, 1880-03-13
..a1daihatityyb can Me found sooTpsen ITO L, be p u

% promptly fought. I Know that the potato
isthBdrish '~cnltivator's foundation of hus-
-s1ahdry and necessary Of life; but in the
s1present emergency, which probably cannot
edbe met as we should wish, would it not be
liwiseSas an alternative to provide supplies
Ofthe seeds of such valuable roots as car
s,rots,, parsnips, turnips, and mangoldwurzel
Ito occupy portions of the plots for which
potato sets cannot be forthcoming? But
even such seeds, owing to the absence of
fair ripening weather last year, are exces-
sSlyelY scarce and dear.
Little farming and it's ways may be to
many an English agriculturist a subject
claSsed as unimportant, if not regarded
as positively Sdistasteful. Perhaps the
view commonly entertained is that Irish
!. shusbandry can be regenerated only by an
obliteration of scores of thousands of the
Tiny occupations which make half the sur
asfacesin many counties like an iDterminable
chess board, and by the installation of a
managing large farms in large
fields with abundance of capital, mannring
richlyo for their crops, feeding beef and
mutton upon purchased foods, and effect
ing mechanical transformations of the soil
iby tdraining, clearing, aud tilling by the
steam plough True enough is it that en-
terprise and capital are the magic powers
wanted here; let an English critic
come and see for himself, and he will aban-
don the idea, that the story of Improvement
famous on Lincoln Heath or in West Nor
folk is ever likely to be repeated in Con
naught. The Chaplins and Cokes who
arshaH lead this western agriculture towards
perfection have entirely different problems
: to solve, and will proceed on lines unpro-
iected by the great English improvers of
= half a century ago. Excepting the posi-
BILE reclamation of some waste lands, the
task here is 10 push agricultural progress
1pon ground already thickly settled with
Pultivators; and the methods propounded
/ for dealing'w with these people i'll possession
may be described as either revolutionary or
conservative. In the former category /
should class two proposals which are d.
rectly antagonistic to each other-namely,
enc for remedying the agricultural debaSe-
ment by artiicially e~xalting the poor tenan-
try into a poor proprietary, and the other
for accomplishing /" the greatest happiness
of the smallest number by abolishing the
cabin plots altogether and sowing over the
sites of thousands of homesteads with
.assOrtments of grass seeds. l am not
about to discuss these proposals, but
n would merely observe respecting the last,
that, as inhuman evictiOnS are no longer
practicable, the removal of a proportion of
the lnnaDItantS from districts OF the most
utter impoveriShment and out of holdings
III too diminutive to yie.d any possible living
: for a family can be effected only by pro
cesses coming under my second category
of measures which are. conservative. And
I with regard to the introduction of peasant
E proprietorship, l will on this occasion make
gYOnly one remark. This is q subject to be
4 be treated with discrimination and though
! 1may possibly find in the north of Ireland
z a. class OF men to whom such an indepen-
a denee of position and absolute security of
~ Prospective interest would operate as the
most e~ffectual spur to industry, thrift, and
intelligent seeking for improved methods
land processes lin their farm management,
-zthere may be5 good reasons for believing
that the same powerful Indictment of self
interest may work with better results in
a different channel among the people of
widely differing character and training who
,dwellYin Gonnanght. TAs in many other
Z great enterprises of reform, it may be
more feasible. to- improve what is than to
"uprb0t and plant again de moro; and i'll my
| next letter I will adduce grounds of encou-
raggeament; for the policy which is endeavour-
! In to raise the status of the small o~ccupiers
'lby instructing as we'll as stimulating them
: IN the practice of better husbandry.
We, have to consider the case of the
I smallest and poorest holdings, in situations
I. where they. cannot be held by men having
other employment. Respecting these there
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