shepherds for main
tanning her national defences. And surely
every British citizen is interested i'll having
the agricultural wealth of Ireland doubled
and in having this wealth in the possession
of an abundant population spending 1t III
the purchase of British manufacturers
According to the Census of 1871, the
agricultural classes OF Ireland numbered
1902, DOS. the industrial 536, 135, the pro-
fessional 1928 0 and the commercial
105, 6l9 persons, male and female. In The
ten years since 1861 the professional class
had greatly increased the agricultural
GlassIuchad : increased from 9SS,929
to !, O62, zoos; but the commercial class had
fallen from 120,576 in 1861 the number just
quoted, and the industrial class had de-
creased from 667,172 in 1861 10 530.135 III
u7l. The facts confirm the view that