Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-26
IRISH LANDLORDIsNI.
The Land fer the Most Part in the
Hands of Great Holders-The Kerry
Cattle

The Land fer the Most Part in the
Hands of Great HOIders-The Kerry
Cattle.
Kerry, or at least the western side of
the county, says a correspondent of the
London Times, is almost entirely held by
great landowners. The extent Of Lord
Kenmare's barren territory may be esti-
mated from the fact that before recent re-
auctions of rent, nor dol understand that
they were very heavy, his rent roll was
something like 100000. Mr.. Herbert, of
Muckross, had about $4,000. Then, as
we set our faces to the south, come Lord
Landsdowne, Lord Bantry, Lord Yentry,
etc. Good and easy landlords as many OF
them have been, the tenants for the most
part are miseraoly poor. There is little
tillage-Only potato patches with few
roods of oats or barley here and there
and the land, as in North Donegal, is
roughly measured by so many cows
grass. Each family may have, as rule,
from three to ten cows, with some rights
of commonly on the hills, where they feed
a few sheep or goats. The tenants must
have a hard struggle to support them
selves with no harvesting wages to look
to. Yet the country, poor as 1t may APP
pear. is really inadequately populated.
There is rich soil along the lakes and on
the rivers and estuaries which might be
MANFRED with seaweed and by other
means. Much might be done by hin
draining to cover those hills with herds
Of an improved breed of cattle. In short,
an enterprising capitalist with his hands
untettered might intellectually raise the
value of estates that are larger than many
German principalities. Unhappily the
landlords have missed their opportunity.
Had they chosen to eXpend money before
the land disturbances no one would
have objected TO their doing as
they liked with their own. Now it is very
different. In Kerry, perhaps more than
anywhere else, the people would resent
any encroachment on what they have
come to regard as their rights. Elsewhere
where the land agitation has fettered the
landlords the security assured for i'm
pToYements may have stimulated well-tO-
do tenants, Though the improvements
may be often unsystematic and I'M
scientific. they are undoubtedly being
carried on piecemeal to very consider
able extent. Hereabouts it is not 50, nor
can 1t be so. The Kerry men do not want
intelligence, but they want energy, and
above all they want money. But one in
ten or in a score OF the crotters is fairly
well on, and # he be a prudent man he
makes as little 81 his property as posi-
bic, for the nine impecuniOus people
will set upon their neighbOr with sub
stance. urging him to back accOmmOda-
ton bills. And as they are all more or
less of cattle-Dreeders, with the fall in the
prices of cattle of late times during the
last year or so have been exceptionally
bad. It is terrible to think of the straits
they might have to pass through were a
general blight to fall on the potato
grounds. For here the state of things,
with the very material exception of
great rise in the price Of labor, must be
similar to what generally prevailed IN Ire
land before the memorable famine. The
few who are comparatively wealthy are
said to have been doing pretty well by
selling Kerry COWS to fancy purchasers.
For example, a gentleman told me yester-
day that he had been accOsted in the Gap
of DuniOe by an illiterate breeder, who
begged him TO decipher certain addresses
of Euglishmen who had written to have
cattle sent over to them. The black Kerry
race are graceful or at least game-looking
animals; they are excellent mixers, giving
a large proportion OF cream. There must be
herds of them in the country, l presume,
but for myself L have seen very few.
Cattle are pastured upon all the billy
ranges through which / drove, between
the deer forest of Lords Kenmare and
Bantry, but they were crosses and coarse
crosses with hardly an exception. There
has not been much assisted emigration
from this Killarney neighbOrhood, though
a good many people have been going out
on American Temittances. And am in
formed that with the Kerry man it is
rather ''lightly come, lightly co." When
he has made a little money in the States
he thinks nothing of flying trip home to
pay visit to his kinsfOlk. A more touch
ing trait of strong family devotion is
shown in the self-sacrifcmg behavior of
poor Kerry girls who are being over
worked in the American factories. Out
of their hard earned savings they will
send home at short intervals checks for
81 and "a for the support of their aged
parents.