YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY A T O U R IN IRELAND: WITH GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ' /ON THE PRESENT STATE of that^KINGDOM, MADE IN The YEARS 1776, 1777, and 1778, AND Brought down to the End of 1779* By ARTHUR YOUNG, Efqj F. R. S. Honorary Member of the Societies of Dublin, York and Man chester; the Oeconomical Society of Berne ; the Palatine Academy of Agriculture, at Manheim, and the Phyfical Society at ZURICH. VOL. II. DUBLIN: Printed by James Williams, For Messrs. WHITESTONE, SLEATER, SHEPPARD, WILLIAMS, BURNET, WILSON, JENKIN, WOGAN, VALLANCE, WHITE, BEATTY, BYRN, and BURTON. M,DCC,LXXX. H33B A TOUR, &c. SEPTEMBER the 8th, left Drummoland, Sir Lucius rpde with me through Clonmeliy, to the hill above Bun ratty Caftle, for a view of the Shannon. Clonmeliy is a divifion of Drum- line parifh, 900 acres of Corkafs land in one lot, which is cheap, at 30s. an acre. 1 went into fome of the paftures, which were flocked with very fine bullbcks, at the rate of one to every acre. In this neighbourhood, Mr. Hickman has aclofeof 20 acres, which, when in his own hands, fattened him 2 cows per acre, and in winter fed him 100 wethers, to the improvement of 6s. each. The profit by the cows was 4I. and by the fheep ii 10s. per acre : in all 5I. 5s. I had this fact from hi sv own mouth. The richnefs of thefe corcaffes, which are flat lands on the river fide, that have been gained at different times from the fait; water, is very great. When in tillage, they fometimes yield extraordinary crops ; 50 flat barrels an acre of bere have been known, fix- teen of barley, arid from 20 to 24 of oats are Vol. II. A ¦ common 2 L I M E R I C K. cQimupn crops. From,' Qlonmelly Hill,.- the profpect is very noble. There is, a view of the Shannon from Limerick to Foynes Ifland, which is 30 miles, with all its bays, bends, iflands, and fertile fhores. It is from one to three miles broad, a mod noble river, deferving regal na vies forks crnamefrt, or what are .better, fleets of merchantmen, the chearful figns of far ex tended commerce, inftead of a few miferable fifliing -boats, the only canvafs that fwelled up on the feene: but the want of commerce in her ports is the misfortune, not the fault of Ireland. Thank?, for the deficiency to. that illi beral fpirit of trading jealoufy, which has^at times actuated and dilgraced fo many nations. The profpeft has, a noble,, outline in the bold mountains' of Tipperary, Cork, Limerick^ arid Kerry. The whole view magnificent. At the foot of this hill is the caftle of Bun- ratty, a very large edifice, the feat of '.the O'Brien's,', princes of Thomdnd j it ftaiids ori the bank of a river, which' falls into the Shan non near it. About this caftle, and that of Rofrnafragher, the land is the beft in the coun ty of Clare j' it is worth il. 13s. an acre, "and fats a "bullock per acre in fiimmer, befid'es winter feed. To Limerick, through a chearful country, on the banks of the river, Jn a vale furround- ed by diftant mountains. That city is very finely utuated, partly on an ifland formed' by the Shan'non. The new part, called Newtown Pery, LIMERICK. 3 Pery, from Mr. Pery, the fpeaker, who owns a confiderable part' of the city, and reprefents it in parliament, is well built. The houfes are new ones, of brick, large and- in right lines. There is a communication with the reft of the town' by a handfome bridge of three large arches, erected at Mr. Pery's expenfe. Here are docks, qudys, and a cuftom-houfe, which is a good building, faces the river, and on the oppofite banks is a large quadrangular one, the houfe of induftry. This part of Li merick, is very chearful and agreeable, and carries all the marks of a flourishing place. The exports of this port are beef, pork, butter, .hides, and rape-feed. The imports are rum, fugar, timber, tobacco, wines, coals, bark, fait, &c. The cuftoras and excife, about 1 6 years ago, amounted* to i6,oool. at prefent 32}oool. and rather more foar or five years ago. Whole revenue 1 75 1 -£. 1 6,000 177 s Sl>°P° Revenue of fhe port of Limerick, year ' ending March 25. 1759 _ * j£-2D»494- 1760 - - 29,197 1761' ?. - , 20,727 1762 - - - 20,650 1,763 -. . - 20,525 1764 - , - 32,635 1765" -, - 31.099 Com. Jfur. v:l. 14. p. 71. A. 2 Account C L I M: E ft I C K. Recount of duties paid onigoads imported and ex ported in Limerick* Years. t : Imports. Exoorts* * 1764 l^gfiby 15 9 , £•2195 6 7 1765 21,33a 4 8 1964 5 2 1766 16,729 g 2 1815 11 8 1767 16,316 io' 0 236? 4 4 1768 16,571 ii 8 2229 17 2 1760 20,237 12 7 1855 0 8 1770 22,138" 0 4 1 94i 3 8 tyit" 20J213 12 6 2455 2 2 1772- - 22,003 2 0 3°46 11 10 i,7 7-3 • 26,606 15 7 2282 1 7 *774^ t7,3i7 0 9 2150 13 9 i?rs 15,979 10 6 2647- 5- 9 Salted, laft. year, 43,700 pigs; average i*lb. Horned cattle (of which many were cows) 12,200. The number of bullocks killed- here ins.ayear amounts to 13,000; increafed pretty confiderably in twenty years j They have been falting pigs all fumrri.er. Pork now 29s. 3d; per cvvt. was only 12s. feven years ago. The value of bullocks hides are on an average 3 2ed, tg 2$. .3 Barley and oats, 5d£. to 6d. couple Scotch coals, i8s> "White-, Plover, 6d. a couple. haven, 2cs. Widgeon, rod, dittp. A boat load o£ turf, 20 tons, Hares, 1 s. each, commonly 45s* fold all the year round Saknon, three halfpence Woodcocks, 2©d. to 2S. ad. Trout, 2d. very fine, perlh, a brace Eels, 2d. a pound Oyfters, 4d. to is, a ieo Rabbits, 8d. a pound Jiobfters, is. to is, 6d., if Teal, iocj, a covple, ; gpod, .Land fells at twenty years purchafe. Rents were at thehigheft in 1765, fell fince, but in four years have fallen 8s. to 10s. an acre abou.t Limerick. They are at a ftand at prefent, owing to the high price of provifions from pafture. The number of people in Limerick, are computed at 32,000,, it is exceeding popu lous -for the fize; the chief ftreet quite crowds ed ; many fedan chairs in town, and. fame hackney chaifes'. AfTemblj^s the year round, ia L I *M E ;R I C ;JC. 7 in a' new aflembly-ljoufe,. built for the pur- pofe j and plays and concerts common. Upon the whole, Limerick, muft be a very gay place, but "when the ufual number of troops are in town, much more fo. To fhew the general expenfes of living, r I was told of a :'per-fon's keeping a carriage, four horfes, three men, three maids, a good table, a wife, three thildren, and a nurfe, and all for 500 1. a year* , . I. 5. d. 1- s. d. A footman, , .-— — 44 p to 6 6 0 A profefled woman cook , — 6 6 0 A houfeAmaid — 3 0 0 A kitchen maid — ¦ — 2 0 0 AbutJer, ' — — 10 0 0 to 12 0 0 A? barrel of beef or pork, 200 lb. weight. 'Veffels of 400 tons can come up with fpring tides, which rife 14 feet. September 9th \ to Caftle Oliver; various country, not fo rich to appearance as the cor- cafles, being fed Jbare : much hilly ftieep-walk, and for a1 confiderabie way, a full third of it potatoes and corn; no figri of depopulation. Juft before I, got to the hills, a field of rag wort (fenejio jacoboea) buried the cows.r The firft view of. Caftle Oliver interefting. After rifing a mountain fo high that no one opuld think of any houfe, you come in view of a vale, quite filled with fine woods, fields mar gined with trees, and hedge plantations climb ing 8 ANNSGROVE, ing up the mountains. Having engaged my- felf to Mr. Oliver, to return from Killarney by his hpufe, as he was confined to Limerick by the afiizes, I fhall omit faying any thing of it at prefent. September ioth, reached Annfgrove, the feat of Richard Aid worth, Efq; to whom I am obliged for the following -. particulars. Farms about-Annfgrove, in the parifh of Caftle Town Roche* rife from 50 acres to 200, « few fmaller. It abounds exceedingly with land job bers, who have hired large traces, and re-let them to tenants, and thoTe to under ones, but gentlemen are getting out of this fyftem now. No graziers here ; the rents are made by til lage and fheep, and a" few dairies ;: the foil" is all 1ime-ftorie, much fine hazel loam, from" 4 to .18 inches deep. A hill runs through this country, which is wet woodcock clay. It lets -in general from 7s. to. 2 2s. plantation acre, average 15s. The barony of Orrery ift "this county (Cork) is as ricfy as Limerick ;, -lets from 25s. to 35s. an ac'rev The next in Fer- moy 13s. Duhallow has much mountains and unimproved; vaft traftspf it heath, but rears at prefent great numbers of young cattle, and many dairies, average rent 7s. Condons and Clangibon 15s. Imokilly, a very fine com country. Barrymbre, rough, 7s. Barrets mountains, with'bag, 4s. Mulberry, rough and uncultivated, 4s. Kinalea yields more corn than any of them ; letsat 14s. the Eriglifh acre. The baronies of Kerrycurihy and Courcy's Upon the coaft are all high let, from fituation, 1 os. the Anns g*r o v e. 9 10s the Englifh acre. In Carbery, there are great quantities of wild country, and much uncultivated ; provifions are extravagantly cheap, from, want pf communications. The whole county, upon an average, 7s. The courfe Of crops about Aunfgrove : 1. Potatoes, 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Oats. 5. Oats, 6. Qats. • 7. Leave it for three years. 1. Potatoes. 2. Bere. 3. Oats. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6, Oats. 7. Leave it for three or four years. -¦•>.. Flax fown in patches upon lay, and fome- times after potatoes. Potatoes they plant in a moft flovenly manner, leaving the final! ones in the ground pf the firft crop, in order to be feed for the fecond, by which means they are nqt fliced: fometimes a fharp froft catches then), anddeftroys all thefe roots, They plant many on grafs without dung, on the rich land, and pay 25s, to 50s. an acre for liberty to do it, Of wheat they fow 20 ftoqe per acre, and get on an average 7 barrels. They feldom fow it till February j they .think the firft dark nights in that month the beft feed time in the year, But it is in fact owing to their taking their potatoes up folate, which they do not begin till near Chriftmas, Some, however, are earlier, and get their wheat in in November and. December. They fow, of oats , a ki Ider- kin, or 4 bufhels of 32 gallons. Neither peafe, beans, nor rape in the country, but tur nips and clover are creeping in among gentle men. io A N N a G R O V E. men. Flax is fown by every body for their own ufe, which they fpin, and get woven into linen for themfelves, and what they have to fpare, fell in yarn. There are very few of thefe weavers, •«', Lime is the great manure; they lay ioo common barrels to the acre,-lafts feven or eight good crops, and leaves the ground the better for it ; but their principle is toexhauft as faft a$ poflible in eonfequence of liming, It cofts them 8d. a barrel roach., • Burn with culm from the coal pits in the barony of Duhallow. This coal is only ufed for drying malt, fmiths forges, &c. but not for common- fuel. They have alfo a very rich manure, which is rotten lime-ftone, as they call it. It is a rock, and rifes very hard, like a lime-ftone quarry, but when expofed to the air, falls into fand ; it has a ftrong fermentation with- acids, 'and gives great crops: they do not, however, carry it above a mile aad half. Paring and burning they are very fond of for potatoes, and fome times for bere, but the landlords prevent the practice. They get very great crops by it, and do it to chufe on wafte lands; pare with an inftrument they call a grqfane, and the huf- bandry they call grafjaning and burning,- It is a very ftrong hoe with which they cut up the turf, rolling it up with their -foot "as- they do it, and leaving it to dry in order to burn. They^ do it in March or April for 'their potatoe plant ing; and though it makes them very late, yet the crops never fail. Soot ii thro wh away, 'and ... ,4.Jn ANNSGROVE. n in general malt duft, as they do not fcreen their malt. The fences of common farmers are making banks,, and fowing furze feed. Grafs lands are applied to feeding fheep and cows, Their fb^Yp fyftem is that of breeding. They keep their lambs till they are two year old we thers, and. then fell them to thofewho fatten near the eoaft. Thefe they fell'. at 1 1 s. to' i ,8s. each ; and they cull fome ewes every year, which the butchers buy at 14s. or 15s, They (beer generally on an average 4Tb., wool, which iejis 113s, to 19s, 6d a ftone, at which amazing price fome was fold this year. The cottars have all fheep, which they milk for their families: The poor people reckon their cattle by ' collops, that is proportions. The heavieft collop is *fix*fheep,.thenextis a horfe, the next two heifers, and laftly the cow. Flocks rife to 5P0 ftieapr; no folding. Dairies are con siderable, They rife from ao to 50 cows, are employed in making butter only ; in fome parts of the cpunty they make very goodcheefe, An acre, and a quarter, maintains a. cow in fummer and winter ; grafs and hay. The far mer generally lets them out to dairymen, at 2k a Cow, and a guinea* for horn money ; the 40s, is for the butter, and the guinea for the other produce, four milk, pigs, and calf. But fome- times the rent is in butter a hundred weight per cow delivered in Cork, and the guinea is in cam. .The produce, is1 not much more thari this cwt, of . butter j . .for the dairyman's profit lies principally in having the grai's of a cow, an acre of ground, and a cabbin and garden, and .they 12 ANNSGROVE. they are generally very poor. They rear many pigs on account of- the dairies, about a pig to eveiy cow, and a calf to every two cows, which they feed on four milk, giving them no new milk. They are attentive to have their cows calve in May. The tillage, of the^ farmers is all done by horfes ; that of the gentlemen by oxen. Four horfes and three men to every plough, one to drive, one to hold, and another with a pole, bearing on the beam to keep it in the ground ; but they do an acre a day, by means of leaving a great fpace untouched in the middle of each land, where they begin by lapping the fods to meet. To ioo acres of tillage they keep about fix horfes j they make up their teams, borrowing of one another. The chaff is thrown, away as every where elfe. Hire of a car and horfe, and driver, is. 6d. a day. Price of carriage a ^.d.per cwt. a mile. In hiring farms, they will manage to take ioo acres withput ioo pence. They will do it with out teams pr cattle, or any thing ; by re-letting the land for potatoes, grafs for cows, &c. and if a fellow gets 5L .by a 100 acres, he is very well fatisfied. LandTells at 20 years purchafe. Rents, at prefent, at a ftand ; rather upon the rife, owing to the price of butter ; they fell 3s. 6d. in the pound in 1772 and 3; Tythes are compounded. Wheat pays 8s. the Englifh acre : fome 6s. , Barley andBere 6s. Potatoes 6s. Mowing ground 2s. Sheep 3d. Lambs 2d, Cows 2d. Leafes- are generally 31 years, or three lives, or for ever. The poor people in general occupy from 10 to 1 5 acres ¦, but the moft common way is hiring ANNSGROVE, i3 hiring in partnerfhip in rundale ; and. they have changedale alfo. Moft of them have only a cabbin and a cabbage garden, and the fize is ufually enough for ioo plants; and their rent for it 20s : in this cafe they pay their neigh bour for the grafs of their cow ; but I was forry to find that fome of them have no cows. They live the year through upon potatoes, and for half the year have nothing but water with. them. They have all a pig, and fome of them feveral, but kill one for themfelves at Chrift- mas. Their circumftances, are very generally better than twenty years agfr, efpecially in cloathing, but in food no great difference. Spinning is the general bufinefs of the women : they fpin infinitely more wool than flax. All the poor keep a cOllop of fheep j as foon as the lamb is fit to kill, they fell it, except enough to keep up the flock, in order to have the milk. In the little towns of Donneraile, Mitchelftown, Mallow, Kilworth, Kanturk, and Newmarket, are clothiers, who buy up the wool, employ combers in their houfes, who make corifidera- ble wages, &nd when combed, they have a day fixed for the poor to come and take it, in order to fpin it into worfted, and pay them by the ball, by which they earn one penny three farthings to two- pence a day. The clothier exports this worfted from Cork to Briftol and Norwich. Of late they have worked a good deal of it into ferges, which are fent to Dublin by land-carriage, and from thence to the North, from whence it is fmuggied into England by way of Scotland. The podr people's wool is worked ia A N N & G? ft q ^ E, worked into frizes for the ufeofthernen. The weavers who work thefe frizes arid ferges live about the country in the cahbins. Imrnenfe quantities of raw wool are fent to Cork from all parts; 500 cars' have been feen in a line*, and i? is fuppofed to! be] fent in large quanti* ties to France, r No emigrations./ All the poor people are Roman Catholics, and among them are the defendants of tbeold families who once poffeffed the country, of which they 'ftili pre*- ferve the full memory, . infomnch, that a gen* tleman's labourer wilta regularly leave to his foil, by will, hisf matter's eftate. ,¦ : '«. Ireland . has very . few fuch farmers: as Mr* Aldworth;; for above 600 acres in tillage is fuch a, bufinefs as I have no ;where; met with. In his improvements, turnips formed aeohfider- able jarticle; in the year 1 77Z he- begaarwith them, one acre: in ,1,774 he had two acres: in 1775, five acres: and this year, eight. , He has always hoed them,«but not yet.in any perfec- tionj though improving. He fed them on the land with fheep hurdles j they were .chiefly fat wethers, and the benefit he found very greats being able, by no other means, to keep them fat, ; which the turnips did in great perfection, He alfo carted fomfeoff for ftall-feeding bullbcks and Cows, | which anfweried perfectly weih A very great advantage he found from turnips in the barley which fucceeded, being incomparably better than after any other preparation. Mr. Aldworth is, upon the whole, fo well perfuaded of the advantage of ihe culture, that he is de termined ANNSGROVE;; 15 terinined to increafe the quantity every year, till he gets a fourth part of his farm under them. The. effect of lime was never difplayed in a clearer manner than upon Mr. Aldworth'sfarm. The foil, I fhould obferve, is a loam and brick clay, on a rock of lime-ftone, from nine inches to three feet, deep on it; but what is remark able,, ail the loofe furface ftones are grit, 'and all the quarries, lime-ftone. Upon this foil he has found the benefit furprifingly great : where he limes he gets very good crops; and where he does not he can , get no crops at all. In my life I never faw this clearer difplayed than in two of his fields this year, one wheat and the other barley; in each there was about an acre not limed, but all the reft had 100 barrels an acre; the parts limed had a very fine crop, but thofe two fpots a wretched one ; literally fpeak- ing, not worth mowing ;. and another fmaller patch in the barley field the fame ; the crop ex cellent to an inch where the lime was laid, and- immediately adjoining nothing butweeds. Ano ther experiment, mewing the: great efficacy of it,, was a conaparifon he made of it with the- fheep fold; heifolded part without liming in a field, the reft of which was limed, and the fu- periority of thcbtter part was very great. Mr. Aldworth fpreads it on his fallows for wheat, and on his potatoerland for barley. It is to be noted that this land was never limed before.^ Upon another part of his farm which had -been limed, he does not find the benefit to be equah He burns his lime in both "running and Hand ing kilns ; in the former with culm, and the exnenfe i&- ANN S G R O V E. '"¦ expenfe to him is'8d.'.a barrel roach. In the! ftanding. kilns he burns without breaking the ftones, 1500 barrels at a time with faggots, and. in this way* it is '6d. a barrel. Thefe kilns, he remarks, fhould be built with very-great ftrengtH, or the extreme heat of the fire burfts the ma-; fonry. His liming has been upon fo extenfive a fcale, that laft year he had feven kilns burn ing, two of them ftanding ones, and burned in all above 10,000 barrels, and asrriuch this year, all far manuring his own farm. Mr. Aldworth has erecTed a bolting-mill which will grind ^000 ¦¦'- barrels of wheat, and it is curious to obferve-: the effect, of it as a newly-eftablifhed market:; the firft year he ground 1 100 barrels, 'being all- he could get; the next year, the prefent, it will be 5QO0. He has alfo taken pains to improve- the breed of fheep, by buying Englifti ewes. The fame attention he has given to fwine and various other articles; Reynold's turnip-cab bage fie has planted two years for late feeding of fheep in thefpring : he finds them of excel lent ufe, and is determined never to be without them. He began to plant hops in 1772 upon; half an acre of land, a fine rich red loam a yard deep; they fucceeded perfectly well; and the fecond year yielded 8 cwt. the half acre of as good hops as ever he met. . In 1773 he added two acres : in 1775116 planted, another acre: laft year the crop failed, not getting above 3 or 4 cwt. This year he has a very good appear ance. Has not found the climate at all againft them ; and is clear that it may be a very advan tageous branch of culture. He, however, re- 3 marked, ANNSGROVE. i7 , marked", that they are not fo ftrong as Engtifh hops, owing, perhaps; to want of experience in drying, &c. .He manures them every third year. Mr. Aldworth is the only peifon in this country that folds his fheep ; he finds the prac tice very ufeful, but hot equal, as obferved, before, to lime. ; September 1 1 th, accompanied Mr. Aldworth and family to his neighbour Mr. Hyde's, on the banks, of the Black Water, which are very chearful, and many, of the views fine, particu larly from the yard, of a new church on the river : pafs many large woods, in fight. Mr. Hyde's is a place entirely of his own forming. The lawn before the houfehas a very pjeafing inequality of furface, and the whole fcenery. well improved and cheerful. , r, try. ¦¦ -,:S ' "'• ;. ¦ ii"': . - It was with regret I left fo agreeable and li beral a family asitfiat of Annfgrove, nor. fhould I forget to mention that every thing about the place had a much nearer refemblance to an Englifh than an Irifh refidence, where fomany fine places want neatnefs, and where, after great . expenfe, fo little is found complete. Mrs. Aid- worth has ornamented a beautiful glen, which. winds behind'thehoufe, in a manner that does honour to her tafte ; fhe has traced her, paths fo as >to command all the beauties of rock, wood, and a fweet river which glides beneath both: it is a.moft agreeable fcenery. t Vol. II. B September il D O N E R A I L E. > September 12th, to Doneraile, with Mr. Aid- worth. In our way called on a woollen manu facturer, Mr. Hannam, at Kilbfack, who gaveU me the' following particulars of the trade... It confifts in buying the wpol about the country, and combing it upon their own account. The- combers earn 10s. a week, or 40 balls at 3d., The fleeces he buys weighs 51b. on an average. To every 22 ftone of rough fleece there are 3 ftone of fhort, coarfe, andwafte; 2 ftone of the 3 are worth 10s. a ftone, for coarfe works, frizes, &c. the third ftone 13s. 4d. The re maining io ftone of combing wool give 8 balls ¦ each of 24 ounces. To each ftone there is one pound and three quarters of pinions of cifhort' Wool that comes out in the combing; Thefe balls are given to women to fpin, and od. a ball is paid them for it ; a woman can fpin the balls in two days and a half if fhe flicks to it all day; in three days and do triflesbefides. Then the worfted, in fkains twelve to the ball, is fentto Corke or Limerick for exportation. ""Not above one- fixth part, to his knowledge, is woven at home. Employs feven weavers making ferges. Forty- four beer ferges fell at is. 2d. a yard; is 29 inches broad, and the pieces 136 yards long. Fbys two-pence halfpenny a yard for weaving, and a man weaves eight in a day; he weaves a piece in three weeks, and lofes one day in that time in preparing, his loom. The Con- naught wool he prefers ; it is of a midd&rig length, and a fine.ftapk:.£nds that die fli6rt wool is the fineft. At Charleville there are thirty looms in it. Thei ferges are all fent to Dublin; DONERAIL E. 19 Dublin to a Facror, who fells them at 5I. per cent, commiflion. Are in genera! font to Scot land. The demand for them is better than it was: it has been improving for three years. But the prices of both ferges and worfted have not rifen proportionally to that of wool. An eftimaie of the chathing trade. 20 combers would comb in a year 5000 ftone of wool at r 6s. per ftone - - 4000 o © The faid combers would comb 80 balls a week, at "3d. per ball, comes to iol. in the year - - - 520 6 • 300 women and girls to fpin the above, and which woiildbe the advantage of the clothier, to form into three houfes or factories of ifoo each ; their hire, at5)d. a ball, comes to - - - - 156^ o 6 60 weavers would weave up the faJd worfted, at 8d. each a day, 24I. a week, the year 1348 o 9 30 'little boys and girls employed in faid weav ing, at 3d. a day each, comes to 3L 15s. ¦per week, in the year - 195 © o " Oil' and foap would coft in theyear - 368 o 0 Carriage of wool, woollen goods, &c. - iqo o (f Sorting wool, warning it, &c. - - fo o o /8071 'O b Theyear's profit. I fuppofe'to be - ' 333 , o o The yearly fum brought into.thejrcpMify where fuch -trade is ;carried on ^ - £. 84,21 *o b ¦ .'imijii, .an..* i B 2 Avery 20 D O N E R A I L E. . A veryimportant information is to be drawn from this eftimate, which is the proportion of labour to.thewool in this manufactory. i . • Wool, at 1 6s. - - 4006- C6rnbing ¦* - A 526 Spinning - - 1560 Weaving - 1443 Sorting and carriage ¦*, - 180. jSabour :'„¦-,, - -1 37?J : Oil and foap , - - f -. 368, jC'8071 Hence therefore it appears that woolaf r6sv labour and drugs equal it, and v that Jabour alone is as nine one-fourth to ten. - •# i Let me np| forget here to} remark, that the country, within two or three miles of Done- r^aile, ranks among the beft I have feen in Ire land; it is varied, much improved, well wood ed, and very chearful. , - " k. Tp.Lord Doneraile's, to whom I am indebt ed .for a variety of ufeful intelligence; the fitu- ation pf his houfe is on a beautiful rifing ground, which flopes down to a winding vale, in which is a final! river, accompanied by wood; from this river, on the other fide, the grounds (all lawn) rife very boldly, and are entirely margined with wood : from the higher grounds the DONERAILE. 21 the view of the houfe and park is fine, .efpeci- k 7 ? the gate which °Pens to Kilbrack, there the houfe is feen furrounded by very noble woods and a great variety of cultivated in- clofures intermixed with fields' and thickly- planted hedges: the whole fcene fopleafing, that it appeared to full advantage, though I had rode to it through a beautiful and even- drefied country in part of the way from An nf- grove. Near the houfe is a fhrubbery, through which there are paths that lead to different parts pf the farm; through new plantations, and in, particular to a cottage, from whence there is a fine wpoded fcene, with the park fawn rifing above it, fcatteredwith'fingle trees, andboimdy ed by a margin of wood ; the whole backed by diftant mountains. The plantations and im provements which lead to and furround this, pottage are the work of Lady Doneraile, and do Credit to her tafte. Refpecring his Lordfhip's hufbandry the fol lowing particulars deferve the attention pf" the leader." Three years ago he procured ewes from Leicefterfhire, 'in order to improve the breed. The fheep which were here before took three to a ftone of Wool, but now only two, and the Wool is to the full as good as ever ; and he finds that they are much more thriving and advan? tageous to keep, and eafier fed than the fheep of the country : fheep, His Lordfhip finds the moft advantageous ftock of all others : he keeps fix to the acre winter and furrimer. This he finds much mare profitable than keeping cows 22 DONER A I L fe cows or fat cattle. Has tried many breedsai cattle, ;and finds that the long-horned Englifh cow is the beft for fattening. The Holdernefs for giving much thin poor milk, bat are. too heavy for- winter feeding. The Kerry cow is much the beft for milking in quantity of good milk. Hogs he has alfo tried of all forts, and finds that nothing is fo profitable as the black Indian breed with fhort legs, round carcafes* anbVfnub nofes. For working* he finds the fniall mongrel Kerry beafi works the beft, and moves the fafteft. He works them all by the horns, in the manner practifed in the fouth of France, four in a plough at the firft plough ing. He changed the manner in which Lord Shannon brought it over, from the yoke which couples them , to going fingle with double traces ; this he finds much the moft beneficial manner; they move quicker and with greater power, from being free and working not in couples ; befides being applicable to. all forts of work which requires their going fingle. Englifh waggons LordDoneraile has tried and laid afide, from finding, on experience, that they are very much inferior to the common Irifh car in hs(y harveft, dung, lime, Sec. but be ufes one-horie carts for many forts of work. Turnips he has cultivated for fome years, hoes them, and gets good crops, but beft in the'drill way,, the rows two feet afunder : he ufes them in feeding fheep, and alfo fattening beafts, He finds that they are not of any.confiderable* ufe in this country, compared to others where thercis not an equal plenty pf grafs, which fprings all winter; and that DONE R A I L E. 23 that they will fatten a beaft better. When moft isantedj which is in April and the beginning ©f May/ they are gone. Cabbages he has tried upon a large fcale three years ; laft year and the ^jrear before, he had 8 or 9 acres, and ufed them in feeding and fattening cattle and fheep; has found them preferable to turnips far, in all ufes in feeding cattle; but an acre of the latter will produce much more. Fern he finds is beft de- ftroyed by mowing it twice a year in June*, and the beginning of September. He makes his tillage exceedingly profitable by the ufe of lime. His courfe of crops, 1. Wheat, yielding 10 barrels per acre, and has meafured 15 barrels, 15 ftone per acre. 2. Barley 4 the produce 14, 15 barrels, and of fmall barley, 6 rowed 20. 3. Oats 20 barrels. 4. Clover laid down to grafs, or for one year, and ploughed it up as foon as cleared of the hay. Lime he fpreads on all lands for wheat or parley, &c. 80 barrels of roach an acre cofts j6d. a barrel burning. The effect, is amazingly great, infomuch that it is the difference between a great and a bad crop. In general there is no ground worth 20s. an acre, that if you lime it 80 barrels, and take wheat, barley, and oats, jtwill then be worth 30s. This is certainly a marvellous improvement! Lord Doneraile Jknows, from an experiment of his brother's, that if is equally well adapted to boggy bottoms ; he had five acres, which he fet for 10s, 6d. the whole, 24 DONE R A>I L E. whole, and was fo hard a bargain to the poor men, that an allowance was made for jt. A His brother took it, and limed it, and then mowed five torn of hay per EngJifh acre, one of the ftrongeft proofs of the benefit of fime thatcan be given, In his Lordfhijvs park he has a wheel for raifing water, an improvement on the Per- fian, which raifes a regulairjilream^S feet; the ftream which turns it is confined, by a double tvalf to the exact dimenfion of the boxes; which take in the water, and it works conftantly and regularly without trouble or expenfe. Lord Doneraile has erected a granary upon a new conftruction, that of a flue in the walls for a fire to air the. whole building, arid dry any damp corn that may happen to.be.in it. . He;driedthe walls after builditog with it perfectly in a fftart time. This granary is fo, completely huilt, that not a moufe can poflibly get in it: he has a thprpugh air, with lattice windows of wire. , By the way, thefe flues are a proof, if one was wanting, how much moifter the climat^ of Ire land is than that of England, He has planted the clufter potatoes, called here,fo/A i.M hicks', fo much as 6 or 7 acres ; gave them to horfes, cows, and fheep: thehorfcs, that y/ouldeat them did well, and ina.littletime beliqyes would all come j very well; to them?. Fat cows and bullocks did exceedingly well: fat^fheep were put to them; but feveral dying both years, made him leave the practice off. Of other forts of potatoes, he finds the London lady and the- apple to be^the beft forts. {The London lady is particularly -^valuable for one circumftahce; which DO NERA1LE. 2 • which ;is the ftalks withering, and the crop being ready to take up, from a month to fix weeks before any other fort; confequently, the beft fort to plant as a preparative to wheat. Hops he has planted two years ago, inorder to fee how far they willanfwer; and expects to be able to get not only good hops, but a greaterop. One mode of managing them he has in medita tion, which is a good thought, and that is to train them horizontally inftead of perpendicu larly, like efpalier, on account of the ftorms and blights whie.h hops, in the common way, arefubject to from the height. Has compared the rotton lime-ftone and lime in a 20 acred field for wheat, 10 of the one and 10 of the pther, and found the wheat equal : both very good. Has obferved the common farmers, af ter manuring with it, to take 12 -and. 14 crops of white corn running and then leaving it for grafs, which not coming, they complain that it js not gop4 for grafs, but burns it up. But Lord Doneraile advifed a friend to lay down, after two ,pr three crops, which being done, .{he grafs that followed was perfectly fine. Lord Doneraile's lime- kiln is one of the com- pJeatefH have any where ieen ; it is at bottom j 6 inches diameter, leads up to 12 feet wide in jthe buldge, and 20 feet high from the bottom to Xh^ buldge, 7 feet from the baldge up, and at the top. 9 feet diameter.-;* Over the top, a roof and a porch.to hv and it draws 44 barrels . of rpaeh lime a day, which takes 6 Of culm ; burns for 5^ a barrel. The culm 2s. $d. a 1 •• " barrel £6 MA L L O W. barrel at the kiln. Labour 4s. Culm 15s, a. day. ; *>"' ¦*; ¦ ¦ ¦ September 13th, left Doneraile, and went do Colonel jephfon's at Mallow. He was at jfeat time confined with the gout; but his fon, Denham Jephfon, Efq; (member for Mallow) took every means for my information, in the circumftances J enquired after. About that place : 1 . -Potatoes on ftubhles, or grafs dunged 2. Potatoes. 3. Wheat or Bere. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 1. Fallow. 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6. Oats. The meafure the Engr lifh acre. . Of potatpes they plant 6 common barrels, and get 42 in the crop : fometimes take three or four f ucceffive ones. Of wheat they fow 3 peeks and a half each, yduggets, each clugget 1 1 quarts, and get 8 barrels. The crpp of bere is 12. Of oats 12. Rents of town parks 2I. 2s. to 3I. other lands 10s. to 30s. average 12s. There are many dairies, up to 60 cows, which are all fet to dairymen, at 50s. to 3I. 10s. of good land it will take one acre and a half to feed a c°w- They make both butter and cheefe, and where the latter is made, no butter, felling the cheefe at 4d. a pound. A cow makes one cwt. of butter in the feafon. When cows are let, none are taken that do not give 2 gallons of Mi A L L Q W. 27 of milk ; good cows give 4 gallons. Colonel Jephfon had a cow half bred, between the Englifh long horned and HoldernefTe, that was forced to be milked three times a day and gave 12 gallons a day, many times in the prefence of various perfons. Every dairyman is allow ed a houfe, a garden of one acre and a half, and grafs for a horfe, a cow, and fome a col- lop of fheep. Great quantities of lime are ufed: they lay 100 barrels an acre, at is. id. They plough with horfes, four or fix to a plough. The poor pay 10s. rent for a cabin, and 20s. for one acre for potatoes ; 2I. 2s. for grafs for a cow, and 10s. for the winter's hay. They live upon potatoes generally the year through ; all of them keep cows and pigs, which latter they feed on fmall potatoes. Their circum ftances are not better than 20 years ago ; for though they have now 6d. and then had but $d', yet the rife is not proportioned to that of rents. Villages of cottars will take farms in partnerfhip in the manner I have ofteh describ ed. The foil of the country is in general lime- ftone; but from Knockerera mountain, near Mallow to Corke, there is no lime-ftone. Leafes are thirty-one years, or three lives, and fome for three lives and thirty-one years after ; and many farms let to middle-men, who occupy no part of the land themfelves, but re-let it. Above one-third of the county is wafte land. , There are collieries about ten miles off, near Kantark, from which coal is fold at 3s. a bar- .1 rel, 2§ ,. MALL" Q W. rel;:it.< is. large and hard. Upon the river Blackwater, there are tracts of flat land in fome places one quarter of a mile broad ; the grafs everywhere remarkably fine, and lets at 30s. It is the fineft fandy land I have any where feen, of a reddifh. brown colour, would yield the greateft arable crops in the world, if in tillage; it is five feet deep, and has fuch a principle ofadhefion.that it burns into good brick, yet it is a perfect fand. In floods much. pf it is overflown. The banks of this river,^ from its fource to the fea, are equally remarks- able for beauty pf prpfpect, and fertility of foil. There is but little manufacturing in Malt- low ;: even fpinning is not general. Mr. Jeph- fon manures his lands. very highly with all forts of dung and f ullage of the ftreets of Mal low, which is conftantly bringing away ; by means pf this regular, attention, united with thegoodnefs of the foil, he has brought it into that high degree of heart, indicated by the rent, at which it would let. The whole is divided, into. fields, of a moderate fize, with. double quick hedges, well planted with trees, and kept in the moft perfect degree of neatnefs; between the hedges are graved walks, fo that there is a planted communication about all the ' fields ; the gates are neat and light, and every./ attention -.preferved to give the whole the ap pearance of a ferme orne. The quantity of til-? lage is not conliderable, but his crops very great, barley up' to twenty barrels- per acre. Mules he finds more ufeful and hardy than. horfes j NEW O.ROVE. *9 horfes ; has fome very fine ones. Mr. Jephfori has weighed to the dragoons,. at the barracks, from twenty- eight acres of grafs, three and a quarter tons of hay, per Englifh acre. He has kept a particular account of his domain, and has kept his deer, hoifes, cows, houfe, &c« and fold to. the amount of 55s. an acre befides. I walked to the fpringjn the town to drink the water, to which fo many people have long reforted -, it refembles that of Briftol, prefcrib- ed for the fame cafes, and with great fuccefs. In the feafpji there are two aflemblies a week. Lodgings are five fhillings a week each room,, and thofe feemed to be miferably bad. , Board thirteen. fhillings a week. Thefe prices^ info Cheap a cpunfryj amazed me, and would, I fhould fear, prevent ..Mallow from being fo confiderable as more reafonable rates might make it, unlefs accommodations pro portionable- were provided. There- is a fmall canal, with walk's on each fide, lead ing to the fpring, under cover of , fame very noble poplars. If a double row ef good lodg ings were erected here, with public rooms, in an elegant ftyle, Mallo would probably become a place' for amufement, as well as health.; .,.,, September 14th, to New Grove, thereat of Robert Gordon, Efq; in whom I met with the jrreateft zeal for giving me a correct informati- bn. Paffingj at fome diftance, a very, large houfe building, to the right of the road,, in a good fituation, by Sir Robert Dean. New Grove is an entire new improvement of Mr. Gordon's, jo N E W G R O V E. Gordon's, the whole place, fome years ago;' beingawafte moor, or mountain, as it is call£i^ m Ireland. Mr. Gordon took it for improvement; the foil and bog five to nine fpits deep, and under it a black earth, or a reddifli fand, and in fome a whitifh clayey fubftance, but not marie,; many fprings in it, which were carried off by drains ; and then the whole furface of tuff cut Put, and carried to Cork : cutting, &c. 30s. a roo, arid fold there at 5I. this was done in order to get lime, which is not upon the land, and by this means the line came to feven-pence haffoenny a barrel ; found many ftones and great roots, and timbers, which Were all clear ed away, and the land ploughed with oxen, before winter; then left the winter three plbughings given in the fprirtg,' and fifty bar rels of lime, fpread and (own with bats and clover; the crop very great; could be fold however, for 4I. an acre ; the clover fine, This was cut for hay, and thefecond weighed 23 lib. per Englifh perch fquare, and a horfe that, was1 ftarved "nine hours, eat in twenty-four hours 1 071b, And after thefe two cuttings.; there was a third for foiling with in October; it was then fowed with a fecond crop of oats, and that with clover which was left, and has 'been mown every year for eleven yearY firtce; fhi* was* onefieid in particular, bat all in the fame 'manner, and would let for one* pound an acre readily; all fexrjerices of the 3 crops, including the lime, coft 61, 7s. $d." an sere, 'fothatffre mere N E W G R O V E. 31 mere improvement was profitable,, befides the increafe of rent alfo improved. At Carrick- duff, 650 acres of heath, &c.the black foil thin, and the heath low, and under it a brown loam, with whitifh gravel, mixed. Fallowed it with ftrong ploughs,, fourteen inches deep for a year; then limed it, 50 barrels an acre, at feven pence three farthings on the land, burnt on the fpot, and upon this fowed oats and clover for a meadow,; the oats great, and the graffs part of it actually let at 1 1. is. and all would let fo. Has profecuted this, improvement with foch fpirit, that laft year he laid on 10,000 barrels of lime, and has 73 acres bats> 34 wheat* 1 2 potatoes, and 1 00 laid to grafsk arid all this in two years. Has there built a farm-office, 1 54 feet longi a barn, ftalls fqr thirty bullocks* two ftables, and a room for the fteward ; and has made 17,50 perch of ditches, planted with quicks. Thefe Mr. Gordon does in two years, half the ditch in one to leave it to fink, and the other 'half the year after. Turnips he has had, and cgot very fine crops of 6lb. the average tur nips they thin them by hand, which he thinks upon this land is preferable to hoeing ; ufed the crop in ftall-feeding 30 bullocks, which had, befides the tprnips, half a hundredweight qf hay to fix each day, and found that they throve -exceedingly well on fuch turnips as were not above three to fix pounds, .weight,. but upon the large ones they did not thrive. ]rn Mdverhber he cleared die field of aiU(ftacke4 dtehii and foundshem keep perfectly till April. FbttnoV that the fheep, fed at New Grove, would not take to turnips till ftarved to them. Imported 32 N E W G R 0 V E; Imported a man from Norfolk, whom; he ga^ forty guineas a year with board, who brought ploughs, hoes, &c. with him j gave him a gui->> nea for every boy he taught to plough, and every boy who could fairly plough, had a fhil-* ling a day wages. By this means he has col lected a fet of excellent ploughmen, who have been of infinite ufe, fo that he has to this day ploughed with Norfolk arid Suffolk ploughs, worked with a pair, of horfes, and no driver except the firft and fecond ploughing of frefh. land, which, and. dragging, he does with great drags of 1 8 cwt. and drawn by bullocks. -l This improvement is of particular confequence, as there are here twelve miles fquare pf rich land^ taken almoft in a fquare between Mallow and Corke, one way, and the Bagra mountains and- Nagles the other; upon all which there is not a. ftone to interrupt the plough,' fometimes not a ftone to an acre. He is convinced, from experience, that the worft pf this vaft tract may be drained, lhclofed, limed with fifty barrels, and tilled with a crop of oats on it, for 5I. an acre. In the neigh bourhood;, a great improvement of 1200 acres, without iiriie or gravel, and badly dorte yet,' at 1 2s. an acre, fix-7ths of the county of Corke at as. an acre, one-7th, IPs. of Kerry, nine-ioths, at is. and one- 1 oth at 1 os. - tudi ^ .. , Six years ago, Mr. Gordon eftablifhed a linen manufaaory, and bleach mill, upon the completeft BLARNEY CASTLE. 33 Compieteft fcale ; a factbry ol eleven looms for1 damafk, bleacher's houfe arid other buildings, with a refervoir of Water for turning the wheel;, the whole well-built, well-contrived, arid at the expertce of 1 200I. Kept thefe looms constant ly at work, and at the fame time bleached many pieces for the country people. Trufted to a manager for the conduct of the works, who broke, which put a flop to them, other- wife there would have been a flourifhing ma nufactory eftablifhed. Spinning flax coming in, but the woollen through the country ; and from hence to the north-weft Duhallow Barony is the great eountry for fpinrting cotton. September 15th, to Blarhey Caftle, S. J. Jef ferys, Efq; of whofe great works in building a town at Blarney, I cannot give fo particular an Account as I with to do ; for I got there juft as he and his family were ort the point of fetting out for France; I did not however let flip the time I had for making fome enquiries, and found that in 1765, when Mr. Jefferys began to build this town, itconfifted only of two or three mud cabins ; there are now 90 houfes; He firft ef tablifhed the linen manufactory, building a bleach-mill, and houfes for weavers, &c. and letting them to manufacturers from Corke.; who have been fo fuccefsful in their works, as to find it neceffary to have larger and more nu merous edifices, fuch as a large ftamping mill for printing linens and cottons, to which is annexed another bleach-mill; and fince there* has been a third elected ; the work carried on is that of buying yarn, and weaving it into li- Vol. II. C nens, 34 BLAfeNEY CAsf LE. hens; ten pence to thirty pence white ; alfp-dia- pers, fheeti'ng, ticking, and linens arid cot tons of all forts printea here, for common ufo and furniture. Thefe feyeral branches of the linen, employ 130 looms, and above 300 hands^ Another of Mr. Jefferys objects has been the flocking manufacture, which employs 20 frames, and 30 hands, in buildings erected by him ; the manager employing, by 'covenant, a certain number of apprentices, in order by their being inftrudted, to diffufethe manufactory. Like- wife a woollen manufactory, a mill for milling, tucking, &c. broad cloths ; a gigg mill for gloff- ingi ftnoothing, and laying the grain? artd a mill for knapping, which will drefs above 500 pieces a year, but will be more, when fome al terations now makihg are finifhed. A leather mill for dreffing fhamoy, buck, or fkins, fuliy Employed. A large bolting mill, j uft finifhed, and let for 132I. a year. A mill, annexed to the fame, juft: finiming, 'for plating; and a blade mill for grinding edged tools. A large- paper mill, which will be finifhed this year. He nas Been able to erect this multiplicity of mills, thirteen in all, by an uncommon command of water. The town is built in a fquare, compofed of a large handfome inn, and manufacturers houfes, all built of excellent ftone, lime, and flate.-A church, by the firft fruits, and liberal addition of above 3001, from (Mr. Jefferys. A market- houfe, in which are fold a hundred pounds wpr^h of knit ftdtkings per week. Four bridges, which BLARNEY CASTLE. 35 which be obtained from the 'county, and ano ther (the flat afch) to Which he contributed a confiderable ftim. Much has been done, yet is ndt the defigrt near finifhedi To fhew the magnitude of thefe works* and the degree- of public good refultirtg from them, I fhall mention the expence at which they have been executed. Refpecting the principal bleach mill, Meffrs. Forefi and Donnoghue, under the linen act, took 1 5 acres, at a guinea an acre, upon which they have expended 5dodl. in erect ing a linen mill and bleach green, twenty -"-five houfes for twenty-five weavers families, four looms in each houfe, a large dwelling-houfe for f hethfelv^s or their director ; in each houfe.a man, his wife, three apprentices, two girls and two boys, befides yburtg infants. In a fhort time the fafrti was increafed, and land, which before had only brought half a guinea, then let, for a guinea. The linen board advanced 500I. to this work, and Mr. Jefferys repaid them 1400I. of the 5000I. The old rent of the premifes was 40I. a year, the new rent 7-ri. Another bleach mill, which coft Mr. Jefferys 300I. to which the board added Jobl. and the perfon to whom it is let, 600I. 40 acres of land, formerly let at rol. a year, go with them. The whole rent now 80I. To this mill is fince added an oat- mill, which coft 360I. two tuck-mills,, 200I. a leather mill and kilris, 150I. two dwelling- houfes, 300I. A ftamping-mill, which coft Mr. Jefferys 2,3001. to which the board added $bol. promifirtg roobl. more when the works fliouldbe nnrihed, whieh rhey have been thefe C 2 two 36 B L A R N E Y; C A-S^L E. two years. .Twelve printing tables are. kept go ing, 'and fixty-five hands ^employed. 'Twelve printers. Twelve tire boys. Three print cut ters. Eighteen' Weaehmen. t Six pencillef s. Two tubmen. One clerk. One callehder. One manager. Two draughtsmen. Four copper- men. ,. Three carters. Befides .the above turns, the manufacturer has laid out 500I. The quantity of land occupied is 25 acres : old .rent,' ph. 1 os. new, 113.L 15&/. A ftbckihg! factory, for' which Mr. Jef ferys lent 200II The man laid out 300I. him- jelf; he occupies 50 acres, before let at 20I. a year'; now at 76I. i is. A gigg-mill, for which Mr. Jefferys lent 3 ool. till, repaid by the Dub- Jin Society, who granted 3 obi. towards it, and the tenant laid out 260I. the quantity of land he has is eleven acres, let at 5I. i.os* now at 3. 61. A manufactory of tape is eftablifhed, by which means 6 acres of land are advanced, from 21. 8s. fo 9I. They have threelooms going, which makes 162.. pieces a' day of 36 yards each. The Dublin Society gave 20.L to it.- A paper mill, which has coft Mr: Jefferys 1 iob-1. and is not yet let. A bolting mill on: which "be has expended iiool. the tenant 5p0l.cn adding an ir6n-;mill. Twenty acres" of laftdj rent before 9I. 10s. rent pf the whole now 132). 13s. The church has coft .Mr. Jefferys ^ooi. ar/d the firft fruits 500L more. The new inn, '2501'., and f the tenant ^ooL more. Seventy acres of land, before at 20I. a year, now'at 8,3'L 9s. ' A dwellihg-houfe,' 250U to which the tenant added^odl. , Ninety " acre's BLARNEY CASTL E. 37 acres ..of land, before letat 54I. the" new rent is 74I. Twelve cottages, and a limerkilni which cofl:28ol. Two dwelling-houfes and a for,ge- which coft him 150I. and to which parliament granted 250I. mpre. Upon the whole, there fore, Mr. Jefferys has expended 7,630!. in thefe eftablifhments^ Of public money there has been added 2, 1.70!. and the tenants themfelves laid'.out 9,0501. in all, expended here 18,8501. befides what Mr. Jefferys laid out on bridge'Si etc. in the whole, very near, if not fulli 20, pool, .upon matters of a public nature. In all tbefe,eftabliihments,'he has avoided under taking or carrying on. any pf the manufac tures upon his own account, from acanyictipn that 3 gentleman can never do it-without fuffer- ingr very confiderably. His object was to form a town, to ;give employment to the people, and to improve the value of his eftatebyfo doing; in all which views it muft be admitted, that the near neighbourhood of,fo confiderable a place as Corke very much contributed; the fame means which he has purfued would, in all fitu- ations, be probably the moft advifeable, though the returns made might be lefs advantageous, Too much can foarcely be faid in pr.aife pf the fpirit with which a private gentleman has exr ecuted thefe works, which would undoubtedly do honour to the greateft fortune. .- ,, ~ To animate others to tread in fuch laudable fteps, I may remark, that even the profit of thefe undertakings is top much to be entirely forgotten; the expences are by no means :bar> ren ones; 327 acres let before thefe works at 1671. 38 DUNRETTLE, 167I. 1 8s. let afterwards at 682I. Ss, Profit 508I. 10s. without reckoning any thing for twodwelling-houfes, a forge, twelve cottages, and a lime- kiln, which may- moderately be reck^ oned at 25L a year, and yet let at rents of fa vour, in all 533I. 1 os. -which from 76301.157 per cent. There, however, ' is no agriculture improvement that would not, with much greater certainty of continuance, pay 17. At the fame time, howeyer, there is a greater reverfionary advantage in the benefit refulting from the in- creating of the rents at the expiration pf the leafes, upon undertaking thefe works, the lohgeft of which is for no more than three lives. Another advantage which is felt already, is, fhe rife in the prices pf products at BJarney4? which is a direct premium' to agriculture, to the farmer, and to the landlord. Dairy cows, on all the adjacent farms, arbfe in two years from 3l.to 4|.acow,as the weavers were happy to get milk and butter at the fame price thef fold for in Corke. The fame rife took place on corn, potatoes, &c. Mr. Jefferys, befides the above - eftabliihments, has very much improved Blar ney Caftle and its environs ; he has formed an extenfive ornamented ground, whieh is laid out with coafiderable tafte ; an extenfive plantati on furrounds a large piece of water, and walks lead through the whole; there are feveral very pretty fequeftered fpots where covered benches are placed. '..-.' ". Accompanied Mn Jefferys, fee; to Dun- kettle, the feat of Dominick Trent, Efq; who with a liberality of fentiment which renders him D U N K E T T L E- 39 hini deferyediy efteemed, tpok every meajurel could wiftj for my information^. The roa(l leads very, beautifully on. the fide of tHe fear-, hour under a fhore of bold hills, on winch are many villas and fome plantations, ppr the' fpllp«King particulars concerning the neigh- ,bourhood, I am indebted to Jyir. Trent, Pn the fputh fide of thg river, &c. the foil if a fine limerftone ; the country level for a mile or two, then fwe||ing into very gentle hills. On the north fi^f, ^Hich is. much better planted, particularly at Lota, Dnnkettle, £sc. the grouno* rifes in pojd agents, adorned with, many beau? tifully-fituated cpuntry-houfes. IJere the ftrar tum is brown, or rather red ftone, and the fur face ftiailpw j in fome places a burning gravel. Thjre is a good deal of arable land on the fides of jhe hills. The cquVfe pf crops'; i. Potatoes, 2+ Wheat. 3. Barley or pats, 4. Lay down with feed?. jf ; Potatoes yiekl per acre from 10I to 20I. Average quantity fifty barrels, at eighteen ftone each. Land manured and let to labourers, for planting, at four or five guineas an acre. . Wheat from feven to ten barrels of twenty ftone, at 20s, a barrel j average price from. igs. to 24s. per barrel. The manures are Corke dung of the richeft kind, efpecially in the flaughteiing fea- fon j fea fand for tillage, and bank, fand from the rjver for grafs grounds. There is water- carriage to tlie eaftward for many miles : feve- ralgood quays for landing manure, particular ly 40 DUNKETTLE. ly one atGtartmire, near Dunkettle, from which the inland inhabitants draw the manure four or five miles in one-horfe carts. "Lime is alfo much ufed a,t a milling a barrel. The mea dows in this country yield from if to 3 tons of hay per acre, at 40s. to 45s. per ton on an average* Dairies are let to dairymen at 4 to 5 Guineas a cow. Many flieep are kept on the ills, but none fpldecj. The diet of the poor is potatoes arid milk, with fome fifh in the her ring and fprat feafon. Labourers houfes from 25s. to 4QS. a "year. Fuel a very little coal, the reft fupplied by bufb.es, ftolen faggots, &c. as there is no turf in this part of the country. Price of labour 6d, per day through the year, on a pinch in harveft 8d. fometimes more, but within the liberties of the city generally 8d, Women 3d. and 4d. a day m reeking corn; children from id. to 3d. in picking ftones, &c: Moft employed in country bufinefs ; a Few at fome bolting iron and paper-mills in the neigh bourhood. From fourteen acres of orchard Mr. Trent makes fixty hogfheads a year of cy der ; a clear acre of good trees about feven hogfheads. His hogs he feeds on the bull po tatoes, which yield great props without dung, and for two or three years fucceflively. September 16th, to Cove by water, from Mr. Trent's quay. The view of Lota is charming ; a fine rifing lawn from the water* with noble spreading Woods reaching on each fide; the houfe a very pleating front, with lawn fhobt- ing into the wpods. The river forms a creek between DU ;.N K E T TL E. 4^ between two hills, one Lota, theother opening tp another hill of inclofures well wooded. As the boat -leaves the fhore nothing can be finer than the view behind us ; the back woods of Lota, the houfe and. lawn, and the high bold inclofures towards Corke, form the- fineft fhore imaginable, leading to Corke the city appearing in full view, Dunkettle wooded inclofures, a fine fweep of hill, joining Mr. Hoare's at Factory^- hill, whofe woods have a beautiful effect. Dun^- kettle houfe almoft loft in a wpod. As we ad vance, the woods of Lota and Dunkettle unite in one fine mafs. The fhe.et of water, the rif-r ing lawns, the hpufe in the moft beautiful fitu, ation imaginable, with more woods above it than lawns below it, the weft fhore of Loch Mahon, a very fine rifing hill cut into inclo fures, but without wood, landlocked on every fide with high lands, fcattered with inclofures, woods, feats, &c, with. every chearful circum^ fiance of lively commerce, has all together a great effect. Advancing to Paffage the mores are various, and theicenery enlivened by four- fcore fail of large mips ; the little port pf Paf fage at the water's edge, with the hills rifing boldly above it. The channel narrows be tween the great ifland and the hills of Paffage, The fhbres bold, and the fhips fcattered about them, with the inclofures hanging behind the mafts and yards, pi&urefque. Palling the ftreights a new bafon of the harbour- opens, furrounded with high lands. Monk's-town- caftleon the hill to. the right, and the grounds of Ballybricken, a beautiful intermixed fcene of wood 42 DUNKETTLE. wood and lawn. The high. fhore of the har bour's mouth opens gradually. The whole fcene is landlocked. The firft view of Hawd- bowling-ifland and Spike-ifland, high rookyr^ lands, with the channel opening to Cove, where are a fleet of fhips at anchor, and Roftellan, Lord Inchiquin's houfe, backed with hills, a fcenery that wants nothing but theaccomnanyT-" ment of wood. The view of Ballyhrickete changes; it now appears to be unfortunately cut into right lines. Arrived at thefhip at Cove; in the evening returned, leaving Mrr Jefferys and family on hoard for a voyage to Havre, in their way to Paris. ,,.s> .,., ^., Dunkettle is one of the moft beautiful places I have feen in Ireland. It is a hill pf fome hundred acres broken into a great variety of ground, by gentle declivities, with every whej^ an undulating outline, and the whole yari^b|' a confiderable quantity of wood, which in fame places is thick enough to take the appearance; of clofe groves, in others fpreads into fcattered thickets and a variety of fingle groups. This hill, or rather clufter of hills, is furrounded on one fide by a reach of Corke harbour, over which it looks in the moft advantageous manner ; and on the other by an irignaus vale, through ^ whieh . flows the river Glanmire : the oppofite fhore of that river has every variety than can unite to form pleafing landfcape? for the views from Dunkettle grounds ; in fome places naiv row glens, the bottoms of which are quite filled with water^ and the fteep hanks covered with 5UHKETTLE,' 43 with ^hic^ woods that fpread a deep fhadej in others the »aj$ opens to form the fite of a pretty chearful village, mm hung by hill and wood t here the fhore rifes gradually into large inclofures, which fpread over the hills, ftretch-r * ing beyond each other ; and there the vale melts again into a milder variety of fields. A hill thus fituated, and epnfiiing in itfelf of fo much variety of Jwfacs, muft neeeffgrily command* many pleafing views ; to enjoy thefe to the bet ter advantage^ Mr. Trent (,than whom no one has a better tafte both to difcpyer and defcribe the beauties of natural fcenes) is making a walk around the phole, which is to bend tp the inequalities of the ground, fo as to take the principal points, in view. The whole is fo beautiful, that if I was to make the regular de-* tour, the defcriplbn might be top minute : but there are fome points which gave me fo much pleafure, that I know npt how to avoid recom- * mending to others that travel this way to tafte •the fame -fatisfaetion : from the^upper part of the orchard you look down a part of the river, where it opens into a regular bafon, one corner ftretching i?p to Cork, loft behind the hill of Lota, the lawn of which breaks on the fwelling hills among the woods ; the houfe Pbfcured, and therefore feeming a part of your home fcene ; the lofing the river behind the beautiful projection of Lota, is more pleafing than can be expreffed. Theother reach, leading to the '; the harbour's mouth, is half hidden, by the trees which margin the foot of the hill on which you ftand : in frpntvj^noJ4e range Pf cultivated -- ' "hills, 44 DUNK E T T L E. hills, the inclofures broken by flight fpots of wood, and prettily varied with houfes, without being fo crowded as to take off the rural effect: The fcene is not only beautifulin thofe common circumftances which form a landfcape, but is alive with the chearfulnefs of fhips and boats perpetually moving. Upon the whole, it is one of the moft luxuriant prbfpects I have any where feen. Leaving the Orchard pafs on the brow of a hill which forms the bank of the river of Glanmire, commanding the oppofite woods of Lota in all their beauty. Rife to the top of the high hill which joins the deer-park; and' exhibits a. fcene equally extenfive, and beautiful ; you look down on a vale which winds almoft around at your feet, finifhing to the left in Corke river, which here takes the appearance of a lake, bounded by wood and hills, and funk in the bottom of a vale, in a ftyle which painting cannot imitate ; the oppo fite hills of Lota, wood, and lawn, feem form ed as objects for this point of view : at your feet a hill rifes out of the vale, with higher ones around it, the margins fcattered wood; to the right, towards Riverftown, a vale ; the whole backed by cultivated hills to Kallahan's. field. Milder fcenes follow ; a bird's-eye view of a fmall vale funk at your, feet, through which the> river flows ; a bridge of feveral arches unites two parts of a beautiful village, the meadow- grounds of which rife gently, a varied furface of wood and lawn, to the hills of Riverftown, the whole furrounded by delicious fweeps of cultivated hills, To the left,- a wooded glen rifing D.UNKETTL E. 45 rifing from the vale to the horizon, thefcenery fequeftered, but pleafing; the oak wood which hangs, on the deer-park hill, an addition. Down tp the brow of the hill, where it hangs over the river, a picturefque interefting fpot. The in clofures on the oppofite bank hang beautifully to the eye, and the wooded glen winds up the hill. Returning to the houfe I was conducted to th? hill, where the grounds Hope off to the river of Corke, which opens to view in noble reaches of a magnitude that fills the eye and the imagination : a whole country of a character truly magnificent, and behind, the winding vale which leads between a feries pf hills tp Glan- mire. '¦¦ v,j; , Pitlures at Dunkettle. '., A St. Michael, &c. the fubject confufed, by Michael Angelo. A St. Francis on wood, a large original of Guido. A St. Cecilia, original of Romanelli. An affumption of the virgin, by L. Carracci. , A quaker's meeting, of above fifty figures, by Egbert Hemfkerk. A fea view and rock piece, by Vernet. ' A fmall flagella tion, by Sebaftian del Piombo. A madonna and child, fmall, by Rubens. The crucifixion, many figures in miniature, excellent, tho' the mafter is unknown. An excellent copy of the famous Danae of Titian, at Monte Cavallo, near Na ples, by Cioffi of Naples. Another of the Venus of Titian, at the itribuna in Florence. Another pf Venus blinding Cupid, by Titian, at the Pa lazzo Borghefe in Rome. Another of great merit 4S CASTLEMARTVr, merit of tile madonna Delia Seala' of Raphael, at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, by Stitn, a German, lately at Rome. Another bf ah hbU family, from Raphael, of Which ther'd are1 faid to be three originals, one at the king's palace in Naples, one in the palms royal In Paris, and the third in the collection of Lord Exeter,, lately purchafed at Rome. A portrait bf Sir Patrick Trent, by Sir P. Lely. An excellent portrait of a perfort unknown, by Dahl. September 17th, to Caftterhartyf , the feat bf the eafl bf Shannon, one bf the moft diftiri- guiihed improvers in Ireland, in Whbmt found the moft earneft defire to give me every fpecie^ of information, with a knowledge and ability which enabled fifth to do it ihbft effectually. Paffed through Middlefon, a well built place, whi6h belongs to the noble lord to whom it gives title. Caftlemartyr is an bid houfe, but much addend to by the prefent earl; he ha& built, befides other rooms, a dining one 32 feet lphg by 22 broad, and a drawing pne, the beft rooms I have feen in Ireland, a double cube of 25 feet, being 50 long, 25 bjrbad, and 25 high. The grounds abPut the houfe are very well laid out; much wood well grown, confiderable lawns, a river made to wind through them in a beautiful manner, an old caftle fo perfectly covered with ivy as to be a picturefque object; A winding walk leads for a confiderable dittance" along the banks of this river, and prefents Te- yeral pleafing landfcapes. But let me hafteh to objects of more importance: Lbrd Shannon's hufbandry C A a TIE U A R T Y R. 47 hufbartdry cbnfitls of many circumftahces, I, fliall begin with TURNIPS, Which Lord Shannon has cultivated upon a Very large fcales as will appear from the fol lowing particulars. His father began the cul ture many years ago, which he continued till 1770, and then went largely into it. He had every ^ear, from 1770 to 1774 both inclufive, fixteen acres, and in 1775, twenty-four. Has cultivated them in both broad caft and the drill method the rows at three feet ; but finding that the roots became too large, altered his method to eighteen inches, in order to have more of them ; the fize will be feeri by the fol lowing accountt Gaftlemart) r» December gift, 1771. ''-'•'NI this "day meafured a fquare perch of tur- nipSj 1 64- fact, drilled in rows three feet apart; thefe were 84 turnips on this perch, they weigh ed 7 cwt. 2 qrs. Which I compute to be 60 tuns to the Ertglifh acre ; and there were vacant foa- ces in the rows Within this perch where the -turnips had failed, that would have held at leaft ten large turnips more. I then pulled 84 tur nips, the largeft I could fee, within about fif teen yards of the above perch, and they weighed 15 cwt. i5qfs. 171b. which is about 125 ton, •29 cwt. 2olb. I Weighed two of the above turnips feparately, one of them a white tan kard, they each weighed 321b. The white Nop- 48 C A S T L E M A R T Y R. Norfolk was three feet eight inches in circum ference. N. B. I neither manured nor burned the ground; it was naturally good; I tilled it well, and hoeo" the crop carefully. SHANNON. One of the above turnips Lord Shannon took with him to the Dublin Society, where it Was feen by the whole city; but from my tour- through the kingdom* I am afraid it did not animate fo many as it ought. Thefe large turnips were not raifed in any peculiar fpot, but were part of a field of eight or ten acres. The application of the crop has been generally by drawing and giving them to fheep on dry paftures ; all forts of fheep, but particularly fat ewes, they fattened admirably. Finds that the great benefit of the culture is having them near a very dry field, in order to manage them as above- mentioned. . He has found that they will do exceedingly well without manuring, efpeci- allyif the land is an old rough pafture, or which wants to be broken up 5 fallowed well and tho* roughly ploughed, produces great crops. Sea weed his lordfhip has tried for them* fpread about the thicknefs of dung, and it gave pro digious products. Upon the whole, he is clear ly of opinion, that nothing can be more bene ficial to the agriculture of Ireland than intro ducing this culture, and fo well convinced of this, that he has always fhewn his crops to far mers, weighed them before thenvfhewed the cattle CASTLEMARTYR. 49 cattle fed, and took every pains to make them come into the culture, but in vain; As a pre paration of corn they are incomparabfe; he has had very great crops of barley after them, fuch as were laid with every heavy rain from luxu riance. Wheat alfo he has fown after them^ and got eight barrels an acre from feven ftone of feed. C A B B A G E S * Lord Shannon cultivated alfo : generally had five or fix acres for four or five years ; the fort the flat Dutch, and got very fine crops. Gave them to cattle of all forts, who eat them very greedily and did better upon them than upon turnips, but would not laft longer than Chriftmas, other-wife would have preferred therm- The crops of com after them neither better nor worfe than after turnips. Tried alfo the Scotch and other forts, but preferred the flat Dutch to any other. One great objection to both cab bages and turnips is the miktnefs of the feafon in Ireland, which is fo great as to burft the Cabbages, and make the turnips run to feed be fore their time. As to the grafs fpringing fo faft ill winter* as to prevent the neceflity of 'the culture, he does not find it. Cabbages muft be well manured for. POTATOES* Lord Shannon planted eighteen acres of po tatoes with the plough, manuring onty the fur- Vol'.II. D ~ rows; 50 C A STL EM ART Y R. rows ; horfeand hand-hoed them perfectly, to keep them free from Weeds; did it twice j and purpofed oftener, but the growth bf the crop was fo luxuriant that neither the horfe nor hoe could get through them. Took them up with the plough, and the crop proved exceedingly good, far better than they would have been in the common method. ¦* DRILL HUSBANDRY. Lord Shannon's expreffion of this mode to me was excellent, I read myfelfinto it, and work ed my f elf out of it. He tried it with wheat, horfe and hand-hoeing it perfectly, and got a very fine crop; an unexceptionable one for the mode, but theproduce was not equal to the common way, while theexpenfe, trouble, and attention, were endlefs, fo that he was convinced, even by his fuccefs, that it could not be a beneficial mode of Culture. For turnips alfo he prefers very much the broad-caft mode, and never be gan the drill method but as an eafe of hoeing. S O I LI N G.. Soiling horfes, &c. in fummer, with grafs mown every day, Lord Shannon has practifed greatly, and finds it highly beneficial, and particulariy for raifing great quantities of, dung. S E A- C ASTLEMARTYR. 51 SEA-SAND AND£LlME. The manures which Lord Shannon ufes are fea-fand and lime. He prefers the latter for brown flaty ftone land, and fand for lime- ftone land : has ufed great quantities , of it, though four to fix miles from the fea. Jn one month he has brought 6719 barrels of it, at jd. .a 'barrel, or 139I. 19s. 9id. ;for 6y acres, at 100 barrels an acre, and afterwards 50 more for a fecond drefling : the effect of it is very great, particularly in bringing dairies (bellis) on very poor land, and white claver when laid on good grafs lands. If a bag breaks, and fome accidentally falls on- a wafte, the man gathers it up as clear as he can, yet it is fu re to bring a patch of white clover. Lime his lordfhip burns in a long-necked kiln, which he finds to anfwer fo well, that one barrel of culm burns ten of lime. He lets the kiln, and buys the lime at is. > 4d. a barrel. Draws 26 bar rels a day. The culm 4s. a barrel. The la bourers hire id. a barrel, for quarrying, break ing, and burning. BOUNTIES. Lord Shannon's bounties to labourers a- mountto 50I. a year. He gives them by way of encouragement ; but only to fuch as can fpeak Englifh, and do fomething more than fill a cart. D 2 DITCHES. 5? CASTLEMARTYR- DITCHES. His Lordfhip has made fome ditches of ari extraordinary dimenfioh ; the following &gr ment : <* ' \ 6 f . 13 L 6i. 4f.6i. 1 12 f. IO f; u. The center of 13 feet 6 inches, is a terrafs be^ tween two ditches, broad enough to plant a hedge on each fide of it, and have a riding be tween them : it is moft completely done, and will, anfwer the dpuble p'urpofe perfectly. He is alfo doing a good deal in the following dimenfions : CO 8 feet 6 I. 00 t 3f< which cofts a fhilling; a perch, a double row 0^ quick, and a walk or ride between. L I N E N CASTL EM ARTY R. 53 LINEN MANUFACTORY. Lord Shannon eftablifhed a factory atClogh- nickelty, in the year 1769, a bleach yard of feventeen acres of land, with mills, 65c. for bleaching the pieces that are wove in the neigh bourhood. There are 94 looms at work in the, town, iool. a week laid out in yarn, and at three fairs, 1.800I. the amount of which is 7000I. a year ; the cloth chiefly coarfe : and this eftablifhment has had great effect in in creasing the manufactures in the neighbour hood. CO M P O S T S, He is exceedingly attentive in forming* com- pofts. A river runs through Caftlemartyr, part of which is often full of fand and mud ; this he empties periodically and mixes it with lime. In one field I faw larger compoft heaps of thefe materials, than I remember any where elfe to have obferved; one of thefe was 105 yards long, nine broad, and four feet high, containing cubical yards - - 1260 Another, 78 and 8 broad, and 4 feet high 832 Another, 155 by 5, and 4 feet high - 1033 Another, 76 by 5, and 4 feet high - - 506 Total - 3631 Among thefe hills were 2000 barrels, or 8000 bufhels of lime mixed : after this it is need- 2 lefs 54 , C A S T L EM. A R T Y R. lefs to fay, that he manures his land with un common fpirit. WASTE LAN D. His Lordfhip has reclaimed 109 acres of furze land, which he has eradicated; and brought to a very profitable foil. WALLING. Lord Shannon has inclofed 380 acres with a moll excellent wall, eight, feet and-a half high under the coping, and 8 inches aboveit. The Wall is two feet thick at bottom, and 18 inches at top, and cofts 4s. per perch, or' il. 16s. running meafure. B A R N. The beft built barn I have feen in Ireland is at Caftle Martyr.. The bays and threfhing floor are fourteen feet high, and over them are two ftones for granaries, the firft eight feet two inches high and the upper one eight feet nine inches, befides the roof, with a door in the cen ter of the floors, and a wheel for winding facksup. It is built in fuch a manner, the doors, &c. fo plated every where at the edges wjth iron, that it is" impoffible a moufe fhould get in or out; or that a rat fhould any where gnaw his way m. Upon clearing'it laft year about twenty* mice were found, that had been carried m in , the fheafs, a little flraw was Sd for CASTLEM ART YR. SS for them in a corner, and the barn.fhut for a fortnight, at the end of which time. they were found alive, and killed, not one being able to efcape. I have feen very fine barns built in England, on capt ftones, into which no vermin could get, unlefs carried in, but when they were carried in they had a million of ways to get out. BULLOCKS DRAWN BY THE HORNS. Lord Shannon upon going into tillage, found that the expenfe of horfes was fo great, that it eat up all the profit of the farm; which made him determine to ufe bullocks ; he did it in the common method of yokes and bows, but they performed fo indifferently, and with fuch manifeftuneafinefs, that he imported the French method of drawing by the horns ; and in order to do this effectually, he wrote to a perfon at Bourdeaux to hire him a man who was practi- fed in that method. Upon the correfpondent. being applied to, he reprefented difficulties at tending it, the man who . was fpoken to having been in Germany, for the fame purpafe. Upon which Lord Shannon gave directions that eyery thing fhould be bought and fent over which the labourer wifhed to bring with him. Accord ingly, a bullock of the beft fort, that had been worked three years, was purchafed; alfo a hay- cart, a plough, harrows, and all the tackle for harnefling them by the horns, which, with the man, were fent over. His falary was to be 400 livers a year, with board, &c. The bul lock 56 C A STL EM ARTY R. lock, 2 1 8 livres ; tackle for two bullocks, 36. Two carts, 3 14. A plough and harrow, 123, which, with other expenfes, came to 45I. 17s* and freight 1 61. 1 6s. Upon the whole, the experiment coft, from firft to laft, to bring it thoroughly to bear, about an hundred pounds. His Lordihip is perfuaded, that the firft year of his introducing it at large on his. farm^ faved him the whole. He has pur fued the me thod ever fince, and with the greateft fuccefs,. He finds the bullocks fo perfectly at their eafe, that it is a pleafuretp fee them; for firft break ing up lays, and for crofs ploughing, he ufeg four, but in all fucceeding earths, only two; nor more for the firft ploughing of ftubbies : I faw fix ploughs doing this in a wheat Hubble*; and they did it five or fix inches deep with great eafe. Upon firft introducing it, there; was a combination among all his men againfti the practice, but Lord Shannon, was determine ed to carry his point; in this matter, he followed a courfe that had all imaginable fuccefs : one lively fenfible bpy took to the; pxen, and worked them readily, His Lordihip, at once advanced this boy to eight pence a, day : this did the bufinefs at once; others- followed , the example, and fince that he has had numbers who could manage them, and plough as well as the Frenchman.. They plough an acre a day with eafe; and carry very great loads of Corn and hay, coals, pec. Four bullocks in the French cart brought twelve barrels of coals, fhip meafure, each 5 cwt. pr three tons, but the tackle, of the for? C AST L EM ARTY R. * 57 fore couple breaking, the other two drew the load above a mile to a forge. Two bf them drew 35 cwt. of flag ftone, three miles with eafe ; but Lord Shannon dpes not in common work them in this manner, three tons he thinks a proper load for four bullocks. Upon the bai liff, Mr. Bere, mentioning loads drawn by thefe oxen, that appeared tp me moft extraordinarily great, I expreffed many doubts; his Lordihip immediately ordered the French harveft cart to be loaded half a mile from the reeks : it was done; 1020 fheafs of wheat were laid on it, and two oxen drew it without' difficulty; we then weighed forty fheafs, the weight 2511b. at which rate the 1020 came to 63751b. or above three tons, which is avail Weight for two oxen to draw; I am very much in doubt whether in yoaks they would have flirred the cart fo loaded, : Lord Shannon has an excellent Way of ma naging all his cattle in one circumftance, which is to mark them on the horn with numbers, and keeps a book ruled in columns, and en graved, by which means, on turning to the number, he fees every particular of the beaft, which are inferted in the columns. He trains them for work at three to four years old, gent ly breaking them in at once, without any dif ficulty. ¦"' 4 The common hufbandry about Caftle Mar tyr, will be feen from the following account, for whieh particulars I am obliged to the atten tion 5& CrASTLEM ART Y R. tion of this patriotic nobleman, who took every1 method to have me well informed. Farms rife from one hundred to three hundred acres, but, fome to one thoufand, of. which fize Lord- Middleton has one. Farms not taken in part- nerfhip fo much as in other parts ; two or three will take a farm of thirty or forty acres,; but it is not general. The foil is various; the vale, from Carricktowel to Killay, of ten or twelve- miles long, and four over, is of lime-ftone ; the hills are brown ftone ; the loam upon it is from three inches to eight feet, ftrong,. rich and good; dry in winter, and good turnip land. Thefe lime-ftone rocks are full of cavities, and fubterraneous, paffages, fo that if you cut a drain to carry water off, and touch upon a lime-ftone rock, probably all will find its way.- Rent of the barony of Imokilly, on an average, twelve fhillings an acre ; Kilnatalton, eight fhillings. A third part of the county is wafte land, the price of which is rifen extremely- in a few years ; rent, one fhilling; the reft of the county, eight fhillings. The courfe pf crops : i. Potatoes, upon clay ground, dunged anc* ploughed at 3I. plant fix parrels at two and a half cwt. produce 50 to 100 barrels ; potatoes fell 2 s. to 4s. a barrel. 2. Wheat, fow twelve ftone, produce five barrels. 3. Oats, on one ploughing, 'fow a barrel of fourteen ftone, crop eight barrels.. Some poor CA8T.LEMARTY.R. 59 poor people, take one or two more crops" of oats. 4. Lay out for grafs from two to twelve years. They fometimes burn for potatoes, efpecially on the abfentee eftates, and get as good crops, as in the other way. Expence of an acre of potatoes. Rent — — — 3 Seed ¦ — — — o Planting and trenching, forty days of a man i Taking up and carrying home, &c — i Tythe — — — o ¦£•6 Produce. Seventy barrels at 3s. — 10 10 o Expences — — — 640 Profit - ~ £-4'. 6 0 °. 18. o o o o o" 6" o A difpute arifing upon the produce of po tatoes, Lord Shannon ordered fome foades fquare (each 54.' feet) to be taken up; and Weigh ed them; the weight, on an average, 191b. per fpade, or 108 barrels per acre, each 2521b. that is, 12 weights to the barrel, each 2ilb. Thefe were his own potatoes, and not an extra crop at all. Barley is fometimes put in infteadof oats, and 60 C A STL EM ART Y R. and bere inftead of wheat. A crop of here/ produces 10 barrels ; barley yields 8. No tur nips or rape. A few of the better farmers fow clover, but the number very inconfiderable. Flax is fown by few of the common people in patches. Paring and burning is called graf- fing and burning is pracrifed by the common farmers, upon fuch eftates as their landlords will permit. They manure with, fea fand for, corn, and fea weed for potatoes ; they will car ry them three miles from the ^a: all make com- ppfts of fand and earth. Dairies are numerous, from twenty to fifty cows- fet at 3I. a cow. The dairyman has his privilege, which is an acre of land for every ten cows, a good houfe and dairy ; a collop for every 10 cows, and will keep 8 or 10 pigs. If not paid in money, it is one cwt. of butter and 1 2s. in money. A cow that gives two gallons aday the dairyman can not rejeft : it will take three acres to a cow, but privilege and all is four acres. Very few flocks in this country ; Mr. Robert Fitz gerald has ibop tp 1500 : but the number too few to be worth mentioning. The poor, peo ple all keep a collop or two of fheep, with which t they clothe themfelves. They' plough gene rally with four horfes, fow with two, and ufe ploughs of fp bad a construction, that a man attends them with a ftrong flick leaning on the beam to keep it in the ground. -.. Land fells at twenty-five years purehafe. Rents, have not fajlen ; for very little of it is let at more than its value. Tythes are every where CASTLEMARTYR. 6i where valued by the proctor by the acre. Nb emigrations from the county of Corke. The religipn is almoft univerfally catholic. Build ing a common cabbin 5I. two of ftone, &c. for 31k i<5s. They carry half a barrel of fea fand on fiorfeback, fourteen miles from Corke to the mountains of Barrymore, and to Mr. Cop- pinger's, twenty-four miles, and it improves much for tillage : but it is carried when not to mountains in cars : it is not found to be fo good as lime, There is a woollen trade at Caftle Martyr * Mr. James Pratt in particular buys wool in Tipperary and at Ballynafloe. The beft is the Connaught j it is the fineft, and is fhort; the longeft is in the county of Carlow and Tip perary. In Carlow they keep the fheep fatten ing a year longer, after buying in Tipperary. Tipperary wool 51b; Carlow 61b. Connaught 411b* In lofting, the fine belly wool is fepa- rated, the finer will make cloth of 10s. or 12s* a yard. The back and fides are laid by for combing, the other is carded; about four fifths of the fleece is combed. Combs in his own houfe, employing 16 to 20 hands ; pays them by the ball, 3d. each of 24 oz. and they earn 8 s. a week j thefe balls are given out to the poor people to fpin,* employing above a thoufand fpinners; They fpin a ball from 1 1 to 1 3 fkain in four days, attending their fa mily befides. The value is 2s, 8d. per ball : are paid od. a ball. In this way of doing it there are not many tricks, being in general , very 62 .C ASTLEMARTrYR. very honeft. For n fkains, 8d.— 12—- 9d. •13 — iod. — 14 — rid. , They are forted and packed in packs of 180 balls, which fell at 30I. a pack. It was never known to be higher than laft year: twenty years ago it was 25T. a pack, about a fourth of what is fpun in this part of the kingdom, is worked up at home. The trade has been a rifing one for two years. . Edward Roche, Efq;. of Kildining, gave me, at Caftle Martyr, the following:; account of fome improvements he has made. Has done 250 acres of mountain, and began upon 50 of bog ; the. former with paring and burning with ploughs, at 7s. and cutting and burning, 5s. 6d. in J une, and July. Limes with the afhes, 50 bar rels per acre, at 47 gallons,«or ^^ at^d. Spread and plough in April. or May ; then fet to poor people, at 30s. an acre. They trench in po tatoes in the common way, get on an average fixty barrels, then trench in rye or black oats, fix men tp an acre; crops fix barrels of rye, 20 ftone per barrel, at 7s. or 8s. and black oats, 1 p kilderkins, at 1.1 ftone ; then white oats, 8 barrels, fow grafs feeds one barrel, with them, and 81b. white clover, and 2 lb. rib-grafs. The land before not 6d. an acre, could let it now at 7 s. Ploughs with fix bullocks firft, and four afterwards. Potatoeitalks he carries to his pound, .but in general are left in heaps in the field, and are a nuifance to ploughing. In Wicklow, they bleed- their, horfes and cows, ,and mix . the , blood with, meal for food. From C.A S T L E M A R Y. &\ From Caftle Martyr, September 20, to Caftle Mary, the feat of — - . Longfield, Efq; who keeps a great quantity of land in his hands. Has cultivated the potatoes, called here bulls, that is, the Englifh clufter, very much' for cat tle, but nobody will eat them ; he has from fix to eleven acres yearly : plants them in the common manner, and gets 120 barrels an acre, of 20 ftone each. I faw a fpade of five feet and a half fquare, dug the produce 231b. on very poor land. On fand and fea weed the fame fpace pf London ladies, weighed 27 lb. Ma nures for them with fea fand and weed, but not with dung 5 gives them to his hprfes and bullocks: and when he gives his horfes pota toes, they have no pats. It is furprifing to fee how fond horfes are of them ; they do very well On themraw, but the beft way is to boil them, as they will then fatten the hprfes. The bul locks are equally fondof them, and will follow him to eat them out of his hand. Sheep are the fame, and will get into the fields to fcrape them up : upon the whole, Mr. Longfield is per- fuaded that no root or crop in the world is more beneficial to a farmer than this potatoe, fo that he fhould have continued in turnips, which he has cultivated largely but has found this , root fo perfectly ufeful, that he has ex perienced the abfolute dependence which may be placed on them for winter .provifion of all forts. And what is of infinite confequence, the culture may be extended to what quantity you pleafe* without the afliftance of dung, with out which other potatoes, cannot be managed. Mr. 64 R O S T E L L A R/ Mr. Longfield eftablifhed the tinen manu facture here three years agO? by building a bleach mill and bleach gredn ; he has 14 looms conftantly at work upon his own account, who are paid for what they manufacture by the yard. The fort generally made is frbm 0oo to 1400, and makes 650 pieces of 25 yards length, annually; fells,, at prefent; from 23s. to 30s. a piece. The factory employs 50 hands j bleaches great quantities for the poor people. A great many weavers are fcattered about the country, who bring their webs, &c. to be bleached here. The flax is raifed, and the yarn fpun at Clanikilty and Rofs, &c. in the weft of the county. No woollert manufacture is carried on in this country; Mr. Longfield has always ploughed with oxeni which he has found far more advantageous than horfes. Glover he has cultivated long with very great fuccefSj and finds it highly beneficial. The county of Corke two-thirds wafte, at a very low or no rate, the other third at 15s* September 21 ft to Roftellan, the feat of Lord Inchiquin, commanding a beautiful view of Corke harbour, the fhips at Cove, the great ifland, and the two others which guard the opening of the harbour. It appears here a noble bafon of feveral miles extent, furrounded with high grounds, which want no other ad dition but woods. This view is feen in great perfection from the windows of two very good rooms, 25 by 35, whieh his Lordfhip has built in addition to the old caftle. From e O R K E. 65 ;E|om Roftellan to Lota, thefeat of Frederick Rogers, Efq; I had before feen it in the high- eft perfection from the water going from Dun kettle to Cove, and from the grounds of Dun kettle. Mrs.-Rogers was fo obliging as to fhew me the back -grounds, which are admirably wooded, and of a -fine varied furface. Got to .Cocke in the evening, and waited on theDean, who received me with the moft flat tering attention. Corke is one of the moft po pulous places I have ever been in ; it was market- .day, and I could fearce(drive throughthe.ftxeets, they were fo amazingly thronged : on the other .days, the number is very great. I fhould fup- ppfe itmuft refemble a Dutch town, fpr there ,are many -canals in the ftreets, with quays be fore the houfes. The beft built part is Morri- fon's Ifland, which promifes well 5 the old part of the: town is very clofe and dirty. As to its commerce, the following particulars I owe to Robert Gordon, Efq; the furveyor general. Average of nineteen years export,- ending ¦J^Iarcb-24., 1773. 'Hidesj at il. each — — , — 64,000 Bay and' wopUen yarn — — .29,4,000 Butter, at 30s. per cwt. from 56s. to 72s. — 180,000 Beef, at 20s. a barrel — — -' 291,970 CambletSjtlerges, &c. — — 40,000 Candles — ¦ — — 34,220 Carried over — — ^.904,190 , , Soap Vol. II. E 66 COR K E. Brought over • 904.190 Soap - - ~ 2G'000 ' Tallow _ - - ^>000 Herrings, 1810 3S,oool, all their own — 21,000 Glue, 20 to 25,000 — — 22,000 Pork 64,000 Wool to England — ~r — 14,000 Small exports, Gottenburgh herrings, horns, hoofs, &c, feather-beds, palliafles, feathers, &c. 35>°°o £. 1,100,190 1 Average prices of the 19 years on the cuftom books. All exports on thofe books are rated at the value of the reign of Charles the Se cond; but the imports have always 10 per cent, on the fworn price added to them. Se venty to eighty fail of fhips belong to Corke. Average of fhips that entered that port in thofe 19 years, 872 per annum. The number of people at Corke muftered by the clergy, by hearth-money, and by the number of houfes, payments to minifter, average of the three, 07,000 fouls, if taken before the ift of Sep tember, after that 20,000 increafed. There are 700 coopers in the town. Barrels, all of oak or beech, all from America : the latter for herrings, now from Gottenburgh and Norway. The excife of Corke now no more than in Charles the Second's reign. Ridi culous ! Cork old duties, in 1751, produced £. 62,000 Nowthe&me * i4o,ooo Bullocks CORKE. 67 Bullocks 1 6,000 head, 32,000 barrels ; 41,000 hogs, 20,000 barrels. Butter 22,000. Firkins of half a hundred weight each, both increafe this year, the whole being 240,000 firkins of butter 120,000 barrels of beef. Export of woollen yarn from Corke, 300,0001. a year in the Irifh market. No wool fmug- gled, or at leaft very little. The wool comes to Corke, &c. and is delivered out to combers, who make it into balls. Thefe balls are bought up by the French agents at a vaft price, and exported ; but even this does not amount to 40,000 1. a year. Prices. Beef, 2 is. per cwt. never fo high by 2s. 6d. Pork, 30 s. never higher than 18 s. 6d. owing to the army demand. Slaughter dung, 8d. . for a horfe- load. Country labourer 6d. about town 10 d. Milk 7. pints a penny. Coals 3 s. 8 d. to 5 s. a barrel, 6 bf which make a ton. Eggs 4 a penny. Corke labourers. Cellar ones 20,000; have is. 1 d. a day, and as much bread, beef and beer, as they can eat and drink, and 71b. of offals a week for their families. Rent for their houfe, 40 s. Mafon and Carpenters labourers rod. a day. Sailors, now, 3 1. a month and fhip provifions : before the American war, 28s. E 2 .Porters 68 CORKE. Porters and coal-heavers paid by the great. State of the poor people in general incompa rably better off than they were 20 years ago. There are imported 18,660 barrels annually of Scotch herrings, at 18 s. a barrel. The fait for the beef trade comes from Lifbon, St, Ube's, &c. The fait for the fifh trade from Rochelle ; for butter Englifh and Irifh. Particulars "of the woollen fabridks of the county of Corke received from a manufac turer. The woollen trade, ferges and camb lets, ratteens,' frizes, druggets, and riarfoW cloths,' the laft they make to 10s. and 12 s. a yard; if they mighr export to 8s. they are very clear that they could get a great trade 'for the woollen manufactures, of Corke; the wool comes from ; Gal way and Rofcommon, combed- here by combers, who earn 8s. to 10 s. a week into balls of 24 ounces, which is fpun into worfteds, of twelve fkairts to the ball, and exported to Yarmouth" for Nor wich ; the export price, 30 1. a pack, to 33I. never before fo high ^average of them 26 1. to 30 1. Some they Work up at homeinto ferges, Huffs, and camblets ; the: ferges at i2d. a yard, 34 inches wide ; the fluffs fixteen inches, at i'8d. the camblets at nine-pence halfpenny to thirteen pence; the fpinners at nine-pence a ball, one in a week ; or a ball and half twelve- pence a week, and attend the family befides; this is done moft in Waterford and Kerry, particularly near Killarney ; the weavers earn is. a day on an average. Full three-fourths of CORKE. 60 of the wool is exported in yarn, and only one- fourth wpfth worked up. Half the wool of Ireland is combed in the County bf Corke. A very great manufacture of ratteen s at Carric-on-fure, the bay worfted is for ferges, fhalloons, &c. Woollen yarn for coarfe cloths, which latter have been loft for fome years, owing to the high price of wool!, The bay export has declined fince 1770, which declen- fipn ic owing to the high price of wool. No wool fmuggled, not even from Kerry, not a Hoop's cargo in twenty years, the price too high ; the decienfibn has been cohfidef- able. For every 86 packs that are exported, a licence from the Lord Lieutenant, for which 20 1. is paid. From the act of the laft feflions of Great Britain for 'exporting woollen goods for the troops in the pay of Ireland, Mr. Abraham Lane , 'of Corke, eftablifhed a new- manufae*- ture of army, cloathing for that purpofe, which is the firft at Corke, and pays 40 1. a week in labour only. Upon the whole there has been no increafe of woollen manufacture within 20 years. Is clearly of opinion that many fabricks might be worked up here much cheaper than in France, of cloths that the French have beat the Englifh out of; thefe are, particularly, broad- cloths of one yard and half-yard wide, from 3s. to 6 s. 6d, a yard for 70 CORKE. for the Levant trade. Frizes which is now fupplied from Carcaflbne in Languedoc. Frizes of 24 to 27 inches, at iod. to 13d. a yard. Flannels, 27 to 36, from 7^ to i4d. Serges of 27 to 36 inches, at jd. to i2d. a yard; thefe would work up the coarfe wool. At Bally nafloe fair, in July, 2oo,oool. a year bought in wool. There is a manufactory of knit-flocking by the common womeri about Corke, for eight or ten. miles around ; the yarn from 1 2d. to i8d.a pair, and the worfted, from i6d. to 2od. and earn from 12 d. to i8d, a week. Befides their own confumption, great quantities are fent to the north of Ireland, All the weavers in the country are con fined to towns, have no land, but fmall garr dens. Bandle or narrow linen, for home confumption, is made in the weftern part of the county. Generally fpeaking, the circum ¦» fiances of all the manufacturing poor are bet ter than they were twenty years ago. The manufactures have not declined, though the exportation has, owing to the increafed home confumptions. Bandpn was once the feat of the fluff, cambiet, and fhag manufacture, but has in feven years declined above threes fourths. Have changed it for the manufac ture of coarfe green linens, for the Lpndon market, from 6d. to gd, a yard, 27 inches wide ; but the number of manufacturers in general much leffened. September C O O L M O R E. 71 September 2 2d, left Corke, and proceeded to Coolmore, the feat 6f the Rev. Archdeacon Oliver, who is the capital farmer of all this neighbourhood ; no perfon could be more defirous of procuring me the information I wifhed, nor any more able to give it me. Mr. Oliver began the culture of turnips four years ago, and found them fo profitable that he has every year had a field of them in fne broad-caft method, and well hoed. This year they are exceedingly fine, clean, and well hoed, fo that they would be no difgrace to a Norfolk farmer. This is the great object, wanting in Irifh tillage ; a gentleman, there fore, who makes fo confiderable a progrefs in it, acts in a manner the moft deferving praife that the whole circle of his hufbandry will admit. Mr. Oliver has ufually drawn his crops for fheep and black cattle ; for the former he has fpread them upon grafs fields to their very great improvement ; and the cattle have had them given in ftalls. All forts have done perfectly well on them, infomuch that he is fully convinced of their great importance : he has found that they fupport the cattle much better than any thing elfe, fo fuch a degree of fuperiority, he is deteu- mined never to be without a crop. He has always dunged for them, except when he has ploughed up a grafs lay, and then he has found it not neceflary. , In 72 C O O L M O R E. In bringing in furzy wafte larid he has improved, very extenfively. One inflance in particular I (hall., mention, becaufe it is the beft preparation for laying land to grafs that I have met with in Ireland : he? firft dug r it and . put "in potatoes, no manure, the crop middling ; and after that cleared it of ftones* which were in great numbers, and fowed tur* nips, of which crop the1 following are the particulars. >, ... ¦ -j <¦ '* " In November 1.771, the Rev, Archdeacon John Oliver (athi&refiden'ce i,; the coiinty of Corke) began to cultivate a field for turnips and cabbages ; the field contained about 40 Englifh acres, .but was fo. full of rocks that only about ten or eleven plantation acres could be tilled^ the remainder- being a lime*. ftone quarry ; the furface in the pact tilled, in general, not above four inches deep, and ' iri the deepeft part not above twelve, inches over the lime-ftone quarry ; this ground was planted with potatoes the fpring preceding., without any manure, and all done with the fpade, and in many ;parts there, was not fufficient covering for them. The plough ing for turnips and 'cabbages was. finifhed the. latter end of December; it remained in that ftate till the month of March following (1772,) when a. large quantity of ftones were taken out with crows and fpades; it was then ploughed a fecond time, then har rowed with very ftrong harrows made on purpofe; about the latter end of May it was rolled C O O L M O R E. 73 rolled with a wooden roller ; on the nth, 12th, and 13th of June, it was fowed with about one pound and a quarter of feeds to the Englifh acre. When the turnips were in four leaves there appeared more fern and potatoes than turnips, which were weeded out by hand, at a great expenfe; and in about three weeks after, when the turnips began to bottom, they got a fecond weeding as before, after which they were again thinned by hand ; thefe diffe rent operations were continued till the turnips were about a pound weight, and then they were thinned again, and weeded as often as there was occafioo, and now it is imagined they are as great a crop as any in the kingdom, fome thoufands weighing fourteen pounds per turnip. Part of the fame field is fowed in drills, thinned and weeded as the other, but they are not equal to the broad caft, but are a Very good- crop. Another part of the fame field is planted with 20,300 cabbages of diffe rent kinds, namely, the flat Dutch, borecole, large late Dutch cabbage, turnip-cabbage, and large Scotch cabbage, at three feet between each drill, and two feet in the rows, which is at leaft one foot too near in the drills, and half a foot in the rows, as they now touch one another this 13th Of October. All the faid cabbages and turnips were cultivated with the plough, and the cabbages hoed with the garden h6es, and manured moftly with rotten dung ; part with horfe-dung, not half rotten, from the ftable; part with cow-dutfg, not rotten; part with fea-flob and lime mixed; all which ma nures 74 C O O L M O R E. nures anfwer very well. One fmall part of the field where the cabbages were planted, was broke from the lay laft March, got fix plough-; ings and five harrowings; another part four. ploughings and three harrowings. The quantity of ground under turnips is 8 a. i r. 10 p. Under cabbages 2 a. i r. 10 p. The turnip ground got no manure of any kind, nor was it burned. ; The foregoing improvements were conduct" ed under the immediate care and manage ment of MAURICE MURRAY." After thefe turnips he fowed barley, and with the barley, grafs feeds ; before this improve ment the land was worth 10s. an acre, but 4fter it would let for 25s. the grafs having fucceed- ed perfectly. Cabbages Mr. Oliver has alfo cultivated thefe four years, and with fuccefs, but does not find, upon the whple, they fuc- ceed fo well as turnips, except Reynolds* tur nip-rooted cabbage, which is of very great ufe late in the fpring, after other forts are gone. Beans Mr. Oliver has alfo tried in fmalkquan- tities, and feem to do pretty well ; I faw his crop this year drilled and well managed, and a good produce, enough to give him the expecta tion of their being an advantageous article. Lucerne he has alfo tried, but found the trouble of keeping it clean too great to anfwer the cul tivation. C O O L .M O R E. y5 tivation. Upon manures he has tidied an ex periment, which promifes to be of confider- able confequence ; upon fome land he took in from a creek of Corke harbour, un der the flob or fea ooze he dug fome very fine blue marie ; this he tried for potatoes againft dung; the crops to appearance very equal, but upon meafuring afptide of each, the part marled yielded 141b. but that dunged only 74th. but the dunging was not a confiderable one. It is an object of prodigious confequence to be able to get potatoes at all with marie. In the cul tivation of this root Mr. Oliver has introduced the mode of planting them in drills, two feet and a half afunder, with the plough, and found that the faving of labour is exceedingly great, but that the difference of crop is rather in fa vour of the common method : an acre which yielded 1005 weights, the drilled 822, but fav ing in the feed of the drilled 60 weights, each weight 2 lib. Mr. Oliver has juft taken a farm of 400 acres of land, wafte or exhaufted by the preceding tenant by inceffant crops of corn ; this land was rented as is. 6d. an acre, but Mr. Oliver has tried it at 1 5s. and is at prefent engaged in making very great improvements on it; drain ing the wet parts, grubbing furze, fallowing, liming, inclofing, and building offices, doing the whole in the moft perfect manner, and will foon make the farm carry an appearance very different from what it ever did before. His fallows for wheat had been well and often ploughed, 76 COOL^ M O R E. ploughed, and of a countenance very different from any lands in the neighbourhood. : , A year after the date of this journey, having the pleafure of being again with. this excellent improver, I had a farther opportunity of be coming ¦ better acquainted with his manage ment. I had alfo gone over an improvement pf his at Duntreleague, near Mitchelflown, where he advanced 300 acres of mountain from 50I, or 60I. a year to 300I. a year, having hired it on a leafe for ever; he divided the whole in fields of a proper fize by well-made ditches, doubly planted with quick and roWs of trees-; the lands were improved with lime, laid down to grafs, and let to tenants who pay their rents well ; but Mr. Oliver refidlng ata diftance, the trees were very much damaged and hurt by the tenants cattle. To all appearance this im provement was as completely finifhed as any in Ireland, and the great profit arifing from the undertaking induced the archdeacon to at tempt, his new one I mentioned above. In that I found a very great progrefs made : befides an excellent barn of ftone and flate, there was a fleward's houfe, flables, &c. and a good farm yard, walled in ; and it was with particular pleafure 1 faw (it was in winter) a large num ber of cows and young cattle very well litteredin it with ffraw,, and feeding on turnips a thick layer of fea-.fand having been fpread all over it. The improvement and cultivation of the farm went on apace, efpecially the liming ; the kiln had been burning a twelvemonth, in which time the expenfe had been as follows : 364 barrels C O O L M O R E. 7j 364 barrels of culm, at 4s. . - ¦ ., 73 o o The quarry is 1 ^ mile Englifti from the ikiln j two 'horfes and two men drawing ftone, at 18s. a week', - - - -' - ,46, .16, o T.wp/mten quarrying, 5s. a week to one, and, 3s. a Week to the other - - 20 16 o Breaking -ah;d burning, 8s. a week - - 29 16 o. Gunpowder, is. a month ..,-', _T .. ,-- o 12 o 24 waggon-load of coal cinders, bought at Corke,. at 1 os. - - - -1200 , improvable K I L L, A- R N E Y. 91 improvable I have any where feen. It hangs to the fouth, and might be drained with the utmoft eafe. Jt yields a coarfe grafs, and has nothing in it to flop a plough. Lord Shel- burne's agent, Mr. Wray, told me, that there are vaft tracts of fuch in the barony of Iveragh. There is common gravel on the fpot, and lime- ftone in plenty, within half a mile of Nedeen. Soon entered the wiideft and moft romantic country I had any where feen ; a region of fteep rocks and. mountains, which continued for nine or ten miles, till I came in view of Mucrufs, There is fomething magnificently Wild in this ftupendous fcenery, formed to im- prefs the mind, with a certain fpecies of terror. All this tract has a rude and favage air, but parts of it are ftrikingiy interesting ; the moun tains are bare and' rocky, and of a great mag nitude ; the vales are rocky glens, where a mountain-ftream tumbles along the rougheft bed imaginable, and receives many torrents, pouring from clefts, half overhung withfhrub- by wood; fome of thefe ftreams are feen, and the roar of others heard, but hid by vaft maffes of rock. Immenfe fragments, torn from the precipices byftorms'and torrents, are tumbled about in the wiideft confufion, and feem to hang rather than reft, upon projecting precipi ces. Upon fome of thefe fragments oi rock, perfectly detached from the foil, except by the fide on which they lie, are beds of black turf, with luxuriant crops of heath, ccc. which ap peared very curious to me, having no where '' i feen 92 K I L L A' R N E Y. feen the like ; and I obferved very high' in the mountains, much higher than any cultivation is at prefent, on the right hand, flat and clear ed fpaces of good grafs among the ridges of rock, which had probably been cultivated, and proved that thefe mountains were not inca pable from climate of being applied to ufeful purpofes. From one of thefe heights, I looked forward, to the lake of Killarney at a confiderable di- flance, and backward to the river Kenmare; came iri view of a fmall part of the upper lake, fpotted with feveral iflands, and furrounded by the moft tremendous mountains that can be imagined of an afpect favage and dreadful. From this fcene of wild magnificence, I broke at once upon all the glories of Killarney; from an elevated point of view I looked down on a confiderable part of the lake, which gave me a fpecimen of what I might expect. The wa ter you command (which, however, is only a part of the lake) appears a bafon of two or three miles round ; to the left it is inclofed by the mountains you have paffed particularly by the Turk, whofe outline is uncprnmonly noble, and joins a range of others, that form the moft magnificent fhore in the world: on the other fide is a rifing fcenery of cultivated hills, and Lord Ken mare's park and woods ; the end of the lake at your feet is formed by the root. of Mangerton, on- whofe fide the road- leads. From hence I looked dpwn on a pretty range ¦-'-¦¦ ; ¦ '• • "¦¦'- of K\ ILL A R.N, E- Yv 9£ of inclofures on the lake, and the woods and lawns of Mucrufs, forming a large promontory"- of thick wood, fhopting far into theiake. The moft active fancy can fketch nothing in addi tion; Iflands of wood beyond feem to join it, and reaches of the ; lake, breaking partly be tween, give the . moft lively intermixture of water : fix or feven ifles and iflets form an ac- cpmpan.yment, fonie are rocky, but with a flight vegetation} others contain groups of trees, and the whole, thrown into forms, which would furnifh new ideas to a painter. Farther- is a chain, of wooded iflands, which alfo .appear to join the mam land,;. with 'an offspring of lefier ones fcattered abound. Arrived at Mr. Herbert's at Mucrufs, to whofe friendly attention I owed my fucceed- ing pleafure. There have been fo many de- fcriptions of Killarney written by gentkmen who have refided fome time there, and feen it at every feafpn, that for a palling traveller to attempt tfie like, would be in vain ; for this reafon I fhall give the mere journal of the rer marks! made on the fpot, in the order I view ed the lake. September '27th, -walked into. Mr. Herbert's beautiful grounds, to Oroch's hill, in the lawn that he has cleared from that prof ufion of ftones whkh lip under the wall; the fcene which this point commands is truly delicious ; the houfe is on the edge of the lawn, by a wood which covers the whole peninfula, fringes the flope at your 94 K I L L A R N ET Y. your feet, and forms a beautiful fhore to the lake. Tomis and Glena are vaft mountainous ma-Fes of incredible magnificence, the out line foft and eafy in its fwells, whereas thofe above the eagle's neft are of fo broken and abrupt an outline, that ribthing can be imagin ed more favage, an afpeet horrid and fublime, that gives all the impreffions to be Wifhed to aftonifh, rather than pleafe the mind. The Turk exhibits noble features, and Mangertonte huge body rifes above the whole. The culti vated tracts towards Killarney, form a fhore in contraft to the terrific fcenes I have juft men tioned; the diftant boundary of the lake, a vaft ridge of diftant blue mountains towards Dingle. From hence entered the garden, and viewed Mucrufs abbey, one of the moft irtter- efting fcenes I ever faw ; it is the ruin of a con fiderable abbey, built in Henry the Vlth's time, and fo entire, that if it were more fo, though the building would be more perfect, the ruin Would be lefs pleafing ; it is half obfcuredin th6 fhade of fome venerable afh trees ; ivy has givert! the picturefque circumftance, which that plant alone can confer, while the broken walls and ruined turrets throw over it The laft' mournful graves of decay, heaps of fculls and bones1 fcattered about, with' nettles, briars and weeds fproutirtg in tufts from the loofe ftones, all unite to rah% thofe melancholy impreffions, which are the merit of fuch fcenes, and which cart fearcely arty where 2 be K f L : L A R N E Y. 95 be felt more completely. The cloifters form a diftrtal aredj ¦ in the center of which grows the moft prodigious yew tree I ever beheld, in one great ftem, two feet diameter, and fourteen feet high; frorri whence a vaft head of branches fpreads on every fide, fo as' to form a perfect canopy to the whole fpace; I looked for its fit inhabitant— it is a fpot where The vioping owl doth to the moon complain. This ruin is in the true ftile in which all fuch buildings mould appear ; there is not an in* truding circumftance — the hand of drefs has not touched it — 'melancholy is the impreflion which fuch fcenes fhould^ kindle, and it is here raifed moft powerfully. From the abbey we paffed to the ter- rafs, a natural' one of grafs, on the very fhore1 of the lake; it is irregular and wind ing ; - a. wall of rocks broken into fantaftic forms' by the waves : on the other fide, a wood, coniifting of all forts of plants, which the cli mate can protect, and through which a variety of walks are traced. The view from this ter- rafs confifts of. many parts of various charac ters, but in their different ftiles complete; the lake opens a fpreading fheet of water, f potted by rocks and iflands, all but one or two wood ed, the Outlines' of them are fharp and diftinctj nothing can be more fmiling than this fcene, foft and-'mild, a perfect contraftof beauty to the fublimity of the mountains which form the ;j(hore: 06 K I L h A R N Er Y; fhore: thefe rife in an outline; fo varied; and at the fame time fo magnificent, that nothing greater can be imagined ; Tomys arid Glena ex hibit an immenfity in point of magnitude, but from a large hanging wood on the flope, arid from the fmoottmefs of the general furface, , it has nothing favage, whereas the mountains above and near the EagleVneft ar£ of the moft broken outlines ; the declivities are bulging rocks, of immenfe fize, which feem to impend in horrid forms over the lake, arid Where an opening among them is caught, others of the fame rude . character* rear their threatening heads; From different parts of the terrafs thefe fcenes are viewed in numberlefs va-; rieties. Returned to breajkfafl, and pUrfued Mr. Herbert's new toad, which he has traced thro' the peninfula to Dynis ifland, three miles in length ; and it is carried in fo judicious a manner through a great variety of ground*, rpcky woods, lawns, &c, that nothing can ha more pleafing ; it paffes through a remarkable fcene of rocks, which are covered with woods; irom thence to the marble quarry, which Mr< Herbert is working ; and where he gains va riety of marbles, green, red, white, and brown* prettily veined; the quarry is a fhore of rocks, which furround a bay of the lake, and forms a fcene, confifting of but few parts, but thofe ftrongly marked; the rocks are bold, and broken into flight caverns ; they are fringed .with fcattered trees, and from many parts of :i 3 them K t L 1 . A' R N E Y. 97 them wood fhoots ; in that romantic manner, fo common at Killarney. Full in front Turk mountain rifes with the proudeft outline, in that abrupt .magnificence which fills up tha whole fpace before one, and clofes the fcene. The road leads by a place where copper- amines were worked ; many fhafts appear; as" much ore was raifed as fold for twenty-five thoufand pounds, but the works were laid afide, more from ignorance in the workmen^ than any defects in the mine. . Came to an , opening on the, Great Lake^ Which appears to advantage here, the town of Killarney on the north-eaft fhore. Look full on the mountain Glena, which rifes in a very hold manner, the hanging woods' fpread half way, and are of great extent, and uncommonly beautiful. Two very pleafing fcenes fueceed, that to the left is a fmall bay* hemmed in by a neck of ; land in front; the immediate fhore rocks, which are- in a picturefque ftile, and crowned entirely with arbutus, and other wood^ a pretty retired fcene, where a variety of ob- - jeers give no fatigue to the eye, The other is an admirable mixture of the beautiful an&fub- lime : a bare rock, of an almoft regular figure, projects from a headland into the lake, which i with much wood and high land, forms One fide of the fcene, the other is wood from a rifing ground only ; the lake open between, in a fheet of no great extent, but in front is the Vol. II. G . hanging 98 K I' L L A R N E Y, hanging wood of Glena, which appears in foil glory. Mr, Herbert has built a handfome Gothic bridge, to unite the peninfula to the ifland of Brickeen, through the arch of which the waters of the north and fouth lake flow. It is a fpan of twenty-feven feet, and feyenteen high, and- over it the road leads to that ifland. From thence to Brickeen nearly finifhed, and it is to be thrown acrofs a bottom into Dynifs. Returned by the northern path through a. thick wood; for fome diftance, and caught a very agreeable view of Afh Ifland, feen through an opening, inclofed on both fides with wood, Purfued the way from thefe grounds to Keelbeg, and viewed the bay of the Devil's Ifland, which ' is a beautiful one, inclofed by a fhore, to the right of very nob,le rocks, in ledges and other forms, crowned in a ftriking manner with wood ; a little rocky iflet rifes in front ; to the left the water opens, and Turk mountain rifes With that proud fuperiority which attends him in all thefe fcenes. The view pf the promontory of Dindog, near this place, clofes this part of the lake, and is indeed Angularly beautiful. It is a large rock, which fhoots far into the water, of a height fufEcient to be interefting; in full relief, fringed with a fcanty vegetation; the fhore on which, you ftand bending to the right, as if to meet that rock, prefents a circular fhade of dark wood: KILLARNEY. 99 wood : Turk flill the back ground, in a cha racter of great fublimity, and Mangerton's loftier fummit, but lefs interefting outline, a part of the fcenery. Thefe views, with others of lefs moment, are connected by a fucceffion of lawns breaking among the wood, pleafing the eye with lively verdure, and relieving it from the fatigue of the flupendous mountain fcenes. September 28th, took boat on the lake, from the promontory of Dindpg before mentioned. I had been under a million of apprehenfioris that I mould fee no more of Killarney ; for it blew a furious ftorm all night, and irt the morning fhe bofom of the lake heaved with agitation, exhibiting few marks but thofe of anger. After breakfaft, it cleared up, the clouds difperfedby degrees, the waves fubfided, the fun fhone out in all its fplendor ; every fcerie was gay, and no ideas but pleafure ppf- fefied the breaft. With thefe emotions Tallied forth, nor did they difappoint us. Rowed under the rocky fhore of Dindog, which is romantic to a great degree. The bafe* by the beating of the waves, is worn mto ca verns, fo that the heads of the rocks project confiderably beyond the bafe, and hang over in a manner which makes every part of it inter-r efting. Following the coaft, open marble quarry bay, the fhore great fragments of rock tumbled about in the wiideft manner. G 2 The ioo K I L L A R N E Y. The ifland of rocks againft the copper-mine fhore, a remarkable group, The more near Gafemiran is of a different nature; it is Wood in fome places, in unbroken maffes doWn to the water's ' edge, in Others divided from it by f mailer tracts "of rock. Come to a beautiful land-locked bay, furrounded by a woody fhore,: which opening in places, fliews. other woods more retired. Tomys is here viewed in a, unify of form, which gives it an air of great magni ficence. Turk was obfcured by the fun fhining immediately above "him* and cafting a ftream Qf burning light on the water, difplayed art effect, to defcribe which the pencil or a Claude alone would be equal. Turn put of the bay, and gain a full view of the Eagle's Neft, the moun tains above it, and Glena, they form a perfect contrail, the firft are rugged, but Glena mild. Here the fhore is a continued wood.' Pafs the bridge, and crofs to Dynifs; art if land Mr1. Herbert has improved in the moft agreeable' manner, by cutting walks through it, that command a variety of views.' One of thefe paths on the banks of the channel to the upper lake, is fketched with great tafte ; it is on one fide Walled with natural rocks, from the clefts of which fhoot a thoufand fine arbu tus's, that hang in" a rich foliage of flowers and fcarkt berries ; a turf bench in a delicious fpot j the fcene clofe and fequeftered, juft enough to give every pleating idea annexed to retirement. Paffing the bridge, by a rapid ftream, came prefently to the Eagle's Neft: having viewed this K I L L A R N E Y. roi this rock from places where it appears only a part of an object much greater than itfelf, I had conceived an idea that it did not deferve the applaufe given it, but upon coming near, I was much unprized ; the approach- is won derfully-fine* the riverieads directly to its foot, and does not give the turn till iinmediately un der, by which means- the view is much" more grand than it could otherwife be ; it is nearly perpendicular, and rifes in fuch full majefty, with fo bold an outline, and fuch projecting maffes in its center, that the magnificence of the object is complete. The lower part is co vered wfth wood, and fcattered trees climb al- moft to the top, which (if trees can be amifs in Ireland) rather weaken the impreffion raif- ed by this noble rock; this part is a hanging wood, or an object whofe character is perfect beauty ; but the upper fcene, the broken out line, rugged fides, and bulging maffes, are all fublime, and fo powerful, that fublimity is the general impreflion of the whole, by overpow ering the idea of beauty raifed by the wood, The immenfe height of the mbuntains °f Kil larney may be eftimated by this rock, from any , diftant place that commands it, it appears the loweft crag of a vaft chain, andof no account $ but on a clofe approach it is found to com* mand a very1 different refpect. Pafs between tfie mountains called the Great Range, towards the upper lake. Here Turk, which has folong appeared, with a figure per fectly interefting, is become, from a different pofition,, 102 K I L L A R N. E Y. pofition, an unmeaning lump< The reft of the mountains, as you pafs, affume a varied ap pearance, and are of a prodigious magnitude, The fcenery in this channel is great arid wild in all its features; wood is very fcarce; Vaft rocks feem toffed in confufion through the riar* fow vale, which is opened among the moun tains for the river to pafs. Its banks are rocks in a hundred forms ; the mountain fides are every where fcattered with them. There is not a circumftance but is in unifon with the wild grandeur of the fcene. m Coleman's Eye, a narrow pafs* opens a dif* ferent fcenery. Came to. a region in which the beautiful and the great are mixed .without of fence. The iflands are moft pf them thickly wooded ; Oak ifle in particular rifes on a pretty bafe, arid is a moft beautiful pbject : Mac Giily Cuddy's reeks, with their broken paints ; Baum, with his perfect cone ; the Purplte mountain, with his broad and more regular head ; and Turk, having afTumed a new and more inter* efting afpect, unite witlr the oppofite hills, part of which have fame wood left on them* to form a fcene uncommonly ftriking. Here you look back on a very peculiar fpot ; it is a parcel of rocks which crofs the lake, and form a gap that opens to diftant water* the whole backed by Turk, in a ftile of the higheft grandeur. Come to Deny Currily, which is a great fweep of mountain, covered partly with wood, hanging KILLARNEY. 103 hanging in a very noble manner, but part cut down, much of it mangled, and the reft inha bited by coopers, boat-builders, carpenters, and turners, a facrilegious tribe, who have turned the Dryades from their ancient habita tions. The cafcade here is a fine one, but paffed quickly from hence to fcenes unmixed with pain. Row to the duller of the Seven Iflands, a little archipelago ; they rife very boldly from the water upon rocky bafes, and are crowned in the moft beautiful manner with wood, among which are a number of arbutus ; the channels among them, opening to new fcenes, and the great amphitheatre of rock and mountain that furround them, unite to form a nobk View. Into the river, at the very end of the lake, which winds towards Mac Gilly Cuddy's Reeks in fanciful meanders. Returned by a courfe fomewhat different, through the Seven Iflands, and back to the Eagle's Neft, viewing the fcenes already men tioned in new pofitions. At that noble rock fired three cannon for the echo, which indeed is prodigious ; the report does not confift of direct reverberations from one rock to another with a paufe between, but has an exact re- femblance to a peal of thunder rattling be hind the rock, as if travelling the whole fcene ry we had viewed and loft in the immenfity of Mac Gilly Cuddy's Reeks. 1 - Returning 104 K I L L' A R Ni E Y. " Returning through the bridge, turn, to the left round Dynifs ifland, under the wopcts-fof Glena ; open on the cultivated country beyond the town pf Killarney, and come gradually in fight of Innisfalleri and Rofs Ifland, ; k.; .' ¦ .... ..'.¦,• ii Pafs near tp , the wood, of Glena, which here takes thje appearance of one immenfe fweep hanging in the moft beautiful riianner imaginable, on the fide of a vaft mountain to a point, fhooting into the great lake, ..A more glorious feene is not to be imagined. : It is one deep' mafs of wood, compofed of the richeft ihades perfeftly dipping in the, water, without rock or ftrand appearing, not arbreak in the whole. , The eye ;paffing Uppn the fheetof liquid filver fome diftance, tp. meet, ff> intire a fvvgep of every tint that can compofe one vaft mafs"..; pf- green, hanging ; to; fpch an extent as to fill not only the eye, butthe irrta* gination unites in the whole to-, form rthe^mpft noble, fcene that is any where to be beheld, '.',:. . . ;: v' ' ^v:".'" H Turn' under the North fhore of -Mucrufs -, the lake here is one great expanfe of water, bounded by the woods defcribed, the iflands of Innisfalkn, Rofs, &c. and the peninfula, The fhore of .JVJucrufsbas; a great variety ; it is in fome places; rocky, huge maffes tumbled from their bafe lie beneath, as in a chaos of ruin. Great caverns, worn under them in' a variety of fttange forms : or elfe. covered with woods pf a variety of fhades., Meet the point of Ard- nagluggen, (in Englifh where the water dafhes on K I L L A R N E Y. 105 on the rocks) and come under Ornefcope, a rocky headland of a moft bold projection hanging many yards over its bafe, with an Pld weather-beaten yew, growing from a little bracket of rock, from which the fpot is called Omefcope, or yew broom. .'•~>'-'- Mucrufs gardens prefently opefl among the woods, and relieve the eye, almoft fatigued with theimmenfe objects uppri which it has fo long gazed; thefe fofter fcenes of lawn gently fwel ling among the ftirubs and trees? finifhed the fecond day. September 29th, rode, after breakfaft, tp Mangerton Cafcade and Drumarourk Hill, from which the view of Mucrufs is uncom monly pleafing, ' -"'f ' ,Pafs the other hill, the view of which I defcribed the 27th, and went to Colonel Huffy's mohument, from whence the fcene is different frum the reft ; the fore ground is a gentle hill,- interfected by hedges, forming fe veral fmall lawns. There are fome fcattered trees and • houfes, with Mucrufs Abbey, half obfcured by Wood, the whole chearful, and backed by Turk. The lake is of a triangular form, Rofs ifland and Innisfallen its limits, the woods of Mucrufs and the iflands take a new pofition. Returning, took boat again towards Rofs ifle, and as Mucrufs retires from us, nothing can be more beautiful than the fpots of lawrt in ioj6 K I L I>: Av R N E Y. * in the terrace openjng in the wood ; abovejt, the green hills with clumps, and the whole finifning in the noble group of wood about the abbey, which here appears a deep fhade, and fo fine a finifhing one, that not a tree fhottld be touched. Rowed to the eaft point of Rofs, which is well wooded, turn to the fouth coaft. Doubling the point, the moft beautiful fliore of that ifland appears ; it is the well wooded environs of a bay, except a fmall opening to the caftle ; the woods are in deep fhade** and fife on the regular Hopes of a high range of rocky coaft. The part in front of Filekilty point rifes in the middle, and finks towards each end, The wood* of Tomys here appear uncommonly fine* Open Innisf alien* which is cdmpofed at this diftance of the mpft various fhades, within a broken outline* entirely dif ferent from the other iflands, groups of dif ferent, maffes rifing in irregular tufts, and joined by lower trees. No pencil could mix a happier aflemblage. Land near a miferable room, where travellers dine — —Of the ifle of Inriisfallen, it is paying no great compliment to fay, it is the moft beautiful jn the king's dominions, and perhaps in Europe. It con* tains twenty acres of land, and has every va* riety that the range of beauty, unmixed with the fublime, can give. The general feature is that of wood ; the furface undulates into fwellirig hills, and finks into little vales ; the Hopes are in every direction, the declivities die gently away, forming thofe flight inequalities which are , the greateft beauty of drefled grounds. The little yallies let in views of the fur- K I L L A R N E Y. 107 furrounding lake between the hills, while the fweils break the regular outline of the water, and give to the whole an agreeable confufion. The wood has all the variety into Which na ture has thrown the furface; in fome parts it is fo thick as to appear impenetrable, and focludes all farther view ; in others, it breaks into tufts of tail timber, under which cattle feed. Here they open, as if to offer to the fpectator the view of the naked lawn ; in others clofe, as if purpofely to forbid a more prying examination. Trees of large fize, and Commanding figure, form in fome places na tural arches ; the ivy mixing with the branch es, and hanging acrpfs in feftoons of foliage, While on orie fide the lake glitters among the trees, and on the other a thick gloom dwells in the recefles of the wood, The figure of the ifland renders one part a beautiful object to another ; for the coaft being broken and in dented, forms bays furrounded either by rock or wood : flight promontories fhoot into the lake, whofe rocky edges are crowned with wood, Thefe are the great features of Inriis fallen ; the flighter touches are full of beau ties eafily imagined by the reader. Every cir- cumftance of the wood, the water, the rocks and lawn are characteriftic, and have a beauty in the aflemblage from mere difpofition. I muft, however, obferve, that this delicious re treat is not kept as one gould wifh. Scenes, that are great arid commanding from magnitude or wildnefs, fhould never be 1 drefled j 108 'K. I h L A~ R N E Y. drefled {' the rugged and even the horrible, may add to the effect upon the mind";* but in fuch as Innisfalkn, a degree of drefs, that is. clean- linefs,- is even neceffary to beauty. " I have fpoken of lawn, but I fhould obferve, that'ex- preffionindicates what it ought tp be, rather than what it is. ; It is very rich grafs, poached by Pxen and cows, the only inhabitants of the ifland: No fpectator of tafle but will regret the open grounds not being drained with Jiollow cuts ; the ruggednefs of the furface levelled,' and the grafs kept clofe fhaven by many fheep inftead of beafts. The bufhes and briars where they have encroached on what ought to be lawn,; cleared away; .forne parts of the ifk more opened : irt a wotd, rio ofna7 ments given, for the fcene wants them not^ put obftructions cleared, ruggednefs fmoothed, and the whole cleaned.; This is what ought to' be done; as tp what might be made of the ifland, if hs noble proprietor (Lord KenT mare) had an inclination, it admits of being converted into a terreftial paradife, lavvrting with the intermixture of other fhrubs and wood, and a little drefs, would make it an ex ample of what ornamented grounds might be, but which not one in athoiiiand is. Take the ifland, however, as it is, with its few ittiper- fectipr.s, and where are we to find fuch another? What a delicious retreat ! An emperor could not beftow fuch an one as Innisfalkn; with a cottage, a few cows, and a fwarm of poultry, is it poflible that happinefs fhould refufe to be a guefl here \ Row K I L L A R N E Y. 109 Row to Rpfs Caftle, in order to coaft that ifland; there is nothing peculiarly ftriking in it; return the fame way around Innisfalkn ; in this little ypyage the fhore of Rofs is one of the moft beautiful of the wooded ones in the lake; it feems to unite with Innisfalkn, and projects into the water in thick woods one beyond another. In the middle of the channel a large rock, and from the other fhore a little pro montory of a few fcattered trees; the whole fcene pleafing. The fliore of Innisfalkn has much variety ^ but in general it is woody, and of the beauti ful character which predominates in that ifland j one bay, at taking leave of it, is exceedingly pretty, it is a femicircular one, and in the cen ter there is a projecting knok of wood within a, bay; this is uncommon, and has an agree able effect. The near approach to Tomys exhibits a fweep of wood, fo great in extent, and fo rich in foli age, that no perfon can fee without admiring it. The mountainous part above is foon ex cluded by the approach ; wood alone is feen, and that in fuch a noble range, as to be greatly ftriking; it juft hollows into a bay, and in the center of it is a chafm in the wood; this is the bed of a confiderable ftream, which forms O'Sullivan's cafcade, to which all ftrangers are conducted, as one of the principal beauties of Killarney. Landed to the right of it, and walk ed under the thick fhade of the wood, over a rocky no K I-'L L A R N E Y. rocky declivity ; cfofe to the torrent ftream, which breaks impetuoufly from rock to rock, with a roar that kindks expectation. The pic ture in your fancy will not exceed the reafity ; a great ftream burfts from the deep bofom of a wooded glen, hollowed into a retired' recefs of racks and trees, itfelf a moft pkafing and ro mantic fpot, were there not a dropof water; the firft fall is many feet perpendicularly over a rock, f othe eye it immediately makes another, the bafon into which it pours being Concealed; from this bafon it forces itfelf impetuoufly be tween two , rocks ; this fecond fall is alfo of a confiderable height, but the lower one, the third, is the moft confiderable, it iffues in the fame manner from a bafon hid from the point of view, Thefe bafons being large, there' ap pears a fpace of feveral yards between each fall, which adds, much to the picturefque fcenery; the whole is within an arch of wood, that hangs over it ; the quantity of water is fo con fiderable as to make an almoft deafening noife, and uniting with the torrent below, where the fragments of rock are large and numerous, throw an air of grandeur over the whole. It is about feventy feet high. Coaft from hence the woody fhores of Tomys and Glena, they are upon the whole much the moft beautiful ones I have any where feen; Glena woods hav ing more oak, and fbme arbutus's, are; the finer and deeper fhades ; Tomys-has a great quantity of birch, whofe foliage is not fo lux-. uriant. The reader may figure to himfelf what thefe woods are, when he is informed that they fill K ILL A R ,N E Y. in fill an unbroken extent of fix miles in length, and from half a mile to a mile arid a half in breadth, all hanging on the fides of two vaft mpuntains, and coming down with a full robe ojf rich luxuriance to the very water's edge. The accJiyiJty of thefe hills is fuch, that every tree ap pears full to the eye. The variety of the ground is great; in fome places great fwells in the moun tain fide, with cprrefponding hollows, prefent concave and convex maffes ; in others, confi- ' derable ridges of land and rock rife from the fweep> and offer to the aftonifhed eye yet other varieties of made, Smaller mountains rife re gularly from the irnmenfe bofom of the larger, and hold forth their fylvan heads, backed by yet higher wqo ticularly in elpathing. price of provifion the fame J2o M U C R TJ S S, fame as at Nedeen, but pork not common. Turkies, at 9d. Salmon, at id. Trout and perch plentiful. No pike in Kerry. Lampreys and eels, but nobody eats the former. All the poor people, both men and women, learn to dance, and are exceedingly fond of the amufe- ment. A ragged lad, without fhoes or ftockings, has been feen in a mud barn, leading up a girl in the fame trim for a minuet : the love of danc ing and mufic are almoft univerfal amongft them. The Rev. Mr, Bland, of Wood Park; near Killarney, at whofe houfe I had the pleafure to dine with Mr. Herbert, has improveda great deal of boggy land; the turf fix inchesrdeep, burnt, but would not give allies; under it a brown gravel; reclaimed it by marking and trenching in May, lime eighty barrels per acre; fpread with green fern, then leave it Until Spring following, when dunged and planted3 po*- tatpes ; the prop equal to the beft : dig-fhepo^ tataes, and plant a fecond crop, which Will be a greater produce, but the roots not fo large; took care in the digging them to bring up. the fod and manure; in the fpring dig again for turnips, or oats, the turnips will be very good, but has generally fown oats ; the crop tolera ble, great ftraw, but muft be fown very -thin, or they will lodge; leave the oat ftubble and it becomes in one year grafs to mow. Has tried turnips, and found them to anfwer per fectly, in fattening fheep infinitely better than any winter or fpring grafs, September ARBELLA. 121 September 30th, took my leave. of Mucrufs, and pafling through Killarney, went to Caftle Ifland. In my way to Arbella, croffed a hilly bog of vaft extent, from one to fix or feven feet deep, as improvable as ever I faw, covered with bog myrtle (myricdgale) and coarfe grafs: it might be drained at very little expenfe, being almoft dry at prefent. It amazed me to fee fuch vaft trails in a flate of nature, with a fine road pafling through them. .¦< r Tq Mr, Blennerhaffet, member for the coun ty, I am indebted for every attention towards my information. About Caftle Ifland the land is very good, ranking among the beft in Kerry. From that place to Arbella,-1 the land is as good as the management bad," every field over-run with all kinds of rubbifh, the fences. in, ruins, .and:no appearance but of defolation : they were mowing fome fine crops of hay,, which I fuppofb wilb be made in the fnow. .The fol lowing is'the ftate of hufbandry about Arbella. > !.. rfi-< A\\ 1 . riv-'". , The foil, from Caftle Ifland to Tralee, is . from a guinea to a guinea and a half; it is all a rich lime-ftone land: fome about Tralee at t 3I. 10s. to4l. 4s. About Arbella I went over iforne exceeding fine reddifli fandy and gravelly loam, a prodigioufly fine foil : fern (pterisaqui- lina) the fporitaneous growth, which I remark- i ed in Ireland to be a fore fign of excellent land. Two thirds of the county is mountain, which runs at no, great rent,* being thrown into the bargain- Six parts in feven of the whole mountain 122 ARBELLA. mountain and bog. The remainder at ios. an acre. i. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Wheat, or Barley. 4. Oats. 5. Ditto. 6. Ditto. 7. Ditto. 8. Lay it "out, and not a blade of grafs comes for three or four years. The beft'part of the country is under dairies. Great farmers hire vaft quantities of land, in order to ftock with cows, and let them to dairymen; one farmer, who died lately, paid 14001. ayearforthispurpofe} but3Pol. or4ool. common. re The number of cows let to one man, ge nerally from twenty to forty. Let at one cwt. and 16s, per cow, or one-half cwt. of but ter, and 1 6s. each, fome one cwt. 12s. and a hog, befides one fourth part of all the calves a year old. Inthe mountains, half cwt, and 5s. Others with all the calves to the dairy men. The dairyman's privilege, from two to four collops kept for them,,.., and one or two acres^ with a cabbin ; thefe dairymen live veryx indifferently, their privilege being all their pro fit, and fometimes not that. The farmer Who lets the cows, muft keep the number to fudh as give two pottles of milk. All the dairies in this county, as in others, in the bonny clobber method, that is, -letting the milkftand feveral days, till the cream comes off, by tak ing hold of it between the fingers, like a fkin of leather, and fome till it is asoldy/' the re mainder. V A' R B E LI L A: 123 mainder bonny clobber. Forty acres will carry twenty cows through the year. The cows are in4general of the fmall breed, but not the true jperry, for many have been brought from other countries. A cow fells at a guinea a pottle for the milk, above two or three pottles, that is 4I. 4s, four pottles, 5I. 5s. for five pottles, given at one meal. A little fattening of cows and fmall bullocks, but the number not great. No fheep kept. As to manure none is ufed in the vale, ex cept their dung for potatoes, but upon the mountains they lime a little. There is a colony of Palatines, that have been fixed here above thirty years ; there are now fifteen or fixteen families ; Colonel Haffet brought them, from the county of Limerick, and fixed them here as little farmers, and thefe few people coft him above 500I. fettling.- He gave each a cow, a horfe, and every thing they wanted for a year, and let the land to them for> half its value. Their improvements have been firft, by ploughing with a wheel plough, which with two horfes works eafily without a driver. They brought m cars with wheels, there were only Aiding ones before. They alfo fow all their potatoes in drills with the plough, and alfo plough them out, and this with great fuccefs, but nobody follows them. Years putchafe of land fixteen to eighteen. Rents three years ago fallen exceedingly* from having 124 A R B E; L L A, having been too high let, but of late they have rifen again. The rife in the price, of labour from three-pence and four-pence in twenty years, to five-pence and fix-pence. ' OyftefsV two-pence to three-pence per hundred ; near Tralee there is a ftrand fix miles long, which is on abed of oyfters, and is a curious, object. Lpbfters, twelve years ago, one penny each, now two-pence to four-?pence. Salmon three halfpence. Woodcocks, ten-pence a couple. Partridges, ten-pence a couple. A groufc, one fhilling. Whitings, pne penny each. Her rings, three a penny. Plaice, turbotSj mul lets, and fome foles. Potatoes, is. 6d. per cwt. the cheapeft, .medium, 2s. 6d. Cabbins of ftone, mortar and flare, 25I. Many or chards in this county, give, upon an average," ten hogfheads of cyder per acre, fome 15; they reckon young trees the beft, from 1? to 20 years old, J ¦ T ' ' ' The flare of the poor in the whole county of Kerry reprefented as exceedingly miferable, and, owing to the conduct of men of proper ty, who are apt to lay the blame on what they call land pirates, or men who offer the higheft rent, and who, in order to pay this rent, muft, and do re-let all the cabbin, lands at an ex travagant rife, which is afligning over all the cabbins to be devoured by one farmer. The cottars on a farm cannot go from one to ano ther, in order to find a good mafter as in Eng land : for all the country is in the fafne fyftem, and no redrefs to-be founcl. Such being the 3 cafe, ARBELLA, 125 cafe, the farmers are enabled to charge the price of labpur as low as they pleafe, and rate the land as high as they like. This is an evil which opprefles them cruelly, and certainly has its origin in its landlords, when they fet their farms, fetting all the cabbins with them inftead of keeping them tenants to themfelves. The oppreflion is, the farmer valuing the labour pf the poor at 4d. or 5d. a day, and paying that in land rated much above its value. Owing to this, the poor are depreffed ; they live upon potatoes and four milk, and the pooreft of them only fait and water to them, with now and then a herring. Their milk is bought ; for very few keep cows, fcarce any pigs, but a few poultry. Their circumftances are incompara bly worfe than they were 20 years ago ; for they had all cows, but then they wore no linen : all now have a little flax. To thefe evils have been owing emigrations, which have been confiderable. October ift, rode over the mountain im provements which William Bknnerhaflet, Efq; of Elm Grove, has made. "I viewed it with very great attention ; for it project s far into a mountain of heath, that lets only at is. an acre. I faw the progrefs of the improvement in different ftages. He has done 250 Irifh, acres, and inclofed 300 more, and has been of fered 20s. an acre for them, but the farm- houfes were not built ; at prefent he has four, to which he purpofes to throw the whole. The 126 A R B E L L A. The method he purfued has been firft to en- clofe with double ditches, four feet deep and five broad, and the earth out of both thrown on to a parapet, ten feet broad, and fome more, planted with rows of trees, and of ofiers, the expence in labour, 2s. a perch. While this work is doing, he ploughs nine or ten inches deep, and as foon as the weather will admit, burns ; then he tills it again once or twice, and burns again ; and before the laft plough ing, limes ioo barrels an acre, which cofts him (burning it himfelf) fixpence a barrel, including carriage and fpreading : upon this he lows corn, has tried wheat, rye, and oats, but oats anfwer the beft ; has tried potatoes, and they did pretty well, followed them with corn, and then laying it out, that is, leaving it to grafs itfelf. The other is to fow corn as long as it will yield any, when it is exhaufted, to lay it out two or three years, and then plough and lime : take two crops of corn, and lay it out again; and thisway he thinks is the beft, from the experience of forty years, for fo long the* improvement has been making. Trees of all forts have grown perfectly well, but the afh has done beft. A ploughing cofts 6s. an acre. Graffaning and burning, 2l. an acre. Mr. Haffet's flock at prefent on this farm, 30 hories, mares and foals, 100 cows, 100 fheep, 100 young cattle, 8 plough bullocks : this is a moft nobleftock of cattle for a fpot which was all heath. Mr. Blennerhaffet has alfo tried lime-ftone fand, over one part of a field, and lime upon the MAHAGREE ISLANDS. 127 the reft, fpread but lately, yet the appearance is much in favour of the fand. October 2d, to Ardfert by Tralee, through a continuation of excellent land, and execra ble management. Mr. Bateman tried rock fait on grafs land for a manure, half a ton to the Englifh acre, but found not the leaft bene fit from it. But of lime he has ufed' large quantities, and with great fuccefs ; burning it for 6d. a barrel, in a ftanding kiln with turf, four eyes or fires to each • lays on 50 barrels to an acre, and has advanced fome land, by draining and liming, from 5, to 20s. an acre, the foil a cold ftiff clayey gravel. To the weft of Tralee are the Mahagree If lands , famous for their corn products ; they are rock and fand, flocked with rabbits ; near them a fandy tract, 12 miles long, and one mile broad, to the north, with the mountains to the fouth, famous for the beft wheat in Ker ry. All under the plough. Their courfe. 1. Buck potatoes. 2. Barley. 3. Wheat Alfo corn on fome land, without any interme diate crop. Manure for every crop, if pota toes with fea weed, great crops; they get 20 for one of wheat and barley. All grain is re markably early; they have fown Englifh bar ley, and made bread of the crop in fix weeks ; thefe lands let at 14s. or 15s. an acre, but fome much higher. Farms are large, one, two, or three hundred acres, but fome are taken in partnerfhip. i z3 . A R D F E :R T. partnerfliip. I was allured, that in thefe if lands, they have known two crops of barley gained from the fame land in one year, and the fecond better than the firft, .They fowed the firft of April, and reaped the middle of May, and immediately fowed a fecond, which fhey reaped the end of Auguft. This was done by John Macdonald, of Maharaghbeg. " ' ' ' ft Arriving at Ardfert, Lord Crofby, whofe politenefs Ihave every reafon, to remember, was fo obliging as to carry me by one of .the fineft ftrands I ever rode upon, to view thg mouth of the Shannon at Ballengary, the fite of an old fort : it is a vaft rock feparated: from the country by a chafm of a prodigious depth, through which the waves drive. The rocks of the coaft here are in the boldeft ftile, and hol lowed by the furious Atlantic waves into ca verns in which they roar. It was a dead calm, yet the fwell was fo heavy, that the great waves rolled in and broke upon the rocks with fuch violence as to raifean immenfe foam, and give one an idea of what a ftorm would be, but fan cy rarely falls fhort in her pictures. The view of the Shannon is exceedingly noble; it is eight, miles over, the mouth formed by two headlands of very high and bold clifts, and the reach of the river in view very extenfive : it is an immenfe fcenery. Perhaps the nobkft mouth of a river in Europe. Croffed in the way a large bog, highly im provable, faw fome little, fpots taken in with heaps of fea fand for carrying it on. Lord A R D F E R T. 129 Lord Glandore manures his ground with lime, fea fand, and fea weed, the laft is the worft, the fand beft. Land lets at 12s. or 13s. an acre on an average; it rifes from 10s. to 20s. Ardfert is very near the fed, fd near it, that fingle trees or rows are cut in pieces with the wind, yet about Lord Glandore's houfe there are extenfive plantations exceedingly flourifh-* ing; many fine afh and beech j about a beauti ful ciftertian abbey, and a filver fir pf 48 years growth, of an immenfe height and fize. October 3d, left Ardfert; accdmpanying Lord Crofby to Liftowel. Called in the way to vievv Lixnaw, the ancient feat of the earls of Kerry ^ but deferted for, ten years paft, and now pce- fents fo riielartchply a fcene of defolation, that it fhocked me to fee it. Every thing around. lies iri ruin,, and the houfe itfelf is going faft off by thievirig.a'e'predations of the neighbourhood.' I was told a curious anecdote of this eftate,, which fliews wonderfully the improvement of Ireland: The prefent Earl of Kerry's grand father; Thomas', agreed to leafe the whole eftate for 1500I. a year, to a Mr. Collis, for ever^ but the bargain went off upon a difpute^ whether the money fhould be paid at Corke or Dublin. Thofe very lands are now let at 2p,pool. a year; There is, yet a good deal of wood, particularly a fine afh grove, planted by the prefent Earl of Shelburne's father. . Vot. II,- I Proceeded 130 W O O D F O R D. Proceeded to Woodford, Robert Fitzgerald's, Efq; pafling Liftowel bridge, the vale leading to it is very fine, the river is broad, the lands highs and^one^ fide -a very extenfive hanging wood, opening on thofe of Woodford in a pleafing ftile. ¦'* Woodford is an agreeable fcene ; clofe to the houfe is a fine winding river under a bank of thick wood, with the view of an old caftle hanging over it. Mr. Fitzgerald is making* a confiderable progrefs in rural improvements ; he is taking in mountain ground, fencing and draining very completely, and introducing a new husbandry. He keeps 3 o pigs, which flock he feeds on potatoes, and has built a piggery for them. Turnips he cultivates for fheep, and finds them to anfwer perfectly. Not being able to get men who underftand hoeing, he thins them by hand. He has five acres of po tatoes put in drills with the plough, and de- figns ploughing them out: they look perfectly well, and promife to be as good a crop as any in the trench way. The common courfe in this neighbourhood is, i. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. 5. Lay it out. Farms are very much in partnerfhip, and improvements exceedingly backward on that account. The poor live on potatoes and milk all the year round, but are rather better off than theywere twenty years ago. The labour of T A R B A T. 131 of the country is generally done for land in the manner Lhave fo often defcribed, rated at an exorbitant price, 4d. winter; 5d. fummerj fome 6d. round. Three-fourths of Kerry mountain and bog, at is. 6d.the reft at 15s. In 1765, Mr. Fitzgerald was travelling from Cortftantinople to Warfaw, and a Waggon with his baggage, heavily laden, overfet ; the coun try .people harneffed to buffaloes by the horns, in order to draw it over, which they did with eafe* ' In fome very inftructive converfation I had with this gentleman, on the fubject of his travels, this circumftance particularly ftruck mek ' < ; ' •October 4^ from Woodford to Tarbat, the feat of Edward Lefle, Efq; through a country, rather dreary, till it came upon Tarbat, which is fo much the Contrary, that it appeared to the higheft advantage; the houfe is on the edge of a beautiful, lawn, with a thick margin of full-grown wood, hanging on a fteep bank to the Shannon, fo that the river is feertfrom the houfe over the tops of this wood, which being; of a broken irregular outline, has an effect very ftriking and uncommon ; the river is two or three miles broad here, and the op pofite coaft forms a promontory, which has from Tarbat exactly the appearance of a large ifland. To the eaft, the river fwells into a tri angular lake, with a reach opening at the dif tant corner of it to Limerick: the union of wood, water, and lawnj forms upon the whole I 2 a very 132 T A R B 1A- T. a very fine fcene; the river is very magnificent From the hill, on the coaft above the ifland* the lawn and wood appear alfo to great advan tage. But the fineft point of view is from the higher hilLon the other fide of the houfey; which looking down on all thefe fcenes, they appear as a beautiful ornament to the Shan non* which fp reads forth its proud courfe, from two to nine miles wide, furrounded by high lands : a fcenery truly magnificent. I am in debted to Mr. Leflie's good offices' for the fol lowing particulars. Arable land about Tarbat Jets at 14s; on an average; Mr. Leflie, in 1771, let feveral farms at 17s. but the fall of that period reduced the " rents 3s;- '-' Farms are from 56 acres to 3 or 400 : it is common tohave the poor people hire them in partnerfhip,; but only the fmall ones j the large are all ftock farms. The til* lage courffe ; 1. Potatoes, produce 28 barrels, at 16 pecks each, and the peck 6olb. or 26,S8olb: in all. 2. Potatoes. 3.. Oats. 4. Lay out for feveral years. The fecond crop of potatoes more nu merous, but not fo large; they manure for them only with dung. The oats yield fix bar rels, each 26 ftone, being double ones. Very- little wheat fown but by gentlemen or large farmers, who burn the land; plough it, and burn the fod, which they call beating, and ma nure with lime or fea- fand; 40 barrels of lime at is. The ftpne is brought from an ifland T A R B A T. 133 ifland . towards Limerick. They get farid at the fame place. Lime does beft for tillage, and fand for grafs. The ftock farms are either under dairies, or in the fucceffion fyftem, of buying in year olds from the county of Clare; and keeping them till three or four years old,; the heifers till they calve; buy at a guinea to 30s. fell from 3I. 5s. to 4I. ics. at-four year old; There are - alfo fome cows fattened : bought in in general at 3 1. or 3 1. 10s., fell in October at 4I. 10s. to 5I; The dairies' are fet to dairymen, the price is one cwt. of butter, and 10s. to 15s. horn mpney ; the dairyman has all the calves, and muft fell off a$ Michael mas. His privilege is a houfe and potatoe gar den, and grafs for a cow for every ten. A collop here, is one cow, one horfe, two year lings', fix fheep; twp acres to feed a collop, and fome two. and a half. Every cabbin has a bit of flax, which they fpin arid manufacture for their own ufe, there being fome weavers difperfed about the country. A little pound yarn is fold befides to Limerick, but not much. A little wool is fpun for their; own ufe, and wove into frizei. i^V The ftate of the poor; is fomething better than it was twenty years ago; particularly their cloathing, cattk,and cabbins. They live upon potatoes and milk j aU have cows ; and when they dry them, buy others. They alfo have butter, and. moft of them keep pigs, killing them for their own ufe. They have alfo her rings. They are in general in the cottar fyf tem, 134 TAR B A. T. tern, of paying for labour by afligning Tonic land to each cabbin. The country is -greatly more populous than twenty years ago* arid is how irtcreafing; and if ever fo manjt cabbins were built by a gradual increafe, tenants would be found for them. A cabbin, and five acres, of land, will; fet for 4I. a year, The iriduftri-r ous cottar, with two, three, or four acres, would be exceedingly glad to have his time tp himfelf, and have fuch an annual addition of land as he was able to manage, paying a fair rent for it; none would decline it but the, idle and worthlefs. Tythes are all annually valued by the proc tors, and charged very high, There are on the Shannon about 1 op boats employed in bringing turf tp Limerick from the coaft of Kerry and Clare, and iii ififtung, the former carry from 2q to 25 tons, the latter frorii five to ten, and are navigated each by two men and a boy. October 5th, paffed through a very unenter^ taining country (except fpr a few miles on the bank of the Shannon) to Altavilla, but Mr, Bateman being frprn home,' I was difappoint- ed ip getting an account of the Palatines, fet tled in his neighbourhood,. . Xept the road to Adair, where Mrs. Quin, with a politenefs equalled only by her u'nderftanding, procured me every intelligence I wifhed for. Land ADAIR. 135 Land lets about Adair from 10s. to 40s. an acre, average 20s. the richeft in the country is the Cjorcafles on the Maag, which lets at 30s. to 36s. a tract of five miles long,, and two broad, doWn to the Shannon, which are better than thofe on that river ; the foil Is a kind of yellow and blue clay, of winch they make bricks; but there is a furface of blue mould. The grafs of them is applied to fattening bullocks, from 7 to 8 cwt. each, and an acre fats one, and gives fome winter and fpring food forfheep. When they break this land up, they fow firft oats, and get 20 barrels an acre, or 40 common barrels, and do not reckon that an extra crop ; they take ten or twelve in fucceflion, upon one ploughing, till the crops grow poor, and then they fow one. of horfe beans, which refrefhes the land enough to take ten crops of oats more; the beans are very good. Wheat fometimes fown, and' the crops very great. Were fuch barbarians ever heard of? • In the common courfe of lands about Adair, the courfe of crops is, 1. Potatoes. 2. Ditto. 3. Wheat, 4* Oats, 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Layout. 1. Potatoes. 2. Ditto, 3. Wheat, 4. Wheat. 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Oats. 8. Lay out. 1. Potatoes. 2. Ditto. 3. Wheat, 4. Oats, 5. Lay out, Potatoes ?3° A: B A £ R? Potatoes they plant on grafs without dung, a, good crop, 6p barrels to. an acre, at 8s. a barrel average. When they hire it they pay fix guineas an acre; they dung tillage' land and poor lays for them. Qf wheat they fow a, barrel an acre, and the crppin general eight to ten of thofe barrels. Oats they fow two to an acre, and get twelve tp fixteen. The low bottoms of mopry and rufhy kind they plough, and burn the furrows ; upon that burning they plough in the afhes and harrow in rape feed, a pottle, or three quarts to an acre ^ne ver feed, but keep it fpr feed, and get eight Briftol barrels an acre; it fells ufually at 145. to 1 8s. a barrel ; they fow bere afterwards, the produce, ten barrels an. acre $ thena crop of oats, twelve to fixteen barrels,, and, then leave \t to lay. Np grafs feeds fown. .zm Farms rife from 40 acres to 2000I. a year y fome few of, the little ones are taken by cot tars, in partnerfhip, but not common ; the large farm? are all flock ones. Turnips have been fown many years, but by few;, a little on pared and burnt land in the bottoms, in- flead of rape ;' the crops very large; they give them all tp fat fheep, in order to keep their fl'efh for a better market after Chriftmas, ; it is found fo be a very" advantageous practice, but not increafing,. , No hoeing. Hemp is. fown a little by the Palatines, but by few. others. Flax, by every cabbin, in order for a jittk fpinning for their own ufe. ' The A B A J R. 137 The fyftem of the ftock farmers is in gene^ ral dairying, but upon the beft lands they fat ten bullocks, cows being only kept on lands which they think will not do for bullocks. The cows are all let, and paid for principally by butter, one cwt. to a cow, and 25s. horn money. The dairyman's privilege is a cabbin, a garden of an acre, and the grafs of a cow or horfe to every twenty cows, and may, rear half the calves, and keep them to November or Chriftmas.. To 60 acres, 24 .cqws, 1 horfe, 3 p fheep ;•" this is juft; two acres a head, and it is about the aye rage of the country. The dairymen are not in good circumftances, makr ing a mere living. Tne fwine here are of a .large white fprt, and rife tp two cwt. they are mpftly fattened on, potatoes, but have fome oats at laft; to harden the fat. A good many fheep ; the fyftem is -to keep the lambs till three year old wethers, and fell them fat at 20s. each -, the fleeces ylb. Tythgs, wheat 6s. barley 5s. pats 4s i; Rape no tythe. Bp5- tatpes 8d. |o iod. mowing ground is. to 3s. fheep 2d." each. Tne poor people do not all keep cpws, but all have milk ; all have pigs and poultry ; are npt better off than twenty years ago, Have a potatoe garden, of which one-half to three- fourths of an acre carries a family through the year; they live entirely upqn them, felling their pigs. They pay a guinea for a cabbin, and 10 perch; if half an acre, 2I. 2.?- A whole acre, and a cabbin on poor ground, a!' 138 A D A t R; 3I. 3s.'1 but not fo Cheap if " near7'' a village. Labour paid in land in general. Grafs1 of a collop 2I. 2s. if a cow hayed, 50s. Palatines were fettled here by the late Lord Southwell, about feventy years ago. They have in general leafes for three lives, or 31 years, and are not cottars to any farmer, but if they work for them, are paid in mo ney. The quantities of land are fmall,' and fome of them have their feeding land in com mon by agreement. They are different from the Irifh iri feveral particulars ; they put their potatoes in with the plough, in drills, horfe- hoe them while growing, and plough them put. One third of the dung does in this me thod, for they put it only in the furroWs, but the crops are not fo large as in the com mon method. They plough without a dri- ve*; a boy of twelve has beert known to plough and drive four hprfes, and fome of them have a hopper in the body of their ploughs, which fows the -land at the fame time it is ploughed, Their courfe of crops is, 1. Potatoes, 2. Wheat. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. 1. Potatoes* 2, Barley. 3. Wheat, 4. Oats, In which management they keep their land many years, never laying it out as their neigh bours do. They preferve fome of their Ger man cuftoms : fkep between two beds. They appoint 1 ADA I R. 129 appoint a burgomafter, to whpm^hey appeal in cafe of all difputes ; and they yet .preferve their language, but that, is declining. They are very induftrious, and in confequence are much happier and better „fed,r clqathed, and lodged, than the Irifh peafants. We muft not, however, conclude frprn hence that alf is ow ing tp this> their being independent pf farmers, an4 'haying leafes, are circumftances which will create induftry. Tjh^r crops are much better than thofe of their neighbours. There are three villages of them, about feven ty fa milies in all. For fome time after they fettled they fed upon fpur crout, but .by degrees left it off, artd took to potatoes:- but now fubftft uppn them, and butter and milk, but with a great deal pf 'oat bread, and fome pf, wheat, fome meat and fowls, of which they raife many. They have all .offices to their houfes, that is, flabks and cow houfes, and a lodge for their ploughs, &c. They keep their. cpws in the houfe in winter, -feeding, them upon hay and oat ftraw, They are remarkable- for the goodnefs and ckanlinefs of their houfes. The women are very induftrious, reap the corn, plough the ground fometimes, .,-a-nd do whatever work may be going on ; they alfo fpin, and make their children do the fame. Their wheat is nmch better than any in, the Country, infomnch tliat i hey get a better; price than any body elfe. Their induftry goes. .fo far, that jocular reports of its excefs are fpread : in a very pinching feafon, one of them - yoked his wife againft a horfe, and went in that 140 A D A I R. that manner to work, and finifhed a journey at plough, The induftry ^of the women ts a perfect contrail to the Irifh ladles ;in the cab bins, Who eanhot be perfuaded, on any con- fideratiort, even to make hay ; it not being the cuftom of the country; yet they bind corri, and do other works fnore. laborious IVIrs^ Quip, who is ever atteritiye to' iritrdduce whatever can contribute to their welfare and happinefs, offered fnany premiums to, induce them to make hay, of hats, cloaks, ftpCkings, Ifcc. SccVbut all would riot do, _¦' ' Few places have fo much Wood about therii as Adkir'V Mr. Quiri has above 1000 acres' in his hands,' in which a large proporfidn is under wood. . The deer park of 400 acres" is almoft full of old oak and very fine thorns,; of a great fize ; and about the houfe, the plan tations are very extenfive, of elm and other wood, but that thrives better than any other fort. I have no where feen finer than 'vaft numbers here. , There is a fine river runs under the houfe, and within view are no lefs than three ruins of francifcan friaries,, tWP of them remarkably beautiful," arid orib has rhoft of the parts perfect : except tne roof. Iri Mr: Quin's houfe, there are fome very good pictures, particularly an annunciation, by Domirticino, which is a beautiful piece. It was brought lately from Italy by Mr. Quin, junior. The colours are ricli and mellow, and the airs of the heads inimitably pkafirig; the group CASTLE OLIV E R. 141 gtbup of angels at the top, to the left of the piece, are very natural. It is a piepe of great merit. The companion is a magdalen; the expreflion of melancholy, or rather mifery, remarkably ftrong. There is a gloom in the whole in full unifori With the fubject. There are, befides thefe, fome others inferior, yet df merit, and two Very good portraits of Lord Dartry, (Mrs. Quin's brother) and of Mr. Quin, junior, by Pompeip Battoni. A piece in an uncommon ftile, done on oak, of Efther and Ahafuerus : the colours tawdry, but the grouping attitudes an effect pleafing., October 7th, to Caftle Oliver, by Bruff, paflirtg through a very fine tract of rich reddifli loam. The Right Hon. Mr. Oliver was affi- duous to the laft degree to have me completely informed. About his feat, the foil is brown ftone on indifferent flate ftrata, mountainous ; the mountain tops are thrown into the bar gain ; mountain farms, tops, bottoms and fides, is. an acre; furze land reclaimed, arid fome from 15s. to 20s, Farms of all fizes, but the occupying tenants have from 15 to 100 acres, fome 300. The courfe of crops : 1. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Potatoes. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6< Oats. 7. Lay out : fome times only two of potatoes. They manure for potatoes with all the dung they can get Very little under tillage, and the grafs applied chiefly to, dairies. In one particular i42s CASTLE OLIVER/ particular they are very attentive ; to conduct:; the mountain ftreams into their grafs lands; cutting little channels, to introduce the waten as much as poflibleover the whole; and though ' it comes from a poor mountain of brown ftoney. or turf, yet the benefit they find to be very great. This is a general cuftom among all thei, littk occupiers ; and they are frequently com ing to Mr. Oliver, with complaints of each other fpr diverting or ftealing one another's ftreams. This is an inftance of excellent huf. bandry, which I do not recollect meeting with before in Ireland. They always mow it the year they water it, ¦ and their crops of hay 2 ton, or 21 an acre. They do not reclaim any mountain, but fometimes a little furze, lartd for potatoes. They have fome lime-ftone fand; but being at a diftancej they ufe it in; fmall quantities, a few barrels.an acre fown for po^ tatoes, which is effectual in preventing them from being wet or rotting. The flate of the poor people better in thefe mountainous tracts than upon the rich flats of Limerick, both from there being more employment and greater plenty of land for them. Some few farms taken in partnerfhip. The cattle fyftem is ge nerally dairying cows, which are all fet to dai rymen. There has been a fall in rents fince 1 77 1-2, of 2Si 3s. or 4s. an acre, but it is not falling at prefent. Building a cabbin 4I. to 5L Ditto ftone, flate, &c. 25I. Relative to the rich lands of this country, they are principally found, firft in the barony ' of LIMERICK QRAZING. 143 of Small County, which is rich ; Coonaghhas much-; Cofhlea a great deal, and much moun tain; Clanwiiliam, a "good fhare. The rich land reaches from Charleville, at the foot of the mountains, to Tipperary, by Kilfennihg, a line of twenty-five miles, and acrofs from Ard- patric to within four miles of Limerick, 16 miles. Bruff, Kilmallock, and Hofpital have very good land about them ; the quantity in the whole conjectured to be 100,000 acres. It is in general under bullocks, but there is fome tillage fcattered about, to the amount probably of a fifteenth of the Whole; the rents are from 25s. to 40s. but average 30s.' an acre. The county of Limerick, befides the rich grazing, has a light lime-ftone land for fheep and cows, at 15s. to 20s. There are alfo yel low clays, from 10s. to 20s. alfo middling land of furze and fern, from 10s. 6d. to il. is. Some mountain is, likewife fifteen miles of corcaffes on the Shannon, two to three miles broad. Average of the whole county, 20s. The county of Tipperary, 18s. As to the foil I am able to fpeak of it parti cularly, for Mr. Oliver was fo kind as to ride through a great variety of it, a man with a fpade following to dig ; the fineft foil in the country is upon the roots of mountains ; it is a rich; mellow, crumbling, putrid, fandy loam, eighteen inches to three feet deep, the colour a reddifh brown. It is dry found land, and would do for turneps exceedingly well, for carrots,, hpj. LIMERICK GRAZING!. carrots, for cabbages, and in a word for everjf thing. I think uport the whole, it is the rich-' eft foil I ever faw^ and fuch as is applicable to every purpofe you can , wifh : it will fat. the largeft bullock, and at the fame time do equal ly well for fheep, for tillage, fpr turneps, for wheat, for beans, and in a word, for every crop and circumftance of profitable huf- 1' •'' ' ¦ ' ¦ , . " ' . • -T' The lower lands are Wetter, and under them a yellow clay, whereas in the upper,1 it is fandy loam to a confiderable depth. The rent in England would be confiderably higher than this of the bullock land in Ireland. The farms are of all fizes. The bullock farrri rife to 600 acres, whieh quantity is a large farm ; but there are many fmall ones under cottars and dairymen > the general run in flocking is a buflock of four and a half to fe ven cwt. average five hundred and a half to the acre, and quarter for the fummer's grafs ; but their npt generally having a bullock to an acre, is owing to their keeping fheep and calves £0 late, iri which they do even to June. The winter's hay amounts to about a rood, befides the acre for the fummer food.' Thefe beafts are bought in at autumn, at three or four years old,; average price, 5 1; they are fed regu larly through the winter with hay every day, in the fields where they are to be fattened in fum mer1 ; they chufe the dry fields for it, but flUl mifchief is done by it* All the hay is flacked 2 in, LIMERICK CRAZING. t45 in the fields for this purpofe. The time of felling autumn; The profit they make per bullock on an average, about three guineas ; The principal winter fyftem is buying calves, at ii. is. to 2I. 2s4 keeping them till May, arid then felling them at 20s. to 30s. profit, but give them a bellyful of their beft hay. A great many fheep are alfo fent to be wintered from Tipperary, which is extraordinary, as their own lands are much drier than thefe of Lime rick: they do this by hiring farms for the pur£ pofe. This is one of the moft profitable arti cles ; they bring the fpring lambs in October, and keep them till May, and then fend them back to Tipperary, and they are much bettet than thofe they left there. The graziers are many of? them rich, but generally fpeaking, not fo much from the im mediate profit, as from advantageous leafesj I wanted much to be informed of their profit^ brit it is exceedingly difficult to come pear it, for not a grazier in the country but denies his making any thing confiderable : this is fup- pofed to be a great piece of art,- but I am very apt to think the truth not fo far from the de claration, at kaft as well as I am able to judge from the information I have received* Rent df art acre arid a half for a bullock % \ 2 6 County cefs, at 6d. -" J • o o jl Mowingand making one-third of an acre hay o 3 o Carried over - £.216 3 - Vol. IL 1& A bullae* I46 CATTLE OLIVER, Brought oyer £. % 16 J A bullock 5I. intereft at 6 per cent. - o 6. O liabour 1 s. 6d. an acre - - S>. % % Profit on, a bullock Winter food, two fheep. at 5s. £•3 4 6 - 3 3 0 .'0 10 0 3 13 0 3 4 5 jC-<» 8 7 Expences Profit From this is to be deducted the . whole of chances, the lofs of cattle, See. and from what I was able to pick up, I have reafen to believe that it does not exceed 10s. an acre at mpft. The fum neceffary to flock 61, an acre. I muft pbferye that the profit is very.low, for land to yield, which is, of fuch extraordinary fertility; it is of that foil, which would, do very well; tot tillage, for though it is not dry, yet if has not the wetnefs of our Englifh clays, and would in a courfe of good tillage, pay infinitely bet-^ ter as every perfon muft admit whp are at all acquainted with the wet lands of Norfolk, Suffolk, Effex, &c. I am however, very far from recommending it, for if the Irifh; tillage. fhould' be introduced, the very contrary, would be the cafe,; and the landlord fuffer exceeding^ from his. eftate being exhaufted. In no part of Ireland have I feen more Car clefs manage ment €A$TLE OLIVER, 147 went than in? thefe rkh- lands. The face of the eoan©y j$ that of defolation ; the grounds are over-run with tteftles, (carduusj ragwort, (fe- ftWttjd&ircea) &c. to excefs ; the fences are mounds of earth, full of gaps ; there is no Wood, and the general countenance is fuch, that yfcu nwaft examine into the foil before you will believe that a country, which has fo beg garly an appearance, can be fo rich and fertile. To fkew the rife of land, Sir Harry Harp- fon has a farm of 400 acres, which his grand father let in 1676, at 4s. 6d. an acre, and thought fo dear that an offer of a fcore of fheep and two: goats were offered to be off; it would let now at 30s. I had this fact from himfelf. •The breed of cattle here is alt long homed. There are -fome cows fattened alfo, but not near fo many as oxen. Likewife fome dairies, which- are fet,, ohecwt^ butter, and 20s. horn money. The dairyman's privilege is two or three cows, a cabbin and a gardeii. The num ber of coWsfeldom above a fcpre: but they are found fo troublefome and impofing, that they have taken a different method, and employed dairywomen on their own account. Great quantities of flax fown by all the poor and little farmers, which is fpun in the coun try, and agpoddeal-of handle cloth made pf it. This and pigs are two great articles of profit here; they keep great numbers, yet- the poor in this rich tract of country are very badly •> K 2 off. 148 CASTLE OLIVER. off. Land is fo valuable, that all along as I came from- Bruff, their cabbins,, are generally in the road ditch, and numbers of them with out the leaft garden ; the potatoe land being afligrted them upon the farm where it fuits the maftef beft., The price they pay is very great, from 4I, to 5I. an acre, with a cabbin $¦ and for the grafs of a cow, 40s. to 45s. They are, if any thing, worfe off. than they were twenty years ago. A cabbin, an acre of land, at 409. and the grafs of two cows, the recompenfe of the year's labour: bat are jpaid in different plaees by an acre of grafs for potatoes at 5!. Thofe who do not get milk to their potatoes, eat muftard with them, raifing the feed for the purp©fe. The population of the country 'm- creafes exceedingly, but moft in the higher lands; new cabbins are building every wbere> The tillage in thefe rich lands confifts in, 1. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Barley. 4. Wheat. 5. Oats. 6. Oats* 1. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes, (on fpots *. or j acre flax after the 2d Potatoes.) 3. Wheat. 4. Barky. 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Oats. 8v Oats. 9. Lay it out. Mr. Oliver has known 150 Briftol barrels, each four bufhels heaped of potatoes, which make fix bufhels, or 900 from an acre. The weight, ftrike meafure, 15 ftone. The com mon crop, 1 50 heaped barrels, at 4s. average price. Opinions differ much, whether the fe cond CASTLE OLIVER. 149 cond crop is better" or worfe, but from one practice they have, I am clear which it muft be; tor they truft to the fmall potatoes left in the ground as feed, which are neceffarily irregular : and I have found, by various trials, that aflice of a middling potatoe is far hetter than a whple fmall one. P O T A T 0 E S(. Rent - - r ' r 5 *3 8 Seed, fixteen barrels and a half, at 1 os. - 2 15 0 Cutting feed - 056 Digging - 0 14 0 Carrying out - p a 6 Trenching and fowing .- 150 Weeding - ? • - r o io p Digging put , .- 1 io .0 Gathering T - 0 10 9 Carrying home - - o ,o 6 Hoyfing - o <> o Picking - 0 J.O 0 Tythe T O 12 ,0 £>*S 3 « Onchundred and fifty barrels, at 4s. each .30 o o jjxpences * - - Vs 3 2 Prpfi* r 14 16 10. Ob? i jo 0ASTLE OLIVER, One hundred barrels, at 4s. each. ,. .20 o. o 15 3 % Profit - £,4 16 i.q The Briftol barrel, which is here charged At 4s. is heaped, and weighs 22 ftone. The qua lity of the corn raifed on thefe rich lands is much better than any other iri the country $ the; quantity of barley jpef acre, 12 Brijfjp| barrels, 9 Mr. Ryves, a gentleman of the neighbour^ hood I had the pleafure of-meeting at Caftle Oliver ; on 3^ acres fowed nine bufhgjs of bjre, from which 11 1 Briftol barrels, -ftriked mea* fiire. Of wheat, the crops fluctuating,, h&t a middling one 12 barrels. Mr* Ryves has had 20 of oats, generally 15. All thefe crops are with good tillage : there are many who d# not get near fo much. There is a bolting mill at Limerick, at Annfe grove, at- Markfield, at Clonmell, at Caftle Hyde, at Newport: hence therefore there is no want of a market in this country for corn, I was furprized to fmH that land, in this rich country, fells at as many years purchafe as ip, mountain tracts. Limerick is^famous for cy der ; the fineft cakaggee is at* Mr. Waller's, Mr.'.Mafley's, Mr^Weflrope's, Mr.Monfon's, ^•l.The foil of the orchard's thin, on lime- ftone. Mr. Oli- CASTLE OLIVER. 151 Mr. Oliver has practiced hufba'ndry on a pret ty extenfive fcale. A confiderable part of his land is improved mountain, which he grubbed and cleared of fpontaneous rubbifh, and ma nured with lime-ftone fand $ arid then culti vated fome for corn, and fome for turnips : where the land is boggy', ne burns^ in order to get rid of that foil' which he confiders as worth but little. Whatever he fowp* the land runs at once immediately to thick fine grafs, even on the mountain top ; fo that a ftubbk will, in the firft year, yield a great crop of hay. A ftrong proof how adapted this country is to pafturage. In the breed bf cattle he has been very attentive, purchafing bulls and cows, at the expence of twenty guineas each, of the long-horned Lancafhire breed, and from them has bred others. I faw two exceeding well- made bulls of a year old bf his breeding, which would have made a confiderable figure in Lei- eefterfhire. Turnips he has cultivated for ma- jW years, applying them chiefly to feeding deer, but he has fattened fome fheep onthem with gooq fuccefs. Hollow draining he has practiced upon an extenfive fcale, arid laid a large tract or Wet land dry by it. Mr. Oliver planted a colony of Palatines 1 5 years ago, from about Rathkeal, 66 families in one year, which made 700 proteftants, on his own eftate. Fixed them upon fpots, of frorri thirteen to thirty acres each, charging them only two thirds of the rent, which he could get of others ; built houfes for them at the 152 CASTLE OLIVER. the expence of above 500I. gave them leafes for three lives. The benefit of them has been inr troducing much tillage; to the proportion of their little farms, they till much more than the Irifh. They drill their potatoes, and on ftub4 ble land worn out, Houfe their cattle, feeding them with hay, and raifing thereby dung. They are cleaner and neater, and live much better : are better: cloathed, and all ' of them have neat little kitchen gardens. Many of them labour for nobody but themfelves, and none of them conftantly, for others, being employed principally on their own little farms. They live partly pn four crout. Caftle Oliver is a place almoft entirely of Mr. Oliver's creation; from a houfe, furrounded with cabbins and rubbifh, he. has fixed it in a fine lawn, furrounded by good wood. The park he has very much improved on an excelknt plan; by means of feven feet hurdles, he fences off part of it that wants to be cleaned or im- proved, thefe he cultivates, and leaves for grafs, and then takes another fpot, which is by much the beft; way of doing it. In the park is a glen, an Englifh mile long, winding inapleaT firtg manner, with much wood hanging on the bank. r Mr. Oliver has conducted a ftream through this vale, and formed many little wa ter-falls in an exceeding good tafle, chiefly over hung with wood,; but in fome places open with feveral little rills, trickling over ftones down the flopes. A path winds through a large wood and along the brow of the gkn; this. path CASTLE OLIVER. 153 path leads to an hermitage, a cave of rock, in a good tafte, and to fome benches, from which the views of the water and wood are in the fe queftered ftile they ought to be. One of "thefe little views, which catches feveral falls under 1 the arch of the bridge, is one of the prettieft touches of the kind I have feen. The vale be neath the houfe, when viewed from the higher. grounds, is pleafing; it is very well wooded, there being many inclofures, furrounded by pine trees, ' and a thick fine mafs of wood rifes from them up the mountain fide, makes a very good figure, and would be better, had not Mr, Oliver's father cut it into viftos for fhooting. Upon the whole, the place is highly improved, and when the mountains are planted, in Which Mr. Oliver is making a confiderable progrefs, it will be magnificent, .. In the houfe are feveral fine pictures, parti cularly five pieces by Seb. Ricci, Venus and jEneas ; Apollo and Pan, Venus and Achilles; and Pyrrhus and Andromache, by Lazzerini; and the rape of the Lapithi, by the centaurs : the laft is by much the fineft, and is a very ca pital piece; the expreffion is ftrong, the figures are in bold relief, and the colouring good, Venus and Achilles is a pleafing picture ; the continence of Scipio is well grouped, but Sci- pio, as in every picture I ever faw of him, has ho expreffion. Indeed, chaftity is in the coun tenance fo pafjiv'e a virtue as not to be at all fuited to the genius of painting; the idea is rather that of irifipidity, and, accordingly, Sci- '< pios 154 . T I P P E R A R Y. '.v pio's expreffion is generally infipid enough. Two fine pieces, by Lucca Jordano, Hercules, and Anteus ; Sampfon killing the lion : both dark and horrid, but they are highly finifhed, and ftriking. Six heads of old men, by Nogari^ excellent ; and four young women, in the cha* racter of the feafons. October 9th, left Caftle Oliver. Had I fol* lowed my inclination, my flay would have been much longer, fori found it equally the refi- dence of entertainment and inftruction. Paffed through Kilfennan and Duntreleagjae* in my way to Tipperary. The road leads every where on the fides of the hills, fo as to give a very dif- tinct view of the lower grounds; the foil all the way is the fame fort of fandy reddifli loam 1 have .already defcribed, incomparable land for tillage :. as I advanced, it grew fomething lighter, and jin many places free frotn gravel. Bullocks the ftock all the way, Towards Tip perary I faw vaft numbers of fheep* and many bullocks, AH this line of Country is part of the famous golden vale. To Thomas-Town, where I was fo unfortunate as not to find Mr. Mathew at home; the domain is 1500 Englifh acres, fo well planted, that I could hardly be lieve myfelf in Ireland, „ There is a hill, in die' park, from which the view of it,- the country and the Galties, are ftriking., -;; ; To.the Earl of Clanwilliam's, where I was particularly fortunate in meeting Meffrs. Ma- earthy and Keating, fons to two of the greateft. j farmers TIPPERARY 155 farmers that ever were in Ireland, The coun try is all under fheep, and the foil dry fandy loam. The fheep fyftem of Tipperary *s to breed and keep the lambs till three-^year old wethers, fat, and fell them at 26s. at an aver age; keep the ewe lambs, and cull the old ftock, felling an equal number of fat ewes at three to four years old, the average price 20s. in October, the wool of all the ftock in general amounts to three fleeces, per ftone, of 1 61b. or 6s. a head. From hence to Clonmell, there are many fheep ; to Cullen in Kilkenny, three or four miles beyond Thurles, within two miles of Cullen, three or four and twenty miles N. to Sf and from Cullen to within three miles of Cullen, which is 30 : generally fpeaking, this is all fheepi but there are many fpots in it where bullbcks are. fed. The flock mixed with fheep are ufually calves, bought in at fix to eight months, 30s. to 40s. average 32s. and when they are three year oldK fend them to the richer lands in the county of Limerick, (where every Tipperary grazier has a farm) to fat. When they have not enough of their own rearing, they buy three-year olds at Ballynaflpe, and fatten them in Limerick. In general, this land will carry three to fiye fheep to the acre, and bear forne^ calves, befides. . One acre and three quarters 3 bullock the year through, one half for hay, Arrangement iS6 TIPPERARY. ^Arrangement of a ftock of 2, 500 Jheef, . 500 ewes ,' 500 lambs 500 hoggarts 500 two-year olds 250 , fat wethers 250 ewes, added to ftock, inftead of- 2-5° oWer °^ fole off8 2500 at 5 to an acre 500 acres 250 fat wethers, at 2{5s. t - 324 18 o 25P culled ewes, at 20s. -,- r 2$° .0 o 2000 fleeces, at 6s. - ? 600, o o £.1174 18 o A part of the ftpck of fat wethers is kept over from October to the fpring, for the Dub lin market, not merely fpr the high pripe, but becaufe underlings, and not fat in autumn, and fell for lefs than the reft, feldom more than 19s. or, 20s. To 3000 fheep a grazier in this neighbourhood has 30 acres of turnips, in or der to feed this part of his wether ftock with. Mr. Macarthy with 8000 flieep, has feldom more than 30 acres. This fyftem will be furr ther explained by Mr. Allen's ftock. 1,200 acres — 2,000 fheep? befides lambs- Sells 200 four yeaivold wethers, at 26s. — 200 three TIPPERARY. 457 three year-olds, at 26s. — 200 barren ewes, at 1 8s. — 2,000 fleeces, at 5s. — 400 two-year olds — 400 year olds — 500 Brood ewes — 500 larribs — Land to feed this flock, 1000 acres. Alfo 1 20 bullocks— T40 cows artd, fpayed heifers and working bullocks for work, and milk breed ing.— 30 horfes, mares, &c. — 30 labourers, 5 fhepherds— 20 acres of wheat— 10 barley — * 10 oats — 10 turnips- — 8 potatoes— 60 mowing ground — Rent of this large tract offheep-land from 2© to 25s. an acre. Farms are generally large, commonly 3 or 400P acres, and rife up to io^ooo, of which quan tity, there is one farm, this is Mr. Macarthy's, of Spring Houfe, near Tipperary, and is I fup- pofe the moft confiderable one in the world. Here are fome of the particulars of it : 9,000 acres in all — ip,oool. rent — §,opa fheep 2,000 lambs— 550 bullocks— 80 fat cows — 2o,oool. value of ftock-— 200 year lings — 200 two-year olds — 200 three-year olds — *8o plough bullocks— ^,1 80 horfes, mares and foals — r 50 tp 200 labourers— 200 acres tillage. Mr. Richard Doghcrty, of Locklogher, 76 bags of wool at 5pplb. to 6oplb. this year. Lofs of fheep and cattle one-half per cent No folding- For hiring and flocking, 5I. an acre. A fhepherd is allowed four cows, a horfe, , a cabbin; and three acres of garden, and as much hay as they like for their cattle. Slaughter 158 TIPPERARY. Slaughter at Corke of cow* and bullocks imdoubtedly much leffened. The increafe of tillage is in Tipperary oWmg^ to bolting mills. The quantity of tillage in this country trifling, but the crops are large ; there are fe veral courfes-. The turnip bafbandry often upon burnt land, fome on lime and fallow, and fome on fallow alone. i. Turnips. 2. Fallow. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats, 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Oats. 8. Oats. 9. Oats. 10. Lay it out. 1. Turnips. 2. Fallow. 3. Potatoes; 4. Bere; 5. Wheat. 6. Oats-. 7. Oats. 8. Oats. 9. Oats. 1. Burn for rape feed. 2. Potatoes. •3. Wheat. 4. Oats* 5-. Oats. Layout. And fometimes they take two crops of wheat. They never hoe turnips. • Mr. Dexter of Cullen, had a ram, half a guinea a kapj and great numbers of ewes were fent to him, the breed much improving. Potatoes, average produce, 80 to 100 Briftol barrels, at 5s. average price, and the poor people pay 5 to 6 guineas for landt They often take two crops with adding fome feed; pay the fame price for the fecond; they pay this price for turnip land burnt ; grafs potatoes not generally known. The quantity of .T IP PER A R Y. 159 of wbiSati'io barrels to i5>-r-Bere 15 to 18. — parley 1 2 to 1 8. — Oats ^2 to 1 5. Their tur bos they feldom fow before the, 12th of July. Their: manures; are lime and: lime-ftone gravel, the gravel for crops, and lime for grafs ; they ufe it on lime-ftone land, and with; great fuecefs. The foil a mellow, dry ¦fendy, or gravelly loam* on limerftone or lime- ftpne gravel., Much bog in this country, that of Allen comes in a line through the Queen's County to within three miles of Cafhel. One- fifth of Tipperary, mpuntain, the reft 20s. an acre.. Land fells at 2p years purchafe. Rents have^ fallen four or five: fhillings an acee; fince 1771 and 177^1: ; Price of Cattle. ,•- Yearling bullock; 3I. to 3I. ros. Store bul lock; 61. to 7I. Fat ditto, iol. to 12L' Profit on a bullock, 4I. to 4I. 10s. A bullock fat of ten guineas, weighs 6 cwt. ' .-,¦.»•¦ Newtown, 250 ¦ acres, a farm of Mp. Dogherty's, under bullocks from May to No vember, ands 1 1 00 lambs- all' winter through. .,..,'¦ , ; ;; ;«i -¦ , , . , ..»in ¦. . I had heard much of the late Mr. Keating'* farm, of GarranladY as the largeft that ever was ; his fon gave me the following particu- lars of it:. '¦:¦¦;>'¦ _¦ <.;.; .-oo*i f, .,...- ni\ '-''. ' io;oool. 4 year rent. 13,800 Irifh 'acres. 5,000 head/ of black cattle. 16,300 fheep. '300 hotfes. i -50b couple, of ducks. 300 turkies. i6b .TIPPER A KY. turkies. 90 hogfheads of cyder a year. Hfc had moft of the ground from Gblding to Clonmell. Cdllops here in order are, 1 horfe* 6 fheep. 1 cow. i fat bullock* 2 yearlings. 3 calves. To Guiiert/ Newtown, Palace, Carrick on Lifh, rents 30s. an acre. Refpe&irtg the ftatc "of the poor in this country they are paid by a tabbin, and one acre and a half of land* for which they are reckoned 4!. and for grafs of a cow 2l. 2s. ; They live upon potatoes' and milk ; generally have cows, but not all, and thofe who have not, buy, but very many of them have for the half year, Only potatoe's and fait. They all keep pigs. They are juft as they were 20 years ago; Prices; wheat 1 s. id. pef ffone, Englifh barley, rod. Oats* 6d. Bere, 7d. Hay ih as* 9d. a ton. Rape is very commonly fown upon burnt land ; they never feed it, but let it ftand for ieed, of which they get 12 to 15 barrels, and it fells at 16s. a barrel. Burning I fhould ex^ plain, is only the remaining turf after two ploughings, the firft in November, and after Chriftmas. a crofs ploughing ; harrow in March, and burn in May, Accompanied Lady Clanwifliarrt in a drive through her plantations ; fhe has planted a broad margin for feveral miles round *a do main, (which his Lordfhip walled in with in* tention of building) and done it with equal tafte D.1XJ N D/R U 'M. i-6 1 tafte arid fuecefs. The attention fhe has given to this rational amufement, 'and the fenfibk and agreeable manner in which fhe renders every tree interefting by her defcriptiotts and remarks, are formed to fet off a female charac ter in alight at kaft as refpectabk and as amia ble as the .moft brilliant exhibition that a capital can witnefs. The twig, which fhe plants with her hand, and nourifhes by her care, willnotdifappointherin the pleafure fhe expects ; it will thrive with her attention, and greet her with its friendly fhade : when will Dublin prove as grateful ? Oftober 12th, to Lord de Montalt's at Duri- drum, a place which his Lordihip has orna mented in the modern ftile of improvement: the houfe was fituated in the midit of all the regular exertions of the laft age. Parterres, pa rapets of earth, ftraight walks,- knots and dipt hedges, all which he hasthrown down, with an infinite number of .hedges and ditches,- filled up ponds, &c. and opened one very no-' ble lawn around him, fcattered negligently over with trees, and cleared the courfe of a choaked up river, fo that it flows at prefent in a winding courfe through the grounds. He continues this work of dreffing the fields con tiguous to him, to give them a neat appearance, and advances in it every year, even his tillage lands are all kept in the fame neat manner, with fences new done, and the whole carrying the moft cultivated appearance. Vol. II. L His 16,2 D U N D R U M. . His Lordfhip's fyftem. of hufbandry is an ad mirable one > it is in the great outline to take farms into his own hands, as the leafes expire, to keep them for. improvement, and. when done to relet them. This is the true agricul ture for profit for a landlord ; he has upon this fyftem improved near 2000 acres. Throw ing down the old miferable fences which fplk the farms into little fcraps of fields,; and made new ditches for drains and water-courfes, dif- pofed the new fields to the beft advantage, drained them with ftone drains where wet, broke up fuch of the grafs as was bad, culti vated it enough to bring it into -proper order, afld laid it down again to meadow ; there can not be a better, fyftem, or more calculated at the fame time to ornament a country, and im*- prove his own eftate. HisLordihip has alfo followed feveral prac tices- in farming, which have proved of great fervicej among, others, keeping hogs upon clover. He had a mind to fhew the country man that they might keep many hogs (a. very advantageous ftock to them) by means of clo ver ; hejkept four fows and twenty-four pigs the fummer through on one acre, by which he made 10I. produce- A clear proof that the hufbandry would be highly advantageous with this view. Turnips he cultivates upon. a very large fcale ; was the firft who had ; them here on ftubbles ; he has .thirty or forty acres, and 3 every D U N D R U M. 163 every year has a large' quantity ; drills them with a very cheap fimple drill, his own in vention, and thins them out by hand, or hoes them. I viewed his crop, and found them very regular, and of a good fize; with the leaves of the whole of a remarkable deep green, without any yellow ones : more io, I think, than is common in England, and I obferved the fame circumflance with theother crops I, faw. He ufes them for feeding and fattening fheep, giving them on dry grafs land ; alfo for ftall-feeding bullocks-, and finds the advantage of both ufes fo great, that he does not know what he fhould do without them. ::^Inthe winter management of his cattle, he proceeds on very different principles from what • is common in Ireland ; inftead of feeding them * abroad, and for that purpofe flacking the hay about the fields, he ties them up in ftalls, of which he has many, and is erecting more : he ties up above 1 00 head, in which he finds the greateft advantage, both in the cattle, faving food, and yielding dung. The breedof fheep he has begun -to change, from the long-legged Tipperary to the fhort legs of Leicefterfhire; has feveral tups of that breed, and finds that the change is of the higheft confequence. Folding he has practiced with the greateft fuecefs. The breed of hogs he has alfo changed to the Berkfhire, and has one of the fineft boars of that breed I have feen. L 2 Cabbages 1 64 D U N D R U M. Cabbages he cultivated for feveral years, but finds them burft too foon to be of confiderable ufe; turnips much better: but Reynolds' tur nip- cabbage he finds excellent for late fpring food; has eight acres of very fine ones this year, which coft him juft 20I. labour of ma nuring included. . Lord de Montalt keeps 2000 acres in his hands, 1500 fheep, 40 plough bullocks, 12 eows, &c. His Lordfhip, for the purpofe of draining his clay lartds, ploughs and fho- vels them up into broad highlands, fo as to form regular , fegments of -, circles, in the manner practifed in fome counties in Eng land ; he does this that the furrows may be drains to the land, for French drains will not run, owing to the ftiffnefs of the clay. He has not much of this land, however; for in general his foil is the rich reddifli fandy loam .of the golden vale. He does much of his ploughing with the plough of Warwick and Shrdpfhire, and finds it an- fwers very well. The mountain lands of Tipperary one- feventh of the county, the reft lets at 20s. an acre on an average. There is fome woollen manufactory fcattered through it, efpecially at Thurks, Tipperary, Clpnmell,, &c. Mr. John, Penning, .near Colchin, em ploys 30 combers. The year's purchafe, of land 2.0, was 25 fome years ago. The fall owing C A S H E L. 165 owing partly to the expectation of an ah- fen tee land-tax. .October 13th, leaving Dundrum,. paffed through Cafhel, where is a rock and ruin on it, called the rock of\ Cafhel, fuppofed to be of the remoteft antiquity. Towards Clonmell, the whole way through the fame rich vein of red fandy loam I have fo often mentioned : I examined it in feveral fields, and found it to be of an extraordiriary fer tility, and as fine turnip land as ever I faw. It is much under fheep; but towards Clonmell there is a great deal of tillage. The firft view of that town backed by a high ridge of mountains, with a beautiful fpace near it of inclofures, fringed with a fcattering of trees, was very pleafing. Jt is the beft fituated place in the courity of Tipperary, on the Sure, which brings up boats of ten tons burthen. Jt appears tp be a bufy populous place, yet I was told that the manufacture of woollens is not con fiderable. It is noted for being the birth place of the inimitable Sterne, Within two miles of it is Markfield, the feat of Stephen Moore, Efq; celebrated in Ireland for his uncommon exertions in every branch of agriculture. It was not without the great eft concern that I found him abfent. See ing this Gentleman hpwever in London af terwards, he was kind enough to favour me with the following particulars ; • His' i66 C L O N ME L L. His mill was built feven years ago, and coft 15,0001. the wages of the millers,, includ-. ing candles, coals, foap, tallow, &c. 7 or 800L a year : it contains 9 ftones for wheat, and 4 for oatmeal : it has a very complete apparatus for lifting, cleaning, &c. and gra naries of uncommon magnitude, holding5* 10,000 barrels : began to be worked with only 3^000 barrels of wheat in a Lyear, which has rifen gradually to 20,000 barrels in 1776, a very ftrong proof of the great increafe of tillage in ' the neighbourhood. Very much of it is between Clonmell and Cafhel, in which tract there was formerly more fheep in'onp- parifh, than now in three ; alfo much in the Corke road to Cloheen, but no moun tain heath ground imprbved. The change has been from fheep and bullocks. He Jhas a profpect of doing yet more, and at the fame time ' that other mills have been erected that grind much, perhaps the whole is pot fhort of 40,000 barrels.' The farmers do not bring their wheat from a greater diftance than 16 miles. Mr. Moore finds it neceffary' to kiln dry" all: I menti oned to him the bad colour of all the wheat in his own, and every other mill iri Ireland, he attributed it' only to wet harvefts. He fends his flour to Dublin, on the bounty, which rather more than pays the expence of carriage 6d. per cwt. Never exports on his Own account, but fends a little to Waterford.* It goes to Dublin in cars, which takes each eight to ten cWt. that is from fodr to five bags. CLONMELL." 167 b*gs- He ufed to pay 3s. a cwt. in winter, and 3s. 6d- in fummer for 84 miles, but now the price is 2s 6d. in fummer, and- 3s. in winter. Mr. Moore tried Englifh broad- ^ Wheeled waggons, with high priced' firpng horfes, but they did not anfwer at all:, he has found the cars to parry much greater loads. % He has not found that the premium has over ftocked the ' Dublin market, which he attributes to there being an export from Dublin, notwithstanding fuch exported com receives no bounty. The, bran Mr. Moore applies to breeding and fattening hogs, con trary to the practice of moft other mills, who having tried it, have given that practice up. He has thirty breeding fows and fix hundred pigs,, which are fed and fattened entirely on it, and the fat is firm arid good. The price of bran is is. id. the Jix ftpne, and the hogs anfwer fp well, that he would contract for.other bran to be delivered him at that price,, in order to :ufe it in this man ner. He does not depend entirely on breed ing his own, but buys many flores. He is entirely in the Berkshire breed, which he finds much fuperior to tfie Irifh. I obferved his hogs, and thought them very fine ones. His fows bring three litters each, fev.en pigs on an average, in a year and a quarter; fells them at half a year to two years old, putting them to fat as fppn as they have done grow ing ; but when there is a great demand, fats them young. The average fat pig, two cwt. at. 1-68. M1RLETIELD.' ' at from 2os. to 30s. a cwt. medium 25s. The dung is a confiderable profit ; he finds it be yond any other. He has given bran alfo to fatting ftore cattle, having built ftalls for that- purpofe ;" gives them hay till when near fat, then leaves off the hay. His working horfes. are fed on bran entirely, no oats. Mr. Moore contracts for bifcuit, which he bakes: in large quantities,1 and bread for the whole town of Clonmell. He has eight ovens. going for bifcuit. Starch he alfo makes large quantities of. Adjoining his flour mill,' he has, erected a rape mill, for making oil ; the feed is all raifed in the neighbourhood. The cake fells at. 48s. a ton, and is exported, fome to Holland', but moft to England for manure. He has tried feeding beafts with it, but it will not do at all : they would have died. This fact has long been known in England. It is the cake of lint feed that fattens. We have, however, very florid writers of this age, . who fpeak of oxen fattening on rape cake as a com mon-thing. Mr. Moore's hufbandry is alfo worthy of 'confiderable notice. " His principal., attention has beeri given to cattle; feventeen tyears ago heimportedLeicefterfliirefams, Northampton ftallions, arid a Craven bull from England, and has at different • times fince. had bulls from Bakewcll and others, and has himfelf • fold "yearling bull calves, from 10I. to 30I. a ^pkee, and rams from 10I. to 40I. Long ex perience , MARLEFIELD. 169 perience has told him that the long horned Craven breed of cattle is preferable to any other'. I enquired particularly into the quantity of milk, becaufe the common objection is their net giving much. Sir William Ofborne, as well as Mr. Moore, affured me that he had feen one of them milked, and the milk mea- fured feventeen quarts at one meal ; but the average fix to ten quarts at a meal, which is neither better nor worfe than the common cows of the country : but the milk is much . better and thicker, and yields more butter than that of the Holderneffe. I examined his bulls, cows, and oxen, with attention ; he has a bull which deferves every commendation for fhape ; and three of four put of fix or feven prime cows I faw, were very beautiful ones. Of fheep he keeps 1000, that is 200 ewes, 200 year-olds-; 200 two-year olds ; 200 barren ewes, and 200 lambs. He fells every year 200 two-year old fat wethers, and 100 barren ewes ; the wethers in October, at 28s. and the ewes in the fpring, at 25s. His fleeces are 71b. each on an average, at is. per lb. Turnips he has cultivated for fome years, up to 3.0 acres in a year, broad eaft, has not hoed, from finding them very good without. He both draws and feeds on the land. He has had cabbages alfo, but never more than two acres, finds them more expenfive, but do not go fo far as turnips. To i?o MOUNTAIN IMPROVEMENT. To Sir William Ofborne's, three miles the ' other fide Clonmell. From' a character fo re markable for intelligence and precifiort: r I could not fail of meeting information of the moft-valuable kind. This gentleman has made a mountain improvement Which demands par-: ticiilar attention, being upon a principle very' different from common ones. Twelve years ago he met with a hearty look ing fellow of forty, followed by a wife and fix" children in rags, who begged. Sir William' queftioned him upon the fcandal of a man in "full health and vigour, fupporting himfelf in fuch a mariner : the man faid he. could get no' work : Gome -along with me, I willjhew you dfjfot cf land upon which I will build a cabbin for yout and if you like it you Jhallfix there. The fellow followed Sir William, who was as good as his word : -he built him a cabbiri, gave him five acres of a heathy mountain, lent him four pounds to flock with, arid gave him, when he had prepared his ground, as much lime as he -would pome for. 'The fellow flourifhed ; he went on gradually ; repaid the four pounds', and prefently became a happy little cottar : he bas at prefent twelve acres1 under cultivation, and a ftock in trade worth at leaft &ol... his name is John Conpry. f The fuecefs which attended this man in two or three years, brought pthers, who applied for lapd, and Sir William gave them as they ^applied. The mountain was under leafe to a tenant, MOUNTAIN IMPROVEMENT. 171. tenant, who valued it.fo little, that upon be ing reproached with not cultivating, or -doing fomething with it, he affined Sir William, that it was utterly impracticable to do any thing with it. and offered it to him without any deduction of rerit. Upon this mountain . he fixed them; gave them terms as they came determinable with the leafe of the farm, fo that every one that came in fuceeffion had fhorter and fhorter tenures ; yet are they fp defirous of fettling, that they come at prefent, though on ly two years refrtain for a term* In this manner Sir William has fixed twen- ty-'twp.families, who are all upon the improv ing hand, the meaneft growing richer ; ancj find themfelves fo well off, that no confidera- tipn will induce them to work for others, not even in harveft : their induftry has no hounds ; nor is the day Jong enough 'for the revolution of their inceffarjt labour. Some of them bring ¦ turf to Clonmell, and Sir William has feen Cono'ry returning lpaded with foap afhes,. He found it difficult to perfuade them to make a road fo their village, but when they had pnce done it, he found none in getting crofs roads to it, they found fuch benefit in the firft. 'Sir William has continued to give them whatever lime they Come for ;' and they have defired 1 000 barrels among them for the year 1766, which their landlord has according ly contracted for with his Iime-burrier? at i 1 d. a barrel. Their houfes have all been' built at '¦ '; .-. • ; ' '¦'• ' " his 172 W A T E R F O R D. his expence^ anddpne by contract at 61. each, after which they raife what little offices they Want for themfelves. Sir William being prejudiced againft the cuftom of burning land, infifled that they fhould not do it,, which impeded them for fome time; but upon being convinced that they could not go on well without it, he relaxed, and fince that they have improved rapidly. He has informed them, that upon the expiration of the leafe, they will be charged fomething for the land, and has defired that they will mark out each man what he wifhes to have; they. have, accordingly run divifions, and fome of them have taken pieces of 30 or 40 acres : a ftrong proof that they find ' their.- hufbandry beneficial and profitable. He has great reafon to believe that nine-tenths of them were white boys, but are now of principles and practice exceedingly different from the mifcreants that bear that name. The lime Sir William gives them for the firft breaking up, and the quantity they chufe is 40 barrels an acre, fo that all the expenfe is 61. for the houfe, and il. 16s. 8d. an acre for the land they improve. He has little doubt but they will take the whole moun tain among them, which cortfifts of 900 acres. Their courfe of tillage is, 1. Potatoes on the burning, generally Turks, (cluftered) and ^great crops. 2. Rye. 3. Oats, and then leave it out ; the grafs is, ' Their W A T E R F O R D. 173 Their cattle are feeding on the mountain in the day, but of nights they houfe them in little miferable ftables. All their children are em ployed regularly in their hufbandry, picking ftones, weeding, &c. which fhows their induf try ftrongly; for in general they are idle about all the country. The women fpin. Too much cannot be faid in praife of this undertaking.' It fhows that a reflecting pene trating landlord canfcarcely move without the power of creating opportunities to do himfelf and his country fervice. It fhows that the vil lainy of the greateft mifcreants, is all fituation and circumftance : employ, don't hang them. Let it not be in the flavery of the cottar fyftem, in which induftry never meets its reward, but by giving property, teach the value of it; by giving them the fruit of their labour, teach them to be laborious. All this Sir William 'Ofborne has clone, and done it with effect, and there probably is not an honefter fet of families in the county than thofe which he has formed from the refufe of the white boys. Suppofe he builds a houfe to every twenty acres, and limes that quantity of land, the ex penfe would be a few fhillings over 40I. or 40s. an acre. If they pay him 2s. 4d. an acre for "the land, he will make juft 61. per cent, fpr his money : a moft ftriking proof of the immenfe profit which attends mountain improvements of every kind, becaufe inftead of 2s. 4c!. they would confider 6s. or 7s. as a rent of favour. 4 s. 174 NEWTOWN. 4s. 8d. is 12 per cent, for his inpney ; 7s; is 18 per cent. Yet in fpite of fuch'facts do the lazy, trifling, inattentive, nepigentfjlobbering, pro fligate owners of Irifh mountains leave them, as they received them, from the hands of their anceflors, in the poffeflion of groufe and foxes. Shame to fuch afpiritlefs conduct! One-third of Watefford mountain at 6d. an acre, and two-thirds at 7s. Twenty miles on the coaft in length, and eight or ten in breadth, is under dairies, of which the rent per acre is little known, farms being paid for by the cows they will maintain, at 50s. each. Thefe dairies rife to 50 and even 100 cows. They all keep great numbers of hogs, which increafe every day from the high price. The flate of the poor people much, better than formerly ; they ufed to have one acre of potatoes, and the grafs of one cow for their year's labour, and no more, and were much greater flaves than at prefent. Tillage does' not thrive in the county ; it has, however, increafed pretty much about Dun- garvon, from whence there has been a toler able export of corn; not only from its neigh bourhood, but alfo from a diftance, owing to the mobs of Clonmell and Carrick flopping corn going to Water ford, which has injured the latter town: October 15th, left New Town, and keeping on the banks of the Sure, paffed through Ca*r- rick to Curraghmore, the feat of the Earl of Tyrone. N E W T O W N. 175 Tyrone. This line of country, in point of foil, inferior to what I hayeof late gone through: fo that I eonfider the rich country to end at Clonmell. For the following account of the hufbandry of the county of Waterford I am obliged, . to the, attention of Lord Tyrone, who omitted no means of informing me accurately. That county is divided into very large farms, and the renters of them keep cows generally, which they let to dairymen. One farmer, Mr. Peor, has 2000 eows, and pays 2000I. a year, but they rarely let more to one man than 50 cows, ufually about 20 ; many of thefe men pay weekly, and others quarterly: the rent from 50$! to 3I. 5s. no fuch thing as horn- money < The dairyman's privilege is a houfe and two or three acres of land, or a horfe and two cows in twenty. They make nothing but butter, and all keep hogs; but do not feed them with milk, felling it all; 1,300 to 1,500 churns full of milk, each eight gallons, goes into Waterford everyday in the year, and a prodigious quantity to Carrick. The county is by far the greateft dairying one in Ireland. The breed is the common mountain cow, poor to look at, but great milkers, five or fix pot tles at a meal common. Price of them 5I. at an average. Average rent of all the land un der cows, 10s. One-third of the county moun tain, at 6d. the other two-thirds, at 10s. Along the Blackwater, good land, and four miles found Waterford, 20s. or 25s. The quantity for 176 CURRAGHMOOR. for a cow from two to four acres. They ge* nerally breed their own by rearing a few calves every year ; the young flock are kept on the mountains in fummer, and in the worft of the low land in winter. They never feed their cows with any hay, except in very fevere wea ther. No other ftock but cows. The foils are various at this end of the coun ty, clay and fhingly flate, With a reddifli mold upon it and gravelly loams. At the other end, they have lime-ftone lands. They have, how ever, about Curraghmoor lime-ftone gravel of a ftiff nature. Lime at the kiln 9d. a^bar- rel; Lord Tyrone pays is. for thp ftone, and 2s. 8d. a barrel for the culm, and pays 2d; a barrel for breaking arid burning, all Which make 9d. Every barrel of culm -'gives feven of lime ; a ton of ftone produces four barrels of lime: the barrel of lime four cubical feet. Not a thirtieth part of the country under the plough. The tillage eonfifts only of a little patches broken up by the cabbins ; it has been mcreafing thefe 15 years: but the principal increafe has been within thefe ten years. The courfe of crops : . ";-? * v 1. Fotatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Barley,'1 or" oats. 4. Oats. 5. Oats : continued While the land -yields. Wheat is coming in. Some who till large fields, and do not take fp many c pops} About Dungarvon, there are many potafpel planted, which are fent to., Dublin in boats,1 with toads of birch brooms, » and they -arfe- faid to CURRAGHMOOR. 177 to be 16ad,ed With fruit andjimber. But in no part of the county. do they plant grafs pota toes : they plarit many of the bull or turk fort for their pigs, but they are reckoned an un- whokfome fort for the people to feed on. Par ing and burning land was common before the law paffed againft it, but of late very little. Upon the coaft there is a great deal of fea- weed and fea-fand, efpecially beyond Dungar- von and Waterford. Flaxis fcarcely any where fown. The poor people feed on potatoes and milk ; moft of them have cows ; many of them for a part of the year only fait : but they have pat bread when potatoes are not in feafon. They all keep pigs, but never eat therh* Their circumftances are in general greatly better than they were twenty years ago, both in food and cloathing; they have now ail fhoes and ftock - ings, and are decently dreffed every Sunday. No hats among^ the women, and it is the fame in other parts. Their labour is valued, and they are paid the amount in land. The religion of the lower clafles is the Roman catholic. , Emigrations from this part of Ireland prin cipally to Newfoundland, for a feafon; they have 18I. or ,2ol. for their pay, and are main tained," but they do not bring home more than 7I. to nl. Some of them flay and fettle; three years ago there was an emigration of in dented fervants to North Carolina, of 300, but they were flopped by contrary winds, &c. There had been fomething bf this conftantly, Vol. II. M but i ,78 C U R ft A G H 'M O O R. but not , to - that amount. ! The oppreflion which the poor pepple have moft to complain of, is th^ not having any tenures In their lands; by. whieh means they are entirely fubject to their employers. Manufactures here are; only woollens. Car- rick is one of the greateft manufacturing towns in Ireland* Principally for' ratteens, but of late they have got into broadcloths, all for home confumption; the manufacture' in- cfeafes, and is very flourifhing. There are between three and four hundred people em-*- ployed by it, in Carriek' and its neighbour* hood. - Lord Tyrone is clear that if his eftate in Londonderry was in Waterford, or that all the inhabitants of it were to- emigrate from it, fo as to leave him to new model it, henvould be able to get full one- third more for it than he can do at prefent; rents in the north depend ing not on quality, but on price of linen, '¦:>.' \ The rife in the profperity of Ireland,, about the year 1749, owing- to the higher '¦ price of provifions, which raifed' rents and enforced induftry. Butter now c/d. a lb. thirty years •ago 24c!. ' ; •" •- Tythes are ufually compounded for^ by the ryear through this county. Wheat pays' 10s. Barky, i-os. \ Oats, 5s.' Mowing ground, 4s. Sheep, -id.' each. Milk fells in fummer for a halfpenny CUR R A G H M O O R; ' 1 79 halfpenny a quart ; five quarts of butter-milk in fummer for a halfpenny. Lord Tyrone has improved 127 acres of hill,- the foil reddifli dry loam, on a flaty bottom, over-run with French and Irifh furze, and briars and bufhes; he firft grubbed them up at a guinea an acre : then he -levelled an in finite; number of- old ditches and mounds, at 5©l. expenfe,. ploughed in winter, and fecond ploughed in May; and 200 barrels of roach limeiper acre, fpread, at is, a barrel. Upon this* ploughed twice more ; and fowed, part with wheat at Michaelmas, and part with bar ley in fpring. The crops exceedingly good ; 8 barrels an acre of wheat, and 18 of barky, After/Che wheat, barky and grafs feeds were fown.; ther barley as good as the other ; and upon the barley, part oats were fown, ''the crop 15 barrels, and White clover and hay feeds. Before the improvement, it let at 10s. an acre ; after the improvement it would let rea dily at 25s. The grubbing the furze was not effectual, for 50I. has been fince expended in grubbing up fcattered ones. They are now completely deftroyed, is a very beautiful well- laid lawn, and fo good land, that the wool, of tk&fbeep alone that' were kept there laft yeaH without other food, and through the year paid 20s. an acre for the whofe. It would now feedw6oo^ fheep through the year. Over 90 acres limed, with 250 barrels an acre, and faf- idtftekl, -had 17 barrels an acre of wheat. Eight years ago, hi& Lordihip flopped their burning M 2 land-, 180 CURR AGHMOOR.1 . land ; but upon receiving many complaints at it, he fold them lime at cjd. a barrel, which coft him is. in order to make up the imaginary lofs. I had the pleafure of meeting; at Lord Ty rone's, William Shanly, Efq; of Willyfield* in Leitrim, who informed me that he had twelve burtdred^Ser acre from a bad red bogj"(ftoneL of potatoes) four feet deep, drained to the clay at bottom; lime-ftone fand at 3I. labour,, be fides horfes ; dunged it a common covering* and immediately planted the potatoes* 7 dug them, and fowed barley, 1 5 barrels an acre* Barky again 12 barrels ; barley again! 8 barrels* grew too rank, laid with grafs feeds, could let at 4.0S1 an aqre:ranfwers fo well, that he would have done any quantity of , it ; did 20 acres. He planted with a plough 29* ftone of pota toes in rows j four feet afunder/; the produce was i,44c* ftone, the quantity of land about three rood. In the county Leitrim, four-fifths of mountain,' at 2d. or not fo much ; the re maining fifth, 6s. the mountains in Leitrim all wet, a bog§y furface; Curraghrrioor is one. of the fineft places in Ireland, or indeed that I have any where feen. The houfe, which is large, is fituated upon a rifing ground, in a vale furrounded by very bold hills, which rife in a variety of forms, and offer to the eye, in riding through the giounds, very noble and ftriking fcenes. Thefe hills are exceedingly varied, fo that the detour of CURRAGHMOOR. 181 of the place is very pleafing. In order to fee it to advantage, I would advife a traveller to take the ride which Lord Tyrone carried me. Pafled through the deer park wood of old oaks, fpread over the fide of a bold hill, and of fuch an extent, that the feene is a truly foreft one, without any other boundary in view than what the ftems of trees offer from mere extent, re tiring one behind another till , they thicken fp much to the eye,* under ¦ the made of their Ipreading tops, as to form a - diftant wall of Wopd. This is a fort of -fcene not common in Ireland, it is a great extent alone that will give it. From this "hill enter an evergreen planta tion, a fcene which winds up the Deer-park hill, and opens on to the brow of it, which commands a ipoft: noble view indeed. The lawns arpurid the houfe appear at one's feet, at the bottom of a great declivity of wood, Al moft every where furrounded by plantations* The hills on the oppofite fide .pf the vale againft thehoufe, confift of a large lawn in the center of the two Woods, that to the right pf an immenfe extent, which waves over a mountain fide* in the fineft manner imaginabk, and lead the eye to the fcenery on the left,'1 which is a beauti ful vale of rich indentures, of ^ feveral miles extent,' with the Sure making one great reach through iti and a bold bend juft before it en ters a gap in the hills" towards Waterford, and winds behind theiri; to the right you look ftver a large plainV backed by the great Cum- ineragh rhouritairis. * For a diftihcV extent of yiew, the parts of which are all of a corn- •'¦'-.'' • ' ^ "" "mandirig 182 CUR RAG HMO OR. -manding magnitude, and a variety equdl to the number, very few profpe6ts are finer than. this, . , ••*)•¦ From hence the boundary plantation extends fome miles to the weft and north- weft of > the domain, forming a margin to the whole ®f different growths, having been planted, -by de grees, from. three to fixteen years. It is in general well grown, and the trees thriven e«~ eeedingly, particularly the oak, beech, larch, and firs. It is very well fkefeched, with much variety given to it. Pafs by the garden acrofs the river, which murmurs over a rocky bed, and follow the rid ing up. a fte.ep hill, covered with wood from fome breaks, in which the houfe appears per fectly buried in a deep wood, and come out, after a confiderabk extent of ride, into the higher lawn, which commands a view of the fcenery about the houfe; and from the (brow of the hill the water, which is made to imitate a river, has a good effect, and throws a; great air of chearfplnefs over the fcene* for from hence the declivity below it is hid ; but the view, which is the moft pleafing from: hence, the fineft at Cqrraghmoor, and indeed one of the moft ftriking that is any where to be feen, is. that of the hanging wood to- the right of the houfe,- rifing in fo nobk a, fweep as perfectly to fill the eye, and leave the fancy fcarce. anything to wifh.: at the bottom is a fmall femicireular lawn arounc}, which flows the river* under the immediate- CURRAGHMOOR. 183 immediate fhade of very noble oaks ; the whole wood rifes boldly from the bottom, tree above tree, to a vaft height, of large oak, the maffes of ihade are but tints of one colour, it is not chequered with a variety, there is- a majeftic. fimplicity, a unity in the whole, which is at tended with an uncommon impreffion, and fuch as none but the moft magnificent fcenes can raife. Defeending from hence through the roads, the riding croffes the river, paffes through the meadow, which has fuch an effect in the preceding fcene, from which alfo the view is very fine, and leads home through a continu ed ahd an extenfive range of fine oak,- partly on a declivity, at the bottom of which the river murmurs its broken courfe. Befides this noble riding, there is a very agreeable walk ruris immediately on the banks of the river, which is perfect in its ftile ; it is a fequeftered line of wood, fo high on the de clivities in fome places, and fo thick to the ve ry edge in others, overfpreading the river, that the character of the fcene is gloom and melancholy, heightened by the hoik of the water falling from ftone to ftone; there is a confiderable variety in the banks of it, and in the figures and growth of the wopd, but none that hurts the impreffion, which is well- pre- fervgd throughout, October i84 waterford: October' 17th. accompanied Lord Tyrone to Waterford ; made fottie enquiries into the flate of their trade, but found it difficult, front the method in which the Cuftom-houfe books; are kept, to get the details I wifhed ; but in the year following, having the pleafure of a , long vifit at Ballycanvan* the feat of Cornelius H Bolton, Efq; his fon, the member for the city, procured me every information I could wifh, and that in fo liberal and polite a manner, that it would not be eafy to exprefs the obli gations I am amder to both. In general I was informed that the trade of the place had in creafed confiderably in ten years, both the ex ports and imports. The exports' of the pro ducts of pafturage, full one-third iri twelve years. That the ftaple trade of the place is the Newfoundland trade ; this is very much increafed, there is more of it here than any wherel The humbei* of people Who' go paf- fengers nv the 'Newfoundland fhips is amaz ing ; frorrt - fixty to eighty fhips, and ' from three thbufand to five> thoufarid annually; They come from moft parts pf Ireland, from Corke, Kerry, &c. Experienced memwillget 18 to 25i:for the feafon, 'frPrti March to No vember ; a man who never went will have five to feyeri pounds, and his paffage",' and others rife to 20I. the paffage out'ithey get,1 but pay home two poinds. J An indaftrious man in a year will bring home twelve to fixteen pounds with him/ and fome more. ' A great point foij them is to be able to carry out alitheir flops, for every1 thing there is exceedingly1 dear, one WATERFORD. iS$ or two hundred per pent, dearer than they can get them at home. They are not allowed to take out any woollen goods but for their own ufe. The fhips go loaded with pork, beef, butter, and fome fait : and bring home pafienr gers, or get freights where they can ; fome times rum. The Waterford pork comes prin-r cipally frbrti the barony of Itferk'in Kilkenny, where they fatten great numbers of large hogs j for many weeks together they kill here three to four thoufand a week, the price "50s. to 4I. each ; goes chiefly to Newfoundland. One was kilted in Mr.'Penrofe's cellar, that weighed five cwt. and a quarter, and meafured from the ndfe to the end of the tail, nine feet four inches. ' ..... • • • ;,-,», There is a foundery at Waterford for pots, kettles, weights, and all common utenfil's ; arid a manufactory by meffieurs King and TegemV of anvils to anchors, «b cwt. &c. which em ploys 40 hands. ¦" Smiths earn from 6s: to 24s. a" Week. Nailors,' fronr 10s. to 12s. And another lefs confiderable. There are two fu- gar-houfes, and many faitrhqufes. ' The fait is boiled over lime- kilns. - There is a fiftiery upon the coaft of Water ford, for a* great variety of fifh, herrings par ticularly in the mouth of Waterford harbour, and two years ago in fuch quantities there; that the tides left the ditches full of them. There are fome premium bogts both here and ;',;- • *¦¦«'. ..» <•' .<•. ¦ -¦-. .,- at 1 86 W A T E R F O R D. at Dungarvon, but the- quantity of herrings barrelled is not confiderable.. The butter trade of Waterford has increaf ed greatly for 7 years paft ; it comes from Waterford principally, but much from Car- low; for it comes from 20 miles beyond Car- jowj for 6d. r)er cwt. From the firft of Janu ary, 1774, to the firft of January, 1775, there were exported 59,856 cafks of butter each on an average, one hundred weight at the mean price of 50s, Revenue of Waterfbrd> 1751, 17,0001.— -1776, 52,000k The flaugh- ter trade has increafed, but not fo much as the butter. Price of butter now at Water ford, 58s. twenty years average, 42s. Beef now to 25s. average, twenty years, 10s. to 18s. Pork now 30s, average, twenty years, 16s. to 22s. ^Eighty fail of fhips now belonging tp the port, twenty years ago not 30. They pay to the captains pf fhips of 200 tons, 5I, a month; the mate 3I. 10s. Ten men, at 40s. .five years ago only 27s. Building fhips, iol. •a 'ton*. Wear and tear of fuch a fhip, 20I, a month. Ship provifions, 20s. a month. The new church in this city is a very beau tiful one ; the body of it is in the fame ftile exactly as that of Eelfaft already defcribed : .the total length, 170 feet, the breadth 5$. The -length of the body of the church 92,. the height 40 ;i breadth between the pillars. 26. The ilk (which I do not remember at, Beffaft) is 58 by 45. A room on one fide the fteepk, fpacp WATERFORD. 187 fpacefor thebifhop's court, 24 by 18 ; on the other fide, a room of the fame fize for the yeftry ; and 28- feet fquare left for a fteeple when their funds will permit. The whole is light and beautiful ; it was built by fubfcripti- on, and there is a fine organ befpoke at Lon don. But the fineft object in this city is the quay, which is unrivalled by any I have feen ; it is an Englifh mile long ; tbe buildings on it are only common houfes, but the river is near a mile over, flows up to the town in one noble reach, and the oppofite fhore a bold hill, which rifes immediately from the water to a height that renders the whole magnifi-* cent. This is fcattered with fome wood j and divided into paftures of a beautiful verdure, by hedges. I croffed the water, in order to walk up the rocks on the top of this hill; in one place, over againft Bilberry quarry, you look immediately down on the river, which flows in noble reaches from Granny caftle on the right paft Cromwell's rock, the fhores on both fides, quite fteep^ efpecially the rock of Bilberry, You look over the whole town, which here appears in a triangular form ; be fides the city, the Cummeragh mountains, Slein-a-man, &c. come in view. Kilmacow river falls into the Sure, after flowing through a large extent of well planted country ; this is the fineft view about the city. From Waterford to Paffage, and got my chaife and horfes on board the'Countefs of Ty rone pacquer, in full expectation of ¦ failing immediately jS8 B A L L Y C A N V A N. immediately, as the wind was fair, but I foon found the difference of thefe private veffels and the ppft office pacquets at Holyhead and Dublin. When this wind was fair the tide was foul: and when the tide was with them, the wipd would not dp ; in Englifh there Was not a compkrrierit: of paffengers, and fo I had the agreeablenefs pf waiting With my horfes in the hold, by way of reft, after a journey of above 1500 miles. ^ o^ October 18th. after a beaftly night pafled on fhip board, arid finding no figns of depar ture, walked to Ballycarivan, the feat of Cor nelius Boltoh, Efq; rode with Mr. Bolton, juri. to Faithleghill, which commands one of the fineft views I have feen in Ireland. There is a rock On the top of a hill, which has a ve ry bold view on every fide down on a great extent of country, much of which is grafs in clofures of a good verdure. This hill is the center of a circle of about ten miles diameter, beyond which higher lands rife, which after fpreading to a great extent^ have on every fide a back ground of mountain : in a norther^ l,y direction^ friourit Leinflef, betWeen Wex ford and Wieklow, twenty-fix miles off, rifes in feveral heads, far above the clouds. A lit tle to the right of this, Sliakeiltha/ /. e. the woody mountain) at a lefs diftance, is a fine object. To the left, Tory hill, only five miles, in a regular form varies/ the out-line. To the eaft, there is the long mountain, eigf£ teen miles diftant, and feveral leffer Wexford hills. B A LLY C A N V A N. 189 hills. To the fouth-eaft, the Saltees. Tp the fouth the.ocean, and the colines about the bay of Tramore. To the weft, MpnavpUagh rifes 2160 fept above the level of the fea, eighteen miles off, being part of the great range of the Cummaragh mountains ; and to the north-weft Slinaman, at the diftance of twenty-four miles j fo that the out-line is every where bold and diftmct, though diftant. Thefe Circumftances Would alone form' a great view, but the water part of it, Which fills up the canvafs, is in a much fuperior ftile. The great river Sure takes a winding courfe from the city of Waterford, through a rich coun try, hanging on the fides of hills to its banks, and dividing into a double channel, forms the Jeffer ifland, both of which courfes you com mand diftinctly ; united, it makes a bold reach under the hill on which you ftand, and therd receive the noble tribute of the united waters of the barrow and the Nore, in two great channels, which -form the larger ifland ; en larged by fuch an acceffion of water, it winds round the hill in a bending courfe, of the freeft and moft graceful outline, every where from one to three miles acrofs, with bold fhores, that give a fharp outline to its courfe to the ocean ; twenty fail of fhips at Paffage, gave animation to the fcene ; Upon the whole, the boldnefs of the mountain outline ; the va riety of the grounds; the vaft extent of river, with the declivity to it from the point of view, altogether form fp unrivalled a fcenery — every 190 B-A-L L Y -C A N V A N. bbjectfo com mandihg.v that the general wSnt of wood is almoft forgotten. Two years after this account Was written I again vifited this enchanting hill; and' walked to it, day after day, from Ballyeanvan, and with increafing pleafure. Mr, Bolton, jun, has fince I was there before, inclofed forty acres on the top-and fteep flope; to the water; and began to plant them. This will be a prodigious addition ; for the flope forming the bald fhore for a confiderable ;fpace, and having projections from which the wood will all be feen in the gentle hollows of the hill, the effect will be amazingly fine. Walks and a riding are tracing out, which will com mand frefh beauties at every, flep ; the fpots from which a variety of beautiful views are feen are numerous. All the way frorii Bally eanvan to Faithkg, the whole to the amount of 1200 acres, is the property of Mr. Bolton. Farms about Ballyeanvan, Waterford, &c. are generally fmall, from twenty arid thirty to five hundred acres, generally about two hundred and fifty, all above two hundred acres are in general dairies ; fome of the dai ry ones rife very high. The foil is a reddifh ftony, or flaty gravel, dry, except low lands., which are clay or turf. Rents vary much about the town very high, from 5I. 5SP to 9I. but at the diftance of a few miles - towards Paffage,, &e. they are from ^os. to 40s. and forac higher, but the country in general does 1 npt B A L L Y C A N V A N. 191 not rife fo high, ufually ios-. to 20s. for dairy ing land. The courfe of crops is, 1. Potatoes; the produce 40 fo 80 barrels^ 20 ftones each. 2. Wheat ; the crop 8 barrels, each 20 ftones. 3. Oats ; the produce from 10 to 14 barrels. 4. Barley; the crop 12 to 15 barrels,' 16 ftone each. 5. Lay it out; the better fort clover with the barley, and leave it for meadow. 1. Oats. 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Barley. One- preparation is a flight burning of the fur rows for wheat, after that wheat, they will fow barley, and then feveral crops- of oats. Alfo. '» 1. Potatoes. 2. Wheat. 3. Wheat. 4. Barley. 5. Lay out. i. Potatoes. 2. Pptatoes. 3. Wheat. '4. Oats. 5. Barley. 6. Lay out. The fecond crop io! barrels. Every houfe has a little patch of flax for making a little handle cloth, but the quantity is not confiderable. The principal manure is a fandy marie they raife in boats on the banks in the har bour at -low water ; it is of a blueiflr colour, very foapy, and ferments ftrongly with acids : a boat load is 18 tons, and cofts 6 to 8s. a load* •¦* Moft of it has fhelte. They lay it on for 'barley particularly;, and get great crops, can in all fee to an inch where fpread. Some times 192 BALL Y C A N-V A N. times it is laid on grafs, and the effect iincdm- monly great, bringing up a perfect carpeting of white clover wherever laid. They lay five or fix loads an acre, and the land is for ever the better. Theyrepeat it on the fameiand, and with great effect. They make compofts of it with lime, and alfo hedge earth with good fuecefs. Lime they ufe alfo; lay from ioo to 150 bar rels roach to art acre, which has a very great effect. On the fliffer yellow clays it does bet ter than fand, but laid on all forts, and alfo on grafs land with good effect; Sea fand they ufe for potatoes, but it does not laft more than for that crop. Waterford dung, and ftreet ful- lage, 42s. the boat load of 18 tons. Clover has been introduced thefe 1 2 years ; Mr. Bolton has fown it for many years with very good effectj fo that he never lays down land without it. The dairies are generally fet at 2I. 5s. The dairyman's privilege to 40 cows is a cow and horfe, and 2 acres and a cabbin, and he is al lowed to rear one calf in ten; 100 acres to 40 cows ; they dp not keep any hogs on account of cows. Price of cows, average" 4I. to 5I. They are engaged to give two pottles each on an average, putting all the milk together. Meadows let at 3I. to 4I. an acre.for the hay. There are few fheep kept, no great flocks. The poor people plough with four horfes, fometimes fix : gentlemen generally with fpayed heiffers or oxen. Land fells at 19 and 20 years B ALL Y C AN VAN. 193: 20 years purchafe; it did fell at 23, and the fall has been owing to the failure of credit in 1771 and 1772. Tythes, Potatoes, Wheat, Barley, and Oats, 5s. to 6s. Cows, 2d. Sheep, 6d. The poor people fpin their own flax, but not more, and a few of them wool for them felves. Their food is potatoes and milk ; but they have a confiderable afliftance from fifh, particularly herrings ; part of the year they have alfo barley, oaten, and jye bread. They are incomparably better off in every re* fpect than- twenty years ago. Their increafe about Ballyeanvan is very great, and tillage all over this' neighbourhood is increafed. The rent of a cabbin 10s. an acre with it 20s. The grafs oi a cow a few years ago, 20s. now 25s* or 30SW An exceeding good practice here in making their fences is, they plant the quick on the fide of the bank in the common manner, and then, inftead of the dead hedge we ufe in England on the top of the bank, they plant a row of old thorns j two or three feet high, which readily grow, and form at • once a moft excellent fence. Their way alfo of taking in fand banks from the river deferves notice t they flake down a row of furzes at low water; laying ftones on them to the height of one or two feet ; thefe retain the mud, which every tide- brings in, fo as to fill up all within .Vol. II. N the 194 B A L L Y C A N V A N. the furze as high as their tops. I remarked on the ft rand, that, a few boat loads of ftones laid carelefly, had had this effect, for' within them I meafured 12 inches deep of rich blue mud left behind them, the fame as they ufe in manuring, full of metis and effervefced ftrong- Jy with vinegar. Among the poor people, the fifhermen are in much the beft circumftances ; the fifhery is confiderable ; Waterford and its harbour have 5Q,boats each, from 8 to 12 tons, fix men on an average to each, but to one of fix ton, five men go, A boat of eight tons cofts 40I. one of twelve 60I. To each boat there is a train of nets of fix pair, which cofts from 4I. 4s. to 61. 6s. tan them with bark. Their only net fifhery. is that of herrings, which is common ly carried on by fhares. The divifipn of the fifh is, firft, one fourth , for the boat ; and then the men and nets divide the reft, the lat ter reckoned^ as three men, They reckon 10 maze of herrings an indifferent night's work ; when there is a good take 40 maze have been taken, 20 a good night ; the price per maze, from is. to 7s. average 5s. vTjbeir take, in 1775, the greateft they have known, when they had more than they could difpofe of, and the whole town and country: flunk of them, they retailed them 32 for id; 1773 and 1774 good years. They barrelled many ; but in ge neral there is an import of Swedifh,, Befides the common articles I have regiftered, the fol lowing are, Pigeons, is. a couple. A hare, is. Par- B A L L Y C A N-V-A-N. 195 Partridges, od. Turbets, fine ones, 4s. to* 10s. Soals, a pair, large, is. 6d. to is. Lobfters, 3d. each, Oyfters, 6s. per hundred. Rabbits, is. to is. 4d. a couple. Cod, is. each, large Salmon, i»d. to 2d. A very extraordinary circumftance I was tokl, that within five or fix years there has been much hay carried from. Waterford to Norway, in the Norway fhips that bring deals ; as hay is dear here, it proves a moft backward ftate of hufbandry in that northerly region, fince the neighbpurhppd of fearports to which this hay can alone go, is generally the beft im proved in all countries. Mr. Bolton has improved a great deal of wafte land, that was under furze, heath, and wood. He firft grubs it, which cofts for the woody part, 3I. or 3I. 3s. and for the furze, 2os.. Then levels all hpks,, &c. and clears it of rocks, at the expence of 20s. an acre. Up on this he dungs and plants potatoes in the trenching way upon a part, and upon the reft fallows and limes it, and fows wheat, 100 to 150 barrels an acre, produce feven to ten bar rels an acre. Then fand it for oats or barley, 1 5 barrels of barley, and 1 2 of oats. In this way he has done 300 acres, which was not worth more than 5s. an acre : now lets at 30s. In making this' very noble improvement, hp divided the land into well proportioned fields, and furrounded them with very noble fences ; double ditches, with a parapet bank between, N 2 planted i96 B A-L L Y C A'NV A Nv - planted on both fides with quick, and on thi top with a double row of oak, elm, afly or fir ; many of thefe were planted 36 years ago > they are now in very great perfection, fo thick and fully grown as to be impervious, to the fight, and to take, when viewed at a diftance, the appearance of. fpreading woods. Nothing could be done in a completer manner, and the quantity over more than 300 acres, uniting With many orchards planted at the'fame time, give his domain and its environs a richnefs of landfcape not common in Ireland. I could not help much admiring it when on' the water, from fome parts of the river the effect is very beautiful. Mn Bolton cannot be too much commend ed for the humane attention with which he encourages his poor cottar tenantry he gives them all kafes, whatever their religion, of 21 or 31 years, or lives: even the Occupier of two acres has a leafe. It is inconceivable what art effect this has had : this is the way fo give the catholics right ideas. I was for three weeks a witnefs of a moft fpirited induftry among them ; every, fc'rap of rough rocky land, not before improved, 'they were at work Up on, and overcoming '"filch" difficulties as are rarely to be found on common waftes : many fpots, not woM 5s. an acre,they wer& reclaim ing to be well worth 25s. and 30's. The im provement; of this part of Mr. Bolton's eftate may" be gUeffed at when 1 mention, that'ort only "5 06 acies of it, there have been builr, ' in B A L L Y, C ^A N-*V A- N-, 1 97 fix-years, 40 new houfes, many pf them hand- fome ones of ftone and flate, For cabbins, barns, &c. he gives timber for the roofs, In 175 1, Mr. Bolton being in England, where obferving the cultivation of turnips for fheep, he introduced them on , his eftate on his return, and had hurdles made fpr penning fheep on them, and did it with much fuecefs ; after the fame journey alfo, he introduced horfe- beans for feeding his horfes, mixed with oats ; he did it. for twenty years together, and with the greateft fuecefs. Turnip ^cabbage he has tried alfo -for fheep, and found them to do exceedingly well. One turnip cabbage fown the beginning of April, and not tranfplanted, weighed ijlb. top and bottom. An experi ment on carrots I viewed, pf which Mr, Bol ton, junior, has fince favoured me with the following account,. ;" When yon were here, I fhe wed you a few feeds of carrots, which were pulled the begins nirig of this month ; I meafured the ground, and when the carrots wpre cleaned and topped, i faw them weighed-. The ground meafured fifteen perches, plantation meafure, which produced 36 hundred and fix ftone of carrots, befides allowing 4lb, to every hundred for dirt, though they were very clean and dry; The produce is 156 barrels, and 16 ftones,, to an acre, (ao ftones to the barrel) and beyond any thing 1 could have imagined; and I am cer tain, had the carrots, been hoed and thinned a« 198 B A.L, L Y'C A N V AN. as they ought, the product would have* been much greater. The tops were given to pigs ; they feemed to like them better than any thitig elfe. Thefe fifteen perches are part of a field, which, in 1774, had been highly manured with dung for potatoes. In 1775, the roots of the Weeds (of which there were a great quan tity, particularly- couch grafs and crow-foot) were burnt, and the afheS. and fome blue fand fpread, and it was fown with turnips. The latter end of March, thefe fifteen perches were dug, and^ about the 1 6th of April fown with a pound of carrPt-feed; they were twice hoed, to deftroy the weeds which came up very thick." : •'¦ -! "¦'¦', !>¦•' "' In the vyinter of 1775, Mr. Bolton fed iq working horfes on bull potatoes, twice a day on oats, and once on potatoes ; the potatoes given always at night ; the quantity to each horfe 1 4. peck of fmall ones ; and at the otheii tWo feedings, half a pepk each of oats. He found that they fattened the horfes very much, and did exceedingly well on them. Va lue of the potatoes, 3s. a barrel. The cul ture of rape and turnips has been tried in this neighbourhood alfo by Mr, James-Wife, mer" chant, of Waterford, . ,.'• , . In the beginning of June, 1774, Mr, Wyfe ploughed lightly with a winged plough, and bbrned the furface of near four acres of land, which had not been tilled for many years. He fpread the afhes, and manured the ground with 3 12 boat B A L L Y C A N V A N. 199 12 boat loads of the blue fand, which is taken from the banks of the river at low water, each boat load containing 20 tons. Then ploughed and harrowed it once ; and fuch of the clods as were not thoroughly burnt and pulverized after harrowing, he turned with the graffy fide down to hinder their growing. About the middle of AUguft he fowed with rape ; a lit tle more than half a bufhel to an acre. It was cut the latter end of June, 1775, and produc ed 48 barrels, of fixteen ftones to the barrel, which fold for 16s. per barrel, and theftraw to a tallow-chandler to burn for afhes, for 48s. The ftraw, or haulm of rape, is fold for twelve-pence for each barrel of feed it pro duced. The beginning of July, 1775, Mr. Wyfe ploughed and harrowed the ground; about the 20th of July fowed it with turnips, which on their coming np, were immediate ly deftroyed by the fly. About the middle of Auguft harrowed the ground, and fowed tur nips again, which were alfo deftroyed by the fly. Mr. Wyfe imagines the great number of flies were occafioned by the ojlinefs and rich- nefs of the ground, (caufed by the putrefacti on Of the leaves and bloflbms of the rape) and the moifture and warmth of the weather. About the middle of October, the grafs came up fo rich and luxuriant, (though not fown with grafs feed) that Mr. Wyfe would not fuffer it to be ploughed for tillage, as he had intended. The latter end of June, ,1776, mowed it, and it produced three tons of hay per acre ; fold for 34s. per ton. The fand and 200 B A L L Y C A 1ST V A.N. and carriage of it coft about thirty fhillings per boat load ; ploughing, burning, harrow ing, fowing, cutting, &c. -about four guineas per acre. Rent of the land thirty fhillings an acre. In 1775 Mr. Wyfe ploughed feven acres, which, he prepared in the fame manner (except fanding) and fowed it with rape ; it grew, very well till the great froft arid fnow fell, ' which, was remarkably fevere, artd which injured it very much, together with the moif- ture of the ground, occafioned by fprings in the land, and heavy rains, which fueceeded the froft and fnow ; the produce per acre, about half the quantity pf the former year j fold at the, fame price, Mr. Wyfe recom mends narrow ridges fpr low moift ground. He thinks a large quantity of afhes to be a chief means^ of enfuring a plentiful crop. The land does not require manure after rape for wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, &c. but will not anfwer for a fecond crop of rape. Mr. Bolton, junior, having mentioned, a neighbour of his, who had drawn up a me moir upon making pyder, from confiderable experience, at my requeft wrote to him for a copy of it, which I have fince received, with "his permiffion to infert it in this work. The following is an abridgment of the account. , 5C Let apples of every fpecies hang till they are ripe, and begin to drop; let'thern be ga thered B A L L Y C A N V A N, 201 thered perfectly dry, and if convenient in the heat 'of the day, when warmed in the fun. ^ when gathered let them lie in heaps for one** two, three, or four weeks, according to their degrees -of firmnefs, fo as to undergo a mo derate fermentation ; let the moifture be care- ¦ fully wiped off, and each fpecies feparated (if tne quantity of fruit in your orchard be fuf- ficient to admit it) and then ground in a mill, or pounded in troughs ; but the firft the beft method, becaufe lefs of the pulp is broke, and the liquor will flow clearer from the bags ; by prefling the fruit of each diftinct. fpecies fo fe parated, the cyder will undergo one uniform fermentation. " When the friiit are fufficiently broke for prefling, let them lie forty-eight hours before they be preffed ; this will add to that deep richnefs of colour, which to the eye is pkafing- in cyder ; .then let the fruit fo broke, having flood forty-eight hours, be preffed in hair cloth bags ; as the juice is thus preffed* out, let itbepouredinto large veflels, ufually called keeves, to Undergo fhe fermentation ; three of thefe veflels are neceffary in every orchard, one to contain the liquor in its flate or courfe of fermentation, while a fecond is filling from the prefs, arid the third to: contain the pum- mage "before it be preffed ; three keeves, con taining five or fix hogfheads each, will ferve for an orchard that yields fixty or feventy hogfheads of cyder. The expence of thefe veffels made of dpuble boards, hooped with iron, 202 BALLYCANVAN. iron, or ftrong afh hoops, will not be very confiderable; if the weather fhould prove cold the fermenting keeves fhould be covered with bags, &d. in order to quicken the fer mentation, which will be compleated in fix, pr feven days if the weather be temperate, pro vided no new or unfermented cyder be put into the keeve, which above all things fhould be carefully avoided ; when the fermentation is over, the liquor will be fine, and fhould then be racked off into very clean hogfheads, fmoaked with brimftone matches ; the hogf heads fhould not be bunged or ftopt clofe till all fymptoms' of fermentation ceafe; and in three weeks pr a month it fhould be a fecond time racked, flill obfervirtg to fmoak the hogf heads with brimftone, then the hogfheads fhould with the greateft care be very clofely flopped ; the keeves rriuft be entirely emptied before1 the new preffed pyder is poured into them. The great fecret in making good cyder, is to prevent or mitigate its ferfrientations, the firft excepted ; and nothing will fo ef fectually dp this, as repeated racking from the foul lee. " Do not prefs wildings till Candlemas, or until they begin to rot ; and when the juice is preffed out, let it be boikd in V furnace for Pne hour, before it be fuffered to work or ferment, and that Will greatly foften the acrimony of its juice," Mr. PASSAGE TO MILFORD HAVEN 203 Mr. William Atkinfon, of Mount Wilkin- fbn, near Ballyeanvan, feems to be very at tentive to the orphan! hufbandry ; from two acres he had twenty-one hogfheads of cyder, and thp fame year reaped twenty barrels of wheat under the trees, a produce little fhort of 50I. or 25I. an acre ; three and an half barrels of his aples (each 6 bufhels) made a hogfhead of Cyder. A common practice here in planting orchards, is to fet cuttings, three or four feet long.half way in the ground, of the cackagee, jergoneile, or any fet that grows rough and knotty in the wood ; they call them pitchers, they rarely' fail, and yield well and foon. Mr. Bolton carried me to the houfes of fome fifhermpn on the harbour, one of whom had planted around his cabbin for fhelter? three years ago, fome willow cuttings, the growth of which amazed me ; I meafured them 21 feet high, and not crooked or bend ing like common forts, but ft rait as a fir. I took half a dozen cuttings with me to Eng land to compare it with the forts common, with us. October 19th, the wind being fair, took my leave of Mr. Bolton, and wertt back to the fhip ; met with a frpfh fcene of provoking delays,' fo that it was the next morning, Octo ber 20th, at eight o'clock, before we failed* and then it was not wind, but a cargo of paf- fengers that fpread our fails. Twelve or fourteen hours are not an uncommon paffage, but 204 PASSAGE TO MILFQRD HAVEN. but fuch was our luck, that after being iri fight of the lights on the frnallsJ we were by contrary winds blown oppofite to Arkfow fands; a violent gale arofe which, prefently blew a ftorm, that lafled thirty-fix hours, in which, under a reefed mainfail, the fliip drifted up and down wearing, in order to keep clear of the coafts. 1 -*tf -• . -j : , v..« No wonder this appeared to me, a frefh*- water failor, as a ftorm, when 'the oldeft men on board reckoned it a violent one ; the Wind blew in furious grafts ; the waves ran very high,; the cabbin Windows burft open, and the fea pouring in fet every thing afloat; and among the reft a poor lady, Who had fpread her bed on the floor. We had however the fatisfaction to find, by trying the pumps every watch, that the fhip made little water. I had moretime to attend thefe circumftances than the reft, of the paflengers, feeing the only one in feven who efcaped with out being fick. : It pleafed God to prefer ve us, but we did not call anchor in Milford Haven, till Tuefday morning the 2 2d, at one o'clock.. It is much to be wifhed, that there were fome means of being fecure of packets fail ing regularly, inftead of .waiting till there is fuch a number of t paflengerSj as fatisfies the owner, and captain ; with the poft-office pac kets there is this fatisfaction, and a great one it is ; the contrary conduct is fo perfectly deteftable, I PASSAGE TO MILFORD HAVEN. 205, deteftable, that J fhould' fuppofe the feheme of Waterfprd ones can never fucceed. Two years after, having been affured this conveyance was put on a new footing, I ven tured to try it again ; but was mortified to find that the Tyrone, the only one that could take a chaife or horfes, (the Countefs being laid tip) Was repairing, but would fail in five days ; I waited, and received affu'rance after affu- rancethat fhe would be ready on fuch a day, and then on another ; in awprd, I waited twenty- four days before I failed ; moderately fpeaking, I cpuld, by Dublin, have reached Turin or Mi lan as foon as I did Milford in this conveyance. AU this, time the papers had conftant adver- tifements of the Tyrone failing regularly, in- ftead of letting the public know that fhe was under a repair. Her owner feems to be a fair, and worthy man, he will therefore probably give up the feheme entirely, unlefs aflifted by the corporation, with at leaft four fhips more, to fail regularly with. ox without paflengers ; at prefent it is a general difap- ppintment; I was fortunate in Mr. Bolton's acquaintance, pafling my time very agreeably at bis, hofpitable manfton ; but thofe who, in fuch a cafe, fhould find a Waterford inn their refource, wonld curfe the Tyrone, and fet off for Dublin. The expences of this paffage are higher than thofe from Dublin to Holyhead : A four- 2o6 F U R N E S S. A four-wheel chaife - - 3 3° Three horfes - - - 3 3 O Self - - - - 1 1 O Two fervants - - - 1 I o Cuftom-houfe at Waterford, hay, oats, &c. 2 ' 1 , 7 Ditto at Pembroke and Hubberfton - 300 Sailors, boats, and fundry fmall charges - 1 15 5 £-*$ s ° * *• * * * * * 1777. Upon a fecond journey to Ireland this year*, I took the opportunity of going from Dublin to Mitchelftown, by a route through the central part of the kingdom which I had not before fufficiently viewed, c Left Dublin the 24th of September, and taking the road to Naas, I was again ftruck With the great population of the country, the cabbins being fo much poorer in the vicinity of the capital than in the more diftant parts of the kingdom. Mr. Nevill, at Furnefs, had, in a very obliging manner, given directions for my being well informed of the ftate of that neighbourhood. He is a landlord remarkably attentive to the encouragement of his tenantry. He allows half the expenfe of building houfes. on his eftate, which has raifed feven of ftone and flate, and nine good cabbins, 35 by 16, at 27I. each. He gives annually three pre miums of 7I. 5I. and 3I. for the greateft num ber F U R N E S S. 207 ber of trees, planted in proportion to the number of their acres, and pays the hearth money of all who plant trees. He alfo* allows his tenants 40s. an acre for all the parts of their farm that want gravelling, and does the boun dary fence for them, but he is paid in his rent very well for this. The following particulars I owe to him. The foil in general, for fome miles every way, is a lime-ftone gravel, which does very well for wheat ; lets at an average at 20s. that is, from 10s. to 40s. There are fometradts of green ftone land, and a little clay. Rents^rofe till 1772, but have fince rather fallen: the the whole county through may fee 14s. or 15s* If all now was to be let, it would be 20s. Farms rife from 15 acres to 500 : a middling fize is 250. They are now fmalkr than for merly, being divided as faft as leaks fall. There are houfes in general to all, the land lets the better for them, owing to its being a tillage country. Mr. Nevill encourages his te nantry to build, by being at half the expenfe. A common farmer requires one 50 feet long, 16 wide, two ftories high; a barn, 40 by 16; a liable, 40 by 16; a cow-houfe, 5oJby 14; a pig-ftye, hen-houfe, &c. all which would coft about 300I. ., of ftone, the houfe flated, and would be fufficient for 250 acres pf land. The courfes of crops are ; 1. Fallow 2o8 F U R N E S S. i. Fallow. 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Wheat; 5. Clover. 6. Clover. 1. Potatoes. 2, Barley. 3, Fallow. 4.. Wheat* 5. Clover, 6. Clover* They fometimes fow wheat after potatoes j the crops are as great as after fallow j but the quality of the grain is not equal. Their fal low they plough firft in winter'; harrow in May, crofs plough in ditto andin June ; ftreteh it (that is, form the ridges) in Auguft, making them of tw6 bouts; harrow, and the feed fur^ row, in September ; and reckon the beft feed time the middle of that month. No dung in general ufed for it, but fometimes gravel. One barrel of feed to the acre; never weed the crop j the produce from five to twelve barrels, me dium feven. Price of late years,. 20s. a barrel. They threfh upori floors fprmed of lime, fand* and coal afhes, arid are of opinion that they do not hurt the colour of the grain. At harveft they do not reap till it is quite ripe, bind di^ rectly, and form it into flacks in the field1, Which they leave out a fortnight. Plough the potatoe land once or twice for barky 4 foW-a barrel an acre of 16 ftone in Aprils medium price of late' years from 7 to j2s. average iosV Of clover they fpw 21 lb, per acre, generally half clover and half trefoil; do. not faw-it-tili the barley is up, bufli harrowing it ; and on wheat bull harrow it, that is, with harrows without teeth. Never mow it. For oats they plough twice if able, fow two barrels per acre in F U R N E S S; 209 in March ; the produce fix to twelve barrels, and fometimes fixteen. Medium prioe for a few years paft 6s. 6d. Upon fome grounds that are light, are fubftituted peafe inftead of oats after wheat. Plough but once, fow 20 ftone on an acre under furrow, never weed them ; the produce fix barrels per acre, and the price 10s, No flax fown. Potatoes generally on a wheat flubble, al ways well dunged ; the ridge feven feet, and the trench three feet wide, and to one perch in length of it, four loads of dung. Ten facks, at twenty ftone, plant an acre. March the beft feafon; weed them, and get 100 facks, at the medium price of 5s. the white Englifh and apple forts the beft. It is common for the poor to hire grafs land to plant them on, at 61. to 61. 6s. an acre or for flubble land dung ed. Account of an acre. Planting - - -200 Seed - - - 2 10 o Weeding - - - o io o Digging out - - -300 Rent - - -600 £-H' 00 Vol. II. O Produce. 2io F U R N E S S. Produce.' One hundred facks, at 5S. * -v - - 25 O o Expences - - - 14 o o Clear profit £. 11 o o One hundred facks cofling 14I; gives the prime coft of 2s. 9d. a fack. They are often fold as they grow, for 16I. or 18I. an acre.' No turnips. Lime not generally ufed, Mr. Nevil has a kiln that draws 1 6 barrels a day. Burns with culm, at 2s. 8d. a barrel. Pays for quarrying, 2d. and burning, id. The lime cofts him, at the kiln, iod. a barrel. Lime-ftone gravel more ufed, which lafts feven years, and on fome foils longer : twelve loads on a fquare perch may be done for 3I. an acre. Tillage 'is done with both horfes and oxen, and which is extraordinary, the latter are ufed by common farmers as well as gentlemen. Six oxen, or fix horfes in fummer to a plough, or four in win ter, do about half an acre a day. In the crofs, ploughing, which is the fecond, they go nine inches deep, at other times fhallower, price per acre, with harrowing, ios. 6d. They do not begin to mow their hay till July, get it into the large field cpck in about, a fortnight, which they leave out three or four weeks longer ; a medium crop 12 loads an acre, at the average price of 5s. 6d. ¦ * It F V R N E S S. 211 It is generally a corrf country, yet are there fome graziers that buy in bullocks, but more cows. Alfo fome dairies that fatten veal for Dublin, by which they make 3I. or 4I. a cow ; feeding them in winter when dry on ftraw, fome on hay. They are let out to dairymen at 4I. a cow. The price of milch cows, in May, 5I. to 7I. One acre and a half Will fummer feed one, and half an acre of hay for winter. The fheep kept are generally ewe flocks for fattening, for Dublin market. Buy in at Bal- linafloe, at 10s, to 15s. Sell the lamb in June or July, at 8s. to fys. and the ewe in Novem ber, at the fame price they gave, keep them chiefly on clover. No; folding. Medium price of wool, for 10 years paft, 16s. clip three to a ftone. They are not at all fubject to the rot. A great many hpgs bred ; keep them for fattening on potatoes ; fome are finifh ed with offal corn and . peafe ; in fummer they feed them on clover. Mark this ! one would think from more than one circum- flanee, that a good farmer in England was fpeaking. In hiring and flocking a farm of 200 acres, a man ought to employ ,5001. but fome of them will do it with 200I. Stock for 200 acres to have 100 acres corn, and fallow every year. O 2 Twenty 212, F ^ R N E S S. . Twenty horfes, at 61. and terj bullocks, at 5I. 170 o O Six cows, at 5]. — — — 30 o • o Two fows — — — 2 10 o Six ploughs,, at 13s. — — 3 l8 ° Three fets of geers — — 3 ° ° Six Cars, at 25s.' — — 7 I9 Sundry tools, &c. — — — • iq o o Seed 40 acres wheat — 40 o o 20 oats — — , 13 p o 4 barley " — — > 200.,.' 1 potatoes — — 2 10 0 1 o clover 5 P a ¦r r-6? IO 0 For labour he wiU have three cottars for plough- , ing, &c. paid by land. ; for other work allow 4P p 0 County cefs, 4d. an acre, 3.10 o Tythd, 40 wheat, 6s. — 12 o .0 ¦>.,. 20 oats 4s. ¦ 400 4 barley 6s. ¦ — — 14a 10 hay 4s. — — 2 P o 19 £•352 In refpect of labour, every farmer has as many cottars as ploughs, whom they pay with a cabbin, and one acre of potatoes, reckoned at 3,0s. and a cow kept thro- the year, 30s,, more. Every cabbin has one or more cows, a pig* and fqme poultry. Their circumftances, juft the fame as 20 years ago. Their food pota toes and milk for 9 months of the year ; the other three wheaten bread, and as much but ter as the cow gives. They like the potatoe fare F U R N E S S. 213 fare beft. Some have herrings ; and others 6s. tq 10s. worth of beef at Chriftmas. Sell their poultry, but many of them eat their pig. The fale pf the fowls buys a few pounds of flax for fpinning, moft or them having fome of that employment. They are not much given to thieving, ex cept bufhes and furze, which is all they have for fuel, there being no bog nearer than that of Allen. They bring turf eight and ten miles, the price 8d. a kifh of three feet and a half, by three and five long, and is. 2d. more carriage. A kifh will laft one common fire five days. Expence of building a cabbin . Mud walls — — — 2 0 0 Roof, 3 pair principals — — 0 g 0 4 dozen of Tubberies, at 4s. — 0 16 0 Labour — — — 0 4 0 Wattles ¦ — , , - — — 0 6 0 Eight load of ftraw, 5s. — — 2 0 0 Thatching — — — 0 8 0 Two doors — 0 8 0 £¦(> " 0 Mafon's perch of a wall — o Women are paid 5d. a day, earn by fpin ning, 3d. A farming-man, 5I. 10s. a year. A lad, il. 1 os. A maid, 2I. to 2I. 10s. Reap- 3 ing 2i4 CURRAGH OF KILDARE. ing, 6s. 6d. Mowing grafs; 2s, 6d. to 3s.. Pigeons, 3d. each. Rabbits,; 8d. a couple, To Kildare, crofling the_ Curragh, fo fa mous for its turf. It is a fheep walk of above 4000 Englifh acres, forming a more beautiful lavyn than the hand of art ever made. Nothing; can exceed the extreme fpftnefs of the tuff, whichis of a verdure '-that charms the, eye, and highly fet off by the gentfe inequality of furface. The foil is a fine dry loam on a ftony bottom ; it is fed by many large flocks, turned on it by the occupiers of the adjacent farms^ who . alone have the fight, and pay very great rents on that account. It is the only confiderable: common in the kingdom. The fheep yield very little wool, not rripre, than 3lb-per fleece,, but pf a very fine quality. From Furnefs to Shaen Caftle; in the Queen's County, Dean Coote's'; but as the hufbandry, &c. of this neighbourhood is al ready regiftered , I have only to obferve, that Mr. Coote was fo kind as to fhew me the im proved grounds of Dawfon's Court, the feat of Lord Carlow, which I had not feen before. The principal beauties of the place are the well , grown and extenfive plantations, which form a fhade not often met with in Ireland. There is iri the back grounds a lake well accompanied with wood, broken by feveral iflands that are co vered with underwood and an ornamented walk pafling on the banks, which leads from the houfe, This lake is in the feafon perfectly aljve with wild G L O S T E R. 215 wild fowl; near it is a very beautiful fpot, which commands a view of both woods and water, a fituation either for a houfe or a tem ple. Mr. Dawfon is adding to the plantations, an employment of all others the moft merito rious in Ireland. Another work fcarcely lefs fo, was the erecting a large hartdfome inn, wherein the fame gentleman intends eftablifh- ing a perfon who fhall be able to fuppiy tra vellers, poll, with either chaifes or horfes. From Shaen Caftle to Glofter, in the King's County, the feat of John Lloyd, Efq; member for that county, to whofe attention T owe the following particulars, in which he took every means to have me well and accurately inform- ¦ed. But firft' let me obferve, that I was much pleafed to remark, all the way from Naas quite to Roffcrea, that the country vyas amongft the fineft I had feen in Ireland, and confequently that I was fortunate in having an opportunity of feeing it after, the involuntary omiflion of laft year. The cabbins, though many of them are very bad, yet are better, than in fome other counties, and chimnips generally a part of them. The people too have no very miferabk appear ance ; the breed of cattle and fheep good, and the hogs much the heft I have any where feen in Ireland, Turf is every where at hand, and in plenty; yet are the hogs not fo generalas to affect the beauty of the country, which is, vgry great in many tracts, with a Scat tering of wood, which makes ,it pleafing. Shaen 216 G L O S T E R.. Shaen Caftle Hands in the midft of a very fine tract. From Mountrath to Glofler, Mr. Lloyd's* I could have imagined myfelf in a very pleafing part of England; the country breaks into a variety of inequalities of hill and dak ; it is all well inclofed, with fine hedges ; there.is a plen ty of wood, not fo monopplifed as in many parts of the kingdom by here and there a fofi- tary feat, but, fpread over the whple face of the prbfpect' : look which way you will, it is culti-r vated ancj chearf ul. The King's county contains the following baronies, and annexed to their names is the ' value per acre of each : Clonlifk ... o *5 p Ballibrit - -. p i5 P Eglifli o J3 0 Balliboy - 6 io o- Garry caftle 0 J3 o Gafhill . - - 0 12 p Cooleftbwn i 0 o Warrenftown - - • i , i 5 P Ballicowcn 0 ii p Kilcoutfy'1 0 16 b Upper and Lower Philip's town ¦£¦ . o i5 0 In Gafhill are 13000 acres belonging to Lord Digby ; and in Warrenftown is Croghen hill, famous for the great fleeces the fheep yield that are fed npon- it. A Gurragh fheep, from giv ing 31b. carried there, will yield i2lb. but the quality is coarfe. There G L OS T E R? 217 ' There are great tracts of bog in the county; and '15.3*000 acres that pay, courity charges;- 170,000 acres at 15s. and 30,000 pf bog. The rife of rents fince 1750, more than two-thirds, but are much fallen fince 1772, in many farms 4s. in the pound. Eftates through the county are ' remarkably divided; and are in general fmall. The fize of farms varies much, 600 acres are a very large one; ufually not lefs than 100 ; very few in partnerfhip. There are many farms with out buildings, which if divided arid briilt, Would let much better. The >arable fyftem, .when burning is permitted, is to plough in the fpring,- very thin, then crofs cut it and burn the fod as foon, as. the feafon fervesi, which will be fome time in June; plough in the afhes.very light ly, and fow turnips; thefe they never hoe, which is faid to be difficult, op account of the number of ftones -r they feed the crop on the land* with three-year old wethers or lambs. After this, plough it up and fallow for a fe cond crop of : turnips;, which they manage as the firft, but feed them earlier ; then plough once, and fet it to the. poor for potatoes, at 61. 6s. to 61. ios. an acre, after which they fowJ bere. upon one ploughing; this they fuceeed withuwheat alfo on one ploughing; and after the wheat, oats. Then they fummer and winter fallow, whifch is followed by wheat andpats as before; but by this time the land is quite ex- haufted. A partial burning is fometimes ufed, Which is tp break up in November, and plough twice 2i8 G L O S T E Rs twice or thrice by May, and then to burn what the harrow does not reduce. For wheat they plough once, as^before-mentioned in the burn ing courfe ; and four times on a fallow. 'Sow 20 ftone to an acre ; the crop five to fix and a half barrels ; the medium price of late il. is. a barrel. They fow, a barrel of bere, of fix teen ftone, the crop 14 to 23 barrels, which great produce is from the rich preparation.- Of oats two barrels, or 24 ftone, the crop 10 to 16; of barley they fow 16 ftone, the crop' 10 to 16. The price of; bere and barley ps. 6d. No clover at all fown* nor any grafs feeds, '^ and very few peafe or beans, as they never feed their pigs or horfes .with either. Very little flax. There are a few bleach yards about Clara, &c. but the bufinefs is not much upon the increafe. Potatoes they plant in the com mon trenching way ; the feafon from the mid dle of April to the middle of May ; more after the firft of May than before it ; eight barrels plant an acre ; they always weed them. The apple fort is preferred from lafting longeft; the medium price 2d. a ftone ; twenty ftone . the barrel. Account of an ' acre. Planting, 48 men, the firft and fecond trenching , at 8d. ... Seed, at 3s. 4d. Taking up, 48 men Picking up, carrying home, and forting; horfe- hire only, as the family does the reft - Rent Pro. I 12 0 t 6 6 I 12 p 0* 0 8 8 6 6 0 11 5 2 G L O S T E R, 219 Produce. joo barrels, ,at 3s. 4d. , - - 16 13 14 Expgnces - - - - 1 1 5 2 Profit r - £.S 8 2 Prime eoft, 2s. 3d, a barrel. A barrel will laft a family of five perfons a week. The turnips on the burnt land they fow from the 20th of July to the 4th of Auguft, but a fortnight or three weeks earlier upon a fal low,- the quantity pf feed 14.1b. they never hoe; the price upon an ayerage 3 1, an acre, either to take away or feecf ort the land, but the for mer rarely dope : they feed them off with fat ftieep or lambs, very rarely with black cattle. No lime burnt for manure, nor any lime^ ftone gravel ufed, though plenty of it found all the country through. One farmer made an experiment of them both for corn, but nei ther anfwered, ; the general opinion is, its be ing bad for the grafs afterwards ; there is not any mark known ; the farm-yard fyftem in complete, as every where elfe, foddering in the fields ; but cows are kept in the houfe at night, and fed with hay for about five months in the winter. Their hay grounds they wifh to fliut up about the 25th of March, but if their hay is finifhed, they are obliged to be later ; mow from 220 G L O S T E R. from the 15th of July to the 15th of Septem ber, which latenefs is owirtg totheir feeding, fo late in the fpring. They ufually mpon the average of weather, and management, get it into the large cock in about ten days, aridteavtf it in that from one to two months ; the medir um produce per acre, two1 tons and a quarter,' and the price 30s. a ton ; the women here ne ver make it., ,«, - > ¦..:• Tillage is performed more with horfes than with horned- .cattle ; the latter1 only by confi derable graziers, and they are ufually fpayed heifers. Four horfes, or four heifers to; a plough, which do half an acre a day ; the depth, from the fhallownefs of the1 foil, not more than fix or feven inches 3 the price 7s. $d, an acre. Very few hogs kept, not more than for mere convenience. . ,.; To hire and ftock a farm will, Prt.an ave rage, take 40s. an acre!, if a grazing one, hut lefs in proportion to the tillage ; but there ^re men who will hire on little or rio capital,, this however is much lefs than formerly, frofn fe veral landlords having fuffefed fever ely from it. The tillage of the whole country is very incpri- fiderable ; if is eliiefly pafturage, not one acre in fifteen is tilled; the barony of Gafrey caftk has much more ; one reafon of there not being more, is the number of farms, from 150 to 400 acres, under leaks forever, which' are fo highly improved by the tenants, that they ab- itain from tillage, under the idea of its being pre- G L O S T E R. 221 prejudicial. Reflecting the labour of a farm, tfie ftanding bufinefs is done by cottars ; a cottar is one who has a cabbin, and an acre and a half of garden, charged at 30s. arid the grafs of onei or two cows, at 25s. each, and the daily pay 6d. the year through, tfie account being kept by tallies, and thofe charges deduct ed; the year's labour amounts to about 61. af ter the cottar's time for his potatoes and turf is deducted ; the remaining 40s. is paid in mo ney, hay, or any thing elfe the man wants. The cows are fed by a field being afligned for all the cottars of the farm. No inftance of a cottar without a cPw. The calves they rear till half a year old, and then fell them at 1 2s. to 20s. which will pay for the cow's hay. They keep no fheep, but every cabbin has a pig, a dbg, and fome poultry. No difference in their circumftances for the laft fifteen years. It is here thought that it would be very difficult to nurfe up a race of little farmers from the cot tars, by adding land gradually to them at a fair rent ; it-would be alfo very difficult, if not impoflible, to cut off the cottars from a farrri; nobody would be troubled with fuch tenants,; and no farmer would hire a farm with the poor on it mdependahf of him, their cattle and all their property would beT in conflant danger ; as the kingdom increafes in profperity, fuch ideas it is to be hoped will vanifh. Their food* is potatoes and milk for ten months, and po tatoes and fait the remaining two ; they have however a little butter. They fell their pig, their calf, and their poultry, nor do they buy meat 222 G L O S T E R, meat for more than ten Sunday's in ^ year* Their fuel cofts them about 14s. a year, or eighty kifh of turf, an ample allowance. There is in every cabbin, a fpinning-wheel, which is ufed by the women at leifure hours, or by a grown girl, but for twelve years 19 in 20 of them breed every fecond year. Vive le pomme de Tere ! Expence of a poor family. Cabbin and garden - - , , 1 10 P Labour in the garden - - 1 10 O Two Cows - - - - 2 10 o Hay for ditto - - - 1 10 o Turf - - - o 14 o Cloathing, 15s. ahead - - 3 15 0 Tools - - - 050 Hearth tax - - - 020 11 16 0 The Receipt. >. u. The year Deduct Sundays Bad weather 365 days 52 ~3D Holydays 10 Two calves 92 ' ^ 273 at 6d, 6 1.6 6 1 10 0 Pig IOO Poultry 050 Carried over £ V 9 11 6 303 days G L O ST E R. 223 Brought over - £.g 11 6 303 days fpinning between the wife and daugh ter at 3d. - - - 315 3 Expences 13 6 0 ' - 11 16 0 Remains for whifky, &c. &e. £. 1 10 9 Potatoes are much more the food than for merly ; there are full twice as many planted. The cottars in their gardens follow the courfe of crops firft fnentioned. They are all very much addicted to pilfering : their general cha racter idlenefs and dirtinefs, and want of at tention. They are remarkable for a moft in violable honour in never betraying each other, or even any body elfe, which refults from a ge neral contempt of order and law, and a want of fear of every thing but a cudgel, the reader will remember that maiming cattle, pulling down, and fcattering flacks-, and burning the houfes of thofe who take lands over their heads, are very well known. I am regiftering infor mation; and that not from one or two perfons, but feveral. The pafturage fyftem is to buy in yearling calves, called bull chins, at from 35s. to 55s. (but twenty years ago, 22s. od. each), which they generally fell at Banagher fair, when three years and an half, at 5I. 10s. to 61. buy ing and felling regularly every year. They al fo buy cows in May, and fell them fat in au tumn* 224. G L 6 S T E R. tumn, With 40s. profit. Sheep- they either breed, or'buy hoggits in May, at 12s. to 15s. each in the fleece, arid fell them fat, at three years and ap half old, from il. is. to il. 4s. each; they get- three fleeces, worth 18s. the profit jos. a head, keeping them three fum<- mers and two winters. No folding. Flocks rife from 100 to 2000, they calculate to keep a fheep to- every acre of their farms. The fleeces, . on an average of a running ftock, are three to a ftone of 16 lb. The price, this yeari 17s. 6d. twenty years ago only 9s. or ids. Not much, alteration in the number of fheep through the country • all fat ones, are iri win ter fed with turnips, and a little hay. Their lowlands rot; but being more careful than formerly, it is not fo common as it was; that, with the gid, (a fudden giddinefs) and the red water, are the chief difterhpers they are troubled with. Milch cowsarekept only for convenience, a few to every farm. An acre and half necef- fary-tp keep one the year through, but muft have 1^. ton of hay befides. ' One four or five years old ready for milk in the fpring, fells for fivp- or fix guineas. A three years old heifer reacly^to calve, four or five guineas. The bounty on the. inland carriage of flour to Dublin, has occafioned the building feveral mills, five confiderable ones, four were imme diately built in confequence. ' The quantity of tillage has increafed double iri 20 years; probably G L O S T E R. 225 probably from this caufe, among others, has arifen the increafe of whifky, the quantity of which is three times greater than fifteen years ago. Not lefs than 30,000 barrels of barky and bere are diftilled yearly within 8 miles of Glofter. Land fells at 25 years purchafe. Suppofe fix farms, one let for ever, at 20 years purchafe, one for three lives, let 20 years ago, 25 — one for two lives, ditto 28 — one for 6ne life, ditto 30 — one for 31 years, 30-— -one to let now, 2.0. Average of all, 25 years. Ten years ago it would have been twenty -fix and a half; twen ty years ago, twenty-three and a half. Leaks are generally for three lives, or thirty-one years. The country in general is much improved in moft national circumftances ; buildings are much increafed, on a larger fcale, and 6f a far better fort than twenty , years ago ; there is alfo a rife in the price of almoft all commo dities. Prices not minuted in the table. Rabbits, 8d. a couple. Roaftirig pigs, 2s. 6d. much beyond the proportion of other things. Rife in the price of meat; id. a lb., in twenty years, fince which bere has alfo advanced, from 6s. to 9s. 6d. the barrel of 16 ftone. Wo: mens labour, 4d. Wages of a farming man, 4I. ditto a boy, il. ditto a maid, al. From 10 Vol. II. P to 226 G L O S T E R. to 1 4 men reap an acre of corn in a day. Mow- in* grafs, by the acre, 2s. 8;d. two men do it in a day. Threfhing wheat, 6d. a barrel. Bere, 4d. Oats, 3d. Cutting turf, footing, Sec. 12s. the 120 kifh. Building. A common cabbin, 5I. Ditto of ftone, tol. to "i5.1- Walling, mafon's perch work One barrel lime Seven load ftone Attendance Sand and carriage 007 o o 6 o 11 00 a, 010 0 3 4 Feet high 5 £.0 \6 B A guinea a, perch, 7 feet, 6 inches Slates, 9s. 6d. athoufand. Slating, il. 2s. od. a fquare, every thing included. Oak, is. 3d. a foot. Afh and home fir, is. Lime, five- pence halfpenny a barrel, burnt, with turf in kilns an arches ; two arches burn 400 barrels, the ftone large. 400 kifh of turf will burn 400 barrels ; price of, burning and filling from „, 2I. 5s. 6d. to a guinea and half. September 30th, took my leave of Mr. Lloyd, a gentleman- from whofe converfation I reaped equal inftruction and amufement. Paffed by Shin- JOHNS TO W N. 227 Shinroan, Murdefinny, and Graig, tojohnf- town, the feat of Peter Holmes, Efq; Much of this line a very beautiful country ; near Johnf- town nothing ciHv.be. more picturefque, the whole well planted with hedges and little woods, and confifting of the moft fanciful variety of hill, dale, and f welling declivities, upon whjich, every bufh and tree is feen to advantage. For the' following particulars I am indebted to Mr. Holmes, who, notwithstanding his own ability to anfwer every queftion, trufted hot to it, but called in the beft afliftance the neighbourhood could give. Baronies in the county of Tipperary. Lower Ormond, 20s* an acre.—- Upper Or- mond,- 20s.— Skevin, 38s. — Eliogurtyj 20s. Owen and Aira, 12s, — Clanwilliam, il. 2s. ad. Middle third, 25s. Befides Iffa, Offa, and Kilnemanna-, The whole, county on an ave rage would now let for 20s. an acre.. Rents have doubled in twenty years. Through the whole b^ony of Lower Or mond, the foil is in general a dry .lime-ftone land.- Farms are large, fome 'very: large, few lefs -than 5 or 600 acres : the fizeis rather in creafed. There are many without any build ings, and it is only from particular circum ftances that they Jet the better fpr them. * The fmall iarms. are taken much in partnerfhip ; a P 2 parcel 228 JOHNSTOWN. parcel of labourers will take i or 200 acres. The common courfe of tillage is, 1. Pare, and burn for turnips. 2. Turnip9. 3. Potatoes. 4. Bere. 5. Wheat. 6. Oats. 7. Grey peafe. 8. Fallow. 9. Wheat. 10. Oats. 11. Lay out for grafs quite exhaufted. Alfo, 1. Fallow turnips from the turf. 2. Tur nips, and then as before. - 2>. • The management is to plough the fodaf Chriftmas, in April or May crofs plough.it, and let it dry, burn as foon as dry, which will be fometimes in May j fpread the afhes, plough once, and harrow in a pound and a half or two pounds of feed to the acre, from the 20th of June to the 4th of Auguft. They never either hoe or weed. Begin to feed them upon the land in December With fat fheep, giving three or four acres at a time to 2 or ¦700 fheep ; and orie acre to 100 ftieep, giving them at the fame time hay in fheep racks : a middling acre will keep 13 from Chriftmas to the firft of April* ifeing worth from two gui neas to 3I. They are alfo commonly ufed for fheep and lambs in March and April. • The profit upon fat fheep, from turnips only, will amount to from 7s. to 10s. a head. The land is ploughed three times for the fecond crop ; but the turnips are not fo fweet for fheep as the firft, yet they fell as well : they muft be JOHNSTOWN. 229 be eaten off firft, as they will not ftand fo long as the others. The poor people. hire this turnip land at fix guineas to 7I. 10s. for planting potatoes. About ten years ago the price was four gui neas to 5I. but the reftrictions on paring and burning have leffened the quantity of it. For this potatoe crop one ploughing is given in March or April, fix to eight barrels of feed planted ; the favourite forts are the apple po tatoe for late, and the early wife for early ufe. They hand weed them carefully, and take them up the middle of November or beginning of December, the average crop 90 barrels, Expences on an acre. Rent - - - £ 16 6 Seven barrels of feed, at 4s, « 1 8 o Planting, thirty men a day - - o 1$ o Taking up, eighty men a day - 2 o p f '-, • II 1 0 6 Pr 0 D u c E. Ninety barrels, at 4s. . - 18 0 0 Expenfes Profit w II 0 6 £6 19 6 — .- Prime coft, 2s. 5d. a barrel, .The 230 J O H N S T 6 WNJ. The culture has increafed very much,artd been the means of reclaiming great tracts of land, which otherwife would never have been toucfo.7 ed. The potatoe land: they plough immediate ly for- bere, and, if weather-dry enough; fow;. 14 ftone per acre, and get 16 barrels. 'For the wheat they plough thrtbe-; fow in Noveftiber 1 4 ftone, and get 7 '^artels*, - ¦*¦ -r^l,; 0 ,-¦¦¦ •'•::' oti ¦ • It was in this neighbourhood Mr . Yelveffton had; his famous crop, Which has been written fo often in all the books of hufbandry in Eu rope, but nobody here1 believed it. The ac count I had was this : that he fekcted the'heft; acre in a field of 30, which' he marked out; but hjs labourers knowing his intention, put many flocks from the -adjacent .parts of the field into that acre. Thus without any in tentional deceit in the gentleman himfelf was -. the public completely deceived- -'From hence it appears, there was fome reafon in rny pro ofing f 0 the London fociety, to annex tb their prerhiums for ;he greateft crops, the condition of reaping, threfhing, and meafuring all in one day, and iri the prefence of witneffes which they adopted much againft the opinion of fer , veral gentlemen' who did riot approve it. ;> For -the oats they- plough once, fow two barrels-in- March, and get on an average from 10 to 14. For the *peafe, they plough once, fow- twenty ftone broad eaft, are fo far from hoeing or weeding, that they like to have weeds among them, by way of fiicks ! get fix or feven barrels JOH^TSTOrWN. 131 barrels an acre. The fuceeeding fallow is plpughed four times, the crop of wheat as good as ; a^ter bere, but the following oats will not yield abpve eight or nine barrels. . The medium prices of the preceding pro ducts have of late years been, Wheat, 20s. Bere, 10s. Oats, 5. Peafe, 6s. There, are very few threfhing floors of wood : but they make the «cjay ones fo hard, that they think them as good, Flax is fown only by the cot tars in their gardens ; very few that do not fow fpme.- Six pottks of feed on about four perch of land. They proportion it very ex actly to their own confumption; it is wove by weavers, who make it their bufinefs to weave for others ; and there are veryjfew gentlemen that dp not do the fame for the coarfe linen of their families. Mark and lime-ftone fand are the manures ufed here. They have two ways of improving wafte land with marie: they plough and fow oats, and mark the flubble: or, elfe they marie at firft upon- me lay : this is moftly practifed in • the Duharrow mountains, where it has worked very, great improvements. It is a grey foapy mark, full of fhells, dredged from the bottom of the Shannon, The expenfe of get? ting it, with boats and carriage into the land, is 40s. an acre. Lime-ftone fand is laid on at tfie end of an exhaufting courfe, on the oat ftubble: it cofts about 50s. an acre. Very little lime ufed. No farm-yards ; the' hay is flacked 232 J O H N S T O W N. flacked in the fields where it is defigned to be fed, and fcattered about; and fhame on them,; they do the fame with their ftraw ; but no wonder the farm-yard fyftem is unknown, for they fell much of their corn, in the flack in the field, which gentlemen buy for ftraw. '* Great improvements have been made in the Duhar- row mountains, infpmuch that the tythes of one parifh have rifen from 70I. a year to' 400I, The fheep in the OrmPnd baronies are kept chiefly for breeding ; they do not fell the lambs till they become three years old wethers'; give the ewes the ram at two years old, which fup- ply the place of the old ewes, culled out and fattened at four years old, going five. r,'j In 170 there are 50 ewes, 40 lambs, 40 two-year olds, 20 three year old wethers fold, 20 ewes kept, and 20 old ones foLL Ten are kept fpr acci-* dents. The fat wethers fell at 20s. from grafs, and 30s. from turnips; and the 20 culled ewes will fell at 2cs.-eacb; ; the wool of the whole, three fleeces to a ftone. Mr. Robert Gowen has fold a fcore of four-year old wethers at Dublin, for. 59I. Their black cattle are in the fucceflipn way. To loop acres, befides 1500" fheep, they will buy in 180 year-old calves every year, at 45s. bought in from May to September, the right timeMayand June; they keep them two years and an half, felling them in November, at 61. to 81. allowing three for Ipffes, there would be • - - ' : m JOHNSTOWN. 233 177 calves, -177 two-year olds, 177 three- year olds — 531. Alfo upon 1000 acres there would be two breed ing mares, and ,fix colts, ten working heifers, 4 car horfes,- and ten milch cows; there would alfo be 100 acres of iooo, in-tillage, ten of which under turnips every year, and fifty acres of hay mown ; an inftance out pf thoufands how little attention in Ireland is paid to providing a due quantity of winter food. , Mr, William Harden*, thirty-two years ago, fold wool at 6s. 6d. a ftone ; it rofe gradually for ten years to 10s. 6d. and did not get up to 15s. till about four years ago; but the price was very fluctuating, rifing and falling fuddenly without any evident reafon ; the weight of the fleeces have not increafed in thirty years, but the number of fheep is greater ; turnips were com- riionly fown at that time. In black cattle however, there has been a great improvement, being much larger than formerly. Calves have rifen in price as much as wool, fuch as now coft 45s. might, thirty years ago, have been,. had at 20s. Mr. Harden's father bought a two-year old bullock for 5s. of a man now alive. In tillage, bullocks and heifersare generally ufed, four in a plough, arid they do not quite half an acre a day. Three ploughs will do an acre ; they ftir five inches Aeep. The price 6s. Paring and burning take irom twelve to i '- forty 234 J O H N S T OWN, forty men per acre, according to the dsynefs of the feafon. ., Labour is done by cottars, who have a cab bin and a garden of one acre, if only one man in family, but if the fori is grown, two acres, The cabbin and, one acre is reckoned at 20s. alfo two poilops, at 2ps, each, which are ge nerally cows. All this he works put at fjve pence a day, all extra labour fix-pence half penny a day, and eight pence in harveft. ., They all have from one fo three pigs, and much poultry, Thpii% food is potatoes for at leaft eleven months, of the, year, and one month of ©at, barky or bere bread, Expencei an4 receipt of a cottar family. Cabbin, and one acre, rent *; i " O p Two cows, 7 - v , 2 p 0 Qne . ftone of broken wool 0 H p Weaving it - - " ¦ P 3 p Weaving their linen - - 0 3 p jHearth money - p 2 0 Topis - ¦ 0 5 p Tythe of one acre 0 5 $ Hire of half an acre'potatoes " 3 8 p £:& 0 0 o Receipt. . Two Pigs '"¦"i ~ r .,-.-. 3 On an average of years the two cdws will yield three calves in two years - - 2 - o 0 : Poultry J O H N S T O W N. 235 '*¦¦¦• ¦ Brought over - - j£; 4 :o o Poultry - - - '¦ o 15 o Hire — ; 365 days 52 fundays 15 holydays co bad weather 48 ficknefs and their own wprk *33 230 at 5d. jr. , j. 4 16 o 9 11 o Expences r - r -800 Remains tfor unfpeclfied articles - j£.i 11 o It is a general remark, that induftrious and attentive men will earn 5L in the year. The circumftances of the poor are much bet ter than thpy were twenty years ago, for their land. and cabbins' are not charged to them byt gpntlemen higher than they were 3P years ago,. while, all they fell bears double the price. Potatoes are rather , more cultivated and eaten than twenty years ago, and are managed better. ' Tvhe poor in this '-neighbourhood are by no;means to be accufed. of a general fpirit of thieving. It arifes , from bolting them jn too much- contempt, or from tne improper treatment of their fuperiprs. No white boys have ever arifen in. thefe, baronies, nor any riots that laft longer thari a drunken bout at - .- ; 3 a fair : 236 JOHN -5 TOW N. a fair : nothing that has, obftructed the exe cution of juftice. There is no objection to cutting off the cot tars from a farm, and making them tenants to the landlord, upon the fcore of difficulty in letting a farm without cottars upon it, provid ed they were kept perfectly diftinct by a good fence. Nor is there any doubt but out of them a race of little farmers might be gra dually formed. Land at improved rents fells at 20 years purchafe. Rents are doubled in 20 years j they are not fallen fince 1772. Leafes, are ufually for three lives, or thirty-one years, The intereft of money has certainly rifen, and the year's purchafe of land fallen in twen ty years ; yet in the fame period it is un doubted that the kingdom has improved greatly, which has the appearance of a con tradiction. Buildings have very much in creafed in all the towns, and in a ftile farfu* perior to former periods. Tythes are very rarely taken in kind. Bere and wheat pay 6s. an acre. Barley and oats, 3s. Potatoes, 6s. They are generally let to proctors, who are fevere to the poor, and very indulgent to gentlemen. The rigour, however, does not extend beyond thofe prices. The JOHNS TO W N. 237 The bounty on the inland carriage of corn has occafioned the building fpme mills, which united with the turnip hufbandry, and the vaft increafe of whifky have altogether much increafed tillage. Prices not in the tables. Labour of a woman or boy in harveft, 4d. Mowing, grafs, 2s. 4d. to 2s. 6d. Hire of a car, a day, is. 3d. to is. 8d. Building a cab bin of ftone and flate, 25I. Walling the mafon's perch, 4s. Lime, ppr barrel, feven- pence halfpenny ; at Nenagh, is. Culm, per barrel, |s. one burns nine of lime, in fome places ortly fix. Quarrying the ftones o o o£ . Breaking and burnjng 003 Culm — . 004 £-° ° 7± Oak timber, 50s. to 3I. a ton. Fir, 40s. Wildfowl. — r-Wild ducks, is. 6d. a cou ple. Teal, pd. ditto. Widgeon, 6d. ditto. Rabbits, 8d. ditto. Trout 51b. for is. Sal mon, 2d. per lb. Frefh water fifh in general, 2^.d. a lb. Oyfters, 2s. per 120. The Shannon adds not a little to the con venience and agreeabknefs of a refidence fo near 238 JOHNSTOWN, near it. Befides affording thefe forts of* wild fowl, the quantity and fize of its fifh are arhazin'g. Pikes fwafm.in it, and rife in weight to 5olb.- In the little flat fpaces 'on its bagj^s are fmall but deep lochs, which are covered in winter and in floods ; when the river with*- draws, it leaves plenty of fifh irt them, which are caught to put into'ftews. Mr. Holmes has a fmall one before his door at Johnftown, With a little ftream which feeds it ; a tf owling rod here gets you a bite iri a moment, of a, pike front 20 to 401b. I eat of one of 27V0, 10 taken; I had alfo the pleafure of feeing a fifherman bringing three trouts, weighing i'4lb.' and fell them for, fix-pence halfpenny a piece. A couple of boats lying at anchor* with lines extended from one to the other, and hooks in plenty* from them, have been known •, fo catch an incredible quantity of trout. Co lonel Prittie, in one riiornirig, caught four ftone, odd pounds, thirty-two trouts : in ge neral they rife from 3 to 91b. Perch fwarm ; they appeared in the Shannon for the firft time about ten years ago," in fuch plenty that the poor lived on them. Bream of 61b. Eels very plentiful. There are many gillarops in the river, one of 1 2lb. weight was fent tp Mr* jenkinfon. Upon the' whple, thefe circum ftances, with the pleafure of fhooting and boating on the river, added to the, glorious view it yields, and which is enough at any time to chear the mind, fender this neighbour hood one of the moft enviable fituations to live in that I have feen in Ireland. The face of JOHNSTOWN. 239 pf the country gives every cirepmfiranee of beauty. From Killodeernan-hill, behind the new houfe budding by Mr. Holmes* the whole is feen to great advantage. The fpreading part of the Shannon, called Loch Derg, is commanded diftinctly for many miles ; it is in two grand divifions of great variety. That to the north is a reach of five miles leading to "Portumna. The whole hither fhore a fcenery of hills, checkered by inclofures and little Woods, and retiring from tne eye into a rich diftant, prpfpect. The woods of Doras, be longing to Lord Clanrickard, form a part of the oppofite fhore, and the river itfelf prefents an ifland of 120 acres. Inclining to the left, a vale of rough ground, with an old caftle in it, is backed by a bold hill, which inter cepts the river there, and then the great reach of 15 miles, thebayof Sheriff, fpreadstothe eye, with a magnificence not a little added to by the boundary, a fharp outline of the county of dare mountains, between which and the Duharrow hills, the Shannon finds its way. Thefe hills lead the eye ftill more to the left, till the Keeper meets it, prefentiiig a very beau tiful outline that finks into other ranges of hill, uniting with the Devil's Bit. The home fcenery of the grounds, woods, hills, and lake of Johnftown, is beautiful. Mr. Holmes has practiced agriculture upon an extenfive fcale, and not without making fome remarks, which muft be of ufe to others. He 240 JOH N S T O W N. He has not for five or fix years paft beta without a fmall field of Scotch cabbages. The feed he fows both in March and autumn for ufe at different feafons ; the rows he plants three feet afunder, and two feet from cabbage to cabbage. He has ufed them for fat fheep and fat cattle* but principally for weaned calves : they have anfwered perfectly well in aU, but remarkably fo with the calves, of which Mr. Holmes has had the beft in the country, and fingly from being thus fed. His people were all of opinion, that a good acre of cab bages will go as far as two acres of turnips, worth each 3I. TWo years ago a violent froft flopped the ufe of turnips, and he then found the benefit of them - prod^gioufly great. He has always manured for them with dung or mark, the former beft. Rape' Cake, Mr. Holmes has ufed as a manure, with great fuecefs : in 1775, he drefled two acres of worn out meadow, with a ton and an half an acre, at 2I. 2s. per ton; and in .1776, he laid on feven toris, at i| per acre ; the firft trial was made too late, arid a dry feafon com ing, the effect was not great. The laft year it was laid on the fifth of April, when the~ effect was remarkably great : it threw up a moft luxuriant Crop of the fineft herbage, infomuch that he is convinced nothing can anfwer better, and is determined to extend the practice con fiderably. He has tried it on low, wet, and on JOHNSTOWN. 241 on -upland* and the effect infinitely greatef on thfe latter. In the fame field, Mr. Holmes ^e(l' J5Q" ^heep fome months, on the produce of feven acres of turnips, going over nine acres of grafs f the benefit to the latter did not near equal that of the rape, except in the deftruc- tion of mofs, which was deftroyed by both methods. Clover. Mr. Holmes has ufed this grafs thefe fix years j he began with fix acres, and has ex tended it as far as feven teen acres laft year : he fows 241b; of feed per acre. The crops as good as he has feen in England ; has mown it twice, but now feeds the fecond growth. He has tried it on drydime-ftone hills, which are flow .in coming to gfafs, but anfwer well in clover. For his fheep he finds it of great ufe; Ewes lamb here about the 1.7th of March, and when tnrnips are done, want the clover very much : alfo in keeping l fat fheep for a late market. Courfe of crops, 1. Turnips on old turf, two ploughings and a flight burning. «v Turnips. 3. Barley, yields ing;i 8 barrels. 4. Clover. 5. Clover. ,6. Wheat, yielding 8 barrels. 7, Oats, ditto 15. Alfo, 1. Manure a flubble for cabbages. 2. Po tatoes. 3. Barley, 20 barrels. 4. Clover. 5. Clover; 6. Wheat. 7. Oats. Vol. II. Q_ Gabber 242 D E !R R Y. October 3d, taking my leave of Johnftowri and its agreeable and hofpitabk family, I took the road towards Deny, the feat of Michael Head, Efq; through a country much of it bor dering on the Shannon, and commanding many fine views of that river ; but its naked- nefs, except at particular places, takes off much from the beauty of the fcenery. Near tp Deny there are fome finer views. From one hill, the road commands the bay pf Skeriff, Loch Derg, back to Johnftown ; and the river turning un der the hills of Achnis, a promontory of wood, which feparates them, is fully feen : .there are alfo many hedges, fp well grown with fcatter ed trees on the higher fide as to have a pleafing effect. I found Mr. Head, on my arrival, juft going to dine with a neighbour, Mr. Parker, whofe father had worked a. very fine mountain improvement, and who would probably he there: this was a fufficient inducement, had there been no other, for me to accompany him- I found Mr. Parker's houfe fo near the river, as fometimes to be wafhed by it. The improvement I had heard of is a hill of above 40 acres, which was covered with ling, furze, §cc and not worth 6d. an acre thirty-two years ago when the work ., was begun. He grubbed, ploughed it, and fowed oats, and marled the flubble from the Shannon ; the mark, from the fteepnefs of the hill, being carried on the backs of oxen. Upon this , he took a crop pf wheat, and another of oats, both exceedingly fine, and with the latter fow ed the feeds for the grafs, which ftill remains, an D E R R Y. 243 and has been improving ever fince ; it is now worth 3 os. an acre, and a very pleafing object to the eye, efpecially fince Mr. Parker, junior, has added to the finenefs of the verdure and herbage by feeding it with many fheep. In the fame converfation I alfo learned a few particulars of a bog of twelve acres part of one of 150, improved by Mr. Minchin, near Ne- nagh. The firft operation was to cut main drains fix feet deep, and crofs ones of 18 inches or two feet, and as foon as it was a little firm, covered it with lime-ftone gravel three inches thick, before.the bdg would bear a car ; but did it by beginning at the edge, and advancing on the part gravelled. Part was tilled, and paft left for grafs without ploughing : the meadow thus formed has been exceedingly fine. One uncommon circumftance was, his having paved the bottom of the drains with gravel, in order to prevent cattle from being bogged in them. The expenfe of the whole improvement 81. an aore. , The profit immenfe. It is to Mr. Head's attention that I am in debted for the following particulars concern ing the barony of Owna and Arra. The foil is a light gravelly loam, on a flaty rock, which is almoft general through the whole. The rent on an average 15s. .for profitable land, and is. for mountain; and as there is about half and half, the whole will be 8s. The rife of rent, in twenty years is about double. Eftates are generally large, fcarce any fo low as 5 or Q^_2 6ool. 244' D E R R Y. 6ool. a year. Farms are all" finallv hone above 3 or 400 acres : mariy are taken in partner^ fhip, three, four, or five families to 100 acre's; They divide the land among{4hehifeives, each* man taking' according to his capital. The terms rundale and changedale unknown,' as is the latter practice. There are no farnis with out buildings upon them. Laying out irioney in buildingv better houfes would pay no interelt at all, as they are perfectly fatisfied with their mud cabbins. Courfes of crops on reclaimed mountain, 1. Mark for oats. 2. 'Bere. 3. Berei 4. Wheat. 5. Oats, or Englifh barley^ 6. Oats. 7. Oats. 8. Oats. 9. Oats. 10. Oats. The number of thefe crops of oats proportion ed to the quantity of marie laid on ; but the rule is to take aslorig as the land will yield, and then leave it to recover itfelf by weeds. Another courfe. 1. Potatoes in drills on an exhaufted ftubble. ¦ 2. Bere. . 3. Oats. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6. Oats, and fo on till none will be got. The quantity of wheat is very little ; for that little they fow a barrel an acre, and get 8 bar rels;, medium pried, iod. to 13d. a ftbne. Of bere they fow a barrel, and get 15. Of oats fow two barrels, the produce 8 to 15, accord ing to being early or late in the courfe. Price of bere, fix-pence - to feven-pence halfpenny. Oats, four-pence to fix-pence per ftone. No peafe, Dv E R R Y. 245 ;jjeafe,:heans, clover, or turnips ; but* they have little patches of flax for their own confump tion. Potatoes they very generally cultivate in drills ; they plough the flubble twice or thrice, and then, open trenches with the plough three feet afunder; in. which they put fome dung, lay the fets on it, and cover them with the plough if they have horfes, of if not with fhovels. They keep them clean by conftant , earthing up with ploughs or fhovels. They dig them put, the produce thirty-five barrels per acre. They find that nothing is fo good and clean as fallow for corn. Some poor eople hire grafs land for them in the lazy, ed way, paying 3I. to 5I. iqs. per acre. I The only manure ufed befides dung is the flielly marie, dredged up from the bottom bf the Shannon. Mr. Head's grandfather was the firft who introduced that method of getting at it by bringing men from Dublin ufed to raifing ballaft. It proved fo profitable, that the ufe has much increafed fince. It lies irre gularly in banks, from 1 00 to 200 yards from the fhore, and under io or 12 feet of water in fummer which is the only time they can get it. The price of raifing k is from is. to 2s. ac cording to circumftances, befides finding boat, ropes, and all tackle; a boat contains 60 bufhels, and requires 5 men. They land it on a quay, from whence it is taken in fledge carts to fome diftance for drying, nor is it dry enough for carting away' till the year fpllow- ing. Some think it worth carrying one mile, and 2^6 D E R R Y. and even two. The common people do not lay on more than four or five boat loads to an acre, but Mr. Head always* ten, and the whole expenfe he calculates at 40s. Much bad land has been reclaimed by it, and to great profit. All their dung is ufed for potatoes. The tillage of the common people is done with horfes, four in a plough, which do half an acre a day : gentlemen ufe four oxen. The price 8s. an acre. No paring and. burning. They fhut up their meadows for hay in March or April, and rarely begin to mow till September. I fhould remark, that I faw the, hay making or marring all the way (October 3d) from Johnffown hither, lyifh many fields covered with water, and the cocks forming little iflands in them, They are generally two months making it ; the crop one to one tpn and a half per acre. "c There is no regular fyftem of cattle in this barony, there not being above four or five gra ziers • but gentlemen, in their domains, have all the different fyftems. The common far mers keep a few of moft forts of cattle, except fat ones. No large flocks of fheep, but every farmer a few breeding ewes. The fleeces four. to a ftone. They fell either lambs, hoggits, or two or three year> olds ; the price of 'a' two- year old ewe 1 os. they have no winter food but grafs, even the gentlemen have their fat mut ton all winter from the low grafs lands on the Shannon, D E R R Y. 247 Shannon, "without either hay or turnips. The marled land has a remarkable fpring of grafs in the winter; the rot is very little known. All keep pigs, which are mucri increafed of late; their pork 32s. a cwt. laft year at Lime rick; Mr. Head has known it fo low as 14s. No proportion between cows and pigs. Im hiring and flocking farms, many will take them in partnerfhip with no other capital than a little ftock of cattle. Difficult to fi$ the number of years purchafe at which land fells. None has been fold in this barorty in Mr. Head's memory. Leafes to prpteftants three lives. ¦* The common mode of labour is that of cotT tars, they have a cabbiri and an acre for 30s. and 30s. the grafs of a cow, reckoning with them at five pence a day the year round ; other labour vibrates from four pence tp fixpence. A cottar with a middling family will have two cows ; there is not one without a cow. All of them keep as many pigs as they can rear, and fome poultry.. Their circumftances are rather better than 20 years ago. A cottar's expences. Rent of a cabbin and an acre - 1 JO o Two cows - " 3 ° P Hay for ditto, one ton - - , J i£ o Tythe - < .. - . - - o 4 o Hearth money 7 ' -02 o Carried over '"£16 w o One 248 P E R R Yi ? nought over £.6 II •$ One ftone of wool a year for the man, one for the woman, and two*ftones for three chil dren; this is what they oiJg% to have, but the faclt does not exceed two ftone, one at 17s, and pne at 8s. - f 1 S ° Tools - - -050 Turf, whether bought or in their own labour 10 o flax feed, five or fix pottles, at 8d, - 036 Breaking and fcutching, eight ftone, at iod. 068 Healing ditto, at iod. a. - - b 6 8 ^Veaving 336 bandies, at is; id. a (core - p 16 <$ N; B. After heckling; 561b. flax,i the teftis'.io^, which. they fpin for bags, &c, Two pair of brogues, 9s. od, and four pair foles, -is. iod. each, 7s.. 4d. - *> 0 .17 1 A pair of women's fhoes, 3s, 3d. and a pair of foles;, is-sd. - -048 A boy of fourteen,, two pair, at 2s. 2d. foles, is. id. - - o 3 3 A hat, as. 8 d, the boy one, is. 6d, - -042 £> » 3 6 Mis, receipt, Deduct from..'. 365 day? Sundays 52 Holiday | Bad weather 10 Own work 48 in Remain at, j;d, 254 I 5 1© The ' D E R R Y. 249 Brought over - - 5 5 10 The%oy*of twelve or fourteen, three-pence * halfpenny a day - - 3 14 I Two pigs, one eat, the other fold for - 015 o Two calves, one aos. one 1 os, - 1 10 o £.11 4n N. B. Chickens and ducks pay for fait, foap and candles, and they eat the geefe. When niy informant, who was a poor man, had finifhed, I demanded how the 20s. defici ency, with whifky, . and the prieft, were to be paid j the anfwer was,, that he '..muft. not eat fyis geefe and pig, or elfe not drefs fo well, which pro bably is the cafe. Their acre of garden feeds them the year through ; nine, months on po tatoes, and the other three . on oaten bread, from their own oats. The confumption of potatoes not increafed in twenty years. A. fa mily of five perfon s will eat and wafte forty-two ftone of potatoes in a week . They are not ad dicted in any remarkable degree to thieving. The cottars of a farm might eafily be taken from it, and yet the farm let without difficul ty, for the tenant would foon have others ; but it is queftioned whether they could eafily be made farmers of. Dancing is very general among the poor people, almoft univerfal in every cabbin. Pancirtg-mafters of their own rank travel * through the country from cabbin to cabbin, with a piper or blind fidier ; and the pay is fix- pence a quarter. It is an abfolute fyftem of education. 2 co D E R R Y. education, Weddings are always celebrated with much dancing; and a Sunday rarely pafles without a dance ; there are very few among them who will not, after a hard day's work, gladly walk feven miles to have a dance. John is not fo lively, but then a hard day's work with him is certainly a different affair from what it is with Paddy. Other branches of education are likewife much attended fo, every child pf the pooreft family learning to read, write, and eaft accounts. There is a very ancient cuftqm here, for a number of country neighbours among the poor people, to fix upon fome young woman fhat ought, as they thmk, to be married. ; they alfo agree upon a young fellow as a proper hufband for her ; this determined, they lend to the fair one's cabbin to inform her, that on the Sunday following yfo is to be horfed, that is carried on men's backs. She muft then pro vide whifky and cyder for a treat, as all will, pay her a vifit after mafs for a hurling match', As foon as fhe is horfed, the hurling begins,, in which the young fellow appointed for hex hufband, has the eyes of all the company fixed on him ; if he comes oft conqueror, he is cerr tainly married to the girl, but if another is vic torious, he as certainly lofes her, for fhe is the prize of the victor. Thefe trials are not always finifhed in one Sunday, they take fome times two or three, and the common expreffi on when they are Pver is, thai fuch a 'girl was goaPd. Sometimes one barony hurls iagainfl another, DER R Y. 251 another, but a marriageable girl is always the prize. Hurling is a fort of cricket, but inftead of throwing the ball in order to knock down a wicket, the aim is to pals 'it through a bent flick, the ends ftuck in the ground. In thefe matches they perform fuch feats, of activity, as Ought to evidence the food they live on to be far from deficient in nourifhmerit. Tythes-— Potatoes, 5s. Wheat, barley, bere, 5s. Oats, 2s. 6d: MeadoW, 2s. They are in the management of proftors , bCit the great- pft hardfhip attending them, is the popr man paying for his garden, while the rich grazier pays nothing, owing to the famous vote of the houfe of commons. v There is only one flour mill in the barony, and the increafe of tillage is very trifling, but the whifky Hills at Killaloe, trebled in five or, fix "years. Prices not in the tables. Wild ducks, is. a couple, Teal, 6d. Pla yer, 2d. Salmon, three 'halfpence to 3d. per lb. Large pike, 2s. , 6d. each. Trout, of twelve inches long, id. each. Eels, is. a do zen. Eggs, ten 4 penny in fummer, three in winter. Women's labour in harveft, 3d, in winter, 2d. Maid's wages, il. 10s. A lad's, il. 8s. Mowing, per acre, 2s; 4d. Women earn by fpinni'ng, 3d'. "Hire of a car, with, man and horfe, is. 6d. Threfhing wheat, per 352 D E/ R R Y. per barrel, 6d. Bere, <4d. Oats, two pence halfpenny. Barley, 3d. Building. A mud cabbin, 4I. Ditto of ftone' and flate, .20I. A dry wall, five feet high, building - ,013 Labour coping - - -006 Pafhing - - - o o 2 Lime, two barrels - - -014 jSand - - - -002 °35 Befids carting the ftones, the mafon's perch of houfe wall ing, is. 6d. All materials laid at the fpot. Oak bark, 81. to 9I. a ton. Cars are made by hatchet men, at 6A. a day. Timber and labour of one - - o 10 © Iron ¦ - - - o 10 ,0 0 o In the hills above Derry are fome very fine flate quarries, that employ 60 men. The quarrymen are paid 3s. a thoufand for the flates, and the labourers $d. a day. They are very fine, and fent by the Shannon to diftant parts of the kingdom ; the price at the quarry 6s. a thoufand, and at the fhore 6s. 8d, 400,000 flates are raifed to pay the rent only, from which fome eftimate may be made of the quantity. Mr. D E R R Y. 253 Mr. Head has made fome confiderable im provements of wafte or rough land by means of marie. His firft was a field of 14 acres ten years ago ; the foil light, as before defcribed of the country in general; the fpontaheous growth; furze and ferns, worth 5s. an acre. He cleared it from ftones, which were ufed for building; the expence fmall, marled it, and fowed five crops of corn, and with the laft of them hay feeds: it became a mea dow in two years, and is now worth 30s. an acre. Thettext was a field of eight acres, the fame foil • he broke it up for potatoes, then took, one crop of corn, marled it on the flub ble, and fowed five crops of corn, laying down with the fifth. Worth 8s. an acre before, now 30s. Five acres and an half were alfo done, marled- on the furface, the effect: little ; it was therefore ploughed up in four or five years j yielded two crops of good turnips, two of Englifh barley* and then laid down. It is noW Worth 30s. an acre. The next attempt was upon 16 acres, not worth 2S. 6d. an acre, over-run with furze, fern and heath, with fo many ftones that clear ing them away coft'ios. an .acre. Ploughed and burnt it, and took two crops of turnips, then two of oats. : Left it to itfelf for five or fix years, and then marled it, fince it has yielded four crops of corn, and is now worth il. 2s. od. an acre. The 254 D E R R Y. The laft improvement is a field of 1 1 acres, which has been lately marled. nr •J .* Mr. Head has 400 fhedp, and they confift of 100 breeding ewes.— 100 lambs.— -84 hoggits. —70 three-year old . wethers and culled ewes, fat.— 46 two year old wethers. . He fells an nually ,'"'¦- Fifty fat wethers : • — — ; 57 o, o ;j . Fifty culled ewes, at 1 8s. ¦ — 45 oo Four hundred fleeces, 133 ftone, at 18s, 119 14 o . £. 221 14 a Mr. Head has a practice in his fences which deferves univerfal imitation: it is -planting trees for 'gate-pofts. Stone piers are expen sive and always tumbling down; trees are beautiful, and never want repairing. Withirt 15 years this gentleman has improved Defiy, fo much, that thofe who had only feen it before, would find it almoft a new creation. He has .'built a handfome ftone-houfe, on, the flope of a hill rifing from the Shannon, and backed by fome fine woods, which unite with many old hedges well planted to form a woodland fcene, beautiful in the contrail to the bright expanfe of the noble river below : the declivity, on which thefe woods are, finifhes in a moun tain, which rifes above the whole. The Shannon gives a bend around the adjoining lands, fo as to be feen from the houfe both to the weft and north, the laWn falling gradually to a margin 3 of CASTLE CON.NE'L. 255 of, wood on the fhore, which varies the. out line. The river is two miles broad, and on the oppofite fhore cultivated inclofures rife in fome places almoft to the mountain top, which is very bold. It is a very fingular demefne ; a ftripe of very beautiful ground, reaching two miles along the banks of the river, which forejj^ his fertcp brt one fide, with a wall on the other. There is fo much wood as to render it very pleafing, adding to every day by planting all the fences made or repaired. From feveral little hills, which rife in different parts of it, extenfive views of the river are commanded quite to Portpmna ; but thefe are much eelipfed by that from the top of the hill above the flate quarry. From thence you fee the ri ver for at leaft 40 miles, from Portumna to 20 miles beyond Limerick. It has the ap pearance of a fine bafon, two miles over, into which three great rivers lead, being the north and fouth courfe and the bay of Skeriff. The reaches of it one beyond another to Portumna are fine. At the foot of the mountain Mr. Head's demefne extends in a fhore of rich woodland. . October 7th, took my leave of Mr. Head, after pafling four days very agreeably. Through Killalpe, over the Shannon, a very long bridge of many arches ; went put of the road to fee a fall of that river at Caftle Cort- nel, where fhere is fuch an accompanyment of 256- CULL E N. of wood as to form* a very pleafing feenery j the river takes a very rapid rockyxourfe,-around! a projecting rock, on which a gentleman -ha^ built a fummer-houfe; and formed' a terrace': it is a ftriking fpot. To Limerick. Laid at Ben- nis's, the firft inn we had flept in from Dublin. God preferve us this journey from another ! TftdrSth, leaving that place, I took the- road through Palace to Ctjllen. * The firft; fix: or feven miles from Limerick has a great- deal of corn; which fhews- that tillage is gaining* even upon bullocks themfelves. I obferved with much pleafure, that all 'the' cottars had' their little gardens furrounded with banks welt planted with ofiers. To the Rev. Mr. Lloyd's, at Caftle Lloyd; nearCullen, a gentleman who I found as able and willing as he had been repre* fented, to give me the intelligence I WifhebV rela-' tive to thevgrazing grounds around him. — The following particulars, which I owe to him; con cern more immediately the barony of Glanwil1- liam in Tipperary ; the fame in Limerick; Small- County, and the part of Coonagh- next Clan- william. In thefe parts the foil and manage^ ment are much the fame: that of Oonabeg- nearly, but not quite equal. The foil is a loam of a yellowifh brown, friable, but putrid and mixed with a final F quantity of grit ftones upon a lime-lldne.rocki at the depth of two; three,' and' four feet j. much of it is very dry; but the richeft has what is ¦ here called a tender moiftfkin, which i yields C A S T L E LL.O YD, 257 yields fo much to the tread of. beafts that it breaks under them : the richer and the more improved it is, the more fo. It is a^great error to aflert, that it would not do for tillage, for there is- none better for the purpofe if properly managed* The average rent of the rich parts of this tract is 30s. an acre. In Coonagh there are 19,3 13. acres, half of it not worth 5s. an acre, being mountainous* In the laft twenty years, the rents of the rich lands have rifen about a fourth, and twp-thirds fince the year 1748. . ^ Ave?agepf the county of Tipperary, 1 2s. 6d. Ditto of Limerick*: 1 ps,. 6d, Ditto of Corke, 5s. .Eftates are generally very large, bi.it, fome fo low as 309I. a year." - Farms arife from fmall ones in partnerfhip to 5 °r 6000 acres. The tillage, acts have had the effect of leffening them evidently. The great fyftem of this dif- trict.is that of grazing. Bullocks are bbughtin at the fairs of Ballinafloe, Newport, Banagher, Toomavarra, &c. in the months of September, October, and November, the prices from 5I. to 81. average, 61. Twenty years ago beafts were bought at 40s. which now could not be got under 4I, The prices having doubled, allowing at the fame tircfe for the improved fize of beafts. As foon as bought, they are turned into the coarfeft ground of the farm $ the fattening ftock being put into the after- grafs, the lean ones are turned after them ; if Vql. II. R the 2^8 C A S0T L E L L O Y D. the farmer has a tract of mountain, they will be turned into that at firft. They are put- to hay after Chriftmas, and kept at it till ,May. An acre of hay for three bullocks is reckoned a good allowance, the quantity will be from three to four tons. ' It is given fcattered upon the ground in dry fields, till the latter end of April, or the beginning of May, When they are collected into a fmall fpace, in order for .the grafs elfewhere to grow. About the loth of May they are put to grafs for the fummer j and in this^ the method is to turn into every field the -flock which they imagine will be maintained by it, and leave the whole there till fat. The Corke butchers come in July and Auguft to make their bargains, and begin to draw in Septerhber, and continue to take them till December. Some graziers keep them with hay till- the market rifes, but it is not a comrrton practice, It is thought that they begin to lofe flefh about the 20th of No vember, and that after the firft nothing is gained: Average felling price, ,ol, 10s. It vibrates from 81. to nl. ios* . Annexed to this . bullock fyftem is that of buying in bull calves, fix months old, in September and October* from 20s. to 40s. each, fome to 3I. thefe are fed in well flicker ed prights with grafs and hay, and fold in May and June with 20s. profit upon an ave rage. One acre of hay will yield enough for nine calves ; the proportion is, to buy a ealf to every acre. Upon C AS TL1 L L O Y D. 259 Upon other parts of the farm, where calves are hot fed in this manner, fheep are fubfti tuted. Much land is hired here by Tipperary farmers, who bring their fheep to it; and Where this is not the cafe, the Limerick farmers have both cparfe.and rich land which enables them to go into fheep. They keep ftocks of breeding ewes. If a man has 100 ewes\ he will have 10O lambs, 100 yearlings, 100 two- year olds, 100 three-year olds, felling every year 50 three-year old fat wethers, and 50 culled ewes, viz. $0 wethers, at 25s. — — 62 10 o 50 culled ewes, fat, at 23s. — 57 io o 400 fleeces, 133 ftone of wool, at 15s. 99 15 o 500 Total flock jC-2I9I5 ° If a man has only rich land in thofe ba ronies, without any in Tipperary, then he keeps only bullocks regularly; but he buys in fome boggit fheep, which he keeps a year, and fells fat. The Tipperary fyftem is fuppofed to be the moft profitable, for they have given more for the Limerick lands than the Limerick people themfelves. Befides thefe methods, there is another which is baying in cows in March, April, May, and June, at 3I. to 61. each, and felling them fat with 40s. profit. This is very profitable, but fubjeet to difficul ties, for they are troublefome to pick up, and much fubjeet to diftempers. . . R 2 Calculation 260 CASTLE LLO Y D. Q, Calculation of the profit &f grazing bullocks. One bullock bought in at - - 600 Rent of one acre and one-third - 200 County cefs, at od. - - 010 , Mowing, making, carting, and flacking hay o ' 3 o Herdfman, at 1 2I. a year - - 020 Loffes on ftock, ^ per cent, - "- 006 S 6 Intereft. of 8U at 6 per cent. - - 09 6 7 £• 8 '6 1 Produce. Sale of a bullock - _ , « 0 Value of the after-grafs of one- third of an acre 0 3 0 4 17 9 3 Expences - . _ g l6 4 1 Profit on one acre and one-third - 07 3 Which is per acre - _ /. 0 c 6 This profit is, I think, very low, fo low that nothing but the eafe with which grazing bul locks is carried on, could induce a man to be lattsfied with it. ; The flze to which oxen now come upon this I cwt ^ *$?' *?<"** ^ars ago it was 44 cwt. the additional * cwt. is owing not to CASTLE LLOYD. 261 to any improvement in the land, or ma nagement, but of the breed. Particulars of a grazing farm at Cullen. 120 acres in all. 1 10 bullocks. 40 lambs. 4 cows. 7 acres of meadow. 14. acre, herdf- man's garden. 2 acres of orchard. 246I. rent, or 4 is. per acre, > -The number of fheep kept in this neigh bourhood has decreafed, owing to the divifion into fmaller farms. The winter food for them in the rich tracts is grafs, except in fnows, when they turn them to their hay flacks, they are very little troubled with the rot. The rife in the price of woo}, 5s, a ftone in 30 years, There are but few dairies ; the little far mers have the chief. The breed of the cows is generally' half Englifh, half Irifh, They are kept on the pooreft grounds, 14. acre, or i|, keeps a cow the yeat round ; the ufual pro- r duce is 1 cwt. of butter, and 20s. horn mo ney, or 3I, in all ; the winterfood hay, £ of an acre to each. The calf is always reared ; valued when it drops at 2s. 6d, or 3s. the me dium price of a cow, 5L There have been many Englifh bulls introduced for improving the cattle of the country, at a confiderable expence, and great exertions in the breed of fheep; fome perfons, Mr. Dexter chiefly,' Have brought Englifh rams, which they let out at 262 CASTLE LLOYD. at feventeen guineas a feafortj, and alfo at i os. 6d. a ewe, which indicates a fpirited at tention. Hogs all the way frpm Limerick are of a very good breed, far fuperior to the common Irifh, and the number greatly increafed. Refpefting tillage, the chief is done by lit tle farmers, for trie graziers apply themfelves folely to cattle. It is entirely connected with breaking up grafs for potatoes— the quantity fmall. i. Grafs potatoes. 2. Potatoes, 3. Bere. 4. Oats. |. Oat?, , and then leave it for grafe without fowing any feeds. With gentlemen it is, 1. Potatoes. 2. Ditto. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats, ov Englifh. barley. 5. Oat§, left fmooth to grafs itfelf — Shame to them tor being as bad farmers as the Paddies ! The grafs is let for the potatoe crop to the poor pepple, Who pay from 5I. to fix guineas an acre for it » no manure ufed; nine barrels of feed at 20 ftone, plant an acre; the ufual jfeafon April and the beginning of- May. In planting, they dig the, whole ground, except the two firft fods, and when they have got feven or eight feet, form trenches in the com mon manner; they weed them carefully ; the produce about 120 barrels ^er acre; price 2s. fc C AS TIE L L O Y D, 263 to 3s. 6d. a barrel ; they pay as much rent for the fecond crop as the firft, and it is as good, though they don't plant it, trufting to the little potatoes .left in the grppnd, and which they fpread in digging ; but this is a moft flovenly practice ; if they were to plant the fecond crop it would be better than the firft, provided it is as good without it. .Epcpences of an acre. Rent - - - 600 Nine barrels of feed at 3s. - - 1 7 o Planting, and digging, 16 men, at 8d. o 10 8 Planting, 12 children at 4d. - 040 Trenching, 12 men - ,080 Cutting fets, eight women at 4d. o 2 8 , Second trenching, fix men ; - 040 ; ¦ . - "¦¦.. * 9_4 8 16 4 Digging out, twenty-fix men at 8d. - - o 17 4 Picking, twelve w omen - - ' ' r' Q 4 Q Carrying home, two horfes - -030 Tythe - - - - - o u O 10 11 8 Produce. One hundred and twenty, at 3s. - 18 o Q Expences "- - - 10 n 8 Profit - - •'-"¦;'* £.7 8 4 -* — «— ^ , .. ¦ Prime coft, is, 2yd. per barrel. ! They 264 CASTLE LLOYD, They do not plough the potatoe land for 4>ere at all, but trench' it in with fpade and fhovel, fow fix bufhels art ^ acre, and get 2p barrels; at 7s. on art average. ? They then plough once for oats, fow fix bufhels, and get 16 tp 20 barrels, worth 4s. a barrJel on arne- dium, at 12 ftone. The feconcb crpp Of oats, is as good as the firft,' In 'the ^gentleman's , courfe the wheat is trenched in if the feafon is wet, but ploughedirtif it is dry ^twenty ftone of feed per acre, the product ten barrels, -at 20 ftone, and the- price. 20s. ; ^PJpugh 'twice for the Englifh barley; fow five or fix hnfhels; per acre, and get 20 barrels, ^jftone per bar rel, at 8d. a ftone,- No-lime;* marie, or lime- ftone gravels ufed, nor clover; peafe, beans, or turnips fown ; but enough $axi is fown by every poor family fpr their own ufe ; and fqme fell if at fairs, after, fcutching, at 4s. to 5s. a ftone. o There are?manyi weavers ^about the country, who make bandle.cioth, and fome a yard wide, -for the poof people ; they.ljve both in towns and villages. • All the women*. fpin flax. They fhut up their fields for hay the be-, ginfting of June, generally mow in September, the crop three to four tons an acre, fometimes, five or 'fix. It is fold ftanding fpr 40s. an acre. . Tillage is done with horfes, four in a plough, and do half an% acre a day, four or five inches deep; the price 7s. to 10s. In hiring and flocking they reckon that 3I. an-acre wall .do for a grazing farm, but much lefs for tillage. Leafes are for thirty-one years or three lives. Land CASTLE LLQYD. 26^ Land fells at twenty years purchafe : there has been a fall oP rents from 1772, to the Ame rican War, but fince that time they have been rifing. The religion all R^oman "catholic. «£.I;OT< Mucji of the labour is done by fervants, hired into^the houfe of little farmers that keep dairies, &c. Much alfo by cottars, who have a cabbin and an acre and a half of potatoe gar den, which are valued at three guineas ; they Jiave alfo two cpws, at 50s. a cow, Three-? fourths of an acre under potatoes every year, and the reft oats and" flax ; they get about 120 barrels an acre, which crop, with the oats, feed them the year through ; they are much more eaten than they were 20 years ago; two barrels will laft a family a week as they are ufually confumed. They all keep a pig, a dog, two cats, and fome poultry ; their circumftan-' eesjare>better than-they were twenty years ago ; thelr-pig they fell, but they eat fome poultry, particulajly geefe. Some of them buy- turf for TueT, which cofts them fifteen fhillings : but many depend on breaking and fleafing hedge-Wood; they -are much given to pil fering. Cottars account. ,.a Cabbin and i^- acre - - 3 8 3 Grafs of two Cows - - 5 o o Turf - - o 15 o Carried over £. n -. -. — .. for three children, ) 47 weaving, at |d. N. B. Hackled, &c. by themfelves. One ftone of wool for the whole family Weaving ditto - Shoes - - - Hats - Hearth money - - 9 3 o 11 © 3 r 3 o o x7 o 034 O IO o o I p 020 jDatfw /o ffc Pr/V^. Two confeffions A chriftening Sundries o 0 o 2 2 1 6 1 4 050 £• 11 18 11 His Receipt. Days 365 Sunday* 52 Holydays 30 Bad weather 10 His own garden 20 ——112 253 at 5d. £>S 5 s The CASTLE LLOYD. 267 Brought over 5 5 S The eldeft child, 10 pr 12 years old, 2d. a day for 253 days - 2 2 1 Other earnings pf the family - 1 0 Q A pig, bought at 7s. fold at 47 s. 2 0 O Poultry - - 0 10 O One Calf -•'\. 0 15 O Two cwt. of butter t.^'l' >:'- ' 4 0 0 15 1'2 6 I&pences s, casualties, &c. II 18 11 Remains for unfpecified demand 3 '3 7 Many of the poor here have no cows ; there are cabbins on the road fide that have no land ; the inhabitants of them are called fpalpeens, who are paid for their labour in cafh, by the month, &c. Some of them pay no rent at all, others 10s. a year ; and thefe are the people who hire grafs land for their potatoes ; it is certain that the cottars are much better off than thefe fpalpeens, who can get but little milk, buying it part of the fummer half year pnly of the dairy farmers. Tythes. Wheat, 8s. Bere, ys. Barley, 7s. Pats, 4s. 6d. Potatoes, us. Meadow> 2s.8d. Prices not in the tables. Wpmehs labour, reaping,^ 44. Other work, 3d.' Making hand turf, 6d. Farming man's .wages, 3I. to 4I. Farming maid's ditto, il. 12s. Mowing, per acre, 2s, 6d. to 3s. in *745> 268 CASTLE LLOYD. 1745, only is. 6d. Ditching, qd. a perch. Double ones, is. 6d. feven feet wide at top, three and a half at bottom, and: four deep, and they will earn 8d. a day at it. Hire of a car, is. 6d, a day. In 1745 it. was is. Price of a car, iJ. 18s, 3d. $uilding a mud cabbin, 3I, Stone and flate, 25I,, Mafon'saperch of ftone walls for labour, od. fix feet high complete, 16s. Oak, 4I. a ton; twenty years ago, 2I, Lime, lo^d. a barrel, burnt with7 culm* brought 25 miles. Mr. Lloyd has worked a very great improve-? rnent of a making morafs, which' when he be gan was worth only 5s. an acre. The firft bufinefs was banking it, from a river fubjeet to floods, with a parallel back cuty tp carry off the water that came over his bank. He then carried a central drain through it and a mile beyond it, to gain a fall. Next he fubdivided itintOjfields, from 10 to. 2p acres, by ditches planted with quick. TheJ and was over-run with, much underwood and fedgy tuflbeksj &c, thefe were all grubbed, cut up, and • burnt ; after which cattje were put in, the improve- mept being finifhed ; and it has grown better and better .ever fince, being now Worth; 30s. an acre : fome of it is actually let at 38s, "It was a very expenfive undertaking, owing to the fti earn above him belonging to a neighbour, who did not fecond his undertaking -j he was obliged to make along bank upon this account only, partly over a turf bog, which was blown up. once, hut made again with great difficulty ^ ' fourteen MITCHELSTOWN. 269 fourteen fpits deep were cleared, and a foun dation of rammed clay laid : this coft ioool. it has, however, ftood well fince. • Lime Mr. Lloyd tried in a very fatisfactory experiment ; he broke up one of the rich hills near Caftle Lloyd, and limed half a field ; af terwards upon laying the whole down, the part limed has continued of a much deeper green and more luxuriant herbage than the other half. October loth, left Caftle Lloyd, and took the road by Galbally to Mitchel's Town, through a country part of it a rich grazing tract; but from near Galbally, to the Galty mountains, there are large fpaces of flat lands, covered with heath and furze, that are exceed ingly improvable, yet feem as neglected as if nothing could be made of them. The road leads immediately -at the northern foot of the Galties, which form the moft formidable and romantic boundary imaginable ; the fides are almoft perpendicular; and reach a height, which piercing fhe clouds, feem formed rather for the boundaries of two conflicting empires, than the property .of private perfons. The variety of the fcenery exhibited by thefe moun tains is great; the road after pafling fome miles parallel with them, turns over a bill,, a conti nuation of their chain, and commands an pbT lique view of their fouthern fide, which has much more variety than the northern;. it looks down at the fame time upon a long plain, bounded ±76 IVi I T C H E L $ f b W ri. bounded by thefe and other mountains, fevei ral rivers winding through it, Which join irt the center, near Mitchel's Town. I had beeri informed that this was a miferable place : it has at leaft a fituation worthy pf the proudeft capital; tJport my arrival, Lord fcingfhoroughi whd poflefles almoft the whole country, procur ed me the information I requefted iii the moft liberal manner, and a refidence fince has! enabled me to perfect it. His Lordfhip's vaft property extends from ICiidorrery to Clogheerti beyohd Ballyporeenj a line of more than 1 5 Irifh, miles, arid it fpreadsin breadth from fiv6 to ten miles. It contains every variety of land± ffom the fertility of grazing large bullocks to the mountain heath the cover of groufe. The profitable land lets from 8s. to 25s. an acre, but the whole does not on an average yield more than 2s. 6d. Such a field for future irrif provements is therefore rarely to be found. On the cold and bleak hills of Scotland eftates of greater extent may be found, but lying within twenty miles of Corke, the mpftfoutherly part of Ireland, admits a rational prophecy that it will become one of the firft properties in Europe. The fize of farms held by occupying tenants is in general very fmall, Lord Kingiborougn having releafed thenrfrom the bondage of the middle men. Great tracts, are held in partner fhip; and the amount held by fingle farmers rifes . . from MITCHELSTOWN. 271 from 5I. to 50I. a year, with a very few large farms. v The foils are as Various as in fuch a great extent they may be fuppofed : the worft is the wet morafly land, on a whitifh gravel, the fpontaneous growth, rufhes (juncus conghme- ratus) and heath (erica vulgaris) ; this yields a fcanty nourifhment to cows and half-ftarved young cattle. Large tracts of wet land has a black peat or a turf furface ; this is very re- claimable, and there are immenfe tracts of it. The profitable foil is in general a fandy or a gravelly loam, of a feddifh brown colour, and the principal diftinction is its being on lime or grit ftone, the former generally the beft. It declines in value from having a yellow fand or a yellow clay near the furface under it. There are tracts of fuch incomparable land that I feen very little equal to it, except in Tipperary* Limerick, and Rofcommon. A deep friable loam, moift enough for the fpontaneous growth to fat a bullock, and dry enough to be per fectly under command in tillage: if I was to name the characteriftics of an excellent foil, I fhould fay, that upon, which you may fat an ox, and feed off a crop of turnips. By the way I recollect little or no fuch land in England, yet is it not uncommon in Ireland. Quarries of the fineft lime-ftone are found in almoft every part of the eftate. The tracts of mountain are of a prodigious extent; the Galties only are fix or feven miles long. , 272 M IT C H E L S T O W N, long", from one to four miles, acrofs $ and more improvable upon the whole than any land I have feen, turf and lime-ftone being on the fpot, and a gentle expofure hanging to the fouth. In every inacceflible cliff rthere are mountain afh j (fraxinus excelfior) oak, (quercus robur) holly, (ijek aquifolium.) birch, (betula alba) willow, (falix) hazel, (corylui: avellaha) and white thorn, (crateegus oxyacantha) and even to a confiderable height up the mountain, which, with the many old flumps fcattered about them, prove that the whole was once a foreft, an obfervation applicable to every part of the eftate. The tillage here extends no farther than what depends on potatoes, on which root they fubfift as elfewhere. They fometimes manure the grafs for them, and take a fecond crop; after which they follow them with oats, till the foil is fo exhaufted as to bear no longer, when they leave it to weeds and trumpery, which vile fyftem has fpread itfelf fo generally over all the old meadow and pafture of the eftate, that it has given it a face of defolation — fiirze, (eulex enropaa) broom, (Jparthm fcoparium) fern, (pteris aquilina) and rufhes, owing to this and to neglect, occupy feven-eighths of it. The melancholy appearance of the lands arif- ing from this, which, with miferable and un- planted mounds for fences, with no gate but a furze bufh fluck in a gap, or fome ftones piled on each other, altogether form a fcene the more dreary, as an oak, an afh,. or an elm, are 3 almoft MITCHEL8T.OWN. 273 almoft as great a rarity, (fave in the planta tions of the prefent Lord) as an olive, an orange, or a mulberry. Of potatoes, eight barrels of feed plant an acre, which yields fixty barrels, at twenty-one ftone j the average price 4s. 4d. \ Planting, fourteen men, at 6£d. 0 7 7 Trenching, fourteen ditto 0 7 7 Leading the dung 1 0 0 Spreading, fix men - 0 3 3 Eight barrels feed 1 H 8 Weeding by the women 0 G 0 Taking up, fixty men 1 12 6 Carting home, &c. 0 »5 0 o 7 Produce. Sixty, at 4s. 4d. - _ - 13 o o Expenfes - - * - 6 ° 7 £-6 19 5 Prime coft, 2s. a barrel. They lay them up in holes in the field. The ' fecond crop is generally the beft. Of oats they, fow two barrels, and reap from 8 to 15. There no wheat, and very little barley. Clover and turnips, rape, beans, and peafe, quite un known. The rents 'are paid by cattle, and of V©l. II. S thefe 274 M I T C H E L S T O W N. thefe dairy cows are the chief ftpejk. The little farmers manage their own; the larger ones let them to dairymen for one cwt. of butter each cow, and 12s. to 15SV horn money; but the man has a privilege of four collpps, and an acre of land artd cabbin to every twenty cows. The people,moft attentive to .their own intereft, -are, however, getting out of this fyftem, from the innumerable rafcalJLties , of thefe dairymen, they will piay twenty tricks tp keep them from taking the bull, in order to have the longer feafon; and to force them to give down their milk,- they, have a very delicate cuftoni of blow- them where — — — , but. I have heard pf this practice in other par£s. , ,"./, The. winter food is ftraw and hay at night; not many of them are houfed. In the breed ing fyftem they are very deficient. Vaft num bers of calves are killed at two or three days old for an execrable veah they call fiaggering bob, I fuppofe from the animal not being old enough to ftand fleady on its legs: they feU at 2s. or 2s. 6d. a head. A good cow fells from 5I. to 61. 6s. and a calf of fix or eight months, at 20s. or 22s. Sheep are kept in very fmall numbers; a man will have two, or even one, and he thinks it worth his while' towa^k ten or twelve miles to a, fair, with a ftraw band tied to the leg of 'the l^rnf^ in order to, fell it for 3s. 6d. an undoubted proof of the poverty of the country. Markets are crouded for this reafon, for there is "nothing too trifling fo carry; a yard of linen, a fleece of wool, a ' , f coubld MITCHELS TO W N. 275 couple of chickens, will carry an Unemployed pair of hands ten miles. In the mountains are a fmall breed' of fheep, which are as delicate mutton when properly fattened as the welch, and of fo hardy a breed as to live upon heath, furze, &c. in winter as well as fummer. Hogs are kept in fuch numbers that the little towns and villages fwarm with them; pigs and chil dren balk and roll about, and often refemble one another fo much, that it is neceflary to look twice before the human face divine is con- fefled. I believe there are more pigs in Mitchels- town than human beings, and yet propaga tion is the only trade that flourifhed here for ages, Tillage is done by horfes-, four in a plough do half an acre a day, fiye or fix inches deep ; the price 6s. to 10s. an acre. Labour is chiefly done in the cottar fyftem, which has been fo often explained ; there are here every gradation of the lower claffes, from the fpalpeens, many among them ftrangers, who build themfelves a wretched cabbin in the road, and have neither land, cattle, nor turf, rifing; to the regular cottar, and from him to the little joint tenant, who, united with many others, takes fome large farm in partnerfhip ; ftill rifing to the greater farmer. The population is very great. It is but few diftricts in the north that would equal the pro portion that holds pn this eftate ; the cabbins S 2 are 276 M I T C HE L S TO ;W N. are innumerable; and like moft Irifh cabbins, fwarm with children. ."VV'he.reyer there is many people, and little employment,': idlenefs and its attendants muft abound, * . i c. . It is not to be expected that fo young a man as Lord Kingfborough, juft qorfte'frprrfcthe va rious gaiety of Italy, Pari.s, and London,! (bortld, in fo fhort a fpace as two years, do much- in a region fo wild as Mjtchelftown ; a very fhort narrative however, will convince, the reader, that the time he has fpent here.,/has not been thrown away. He found fhis » immenfe pro perty in the hands of that : fpecies. pf etenant which we know fp little of in England^hut which in Ireland have flourifhed almoft to the destruction of the. kingdom, the' middle ynan, whofe bufinefs and whofe induftry confifts in hiring great tract? of land as cheap as he-can, and re -letting them to others as dear as he can, by which means that beautiful gradation of the pyramid, which eon nects-the broad bafe of the poor people with the great nobleman they fupport, is broken; he deals only with his own tenant, the multitude is abandoned to the humanity and feelings -; of others, which to be fu re may prompt a juft and tender ^conduct; whether it does or not, let the miferyland po- " verty of the lower clafles fpeak, whojare thus afiigned over. This was the fituation of. nine-* tehths. of his property. Marty leafes being pin, he rejected the trading tenant, and let every man's land to him, who; ^occupied \\ at the rent he had, himfelf received, before. During M'JTCHELStOWN. 277 During a year that I was employed in letting his farms, I never omitted any opportunity of confirming him in this fyftem, as far as was in my power, from a conviction that he was •equally ferving himfelf and the public in it ; he will never quit it without having rCafon afterwards for regret. In a country changing from licentious bar barity into civilized>order, building is an object of perhaps greater confequence than may at firft be apparent. In a wild, or but half cul tivated tract, with no better edifice than a mud cabbin, what are the objects that can imprefs a love of order on the mind of man ? He muft be wild as the roaming herds; lavage as his rocky mountains ; confufion, diforder, riot, have nothing better than himfelf to damage or deflroy :;but when edifices of a different foli- dity arid character arife; when great fums are expendfed, and numbers employed to rear more expreffive monuments of induftry and order, it is impoflible but new ideas muft arife, even in the uncultivated mind ; it muft feel fome thing, firft to refpect, and afterwards to love; gradually feeing that in proportion as the country becomes more; decorated and valuable, licentioufnefs will be lefs profitable, and more odious. Mitchelftown, till his Lordfhip made it the place of his refidence, was a den of vaga bonds, thieves, rioters, and whiteboys ; butT can witnefs to its being, now as orderly and peaceable as any other Irifh town, much owing to this c'ircumflance of building, and thereby employing 27§ Mi T C H E L S T O W N. employing fuch numbers of the people. Lord Kingfboroughi in a fhort fpace of time, has raifed confiderable edifices; a large manfion for himfelf,. beautifully fituated on a bold rock,( the edge of a declivity, at the bottom of which is a river, and commanding a large tract of country, with as fine a boundary of moun tain as I have feen; a quadrangle of offices; a garden of five Englifh acres, furrounded with a wall, hot-houfes, &c. Befides this, three good ftone and flate houfes upon three farms, and engaged for three others, more confider able, which are begun ; others repaired, and feveral cabbins built fubftantially. So naked a country as he found his eftate, called for other exertions, to invoke the Dry- ades it was neceflary to plant,- and they muft be coy nymphs indeed if they are not in a few years propitious to him. He brought a fkilful nurferyman from England, and formed twelve acres of nurfery. It begins to fhew itfelf; above ten thoufand perch of hedges are made, planted with quick and trees ; and feveral acres,! fecurely inclofed on advantageous fpots, and filled with young and thriving plantations. Trees were given,- gratis, to the tenantry, artd premiums begun for thofe who plant moft, and preferve them beft, befides fourfcore pounds a year offered for a variety of improve-, ments in agriculture the moft wanted upon the eftate. ; Men, MITCHELSTOWN. 279 Men,- Who frorn long pofleflionof landed pro-. perty, become gradually convinced of the im portance of attendingtoit, may at laft work fome improvements without meriting any confider able portion of praife ; but that a young man, warm from pleafure, fhould do it, has a much fuperior -claim; Lord Kirtgfborough has, in this refpect, a great deal of merit ; and for the fake both of himfelf and his country, I heartily wifh he mayfieudiJy-perfevere in. that line of conduct which his underftanding has once told him, and muft continue to tell Uim, is fo greatly for the advantage bf himfelf, his family and the public!7 It is not uncornmon, efpeciaHy in moun tainous countries, to find objects that much deferve the attention of travellers intirely ne glected by them; There are a few inftances of this upon Lord Kingfborough's eftate, in^ the neighbourhood of Mitchelftown ; the firft* I fhall mention, is a cave at Skeheenrinky, on the road between Cahir and that place: the opening to it is a cleft of rock in a lime ftone hill, fo narrow as to be difficult to get into it. I defcended by a ladder of about twenty fleps, and then found myfelf in a vault of a hundred feet-long, and fifty or fixty high : a fmall hole, on the left, leads from this a winding courfe of I believe not lefs than half an Irifh mile, exhibiting a variety that ftruck me much. In fome places the cavity in the rock is fo large, that when well lighted up by candles, (not flambeaux, Lord Kingfborough once fhewed 2?o M I T C H E L S T O W ,H. it rne With them, arid we found their fmoak tronblefome) it takes- the appearance of a vaulted cathedral, fupported by mafly columns, The walls, cieling, floor, and pillars, are by turns compofed of every fantaftie form; afld of ten of very beautiful incruftations of fpar, fome of which glitters fo much, that it feems pow dered with diamonds, and in others the ciel ing is formed of that fort which has fo near a refemblance to a cauliflower. The fpar form ed into column^ by the dropping of water has taken fame ^ry regular forms ; but others are different, folded in plaits of light 4rapery, which hang from their fupport in a very pleaf ing manner. The angles of the walls feem fringed with ittcles. One very long branch of the cave, which turns to the north, is in fome places fo narrow and low, that one crawlsinto it, when it fuddenly breaks into large vaulted fpaces, in - a thoufand forms. The fpar in all this cave is very brilliant, and almoft equal to Briftol ftone. For feveral hundred yards in the . larger branch, there is a deep water at the bottom of the declivity to the right, which the common people call the river. A part of the way is over a fort of potter's clay, which moulds into any form, and is of a brown co- lpur : a very different foil from any in the, neighbouring country, I have feen the fa mous cave in the Peak, but think it very much inferior to this : and Lord, Kingfbo- rpugh, who has viewed the Grot d'Aueel in Burgundy, fays that it is not to be compared with it. . , . k But M I T C H E h S T O W N. zti But theicommanding region of the Galties deferves more attention. Thofe who are fond of fcenes in which nature reigns in all her wild magnificence, fhould vifit this flupendous chain.. It, confifts of many vaft mountains, thrown together in an auemblage of the moft interefting features, from boldnefs and height of the declivities, freedom of outline, and va riety of parts ; filling a fpace of about fix miles by three or four . Galty more is the high- eft point, and rifes like the lord and father of the furrounding progeny. From the top you look. down, upon a great extent of mountain* Which fhelves away from him to the fouth, eaft, and weft; but to the north, the ridge is almoft a perpendicular declivity. On that fide the famous golden vale of Limerick and Tipperary fpreads a rich level to the eye, bounded by the mountains of Clare, King's and Queen's coun ties, with the courfe of the Shannon, for ma ny miles below Limerick. To the fouth you look over alternate ridges of mountains, which rife one beyond another, till in a clear day the eye meets the ocean near Dungarvon. The mountains of Waterford and Knockmaldown fill up the fpace to the fouth-eaft. The weftern is the moft extenfive view ; for no thing flops the eye till Mangerton and Mac- gilly Cuddy's Reeks point out thb fpot where Killarney's lake calls for a farther excurfion. The profpect extends into eight counties, Corke, Kerry, Waterford, Limerick, Clare, Queen's, Tipperary, King's* > A little ¦iU MITCHELSTOWtf. A little to the weft of this proud fummit, below it in a very extraordinary hollow, is a circular lake of two acres, reported1 to be un fathomable. The defcriptions which I have read of the craters of exhaufted volcanoes, leave very little doubt of this being one ; and the conical regularity of the fummit of Galfy- more fpeaks the fame language. Eaft of this refpeBable hill, to ufe Sir William Hamilton's language, is a declivity of about one quarter of a mile, and there Galtybeg rifes in a yet more regular cone, and between the two hills is another lake, which from pofition feems to have been once; the crater which threw up Galtybeg, as the firft mentioned was the ori gin of Galtymore. Beyond the former hill is a third lake, and eaft of that another hill ; I was toldv of a fourth, with another corref- ponding mountain. It is only the mere fum mit of thefe mountains which rife above the lakes. >- Speaking of them below, they may be faid to be on the tops' of the hills ; they are all of them at the bottom of an almoft regu larly circular hollow: On the fide, next the mountain top, are Walls of perpendicular rocks, in regular ftrata, and fome, of them piled on each other, with an appearance of art rather than nature. In thefe rocks the eagles, which are feen in numbers on the Gal- ties, have their nefts.- Suppofing the.moun- tains to be or' volcanic origin, and thefe lakes the craters, of which I have not a doubt ; they are objects of the greateft. curiofity, for there isf an unufual regularity in every confiderable 3 / fummit, MITCHELSTOWN. 283 fummit, having its correfpbndirtg crater ; but without this circumftartce the fcenefy is in- terefting.in a very great degree. The moun tain fummits, which are often wrapped in the clouds, at other times exhibit the freeft outline ; the immenfe fcboped hollows which ' fink at your feet,. declivities of fo vaft a depth as to give brte terror to look down'; with the unufual forms of the lower region of "hills, particularly Bull hill, and Round hill, each a mile over, yet rifing out of circular vales, with the regularity or ferni-globes unite upon the whole, to exhibit a fcenery to the eye, in which the parts are of a magnitude fo com manding; a character^ fo'interefting, and a va riety fo ftriking, that they well deferveto be examined by every curious traveller. Nor are" thefe immenfe'; outlines the whole of what is to be feen in this great range of mountains. Every Glen has its beauties ; there is a confiderable mountain river, or ra ther torrent in every one of them ; but the greateft are the Funcheon, between Sefang and Galtymbre ; the Limeftone. river, between Galtymore and Round hill, and the Groufe river, between Cooleg'arranroe, and Mr. O'Callaghan's mountain ; thefe prefent to the f eye, for a tract of about three miles, every va- ' riety that rock, Water, and mountain can give, thrown into all the fantaftic forms which art may attempt in ornamented grounds, but al ways fails in. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the water, when not difcoloured by rain, its 2^4 MITCH'EL S T O W JN. its lucid tranfparency fhews, at confiderabfe depths, every pebbfe»,no bigger > than a pin, every rocky bafon alive with trout , and eels, that play and dafh among the rocks, as if en dowed with that native vigour which animate, in a fuperior degree, every inhabitant .of the mountains, from the bounding, red , deer, and the fqaring eagle, down even to, the fifhes of the brook. Every five minutes you have a waterfall in thefe glens, which in any other region, would flop every traveller to admire it. Sometimes the vale takes a gentler declivity, and prefents to the eye at one ftroke,. twentyi or thirty, falls, which render the fcenery aU alive with the motion; the rocks are tofled about in the wiideft confufipn, ; and the tor rent burfts by turns from ;ahove, beneath, and under them ; while the back ground is always, filled up with the mountains .which ftretch around. In the weftern Glen is the fineft cafcade in all the Galties ;. there are two falls? with: a bafon in the rock between, but from fome points of view they appear one ; the rock over which the water tumbles is about fixty feet high. A good line in which to view thefe Ob jects is either to take the Killarney and Mal low road, to Mitchelft;pwn, and from thence by. Lord Kingfborough's new one, to Skeheen- rinky, there to take one of the Glens, to Gal tybeg, and Galtymore, and return to Mitch- elftown by the Wolf's track, Temple hill, and the QJJEEN'S COUNTY 285 the Waterfall : or, if the Corke road is travel ling, to make Dobbin's inn, at Batlyporeen, the head quarters, and view them from thence. *********** Having heard much of the beauties of a part of the Queen's county, I had not before feen, I took that line of country in my way on a journey to Dublin. From Mitchelftown to Cafhel, the road leads' as far as Galbally in the route already travell ed from Cullen; towards Cafhel the country is various. The only object deferving attenti on, are the plantations of Thomaftown, the feat of Francis Mathew, Efq; they confift chiefly of hedge-row trees in double and treble rows, are Well grown, and of fuch extent as to form an uncommon woodland fcene in Ireland. Found the widow Holland's Inn, at Cafhel, clean and very civil. Take the road to Urling- ford. The rich fheep paftures, part of the fa mous golden vale, reach between three and N . four miles, from Cafhel to the great bog by Botany Hill, noted for producing a greater va riety of plants than common. That bog is feparated by only fmall tracts of land, from the ftrirtg of bogs which, extend through the Queen's County, from the great bog of Allen ; it is here of confiderable extent j and exceed ingly improvable. Then enter a low marfhy bad country, which grows -worfe after paflirig the 66th mile ftone, and fucceflive bogs in it. Breakfaft at Johnftown, a regular village on a flight 286 QUEEN'S COUNTY. a flight eminence, built by Mr. Hayley ; it is near the Spaw of Bally fpellin. Rows of trees are planted ; but their heads all cut off, I fup- pofe from their not thriving, being planted too old. Immediately on leaving thefe planted avenugs, enter a row of eight or ten new cab bins, at a diftance from each other, which ap pear to be a new undertaking, the land about them all pared and burnt, and the afhes in heaps, Enter a fine planted country, with much corn and good thriving quick hedges for many miles. The road leads through a large wood, which joins Lord Afhbrook's plantations, whofe, houfe is. fituated in the midft of more wood than almoft any one I have feen in Ire land. Pafs Durrow ; the country for two or three miles continues all inclofed with fine' quick hedges, is beautiful, and has fome re- femblance to the beft parts of Effex. Sir Ro bert Staple's improvements join this fine tract ; they are completed in a moft perfect manner, the hedges well-grown ; cut, and in fuch ex cellent order, that I can fcarcely believe myfelf to be in Ireland.' His'gates are all of iron. Thefe fylvarifcenes continue. through other feats, beau tifully fituated, amidft gentle declivities of the fineft verdure, full grown woods, excellent hedges, and a pretty river winding .by the houfe. The whole environs of feveral would be admired in the" beft parts of England,. < Crofs a great bog, within fight of Lord deVe£- cey's plantations; • The road leads over it, be ing QJJ EEN'S COUNTY. 287 ing drained for that purpofe by deep cuts on either fide. I fhould apprehend this bog to be , among the moft improvable in the country. Slept at Ballyroan, at an inn kept by three animals, who call themfelves women ; met with more impertinence than at any other in. Ireland. It is an execrable hole. In three or four miles pafs Sir John Parnel's prettily fituated in a neatly dreffed lawn; with much wood about it, and a lake quite alive with wild fowl. Pafs Monftereven, and crofs directly a large bog, drained and partly improved; but all of it bearing grafs, and feems in a flate that might eafily be reduced to rich meadow, with only a dreffing of lime. Here I got again into the road I had travelled before. I muft in. general remark, that from near Urlingford to Dawfon Court, near Monfter even, which is completely acrofs the Queen's County, is a line of above thirty Englifh miles, and is for that extent by much the moft im proved Of any I have feen in Ireland. It is generally well planted, has many woods, and hot confiftirig of patches of plantation juft by gentlemen's houfes, but fpreading over the whole face of the country, fo as to give it the richnefs of an Englifh woodland fcene. What a country would Ireland be had the inhabitants of the reft of it improved the whole like this. END OF PART I. 1 — T" T O U R, &c. PART II. starvations on the. preceding Intelligence. ff>0 regifter the minutes received- upon fuch a journey a* 1 this,, and leave them jimply to ipeak -for themfelves, ¦w,3ul|d; have its ufe ; but it would leave to the inquifitive rear der 4> much labour and trouble in collecting general fa&s, that not one in five hundred would attempt it. Thatj't is a matter of importance to have accurate general ideas of a country, inftead of erroneous ones, wiljl hardly b.e difputed ; no books of geography but fpealc generally of foil, climate, product, reilta^populatiflJi, Es&'out they are too often mere gueffes ; or, if founded at all, the facts that fupporj them of too old a date to yield the leaft truth at prefjercTin points fubjeet to change. When one country is mentioned in another it is ufu ally in general, terms: and by comparifop, England has not fo rich a foil as Ireland. Product^ in England larger, than in France. Rents higher in Ireland than in Scotland-.- A thoufand inftances might be produced, in which jdeas of tbJs fort are particulariz ed, and in which general errors are often found the caufe of political meafures.-everi "of the higheft confequence. That ,my Englifti tours give txaS information relative to England, I cannot affert \ but I may venture to fay, that they are the only information extant, relative to the rental, produce, (lock of tliat country, which are taken from an aftual examination : I wifh to. offer equal information relative to our fitter ifland ; and I am encouraged jo" do it, not only from my own ideas, but tKe opinions of many perfons with whom I have .either correfpond- ed or converfed fr6m'ji\oft parts of Europe, including fome of jhejMoil refpectable for abilities and rank. A SECTION EXTENT. SECTION I. Extent of Ireland. IN order to know the confequence and relative importance of any country, it is oeceffary to. be acquainted with us ex tent / 1 have reafon to believe that that of Ireland is not ac curately known. I infert the following table of the acres or each county, plantation meafure, becaufe there are feveral ob- fervations to be made on it. Acres. I 383,o2olMunfter,— Clare, Ulfter— Antrim, Armagh, 170,620 Cavan, 274,800 Down, 344,658 Dbnnegal, 630,157 Fermanagh, 224,807 Lpndonder.' 25 1 ,-5 1 o 'Monaghan, 170,090 Tyrone, 387,175 Corke, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, 599,500 Waterford, 259,010 Acres. 428,187 991,010636,905 375,320 Total, 3,289,932 ... Total. - 2,836,837 Leinfter,-*-Carlow, 116,900 Dublin, 123,784 Kildare, 228,590 Kilkenny, 287,650 King'sCo.1 257,510 Longford, 134,700 Louth , 1 1 1 , 1 80 Meath, 326,480 Queen'sCo. 238,4.1 5 Weftmeath, 249,943 Wexford, 515,396 Wicklow, 252,410 Conapg.— Galway, Leitrim, ¦ Mayo, Rofcomm, . , Sligo, Total, Total, In all Ireland, 77S»5#S206,830724,640 324,370 241,550 2,272,915 11,042*642. 2,642,9581 Gerard Malines makes the acres of Ireland eighteen millions s {Lex Mercaioria, part 1. p. 49.) I fuppofe Englifh meafure, which is eleven millions Irifh ; thefe two accounts flow, there fore from the fame fource. Templeman's meafurement'-gives it 27,457 fquare miles, or 17,572,480 acres ( Survey of the ghtbe) Englifh on a fcale of 6oniiles to a degree, but consequently it js'profeffedtyerroneous, as a degree is 69^ ; according to this meafure therefore, the contents in teal acres would be 20,354,789 Englilh, and 12,721,743 Irifh. Thefe accounts come fo nearly together, that they are all drawn from fimilar data; that is, from old maps. Newer ones have many-blun ders ; but as no late actual furvey has been made of the king dom, we muft depend on the authority we find. ' SECTION SOIL and CLIMATE. ,3, SECTION II. Soil, Face of the Country and Climate. ?T'O judge of Ireland by theconverfation one fometimes heaijj A in England, it would: be fuppofed that one half of it was covered with bogs, and the other with mountains fiiled with Irifh ready to fly at the. fight of a civilised being. There are people who will, fmile when they, hear that in proportion, to the fize of the two countries, Ireland is more cultivated than England, having much lefs wafte land of all forts. Of uncul tivated mountains there are no fuch tracts as are found. in our four northern counties, and the -North Riding of Yorkshire, with the eaftetn line of Lancafter, nearly down to the Peak of Derby, which form an extent of above an hundred miles of Wafte. The moft confiderable of this fort in Ireland are in Kerry, Galway, .and Mayo, and fome in Sligo and Donnegal. But all thefe together will not make the quantity we have in the four northern counties ; the vallies in the Irifh mountains are alfo more inhabited, I think, than thofe of. England, ex cept where there are mines, and confequently fome fort- of cultivation creeping up the fides. " Natural fertility, acre for •acre over th« two kingdoms, is certainly in fayour of Ireland { of this I believe there can fcarcely be a doubt entertained, when it is confidered that fome of the more beautiful, and even beft cultivated countries in England, owe almoft every thing to the capital art and induftry of the inhabitants. The circumftance which ftrikes me as the greateft Angulari ty of Ireland, is the rockynefs of the foil, which fhould feem at firft fight againft that degree of fertility; but the contrary is the fact. Stone is fo general, that I have great reafon to believe the whole ifland is one vaft rock of different ftrata and kinds rifing out of the fea. I -have rarely heard of any great depths being funk without meeting with it. In general it ap pears on the furface in every part of the kingdom, the flatted and moft fertile parts, as Limerick, Tipperary and Meath, have it at no great depth, almoft as much as the more barren ones. May we not recognize in this the hand of bounteous providence, which has giyen, perhaps, the moft ftoney foil in Europe rothe moifteft climate in it ? If as much, rain fell upon the clays of England (a foil very rarely met with iu Ireland, -and never without much ftone) as falls upon the rocks of her fifter ifland, thofe1 lands could not be cultivated. But therockshere are cloathed' with verdure •— thofe of lime .ftone with only a thin covering of mold, have the fofteft and moft beautiful turf -imaginable. Of the great advantages refulting from the general plenty pf )ime ftone, and lime-ftone gravel, and the nature of the A 2 bogs, ^ SOlL;rt»' C L I M A' T E. bogs, I fliall have occafion to fpeak more particularly here* after. ."¦ > "( ' * '_• . - . The rockynefs of the foil in Ireland is fo univerfal, that it predominates in every fort. One cannot ufe w.ith propriety, the terms clay, - loam* fand, &c. it muft" be a Jloneychy, a ftoney loam, a gravelly fand. Clay, efpecially the yellow, is much talked or in Ireland; butiE is^ for want of proper dlfcri- mination. I have once or twice feen almoft a pure clay upon the furfkceV but' it is extremely rare. The true yellow day, is ufually found in a thin ftraturii under the! furface mould, and over a rock ; harih,- tenacious, 'ft'Gney, ftrong: loams, difficult to work, are not uncommon ; out they are qttite different' from Englifh clays. Friable fandy- loams dry, but fertile, are very common, and they form the beft foils in the kingdom, for tillage and lhsep. Tipperary, and Rofcommon,1 abound" particularly in them, The moft fertile of all, are the bullock paftures of Limerick, and the banks of. the Shanhon in Clare, called the Corcaffes. Thefe ate a mellow, putrid, fViahle loam. Sand, which is fo common in" England, and yet more com mon through Spain, France, Germany, and- Poland, quite -from Gibraltar to Peterfburgh, is no where met with in Ireland, except for narrow flips' of hillocks, upon the fea coaft. Nor did I ever meet with;, or hear of a chalky foil. The bogs of which foreigners have heard fo much, are very extenfive iri Ireland ; that bf Allen extends So miles, and is computed' to contain 300,000 acres. There are others alfo, Very extenfivS, and fmaller ones fcattered ever the whole kingdom j but thefe a.re not irt general more than are wanted for fuel.' WhenI come to fpeak of the improvement of wafte •lands, I fhall defcfibe them particularly. ' Befides' the great fertility of the foil, there are other cir cumftances, which come within my fphere to mention. FeW Countries can be better watered, by large and beautiful rivers ; and it is remarkable, that by much the fineft parts of the king- d'oftif are on the banks of thefe rivers. -Witnefs the Suer; Blackwater, theLiffy, the Boyne, the Nore, the Barrow, and part of the Shannon, they wafh a fcenery that can hardly be exceeded. From the rockynefs of the country however, therft are few of them that have not obftruetions, which are great impediments to inland' navigation. The mountains of Ireland, give to travelling, that intereft ing variety, which a flat country tan never abound with. And at the fame time, they are not in fuch number as to confer the tifual character of poverty, which attends them. I was either upon Or very near the moft confiderable in the kingdom. Man- gerton, and the Reeks, in Kerry 5 the Galties in Corke ; thofe of Mourne in Down ; Crow Patrick and Nephin in Mayo ; thefe are the principal in Ireland, and they are of a chafaAer, in height and fublimity1, which fliould render them the objects of every traveller's attention. Relative SOIL anp. CLIMATE. $ Relative to the climate of Ireland, a fhort jefide-nee cannot enable a man to fpeak mnchfromihis own experience ; the ob- fervations I have made myfelf, confirm the idea of its being vaftly wetter than England ; from the 20th of June, to the soth of,Qctober,i kept a regifter, and there were in 1.22 days, 75. of rain, and very many of ihem inceffant and heavy. I have examined ifimilar regifteirs I kept in England, and can &d. no year that even approaches to fuch a. moifture, as this. Hut there is the regifter of an accurate diary "publilhed", which compares Londpn'and Corke. The refuit is, that the quanti ty at the latter place, was double to that of London. See Smith's Hift. of Corke'. From the information I received, I have reafon to believe, that the rainyfeafon fets in ufually about the firft of July, .arid continues very wet till September or October, when there is ufually a dry fine feafon of a month or fix weeks. I refided in the county of Corke, &c. from October till March, and found the winter much more foft and mild, than ever I experienced one in England. I was alfo a whole fummer there (1778), and it isfair to mention, that it was as fine a one, as ever I knew in England, though" by no means fo hot. I think hardly fo wet, as very many I have known in England. The tops of the Galty Mountains, exhibited the only fnow we fow ; and as 10 frqfts, they jtfere fo flight and rare, that -I-belie-v-e myrtles, and yet tenderer plants, would have furvived with out any. covering. But (when I fay that the winter was not re- markablefer «bein-g-wet,-I -do-not -meaJi that we had .a. dry .al- mefpherie. -The inche? of rain which fell, in thewinterl fpeak ¦of, would not mark the moifture of the climate. As 'many in ches will fall in a fing'e tropical fhower, as, in a whole year in England. See Jftitcbel's Prefent State of Great Britaih-j and North America. -But if the clouds prefently difperfe, and a bright fun fhinjes, the air may foon be dry. The.worft circumftance of the kimate pf Ire|and, is the conftant moifture without rain. Wet a piece of leathqr, and lay it in a room, where there is, nefther fun nop fire, and it will not jn fummer even, be dry in a month*. I jhave known gentlemen in Ireland deny their climate bejng mpifter than Eijgland ;^-but if.tbey have eyesletthem open" them, and fee the verdure that cloathes their rocks, and compare itjvith oijirs in England— where rocky foils are of a ruffet brbwjn however fweet the food for fheep. ; - i: . : '• ' Does * I have h~ad this happen myfilf with a pair ef wet gloves. The myriads of flies alfo iqhicb buz about one's ears, and are ready to p.o. in Ihoals into one's mouth . at every iv.rd—and thofe almoft imperceptible flies called ^midges, -which perfeilly devour one in.a vjoed, .or near a river,, fro\ve the fame thing. 6 R E N T A L. Does not their ifland lye more expofed to the great Atlantic, and does not the weft wind blow three-fourths of a year ? If there was another ifland yet more to the weftward, would not the climate of Ireland be improved ? Such perfons fpeak equally againft fa£t,reafon, and philofophy. That the moifture of a climate does not depend on the quantity of rain that falls, but on the powers of aerial evaporation, Dr. Dobfon has clearly proved. Phil.Tranf. Vol. Jxvii. paft i. p. 244. ^ SECTION Rental. III. --¦%. NO country can ever be held in a juft eftimation when the rental of it is unknown. It is not the onl^ circumftance which a political arithmetician fhould attend to, but it is a moft important one. The value of a country is rarely the fub jeet of a cbnverfation without gueffeij at its rental being made, and companions between- different: ones. I contend for nothing more through this and (he enfuing tables, than the fuperiorify of actual information on the fpot, drawn into one point of view, over any guefles whatever. • I'fhall therefore proceed at once to lay it before the reader. Places. | Rentper Acre. Rent at Irijh Acre. Rife. Fall. Tear's. purchafe of land. Leajes, years or lives. County of Dublin, s. d. s. d. 22 41 61 L. Celbridge, 1 10 0 22 31 orL Dolleftown, 1 l 0- , 5 ° Summerhill, 1 00 : a3 V Slain Caftle, 1 50 22f 31 orL Headfort, 1 0 0 21 Drueftown, 1 6 0: Fore, 0150 Packenham Hall, 0176 4 4 21 Mullingar to Tul- lefpace, 1 00 * Charleville, 0 16 0 4 0 20 Shaen Caftle, 0-13 0 5 0 20 Athy to Carlow, " 0180 Kilfaine, 0 156 1 2 0 21 21 31 RofstoTaghmon, c 150 Bargje and Forth, 1 29 a little 235 ' 1 Wexford toWells, OIIO Wells to Gowry, 0170 Courtown, • 0 176 none ' 22$ 3i L. New [Town M. V. Kennedy, 200 So «9i 31 L, Ditto Mountain, 0 80 Kilrue, I 2 0 : Hampton, R E N T A L. 7 Rentper Acre. Rental Years Leafes, Places. Irifh Rife. Fall. turchaje years or 1 Acre. s. d. s.d.- s.d. of land. lives. Hampton, 1 5° ~" 20" Cullen, I o o Ravenfdale, 670 Market-hill, 0 1 r 6 '4 9 Ardmagh, 0" 10 0 13 0 Armagh toNewry, 0100 13 0 To Dungannon, 0 11 0 14 0 To Lurgan, 6 10 0 13 0 Mahon, 0136 •7 4 Down, 0160 20 0 To Belfaft, 0 16 0 20 0. Caftle Hill, 0150 90 Ards, 0106 13 .6 Lecale, 1 00 1 Redemon to Saint- , , field, 0106 13 6 Belfaft, 0130 17 0 , Belfaft to Antrim, 0 80 10 0 Shanes Caftle, 080. 10 0 21 31 L. Lefly Hill, 0120 15 0 3 0 21 Near GiantsCauf- way, 0120 15 0 Colrain, 0 10 6 Mewtown Limm. 0 16 0; 13 0 16 Clonleigh county, 0176 21 6 2S, L. Mount Charles', 0,100 21 f CaftleCaldwell, 0 17 6 2 0 22 , Ihnifkilling, OHO Ditto, 0150 Florence Court, 0100 ¦ " V Farnham, 0170 5-6 22 Granard, I I 0 - Longford, 0 136 2 0 i8£, Strokeftown, 1 5 0 Elphin, 0 13.6 0 1,7 6 ¦/:¦¦"- \, Kingftoh, Mercra, 0 15 0 20 31 L. Tyrera, 0 146 0180 Ditto, Tyrawley, 0 17 0 Foxford to Caftle- . baT, 0120 Caftlebar, 0 17 0 Weftport, 080 0136 1 0 2lf 21 31L Holymeunt, Moniva, 0 14 0 I *« Weed R E -N T A L. „ , Rintat . - Year's Leafes, Places. Rentper. ^ ¦ Fall. firchafe years or s.d. ..oflapd- lives. Wood Lawn, o 16 o s. d. Drumoland Cor- cafTes, I 00 '20 Limerick, *'i 20 S 20 Anfgrove, 0 15 0 2 '& 31 fc. Orrery, 1 10 0 Fermoy, DiihalloW, 0 13 0 070 Condons and Glangibbons, Barry more, 0 15 0> 0 jo !n ro Barrets, , 0 40 6 0 Muftier},. 040 . 6 0 1 Kinclea, 0 14 0 J 22 0 Kerrycurrity, 0 10 cr ! 16 0 Courcy*s, *o io 0 j 6 0 Mallow^Caftle Martyr, ImdMllkKilnataiton, ' 0120 1 19 0 31 Ls z5 0120 1 9 0 0 80 120 Coolmo're, 0 14 0 22 O Killarnty, Caftle Ifland to ,0*80 ,Traljee, . Mahag'ree," i ;7'6 > ,0146 '7 Tarbat, '0 14 0 Adair,, Caftle Olive*, . 1 00 0120 3° 100,000 acres in Limerick, 1 10 0 zo miles ftieep- ' land Tipperary, 1 2 6 +'6 20 Ballycavln,' 0 15 0 i9f Furnef', 1 0 0 ' • Glofter, 015 0 3 0 2S Vh. . Jjohnffibwn, *fierry, 100 i 20 •31 L. 0150 j Cullen, 110 0 j 20 3>X. Mitchel's Towh, 026 20 21 Average, 16 6; 21 Averate per Ert- glifhT acre, ] j. j | 10 3 » THe firft' column of rent is either plantation meafure, Cunningham, brlin- glifli ; jnd the fecond rcdiioes the two laft to plantation. < The Cunningham acre is reduced to the platotatfPop meafure as feven to nine, and the Englifh as five to eight, which though not perfectly accurate is near it. The REN T, A, L. o9 The following table contains. theinformation I received re lative to the general -ayerage rental pf-whoje counties ; and as there are feveral with more than one account, the medium of thofe different accounts is given in afeparate column. .Counties.. Dublin, Meath, Ditto,Ditto, WeftmeatK, Ring's County, Ditto, Carlow, Wexford, ;Wicklow, , Louth,Ardmagh, Ditto, Down,Ditto,Ditto, ¦ Antrim, ', Ditto,'Deny, , ; . Ditto, Donnegal, -Ditto, - 'Ditto, Fermanagh,Cavan, Ditto, Longford, Leitrim, Ditto, v Ditto,Rofcommon,Ditto, Different Average. minutes. 'R/ducedto Totaireiiiai plantation, of the County. i o o i 5 o o 18 6 °-J3 % O 12 6 o 8 o o 14 o ¦ 0 10 0 0 10 0 0 10 0 0 , .5 6 0 4 9 0 4 6 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 6 0 6 0 0- 7 6 ^ 040 020 d 1 4 on' o o 10 o i 1 1 6 1 11 6 £.194,95-9 1 1 2 070 o 12 9 0150o 15 o o 15 o * 1 9 •o tl p. 0100 o 5 M 043 o 1 6 o 8 5 '6 r,6 9 o 'io o 023 o 106' 1 1 2 070 p 12 9 o 15 o Q ij O o 15 o I, I o o 140 o 1 6 o '85 0,69 o 10 o 345.5*4 87,480 164,161 87,675 236,547 189,307 « t.6.739 "9.434 o 12 10 221,154 o 6 6 124*481 056 69,^84 47,260 94,603 "92.745 = 67.5-50 oaj 24,99a o 10 6 - 170,294 Sligo, ,o RENTAL. Counties. Different Average. Reduced to Total rental minutes. plantation. oftheCounty. ' Sligo, © 12 6 ' Ditto, o 12 io Ditto, o io io — — —- o 12 o o tz o >44>93» Mayo, 080080 289,856 Galway, 081 081, 313,440 Clare, 050 050 107,046 Corke, 070 Ditto, 031 Ditto, 058 Ditto, 054' Ditto, 05 o Kerry, o 20 Ditto, o 2 11 Ditto, o 1 7 Ditto, o 4 10 Limerick, ioo Ditto, 100 Ditto, 010 6 Tipperary, o 16 3 Ditto,1 o 17 4 Ditto, 1 o o Ditto, o 12 6 052 052 256,010 o 2 10 0210 90,226 o 16 10 o 16 10 315,893 o 16 6 o 16 6 4941587 Waterford, 050 Ditto, o 6 io -rr. o 5 n o 5 11 76,622 Kildare, o 14 6 o 14 6 165,727 Tyrone, 040 Ditto, 070 56 056 106,747 Since the journey I have procured the information for the following : Kilkenny, 0 16 0 0 16 0 230,119 Monaghan, on 0 OIIO 93.549 Queen's, 0 13 0 0 13 0 ! 54.968 Total, — — 5.293.31a 1 1 ,042,642 RENTAL. u 11,042,642 plantation acres, giving the rent of 5,293,312!. is at the rate of 9s. 7d. per acre. The average of all the -mi nutes made it 16s. 6d. from hence there is reafon to imagine, that the line travelled was better than the medium of the king dom ; or on the contrary, that the fuppofiiions of the rents per county are under the truth, the real rent of the kingdom, if it -could be afcertained, would probably be found rather to ex ceed than fall fhort of fix millions. Efpecially as the rents upon which thefe particulars are, drawn, were not thofe paid by the occupying tenant, but a general average of all. te nures • whereas the object one would afcertain is the fum paid by the occupier, including confequently, not only the land lords rents, but the profit of the middle men. But farther, as the computation that makes the total of 1 1,042,642 acres is profeffedly erroneous above a feventh, be ing drawn from geographic miles, there fhould be added above 7oo,oool. to this rental on that account. The difference of money and meafure included 35s. Irifh makes juft 20s. Englifh. Suppofe therefore the rental of Ire land 9s. 7d. per acre, it makes 5s. 6. Englifh. If Ireland is ios. it would be 5s: 9d. Englifh. Suppofe it ns. or the total of fix millions, it is per Englijh acre 6s. 4d. . It is a curious difquifition to compare the rent of land in dif ferent countries, and to mark the various circumftances to which the fuperiority may be attributed. The rental of Eng- landhas been pretty accurately afcertained to be 13s. an acre*. Poor rates in the fame is. lof d. in the pound, or is. 2§d. per acre. IIThe information I received in Ireland concerning the amount of the money raifed for prefentments throughout the kingdom, made the total 140,000!. or 3d. an acre. Landlords rent of Ireland, Roads, — — /. s. d. 097 003 0 9 10 Rent of England, — — Rates, ¦ 0 13 0 0 i %l 0 14 2% Irifh acre and money makes — — ¦ o 9 10 Which for an Englifh acre and Englifh money is o 5 7 Inftead * Eaftern Tour through England, Vol. iv. p. 229. || The average of the Eaftern and Northern Tours 'which make a total of 1,926,666/. By the returns laid before parliament it ap peared to be adually 1,720,316/. 141. -]d. ; hut that return tuas incomplete, 12 R E N T A L; Inftead of which is 14s. 2&d. confequently the proportion between the rent of land in England and Ireland is, nearly as two to five : in other words, that fpace of land which in Ireland lets for 2s. would in-England produce 5s. ; Inthis comparifon the value pf knd in England appear to, be fo much greater than it is in. Ireland, thatifeveraL.circumftances fhould be confidered. The idea J found common in .Ireland upon that matter was, that rents there were higher than in Eng land ; but the extreme abfurdiry of the notion arofe from the difference of meafure and money, the exact par being, as 20 to 35. As far as I can form a general idea of , the/oil of , tjte two kingdoms, Jreland-has much the advantage ; and if 'I am accurate inThis, furely a; ftronger argument cannot be ufed, to fhew the immenfe importance of ca r i t a l, firft in the hands of 'the landlords of a country, and then jn that of, the far mers. I have reafon to believe that five pounds fterling per Englifh. acre, expended over all Ireland, -which amounts to S,8,34!,i361. would not more than build, fence, plant, drain, and improve that country, to be upon a par in, thofe refpefts with England. And farther, that if thofe ,88 millions were fo expended, it would take much above 20 millions more (or above 20s., an acre) in thehahds of the/armers in ftock of hufbandry, to put them on an equal footing with thofe of her fifter kingdom j nor is this calculation, fo Vague as it might at firft fight appear, fince the expences of improvements and ftock are very eafily eftimated in both countries. This is the refo- Jution of tha* furprifing inferiority, in the rent of .Ireland : the Englifh farmer pays a rent for his, land in the ftate he finds. ir, which includes, not only the natmal.fertility of the 'foil, but the immenfe expenditure which national wealth has in the pro- grefs of time poured into it j but the Irishman finds nothing.he can afford to pay a rent for, but what the bounty of God has given, unaided by either wealth or induftry. The fecond point is of equal confequence — when; the land is to be let, the rent it will' bring muft depend on- the capability of the.cultiva- tors to ma"ke It productive, -if they have b*t half the capital they ought5 to be pofTeffed of, how is it poffible they fhould be able to offer a rent proportioned to the rates of another coun try, in which a variety of caufos have long.directed a ftream of abundant wealth into the-purfes of ber»iSuners ? Thefe facts call for one very obvious reflection, which will .-often recur in the progrefs of thefe papers: the confequen- ces incomplete, for there are very -many parifhes named, from vihicb, '^.through neglecl, no returns -were made. I may remark that this faU is a ftrong confirmation of the truth of the data upon •which I formed thefe calculations ,. the above • fum comifig-vajily nearer to_the.trvth\af- terviards afcertained by parliament, than apy other calculation or con- jeilure •which ever found its ivay into. print. j The roads, of England are a very heavy particle ; I conjfflure much ¦heavier than in Ireland, hut I have no data whereby 'to afcertain the amount. , PRODUCTS. *3 ces of it are felt in. Ireland'; but T am forry to fay; very ill , underftood in.England": tliat portion of national wealth which . is employed in the improvement of the lands of a ftate is the beft 'employed for the general welfare of a CSOtftry ; while trade and manufactures, national funds, banking, &c. fwal- low* Op prodigious funis irt England, but yield a profit of not above 5 to 10 per cent ;. the lands' of Ireland are unimproved, upon which money would pay 15 to 20 per cent, exclufive of a variety of advantages which muft ftrike the moft fuperficial .reader. — Hence the vaft; importance to England oi the iiri- frovement of her Irifh territory. It is an old obfervation, that 'the wealth of Ireland, will always center in England;- and the fact is true, though not in the watp commonly afferted : No | employment of 100 millions, "not upon the actual foil of Bri tain, can ever pay her a tenth of the advantage which would. (refuit frrjm Ireland being in the' above refpeets upon that par which I have d>efcri)bed witli England,- The more at tentively this matter is confidered,, I am apt to think the more clearly thjis-w.ill appear; and that: whenever old illiberal jea- loufies aile worn out, whiih, thanlis to the good fenfe of the (age, are daily difhppSaring, we fli&ll be fully convinced, that .the benefit of Ireland? is fcf intimately connected with the good of England, thattye fhall &e as forward to give to that hither to unhappy gounfiry, as flje can be to receive, from the firm ^onviftioh, that whatever'we thus fow will yield tq us a nroft abundant! harveft. S E C N IV. T I O , ProduBi, HE pfddu&s pet acre were, in every place, an object of my enquiries. The following, table will af one view ihew •what they are in moft partfe of the kingdom. T ^ -G 1 - t c i *s ta *3 .11. Placet. ; <*> - H tt «i . * , -«1 0 «* Dublin, ' .8 16 CettmdgejDolleftovAi,. ' 7 14 7 ' n >3l Summerlhill, 6 ¦ , 10 Slaine, 7 1," ¦ f 16 'Headfortj 7 IS Packenhan), 7 IO -i5t Tullamofe, . ^ 1 .«*£. 16 Shicns Caftle, St n "! '* '1 Near Athy, 8 «5 ! «7i Athy to Carlow, Si NeaV Callow, >4 1Z Kilfane, 6 IO 8- f° JSargie, ' 9- 9 -pi'to* H 1Z Bargjr 14 P R O D U C T S: •3 •s ¦ - ¦¦ ¦ t •J3 Plans. B4 1 1 e 3 f 1" »? f t. 51 _2> s , "4 0u **. Bargy and Forth, IS Wells, 6 74 Courtown, g 9 9 M. Kennedy, 8 10 Kilrue, ' i»* ni ¦44 Hampton, 7 11 10 Louth, . 6 «S •5 Malion, 5 6 Ards, 7 Lecale, 7 10 1* Shaens Caftle, 6 8 Newtown Limm. 9 Innilhoen, 8 . -7. Clonleigh, 10 •84' - Caftle Caldwell, 10 12 Bclleifle, «i 8 Florence Court, 8 12 Farnham, 7 9 10 Longford, 14 >S 10 Strokeftown, 6 9 10 Ballymoat, £ 10 Mercra, 6 •4 10 Tyrera, 1 J* 10 Ditto, 15 , -10 Weftport, 12' Holymount, 6 9 9 Moniva, 8 Woodlawn, 8 12 12 Drumoland, 6J 1Z 12 Anfgrove, 7 Mallow, 8 12 12 Dunkettle, H Adair, 9 14 IO Caftle Oliver, 12 '5 Tjfperary, 12 '5 H 27 Bajlycanvan, , 8 i4 ¦ 12' Fuinefs, 7 ' 9 Glofter., 6 16 13 '7 ';' Johnftown, 7 12 16 Derry, 8 iri 15 Cullen, 10 20 18 ao Mitchei's Town, ni Cvnningl am acre redaced. Mahon, H 1 7* 1 "Ards, , 9 Shaens Caftle, l 7* 1 -«» 1 Englifl 1 acre reduced. Mallow, 12 1 19 1 i9 Dunkettle, Averages, J3* 7i J , ni I "4 1 14 $rs. Bufh. Pecks z 2 3 3 4 3 3 4 3 4 3 o $rs. £«/&. Acta 3 o o 4 o o 4 6 o TILLAGE. i$ Thefe quantities per Englifli acre are : Wheat Barley Oats Bere The, averages of the Farmer's Tour through the Eaft of England were: Wheat BarleyOats Of the Six Months Tour through the North of England ; Qrs, Bufh. Pecks. Wheat 3 o o Barley 400 Oats 440 The products upon the whole* are much inferior to thofe of England, though not more fo than I fhould have expected; not from inferiority of foiU but the extreme inferiority of ma nagement. They are not to be confidered as points whereon to found a full comparifon of the two countries j fince a fmall crop of wheat in .England, gained after beans, clover, &c. would be of much'more importance than a larger one in Ire land by a fallow : And this remark extends to other crops. Tillage in Ireland is very little underftood. In the greateft corn counties, fucii as Louth, Kildare, Carlow and Kilkenny, where are to be feen many very, fine crops of wheat, all is un der the old fyftem, exploded by good farmers in England, of fowing wheat upon a fallow, and fucceedingit wilh as many crops of fpring, corh as tlie foil will bear. Where they do beft by their land, it is only two of barley or oats before the fal low returns again, which is fomething worfe than the open field management' in England, of 1. fallow; 2. wheat; 3. oats j to which, while the fields are open and common, the farmers are by cruel necefllty tied down. "The bounty on the inland carria'ge.of corn to Dublin has increafed tillage very Confiderably, but it has no where introduced any other fyfj- tem. And to this extreme bad management of adopting the exploded practice of a century ago, infte&d of turneps and plover, it is owing, that Ireland, with a foil, acre for acre, much better than England, has its products inferior. "¦ " _ But i $.. "T I L: L A g H. T But keeping cattle of every fort, is a bufinefs fo much more adapted to thejftpinefs of the fa^mex;; tjiat; it ig r)ptwonder tne tillage is fo bad. It is every where left to the cottars, or to the very pooreft pf the, farmers* who are all utterly unable to make thofe exertions', upon whj'ch alone a vigorous culture, of the earth can be founded ; .and were it not for potatoes, 'which neceffarily prepare for cpTn, there wouljfl qqt be half of what we fee aj: prefent. Whife it is in fuch hg#dg, no wonder tillage is reckoned fo unprofitable 5 profit in all undertakings depends, on capital,, arid i^ i^any wonder that, the jjrjpjjjt fhqujd. be fmall when the capital is nothjrtg aj all ? Every man that has one gets into cattle, which wiM give him an idle, lazy, fuperintendence, inftead,of an 3.&ive attentive one. That the fyftem of till'a'ge has improved very little, much as it has been extended in the laft fourteen years, there is great reafon to believe, fronj the very fmall increafe in the import of clover feedj- which Svould have doubled and trebled, had tillage got into the (rain it. ought, this .the following table proves. , ' Import of Clover feed. Cwt. -In the year 1764 — 2990 176J — 2798 1766 — 3654 1767 — 1479 1768 — 4476 1769 — 2483 1770 — 5563 Average of feven 7 ears — 3349 '77« — 1772 — 1773 — . '774 — «775 — >776 — .l77? — Average of feven years *. •—. 3927 * Taken from the Retards of imprts and exports Jiept by order of the Houfe of Commons . SECTION TENANTRY. 17 a*' <• r SECTION V. Of the Tenantry 6f Ireland. IT has been probably owing to the fmall value of iand iii Ireland before, and even through a confiderable part of the prefent century, that landlords became fo carelefs of the in terests of pofterity, as readily to grant their tenants leafes for ever. It might alfo be partly owing to- the unfortunate civil wars, and other inteftine divifions, which for fo long a fpace of time kept that unhappy country in a ftate rather of devafta- tion than, improvement. When a caftle, or a fortified houfe, and a family ftrong enough for a gafrifon, were effentially ne- c'effary to the fecuritv of life and property among proteftants,. no man could occupy land unlefs he had fubftance for defence as well as cultivation ; ftiort, or even determinable tenures were not encouragement enough for fettling in fuch .a fituati on of warfare. To increafe the force of an eftate leafes for ever were given of lands, which from their wafte ftate were deemed of little value. The practice once become common, continued long after the motives which originally j?ave rife to it, and has nor yet ceafed entirely in any part of the kingdom. Hence, therefore, tenants holding large tracts of land under a leafe for ever, and which have'bpen relet to a' variety of under-tenants, muft in this enquiry be confidered, as land lords. The obvious diftinction to be applied is, that of the occupy ing and unoccupying tenantry : in other words, the real far mer, and the middle man. The very idea, as well as ths practice, of permitting a tenant to relet at a profit rent, feems confined to the diftant and unimproved parts of every empirei In the highly cultivated counties of England the practice has no exiftence, but there are'traces of it in the extremities ; iri Scotland it has been very common j and I am informed that the fame obfervation is partly applicable to France. In pro portion as any country becomes improved the practice necefla- rily wears out. It is in Ireland a queftion greatly agitated, whether the fyf tem has or has not advantages, which may yet induce a land lord to continue in it. The friends to this mode of letting lands contend, that the extreme poverty of the lower claffes renders them fuch an infecure tenantry, that no gentleman, of fortune can depend on the leaft punctuality in the payment of rent from fuch people ; and therefore to let a large farm to fome intermediate perfon of fubftance, at a lower rent, in or der that the profit may be his inducement and reward for be coming a collector from the immediate occupiers, and. anfwer* able for their punctuality, becomes necc-flary to any perfon who will not fubmit to the drudgery of fuch a minute attenti on. Alfo, that fuch a man will at leaft improve a fpot around Vol. II. B his 1.8 ' -T-E N A N T H JT. his»ownrefidence, whereas the mere cottar can do nothing. If the intermediate tenant hi, or from the accumulation of fe veral farms becomes, a man of pfoper-ty, the fame argument is applicable to his reletting to another intermediate man," giv ing up a part of his profit to efcape that trouble, which induc ed the landlord to begin this fyftem, and at the fame time ac counts for the number of tenants, one tinder another, who have a" a profit out of the^ rent ef the Occupying farmer. In fhe variety of converfatibns on this pbi'nt, of which I have partook in Ireland, I never heard any other arguments that had the leaft foundation in the actual ftate of the country • for a<; to ingenious theories, which relate more to what might be, than to whnt is, little Regard fhould be paid to therp. ' That a man of fubftance, whofe- "rent is not only fecure, But regularly paid, is in many refpects a more eligible tenant than a poor cottar, or little farmer, cannot be difputecj, if the landlord looks no farther than thofe circumftances the queftion is at an end, for the argument muft be allowed to have its full weight even to victory. But there ate many other confidera- tions : I was particularly attentive to every clafs of fenants -throughout the kingdom, ana fliall therefore defcribe thefe Ifiiddle men,' from whence their merit may be the more eafily decided. Sometimes they are refident on a part of the land, but very often they are not. Dublin, Bath, London, and the efcunfry towns of Ireland, contain great numbers of them ; the merit of this clafs is fure]y*afcertained in a moment ; there cannot be a fhadow of a pretence for the intervention of a man, whofe (ingle concern with an eftate is to deduct a porti on- from the rent of it. They are however fometimes refident o"n a part of the land they hire, where it is natural to fuppofe they would work fome improvements -$ it is however Very rarely the cafe. 1 have in different parts of the kingdom feen farms juft fallen in after leafes of three lives, of the duration of fifty, fixty, and even feventy years, in which the refidence of the principal tenant was not to be diftinguiftied from the cottared fields' furrounding it. I was at firft much furprized at this, but after repeated obfervation, I found thefe men very generally \vere the mailers of packs of wretched hounds, with which they wafted their time and money, and it is a notorious faft, .that they are the hardeft drinkers in Ireland. Indeed the clafs of the fmall country gentlemen, chiefly confifting of thefe profit renters, feem at prefent to monopolize that drink'- igg fpirit, which was, riot many years ago, thedifgrace of the kingdom at large: this I conjecture to be the reafon why thofe who might improve are fo very far from doing it ; but there are ftill greater objections to them! Living upon the fpot, ftrrotinded by their little underte- nantsi they prove the moft oppreffive fpecies. of tyrant that ever lent affiftance to the deffiructioo of a country. They relet the land, at fhort tenures, to the occupiers of fmall farms; arid often give no leafes at all. Not fatisfied with fcrewing tip TENANTRY. ,1.9 * up the1 rent to the utterrnoft farthing, they are rapacious and relenttefs in the collection of it. Many of them have defend ed themfelves in conv-erfation with me, upon the plea of taking their rents-, partly in kind, when their undertenants are much diftrefled : " What," fay they, " would the head landlord, " fuppofe him a great nobleman,, do with a miferable cottar, " who, disappointed in the fale of a heifer, a few barrels of " corn, or firkins of butter, brings his five inftead of his ten " guineas ? But we can favour him by taking his commodities " at a fair price^. .ahd wait for reimburfement until the market " rifis. Cah my lord do that ?" A Very common plea,, but the moft unfortunate that could be ufed to any one whoever re marked that portion of human nature which takes the garb of an Irifo land jobber ! Fof Jipon what iffue does this remark place the qxieftion ? Does it not acknowledge, that calling for their rents, when they cannot be paid in cafh, they take the fubftance of the debtor at the Very moment when he can not fell it to another ? Can it be neceffary to alk what the price is J It is at the option of the creditor j and the miferable culprit meets his oppreifion, perhaps his ruin in thi very action that is trumpeted as a favour to him. It may feem harfli to attribute a want of feeling to any clafs of men ; but let not the reader. mifapprehend me ; it is the fiteeation, not the man, that I condemn. An injudicir cusYyftem places a great number of perfons, not of any liberal rank in life, in a ftate abounding with a variety of opportuni ties of OppreffiOn, every act of which is profitable to them felves. I am afraid it is human nature for men to fail in fuch polls ; and I appeal to the experience of mankind, in other lines of life, ^whetherit is ever found advantageous to a poor debtor to fell his products, or wares, to his richer creditor, at the moment of demand. But farther ; the dependance of the occupier on the refident middle man goes to other circumftances^ perfonal fervice of themfelves, their cars and horfes, is exacted - for leading turf, hay, corn, gravel, &c. infomuch that the poor undertenants bften lofe their own crops and turf, from being obliged to cbey thefecalls of their fuperiors. Nay, I have even heard thefe jobbers gravely afiert, that without undertenants to fur- nifh cars and teams at half or two-thirds the common price of the couhtry, they could carry on no improvements at all ; yet taking a -merit to themfelves for works wrought out of the fweat and ruin of a pack of wretches, afligned to their plun der by the inhumanity of the landholders. In a word, the cafe is reducible to a fhort compafs ; in termediate tenants work no improvements ; ' if non-refident they cannot, and if refident they do not ; but they opprefs the occupiers, and render them as incapable as they are themfelves unwilling. The kingdom is an aggregate proof of thefe facts ; for if .long leafes, at low rents, and profit income's" B 2 given, 20 TENANTRY. given, would have improved it, Ireland had long ago been a garden. It remains to enquire, whether the landlord's fecurity is a full recompence for fo much mifchief. .- '•¦ But here it is proper to obferve, that though the interme diate man is generally better fecurity than the little occupier y yet it is not from thence to be concluded, as I have often heard it, ' that the latter is beyond all comparifort beneath him in this refpect : the contrary is. often the cafe; and I have known the fact^ that the landlord, difappointed of his rent, has drove (diftrained) the undertenants for it at a time when they had actually paid it to the middle man. If , the profitrent is fpent, as it very generally is in claret and hounds, the notion of good fecurity will prove vifionary, as jnany a landlord in Ireland has found it : feveral Very confiderable ones have allured me, that the little occupiers were the beft pay they had on thejr eftates ; and the intermediate gentlemen ¦ tenants by much the •worfl. By the minutes of the journey it appears, that a very confi derable part of the kingdom, and the moft enlightened land lords in it, have ilifcard'ed this injurious fyftem, and let their farms to none but the occupying tenantry ; their experience has proved, that the apprehenfion of a want of fecurity was merely ideal, finding their rents much better paid than ever. At the laft. extremity, it is the occupier's ftock which is the real fecurity of the landlord. It. is that he diftrains, and finds abundantly more valuable than. the laced hat, hounds and pif- tols of the" gentleman jobber, from whom he is more likely in fuch a cafe to receive a mejfage, than a remittance. And here let me obferve, that a defence of intermediate te nants has been founded upon the circumftance of lefTening the remittance of abfentee rents ; the profit of the middle man was fpent in Ireland ; whereas upon his difmifiion the whole is re mitted to England. I admit this to be an evil, but it appears to be in no degree proportioned to the mifchiefs I have dwelt on. It is always to be remembered, that in the arrangement of'landed property, the produce is the great object ; the fyftem of letting, which encourages moft the occupying tenant, will alyvays be the moft advantageous to the community. I think I have proved that the middle man oppreffes the cottar, incom parably more than the principal landlord ; to the one he is ufually tenant at Will, or at leaft under ihort terms, but under the -other has the moft, advantageous tenure. This fingle point, that the perfon moft favoured is in one inftance an idle Burthen, and in the other the induftrious occupier, fuffieiently decides the fuperiority. To look therefore at the rent, after it is paid, is to put the queftiorton a wrong iffue ;,the payment of that tent, by means of ample products, arifing from animated induftry,1 is the only point deferving attention; and I had.ra- ther the whole of it fhould go to the antipodes, than exact it in a manner that fliall cramp that induftry, and lefien thofe products. When TENANTRY. 2, When therefore it is considered, that no advantages to the eftate can arife frorruanon-refident tenant, and that a refident intermediate one improves no more than the poor occupiers who are prevented by his opprefhons, that the landlord often gains little or nothing in fecurity from employing them, but that he fuffers a prodigious deduction in his rental for mere expectations, which every hour's experience proves to be de- lufive. When thefe facts are duly weighed, it is prefumed^ , that the gentlemen in thofe parts of the kingdom, which yet groans under fuch a fyftem of abfurdity, folly and oppref- fion, will follow the example fet by fuch a variety of intelli gent landlords, and be deaf to the deceitful affeverationS with which their ears are affailed, to treat the anecdotes retailed of the cottar's poverty,- with the contempt they deferve, when coming from the mouth of a jobber ; when thefe bloodfuckers of the poor tenantry boaft of their own improvements, to open their eyes and view the ruins which are dignified by fuch a term, and finaUy determine, as friends to themfelves, to th'eir pofterity and their country, to let their, estates to' N OK E-, B UT TH E 0 C C U P Y 1 N G T E N A W T R Y. Having thus defcribed the tenants that ought to be rejected, let me next mention the circumftances of the occupiers. The variety of thefe is very great1 in Ireland. In the North, where the linen manufacture has fpread, the farms are fo fmall, that ten acres in the occupation of one perfon is a large one, five- or fix will be found a good farm, and all the agriculture of the country fo entirely fubfervient to the manufacture, that they no more deferve the name of farmers than the occupier of a mere cabbage garden. In Limerick, Tipperary, Clare, Meath and Waterford, there are to be found the greateft graziers and cow-keepers perhaps in the world, fome who rent and occupy from 300OI. to io.oool. a year : thefe of courfe are men of property, and are the only occupiers in the king dom, who have any confiderahle fubftance. The eifefts are notfo beneficial as might be expected. Rich graziers in England, who have a little tillage, ufaally manage it well, and are in other refpects attentive to various improvements^ though it muft be confeffed not in the fame proportion with great arable farmers ; but in Ireland thefe men are as errant Oovens as the moft beggarly cottars. The rich lands of Lime rick are in refpect o"f fences, drains, buildings, weeds, &c. in as wafte a ftate as the mountains of Kerry ; the fertility of nature is fo little feconded, that few tracts yield lefs pleafure tp the fpectator. From what I obferved, I attributed this to the idlenefs and diffipation fo general in Ireland. Thefe gra ziers are too apt to attend to their claret as much as their bullocks, live expenfively, and being enabled, from the nature of their bufinefs, to pafs nine-tenths of the year without any exertion of induftry,; contraft fuch a habit of eafe, that works •of improvement would be mortifying to their floth. 22 TENANTRY. In the arable counties, of Louth, part of Meath, KiMare, Kilkerwy, -Carlow, Queers, and part of King's,, and Tip perary, they are much more induftrious. It is the nature of tillage, to raife/ a more regular and animated attention to bufinefs s but the farms are too fmall, »nd the tenants too poor, to exhibit any appearances that can ftrike an EngliJh tra veller. They have a great dea,l of corn, and many fine wheat crops ; hut being gained at the expence and lofs of a fallow, as in the open fields of England, they cjq not fuggeft the-ideas of prpfit to the individual, gr advantage to the ftate, which worfe crops in a well appointed rotation would do. Their manuring is trivial, their tackle and implements wretched, their teams weak, their profit fmall, and their living little bet ter than that of the cottars they employ. Thefe circumftances are the necelTary refuit of the fmallnefs of their capitals, which- even in thefe tillage counties do not ufually amount to a third o.f what an Englifh farmer would have to manage the fame extent of land. The, leafes of thefe men are ufually three lives to protectants, and thirty-one years to catholics. The tenantry in th,^ mor^ unimproved parts,. fuch as Corke, Wickjow, Longford, and all the mountainous counties, where ft is part tillage, and part pafturage, are generally in a very backward, ftate. Their capitals- are fmaller than the clafs I j,uft mentioned, and among them is chiefly found the pra&ice of many poor cottars hiding large farcin partnerfhip. They; make their rents by a. little butter, a little wool, a little corn, and a few young cattle ,and lambs. Their lands at extreme low; rents, are the moft unimproved, (mountain and bog ex-* cepteci,) in the kingdom. They have, hpwever, more indus try than capital ; and with a very little management, might be brought greatly to. improve their hufbandry. I think they hold more generally from intermediate tenants than anj& other fet ; one reafon why the land they occupy is in fo wafte a ftate. In the mountainous tracts, I'faw inftances. of greater in duftry than in any other part pf Ireland. Little occupiers, who can get leafes of a mountain fide, make exertions, in improve ment, which, though far enough, from being complete, or ac curate, yet prove clearly what great effects encouragement would have among them. In the King's county, and alfo in fome other parts, I faw many tracts, of land, not large enough to he relet, whieh were occupied under leafes for ever, very well planted and, improv ed by men of fubftance and induftry.. The,poverty, common_among the fmall occupying tenantry*, may be pretty well afcertained from their general conduct in hiring a farm. They will man-age to take one with a fum forprizingly fmall ; they provide labour, which in England is fo confiderable an article, by afligning portions of land to cot tars for thqir potatoe gardens, and keeping one or two cows TEN , A N T R Y. aj for«ach.of them. To leffen the live ftock neceffary, they will, whenever the neighbourhood enables them, take in the cattle at fo much per month, or feafon, of any perfon that is deficient inpafturage at home, or of any labourers that have no land. Next, they will let out fome old lay for grafs potatoes to fuch labourers ; and if they are in a county where corn acres are known, they will do the fame, with fome corn land. If there is any meadow on their farm, they will fell a part of it as the hay grows. By all thefe means the necefiity of a. full ftock is very much leffened, and by means of living them felves in the very pooreft manner, and converting every pig, fowl, and even egg into cafh, they will malfe up their rent, and get by very flow degrees into fomewbat better circumftan ces. Where it is the cuftom to take in partnerfhip, the diffi culties are eafier got over, for one man brings a few flieep, another a cow, a third a horfe, a fourth a car and fome fee^. potatoes, a fifth a few barrels of corn, and fo oil, until the farm among them is tolerably flocked, and hands upon it in plenty for the labour. But it is from the whole evident, that they are uncommon mailers of the art of overcoming difficulties by patience and contrivance. Travellers, who take a fuperficial view of them are apt to.think their poverty and wretchednefs, viqwed. in the light of farmers, greater than they are. Perhaps there is an impropriety in confidering a man merely as the occupier of finch a quantity of land, and that inftead of the. land, his ca pital fhould be the object of contemplation. Give the farmer of twenty acres in England no more capital than his. brother in Iceland, and I will venture to fay he will be much poorer, for he would be utterly unable to go on at all. I fhall conclude what I have to fay upon this fubjeet, with ftating, in few words, what I think would prove a very advan tageous conduct in landlords towards the poor tenantry of the kingdom, and I fhall do this with the greater readinefs, a-s I fpeak not only as a pafling traveller, but from a year's re- fidence among feveral hundred tenants, whofe circumftances and fituation I had particular opportunities of obferving,. Let me remark, that the power and influence of a refident landlord is fo great in Ireland, that whatever fyftem he adopts be it well or ill imagined, he is much more able to introduce and accomplish it than Englifhmen can well have an idea of; confequently, one may fuppofo him to determine more autho ritatively than a perfon in a fimilar fituation in thiskingdom could do. The firft object, is a fettled determination never to be departed from, to let his farms only to the immediate occu pier of the land, and to avoid deceit not to allow a cottar, herdfman, or fteward, io have more than three or four acres on any of his farms. By no means to reject the little oc cupier of a few acres from being a tenant to himfelf, rather than annex his land to a larger fpot. Having by this previous ftep, eafed thefe inferior tenantry of the burden of the interme diate 24 TENANTRY. diate man, let him give out, andfteadilyadhereto.it, that he fhall infift on the regular' and punctual payment of his rent, but fhall take no perfonal fervice whatever. The meaneft occu pier to have a leafe, and none fhorter than twenty-one years, which I am inclined alfo to believe is long enough for his ad vantage. There will arife, in fpite of his tendernefs, a ne cefiity of fecuring a regular payment of rent : I would advife him to diftrain without favour or affection, at a certain period of deficiency. This will appear harfh only upon a fuperficial confideration. The object is to eftablifh the fyftem, but it will fall before it is on its legs, if founded on a landlord's for-.' giving arrears, or permitting them to encreafe. He need not -be apprehenfivej fince they, who can under difadvantages, pay the jobber, can certainly pay the landlord himfelf, when freed from thofe incumbrances. At all events, let him perfift •jh this firmnefs, though it be the ruin of a few ; for he muft re member, that if he ruins five, he affuredly faves ten : he will, it is true, know the fall of a few, but many with an interme diate tenant might be deftroyed without his knowing it.' Such a fteady regular conduct would infallibly have its effect, in ani mating all the tenantry of the eftate to exert every nerve to be punctual ; whereas favour fhewn now and then would make every one, the leaft inclined to reniifTnefs, hope for its' exerti- - Jbn towards himfelf, and every partial good would bb attended with a diffufiye evil ; exceptions however to be made' for very great and unavoidable misfortunes, clearly and undoubt edly proved. This ftern aduliniftration on the one hand fhould be accompanied on the other with every fpecies of encourage ment to thofe, who fhewed the leaft difpofition to improve ; premiums fhould be given, rewards adjudged, difficulties fmoothed, and notice taken, in the moft flattering manner, of thofe whofe Conduct merited it. I fhall in another part pf thefe papers point out, in detail, the advantageous fyftems ; ,it is here only requifite to obferve, that whatever novelties a landlord wifhes to introduce, be fhould give feed gratis, and be at a part of the expence, promifing to be at the whole lofs, if he is well fatisfied it is, really incurred. From various obfervations I am convinced, that fuch a conduct would very rarely prove unfuccefsful. The profit to a landlord would be immenfe ; he would in the courfe of a leafe find his tenantry paying a high rent, withgreater eafe to themfelves, than they before yielded a low one. A few confiderable landlords, many years ago, made the experiment of fixing, at great expence, colonies o( palatines on their eftates. Some of them I viewed, and made many enqui ries. The feheme did not appear to me to anfwer. They- had houfes built for them j plots of land afligried to each at a rent of, favour, afiifted in ftock, and all of them with leafes for jiyes from the head landlord; The poor Irifh are very rarely treated LABOURING POOR. 2; ; treated in this manner ; and. when they are, they work much greater improvements than common among thefe Germans ; witnefs.Sir William Ofborne's mountaineers ! a few beneficial practices were introduced, but never travelled beyond their own farms ; they were viewed with eyes too envious to allow them to be patterns, and it was human nature that it fhould be fo : but encourage a few of your own poor, and if their prac tices thrive they will fpread. I am convinced no country, whatever ftate it may be in, can be improved by colonies of foreigners, and whatever foreigner, as a fuperintendant of any great improvement, afks for colonies of his own countrymen to execute his ideas, manifefts a mean genius and but little knowledge of the human heart ; if he has talents he will find tools wherever he finds men, and make the natives of the country the means of ericreafing their own happinefs: Whate ver he does then, will live and take root ; but if effected by foreign hands, it will prove a fickly and fhort lived exotic ; brilliant perhaps, for a time, in the eyes of the ignorant, but pf no folid advantage to the country that employs him. SECTION VI, Of the Labouring- Poor. SUCH is, the weight of the lower claffes in the great fcale of national importance, that a traveller can never give too much attention to every circumftance that concerns them ; their welfare forms the broad bafis of public profperity ; it is they that feed/cloath, enrich, and fight the battles of alfthe other ranks of a community ; it is their being able to fupport thefe various burthens without oppreflion, which conftitutes the general felicity ; in proportion to their eafe is the ftrength; and wealth of nations, as public debility will be the certain attendant on their mifery. Convinced that to be ignorant of their ftate and fituation, in different countries,'' is to be defi cient in the firft rudiments of political knowledge. I have upon every occafion, made the neceffary enquiries', to get the beft information circumftances would allow me. What paffes daily, and even hourly, before our eyes, we" are very apt entirely to overlook ; hence the fur'prizing inattention of va rious people to the food, cloathing, pofleflions and ftateof the poor, even in their own neighbourhood; many a queftion have I put to gentlemen npon thefe points, which were not an- fwered without having recourfe to the next cabbin ; a fource of information the more neceffary, as I found upon various oc- cafions, that fome gentlemen in Ireland are infected with the rage of adopting fyftems as well as thofe of England : with one party the poor are all ftarving, with the other they are deemeS in a very tolerable fituation, and a third, who look with' an evil eye on the adminiftration of the Britifh government, are fon on foch fpots ; in fome places the farmer builds ; in others he oi^ly aflifts them with, the roof, &c. a verbal) compaft is then made, that the new cotter fliall have his potatoe garden at fuch a rent, and one or two cows k«pt hiifri at the price of the neighbourhood, he finding the cows. Ife then works with the farmer at the rate of thq place, ufually fixpence halfpenny a day, * tally being kept (half by each party) and- a notch cut /or every diay's labour : at the ,end of fix months, on ajrear, thejj reckon, and the balance is .paid. The cotter works for himfejf as his potatoes .require. The; rates of £1 13 ' toes lafts a family of fix perfons a week. No. 2. At Sbaen caftle, Antrim, fix people eat three bufhels, and twenty pounds of oatmeal befides, in a week, twenty pounds of meal are equal to one bufnel of potatoes ^ this therefore is a barrel alfo. No. 3. ' Leflie hill, a barrel of four bufhels fix perfons a week: No. 4. Near Giant's caufeway, a barrel fix people eight days. No. 5. Caftle Caldwell, a barrel of eighteen ftonefix people a week. ' , . No. 6. Glofter, a barrel five perfons a week. No. 7. Derry, five perfons eat and wafte two barrels a week. No. 8. Cullen, two barrels fix perfons a week. No. 1: — Barrels. Perfons. Days. l - 1 - 6 - 7 2 34 - , -6-7^ — 1 - 6 — 7. _ 1 _ 6 — 8 S 6 — 1 — 6 — 7 — • - 5 - , 7 7 8 — a — 5 — 7 — 2 — 6 — 7 A barrel is twenty ftones, or two hufidred and eighty pounds, which is the weight of four Englifh bufhels s the average of, thefe accounts is nearly that quantity lading a family of fix people fix days, -which makes a year's food fixty barrels. Now the average produce of the whole kingdom being eighty- two barrels per acfe, plantation meafure, one acre does rather more than fupport eight perfons the year through, which is five perfons to the Englifh acre. To feed on wheat, thofe eight perfons would require eight quarters, or two Irifh acres, which at prefent, imply two more for fallow, or four in all. When, however, I fpeak of potatoes and buttermilk being the food of the poor, the tables already inferted fhew, that in fome parts of the north that root forms their diet but for a part of LABOURINGPOOR. 3; of the year, much oatmeal and fome meat being confumed. I need not dwell en this, as there is nothing particular to attend to in it, whereas potatoes, as the ftaple dependance, is a pecu liarity met with in no country but the other parts of Ireland. CLOATHING. The common Irifh are in general cloathed fo very indiffe rently, that it impreffes every ftranger with a ftrong idea of univerfal poverty. Shoes and (lockings are fcarcely ever found on the feet of children of either fex ; and great numbers of men and women are without them : a change however, in this refpeet as in moft others, is coming in, for there are many more of them with thofe articles of cloathing now than ten years ago. An Irifhman and his wife are much more felicitous to feed than to cloath their children :. whereas in England it is fur- prizing to fee the expence they put themfelves to, fo deck out children whofe principal fubfiftence is tea. Very many of them in Ireland are fo ragged that their nakednefs is fcarcely cover ed ; yet are they in health and active. As to the want of fhoes and ttockings I confaler it as no evil, but a much more cleanly cuftom than the beaftiality of ftockings and feet that are waffl ed no oftener than thofe of our own poor. Women are oftener without fhoes than men ; and by wafhing their deaths no where but in rivers and ftreams, the cold, efpecially as they roaft their legs in their cabbins ti!l they aiefire fpotted, muft fwell them to a wonderful fize and horrid black and blue co lour always met with both in young and old. They ftand in rivers and beat the linen againft the great ftones found there with a beetle. I remarked generally, that they were notill dreffed of fun- days and holidays, and that black or dark blue was almoft the univef fal hue. HABITATIONS. The cottages of the Iriih, which are all Called cabbins, ara the moft miferabje looking hovels that can well be conceived : they generally confift of only one room : mud kneaded with ftraw is the common material of the walls ; thefe are rarely above feven feet high, and not always above five oj fix.;, they are about two feet thick, and have only a door, which lets in light inftead of a window, and fliould let the fmoak out inftead of a chimney, but they bad rather keep }t in : thefe wo con- veniencies they hold fo cheap, that I have feen them both flop ped up in ftone cottages, built by improving landlords j the fmoak warms them, but certainly is as injurious to their eyes as it ;< to the complexions of the women, which in general C 2 «» 36 L A B OUR I N G P 0 OR. in the cabbins of Ireland has a near refembtance to that bf a fmoaked ham. The number of the blind poor I think greater there than in England, which is probably owing to this caufev The roofs of the cabbins are rafters, raifed from the tops df the mud walls, and the covering varies ; fome are thatched with ftraw, potatoeftalks, or with heath* others only covered with fods of turf cut' from a grafs field j and I have feen feveral that were partly compofed of all. three ; the bad repair thefe roofs are kept in, a hole in the thatch beingoften mended with turf, and weeds fprouting from every part, gives them the ap pearance of a weedy dunghill, efpecially when the cabbin is not -built with regular- walls,, but fupported pn one, or perhaps on both fides by the banks of a broad dry di^cb, the roof then feems a hillock, upon which-perhaps the pig grazes. Some of thefe cabbins are much lefs and more miferable habitations than I had ever feen in England. I was told they were the worft in Connaught, but I found it an error ; I faw many in Leinfter to the full as bad, and. in Wicklow, fome Worfe than any in Connaught. When they are well roofed, • and built not of ftones,' ill, put together, but of mud, they are much warmer, independently of fmoke, than the • clay, or lath and mortar cottages of. England, the walls of which are fo thin, that a rat hole lets in the wind to the annoyance of the whole family. The furniture of the cabbins is as bad as the architecture j in very many, confifting only of a pot for boiling their potatoes, a bit of a ..able, and one or two broken (tools ; beds are not found univerfally, the family lying on ftraw, equally partook of by cows, calves and pigs, though the luxury of fties is coming in in Ireland, which excludes the poor pigs- from the warmth of the bodies of their mafter and miftrefs ' I remarked little hovels of. earth thrown up. near the cabbins, and in fome places they build their turf flacks hollow, in order to afford fhelter to the hogs.. This is a ^ general defcription, but the exceptions are very numerous. :I have been in a multitude of cabbins thathad much ufeful furniture, and fome even-'foperfluous; chairs, tables, boxes, eheft of drawers, earthen ware, and in fhort moft of the ar- » tides found in a middling Englifh, cottage ; but upon enquiry* I very generally found that thefe acquifitions were all made within the laft ten years, a fore fign of a rifing national prof- pefity. 1 think the bad cabbins and furniture the greateft in ftances of Irifh poverty, and this muft flow from the mode of payment for labour, which makes .cat tie fo valuable to the peafant^ that every farthing they can fpare is faved for their purchafe : from hence alfo refults another obfervation, which rs, that the apparent poverty of it is greater than the real ; ' for the houfe of a man that is mafter of four or five cows, will have'fcarce any thing but deficiencies ; nay, I was in the cab bins of dairymen and farmers, not fmall ones, whofe cabbips were L A B O U-R ING POOR. ,3? were not at all better, or better furnifhed' than thofe of the poor- eft labourer : before, therefore, we can attribute it to abfolute poverty, we muft take into the account the customs and inclina tions of the People. In England a man's cottage will be filled with fuperfluities before he poffeffes a cow. I think the compa- rifon much in favour of the Irifhman ; a hog is a much more valuable piece of goods than a fet of tea things ; and though ' his fnout in a erock* of potatoes is an idea not fo poetical as — — Broken teacups, iiiifilyjept for /he /« Labour. d. d. d. Drumoland, 6 6 6k None. Doneraile, v t " 6i 6* One-third in 20 years. Caftle Martyr, 8 6 6 One-third in ditto. Nedeen, 6 6 6 One-third in ditto. Tarbat, e 6 6 One-penny in ditto. Adair, 6 5 One-third in ditto. Caftle Oliver, 6 S 6 One-penny a day in ditto. Tipperary, 6 s 6 Curraghmore, 6 5, Waterford, 6i 6i 6* Furnefs, 8 7 One penny a day. Glofter, 6 One third in jq years. Johnftown, 8 «i 5 Confiderable. Derry, 6* 5 None. Caftle Loyd, <* One penny a day. Mitchd's Town, t\ 6i oi i^d. a day in $ years. Average, H 61 6* | ij in 20 years. . The rife is very near a fourth in twenty years; and it is remarki-ble-that in my Eaftern Tour thrpugh England Jvol. 4, p. 338.) I found the.rifeof labour one fourth in eighteen years ; from which it appears, that the two kingdoms, in (his refpect, have been nearly on a par. Places. Car penter Dublin, Lutrel's Town, Slajne, Packenham, Shaens Caftle, Kilfiin, Forth,Profpecl,Mount Kennedy, Market Hill, Ardmagh, Shaen Caftle, Umavady,Clonleigh, Mount Chaile;, Caftle Caldwell, Florence Court, Farnham,Strokeftown,Ballynogh,Mercra, Sortjand, Kifalh, Weftport, Moniva, s.d. 2 3 2 3 St e 1 8 2 o 1 3 2 o i 0 * 3 -j. 2 -i 2 1 9 2 o 2 O2O 94 O 4 6 1 6 1 6 » 7 d. 2 O 2 O 2 O 1 IO 2 O ¦ 3 2 o 2 ;o 2 o 1 IO 2 O 2 O 2 2 I IO I 9 22 I IO Thaicber. >7i « 4 o 10 1 4 /V«c«. Car penter. s. d. Afc- fon s. d. Tim cber. s. d'. Drumoland, 1 .6 r 6 1 O Donneraile, 1 6 1 6 1 0 Corke, 1 6 1 6 1 6 Nedeen, 1 4 1 4 1 0 Tarbat, 1 6 1 6 1 0 Caftle Oliver, 1 6 1 6 1 0 Tipperary, " 1 6 1 6 1 6 Curraghmore, 1 9 1 q 9 10 Waterford, * 0 2 0 0 6 Furnefs, 2 9 .2 0 1 6 Glofter, 1 6 1 8 johnftown, 1. 74 • 7i Derry, 1 b I 6 Caftle Loyd, 1 8 1 8 1 0 Mitchei's TovVn, i 6 ' 9 1 6 1 0 Average, 1 9 > 3 When it is confidered that common labour in Ireland is but little more than a third of what it is in England, it may appear extraoidinary that artizans are paid nearly, if not ftill, as high aa in that kingdom. J /fyditarol. OPPRES- 40; LABOURING POOR. O P P R E S S ION. Before I conclude this article of the common labouring poor in Ireland, I muft obferve, that their happinefs depends not merely upon the payment of their labour.,- ttyeir cloaths, of their food j the fubordjnation of the lower plafleV, degengr rating into oppreffion, isi.noj: to be overlopkeq. The ppor in all countries, and under all governments, are both paid and fed,: yet is there an infinite difference between therri in different ones. This erifjuify will by- no mean$ turn out fo fa vourable as the preceding articles. It muft bf very ;appar?B* to every, traveller, through that country-, that the labouring poor-ate treated with harfhnefs, and are in aljrefpefts fb liftle). confidered, that their want of importance feems a perfect centraft to their fituation in England, of which country, C0(Pt paratively fpeakjng, they reign the fovereigns. The age has improved fo rpuch in humanity, that even the poor Irifh have experienced its influence., and are every day treated better and better ; but ftill the remnant of the old manners, the abojrii- nable diftin&ion of religion, united with the oppreflive cbnduft of the little country gentlemen, or rather vermin of the kingr dom, who never were out of it, altogether bear ftill very hea-r vy on the poor people, and fubjedl them to fituations more mor tifying than we ever behold in England. The landlord of an In'flv eftate, inhabited by Roman catholics., is a fort of defpot who yields obedience in whateyer concerns the poor* to no law but that of his will. To difcover what the liberty of a peQT tie is, we muft live among them, and not look fqr it in the atutes, pf the realm : the language of written law may be that pf liberty, but the fituation of the poor may fpeak no language hut that of llavery ; there is too much pf this contradiction in Irt-land ; a long feries of oppreffions, aided by many very ill judged laws, have brought landlords into a habit of exr erting. a very lofty fuperioriiy, and ttyeir vaffaJs info .that of an alawft unlimited fubmiffion : fpeaking;a language that is defpif- ed, profefTing a religion that is abhorred, and being difarmed, the poor fjnd themfelves in many cafes flayes even in the bofom of written liberty. Landlords chat have refided much abroad, are u/ualjy humane in their ideas, but the habit of tyranny naturally contracts the mind,, fb that even in this polifhed age, there are jnftahces of a fevere carriage towards the poor, which is quite unknown in England- ¦ A landlord in Ireland cap fcarcely invent an order which a feryant, labourer, or cottar dares to refufe to execute. Nothing fatisfies bin* but an unlimited fubmiffion. Difrefpeft or any thing tending towards fkucinefs he' may punjflii with his cane or his horfewhip with the moft perfect .fecurity, a pocjr man would have his bones broke if he offered to lift his hand in his own L A-B p U R I N G POO R. 41 own defence. Knocking down is fpoken of in tlie country in a manner that makes an Englifh man flare. Landlords of con fequence have allured me ,hat many of their cottars wjould think themfelves honoured by having their wives and daugh ters fent for to the bed of their mafter ;"a mark of fla very that proves the oppreffion tinder which fuch people muft live. Nay, I have heard anecdotes of the fives of people being made free with without any apprehenfion of the juftice of a jury. But let it hot be imagined that this "s commQti 5 formerly it happened every day, but law gains ground. It muft ftrike the moft care- lefs traveller to fee whole firing's of cars whipt into a ditch by a gentleman's footman to make way for his carriage ; if they are overturned or broken in pieces, no matter, it is taken in patience, were they to complain they would perhaps "be horfe- wriipped. The execution of the law's lies yehi much in the hands of juftices of the peace, many of whom are drawn from the moft illiberal clafs in the kingdom. If a poor man lodges a complaint againft a gentleman', or any animal tta't chufes to call itfelf a gentleman, and the juftice iffues out a fiiminons for his appearance, it is a fixed affront, and he, will infallibly be c4lled out. Where manners are in cortfpiracy againft j. aw,, to whom are the oppreffed people to havetetfourfe ? It is a fact that a popr man having a conteft with a gentleman muft— rbut I ^m talking nonfenfe, they kriow' their fituation too \vell to think of it ; they can have no defence but by means'of protection from one gentleman againft another, who probably protects hi? yafial as he would the iheep he intends to, eat. The colours of this picture are not charged. To affert that .all thefe cafes are common, would be an exaggeration, but to fay that an unfeeling larfdiord will do all ihis with impunity is to keep ftrictly tp truth: and what is liberty bjit a farce, and a jeft if its bleffings are received as the' favour of kindnefs and humanity, inftead or being the inheritance of jlIG ht ? Consequences have flowed from thefe opprefiions which ought long ago to have put a ftop to them. In England we have heard much of whiteboys, fteelboys, oakboys, peep-of-dayr boys, &c. But thefe various, in furgents are not to be con-: founded, for they are very different. The proper diftinctioh in the difcpntents of the, people is into proteftanf and catholic. AH -but the whiteboys were among the' manufacturing protect ants in the north. The whiteboys catholic labourers in the jfouth : from the beft intelligence I could gain, the riots pf the manufacturers had no other. foundation, but fuch variations in the manufacture as all fabrics experience, and which they had themfelves known and fubmitted to before. The cafe, howT ever, was different with the whiteboys ; who being labouring catholics met with all thofe oppreffions I have defcrib'ed, and would probably have continued in full fubmiffion had -not very fevere treatment in refpect of tythes united with a great fpecu- lative 42 EMIGRATION. lative rife of rents about the fame time, blown up the flame of rtfiftance; the atrocious a&s they were guilty of made them the object of general indignation, acts were paffed for their pu- nifhment, which feemed calculated for the meridian of Barbaryj this arofe to fuch a height, that by one they were to be hanged tinder certain circumftances without the common formalities of a trial, which though repealed the following feflions marks the fpirit of punifhment j while others remain yet the law of the land, that would if executed tend more to raife than quell an infurrection. From all which it is manifeft that the gentlemen of Ireland never thought of a radical cure from overlooking the real caufe of the difeafe, which in fact lay in themfelves, and not in the wretches they doomed to the gallows. Let them change their own conduct intirely, and the poor will not long riot. Treat them like men who ought to be as free as yourfelves: put an end to that fyftem of religious perfeCution which for feventy years has divided the kingdom againft itfelf ; in thefe two circumftances lies the cure of infurrection, perform them completely, and you will have an affectionate poor, in ftead of oppreffed and difcontented vaffals. ' A better treatment of the poor in Ireland isa Very material point to the'-welfare of the whole Britifh empire. Events may happen which may convince us fatally of this truth — If not, oppreffion muft have broken all the fpirit and refentment of men. By what policy the government of England can for fo many years have permitted fuch an abfurd fyftem to be matur ed in Ireland, is beyond the power of plain fenfe to difcover. i - - i ¦ EMIGRATIONS. Before the American war broke, the Iriffi and Scotch emi- -grations were a cdnftant fibject of converfation in England, and occafioned much difcourfe even in parliament. The com mon observation was, that if they were not (topped, thofe countries, would be ruined, an4 they were generally attributed to a great rife of rents. Upon going over to Ireland I deter mined to omit no opportunities of difcovering the caufe and extent of this emigration, and ray information, as may be feen in the minutes of the journey, was very regular., I have only si few general remarks to make on it here. The fpirit of emigrating in Ireland appeared to oe confined to two circumftances, the prefbyterian religion, and the linen manufacture. I, heard of very few emigrants except among manufacturers of that perfuafion. The catholics never went, they feem not only tied to the country but almoft to the parifh in which their anceftors lived. As to the emigra tion in fhe north, it was an error in England' to fuppofe it a novelty which arofe with the increafe in rents. The contra ry was the fait, it had fubfifted, perhaps, forty years, infomnch that RELIGION. 43 that at the ports of Belfaft, Derry, &c. the pajfenger trade as they called it', had long been a regular branch of coirimerce, which employed feveral fhips, and confided in carrying people to America. The increafing population at the country made it an increafing trade, but when the linen trade was low, the pajfenger trade was always high. At the time of Lord Donne- gall's letting his eftate in the North the linen bufinefs fuffered a temporary decline, which fent great numbers to America, and gave rife to the error that it was occafioned by the in creafe of his rents: the fact, however, was otherwife, for great numbers of thofe who went from his lands actually fold thofe leafes for confiderable fums, the hardfhip of which was fuppofed to have driyen them to America. Some emigration, therefore, always exifted, and its increafe depended on the fluctuations of linen ; but as to the fffett, there was as much error in the conclufions drawn in England as before in the caufe. It is the misfortune of all manufactures worked for a foreign market to be upon an infecure footing, periods of declenfion will come, and when in confequence of them great numbers of people are out of employment, the beft circamftance is their enlifting in the army or navy ; and it is the common refuit s but unfortunately the manufacture in Ireland (of which I fhall have occafion to fpeak more hereafter), is not confined as it ought to be to towns, but fpreads into all the cabbins of the country. Being half- farmers, half manufacturers, they have too much property in cattle, &c. to enlift when idle; if they convert it into cafh it will enable them to pay their paffage to America^ an alternative always chofen in preference to the mi litary life. The confequence is, that they muft live without wjork till their fubftance is quite confumed before they will en- lift. Men who are in fuch a fituation that from various caufes they can not work, and won't enlift, fhould emigrate, if they ftay at home they muft remain a burthen upon the community j emigration fhould not, therefore, be condemned in dates fo ill governed as to poflefs many people willing to work, but with out employment. SECTION VII, Cf Religion. TH E hiftory of the two religions in Ireland is too generally known to require any detail introductory to the fubjeet. The conflict for two centuries occafioned a fcene of devaluati on and bloodfhed, till at laft by the arms of King William the decifion left the uncontrouled power in the hands of the proteftants. The landed property of the kingdom had been , ' greatly 44 RELIGION. greatly changed in fhe period of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. Still more undej Cromwell, who parcelled out an immenfe proportion- of- the kingdom to the officers of his army, the ancestors of great numbers of the prefeht poffef- fors : the colonels of his regiments left eftates which are npw eight and ten thotifiind a year, and I know feveral gentlemen of two" and three thoufand pounds a year at prefeht which they, inherited fr.om|captains in the fame fervice. The laft for feitures were incurred in that war which ftripped and banifhed }ames II. Upon the whole nirieteen-twehtieTbs of the king dom changed hands from catholic to proteftaht. The lineal defendants of great families, once pofleffed of vaft property, are now to be found all over the kingdom in the loweft fitua^ tion, working as cottars for the great great grandfons of men,' many, of whom were of no greater account in England than thefe. poor labourers are at prefent on that property which was once their own. So entire an overthrow, and change of Jgnded poffeflion, iswithin the period tobe found in fcarce any country in the world. In fuch great revolutions of property the ruined proprietors have ufually been extirpated or banifh ed i but in Ireland the cafe was otherwife : families were fo numerous and fo united in clans, that the heir of an eftate was always known ; and it is a faft that in moft parts of the kingdom the defendants of the old land owners regularly tranfmitby-teftamentary deed the memorial of their right to thofe eftates which once belonged to their families. From hence it refults that thequeftion of religion has always in Ire land been intimately connected with the right to and poffeflion of the landed property of the kingdom ; and has probably Received from this! fource a degree of acrimony, not at all wanting to influence the fuperftitious prejudices of the human mind. ' Flufhed with finJcefs after the victory of the Boyne, an4 animated with the recollection of recent injuries; it would not have been furprizirig if the triumphant party had exceeded the bounds of moderation towards the catholic, but the amazing circumftance is that the great category of perfecuiing laws was not framed during the life of that monarch who wifely was a friend to toleration : if ever fuch a fyftem as would crufh the minds of a conquered people ipto a ft&vifh fiabmifli- on was neceffary", it muft have been under that new, and in many refpects weak|eftablifhment, when the late conflict might have been an app&rent jtiftification : but why fuch a fyftem fhould be embrace^ fix or feven jears after, the death of King William is not fo eafy to be accounted for. By the laws of difcovery as they are called : i. The. whole body ef Roman a 2 16 13 Warrenftown, l 3 3 3 2 z s • z 15 ia Portaferry, * 3 2 2 3 r . z s , 1 3 »3 '3 Shaen Caftle, ' 2 2 .2 2 3 < 2 Z s 1 2 '3 Belfaft, z -3 3 z 2 1 Z 5 z a. ii - 14 . Lefly Hill, ... Z 3 3 z z z 4 2 a.' - . IZ IZ Limavaddy, r . 2 3 3 ' 3 1 2 ¦ S i.t 1 2 12 12 Inhiihoen, 2 I z 2 3 Z 2' 4 z a Clonleigh, 3 1 2 2 3 2 2 Z 5 2 a 12 '3 :. Mount Charles/ 2 j 2 -Z .'» * »-. .4 1 „ 12 6 Caftle Caldwell,-' 2 ' 1 3' v'3 1 z 3 2 2 10 ,5 2 Belle Me, 2 ' z 1 3 5 1 a 6 6 ¦¦ Florence Court, Z 2 ¦ 5" "2; s,4 z > 12 6 Farnham, 2 2 3 3 3 J 3 5 1 3 12 8 Ballynogh, Z 2 z 1 iT*j * .1 j.- 4. a 2 - >9 « ,' Strokeftciwn, z z 3 4 . i z 4 z ¦ - 9 "a 3 »•'. Macry, z 1 z 3 *' ' 3 " S.'1? *•• a 8 Sortland, 3 3 4 z 1 a :& U!' 6 ! KilalU, 2 I Z 2 'z ' 4 3 z lj';- 1 ^8 i Weft port, 2 J 3, ' "• : ' a.. ,. 6 1 3 .10 3 1 Moniva, 3 3 , a* 6 a JO 9 -Drumoland, % .2-. 2 2, i " , z 7 1 V 7 6 6 Limerick, <:i" z 3 2 2 idi ' z 1 5 a z 5 6 Donneraile, 2 2 z z > 2 7 » 3 8 4 1 Corke, 3 3 3 2 Z 7 2 a 6 10 6 Nedeen, ' 3 2 1 3 6 2 6 . Arbella, 2 3 2 2 4 2 1 2 10 2 6 Tarbat, 2 2 z z » z 5 Caftie Oliver, - 3 3 ¦i. z Tipperary, 3 3 2 Z * 3 IZ IZ Curraghmore, 3 3 3 3 2 I 6 Waterford, 3 3 32 z a 7 3 ia 10 Furnefs, 2 3 2 3 4 i ! ' J 8 3 IZ 12 Glofter, z z 2 3 2 3 j 2 5' z 3 ia '*/" Johnftown, 3 3 * 3 3 6 3 n 6 .Dcrry^ 2 2 3 6 3 i S a 10 12 Caftle Lloyd, 3 2 3 2 2 2 a, 6 a 7 * 5 Mitchel's Town, Average, 2 2 z z z 2 , 2 2 6 2 a 8 8 2 a * 3 3 2 | 2 I ' 5 3 2 a 10 3 8 z PRICE OF PROVISIONS. In order for a 'companion-,. I fhall add the prices bf my Eng^ liih tours. • b ¦ I 1 1- 64 4i 334 4 334 3* 3 34 34 34' H 34 .34 3* 34 .5* *i 24 34 *i The Southern Tour 1.767, — The Northern Tour 1768, The Eaftetn Tour 1770, — Average of the three; • — Ireland in 1776, — — Average of the four meats in England, — 3*d. ¦ Ditto in Ireland — — — 3|d. Ireland to England as' 1 1 to 14. I fhould remark, that there has been very little variation, in the prices of meat in England fince the dates of thofe jour- nies : the rates in Ireland are higher thanl conceived them, and do n6t from cheapness afford any reafon to conclude that ¦country, as far as cattle extends, to be ia a ftateof backwird- nefs. The whole of thefe minutes, however, concerns the home confumption only, fox as to the immenfe trade in beef arid pork (of which hereafter), their rates are confiderably undtyr 'thefe, as may be fuppofed from the greatnefs of the fcale, in like manner as the confumption prices in England are near double thofe of the victualling office. : Poultry being' fb extremely cheap is owing to feveral caufes : "Firft, The fmallnefs of th e demand 5 the towns are few, fmall, and poor j and all gentlemen's' families raife a quantity for themfelves. 'Second; The plenty of potatoes, upon which they are. fed, being vaftly greater, and difpenfed with lefs ceconomy than the corn in Erigland, upon which potltry is there reared:. Third, the extreme waTmth of the cabbins, in in ."which the young broods are nourifhed. Fourth, The fla- twral produce of white clover, which is much greater than in England, and upon the feeds of which, young turkies, in par- tiiulaT, are advantageoufly fed. I know a gentleman in Eng land, who reared an amazing number of turkies and pea- chicks the year his lawn was fown with white clover, but the ¦foil being improper it lafted but one year, and he neither be fore nor after had fuch fUccefs with thofe broods. SECTION jfi R O A P S-^C A R S. SECTION IX. ' fyadsrr-Cars. v FOR a country fo very far behind us as Ireland, to have got fuddenly fo'much the ftart of us in the article of roads, is a fpeftaele that cannot fail to ftrike the Englifh. traveller ex ceedingly. But from this commendation the turnpikes in ge-r neral muft be excluded,' they are as biad as the" buy roads are admirable. It is -a common complaint, that the toils of the, turnpikes are fo many jobs, and the roads left in a ftate that difgrace the kingdom. .The following is the fyftem on which the crofs roads are made. Any perfon wifhing to make or mend a road, has it meafured by two perfons, who fwear t6 the meafurementhe-! fore a juftice of the peace. It is defcribed as leading from one market town to another (it matters not in what direction) that it will be a public good, and that if will require fuch a fum, per perch of twenty-one feet, to make or repair the fame } a certificate to this purpofe (of which printed forms are fold) with the blanks filled up, -is figned by the meafurers, and alfo fey two perfons called overfeersj one of whom is ufually the perfon applying for the road, the other the labourer he intends to employ as an overfeer df the work, which qverfeer fwears alfo before the juftice the truth' of the valuation. The certi ficate, thus prepared, is given by any perfon to fome one of the grand jury, at either of the affizes, but ufually in the fpring, When all the common bufinefs of; trials is over, the jury meets pn that of roads ; the chairman reads the certificates, and they are aU put to the vote, whether to be granted or not. If rejected, they are torn in pieces and no farther notice taken, if granted they are put on the file. This vote of approbation, without any farther form, enables the perfon, who applied for the prefentment, immediately to conftrutt or repair the road in queftion, which he muft do at his own expencei he muft finifh it by the following affizes, when he is to fepd a certificate of his haying expended the money purfyant to the application ; this certificate is figned by the foreman, who alfo figns an order on the treafurer of the county to pay him, which is done immediately. In like man ner are bridges, houfes of correction, gaols, &c. &c. built arid repaired. If a bridge over a river, wfiich parts two coun ties, half is done by orie, and the other half by the other county. The expence of thefe works is raifed, by a tax on the !and», paid by the tenant; in fome counties it is acreable, but in others it is on the plough land, and as no two plough lands are of the fame fize, is a very unequal tax. In the county of B/jeath it is acreable, and amounts to one {hilling per acre, being ROAD S— C A R S. 57 being the higheft in Ireland ; but in general it is from three pence to lixpence per acre, and amounts pf late years, through the whole kingdom, to one hundred and forty thoufand pounds a year. The juries will very rarely grant a prefentment for a road, which amounts to about fifty pounds, or for more than fix or feven fhillings a perch, fo that if a perfon wants more to be made than fuch a fum will do, he divides it into two or three different meafurements or prefentments. By the act of parlia ment all prefentment roads muft be twenty-one feet wide at leaft from fence to fence, and fourteen feet of it formed with ftone or gravel. As the power of the grand jury extends in this manner to the cutting new roads, where none ever were before, as, well as to the repairing and widening old ones, exclufive, however, of parks, gardens, &c. it was necelTary to put a reftrifiion againft the wanton expence of it. Any prefentment may be traverfed that is oppoied, by' denying the allegations of the certificate ; this is fure of delaying it until another affizes, and in the mean time perfons are appointed to view the line of road demanded, and report on the nec'eflity or hard/hip of the cafe. The payment of the money may alfo be traverfed after the certificate of its beirig laid out ; for if any perfon views, and finds it a manifeft impofition and job, he has that power to de lay payment until the caufe is cleared up and proved. But this traverfe is not common. Any perfons are eligible for afking prefentments ; but it is ufually done only by refident gentlemen, agents, clergy, or refpeftable tenantry. It follows ngceflarily, that every perfon is defirous of making the roads leading to his own houfe, and that private intereft alone is confidered in ir, which I have heard objected to the meafure ; but this I muft own appears to me the great merit of it. Whenever individu als aft for the public alone, the public is very badly ferved • but when the purfuit of their own intereft is the way to bene fit 'the public, 'then is the public good fure to be promoted • fuch is the cafe of prefentment of roads j for a few years the good roads were all found leading from houfes like rays from a center, with afurroundingfpace, without any communication j but every year brought the remedy, until in a fhort time, thofe rays, pointing from fo many centers, met, and then the com munication was complete. The original aft paffed but feven teen years ago ; and the effeft of it in all parts of the kingdom? is fo great, that I found it perfeftly practicable to travel upon wheels by a map ; 1 will go here. I will go there; I could trace a route upon paper as wild as fancy could dictate, and eve ry where I found beautiful roads without break or hindrance, to enable me to realize my defign. What a figure would a perfon make in England, who fhould attempt to move in that manner, whjere the roads, as Dr. Burn has very well obferved, are almoft in as bad a ftate as in the time of Philip and Mary. In a few years there will not be a piece of bad road except turnpikes «$ ROADS— CARSS. pikes in all Ireland. The money raifed for this firft and moft important of all national purpofes, is expended among the people Who pay it, employs themfelves and their teams, en courages their agriculture, and facilitates fo greatly the im provement of wafte lands, that it ought always to be consider ed as the firft ftep to any undertakihjg of that fort. At firft, roads in common with bridges, Were paid out of the general treafure of the county, but by a fubfequent aft, the road tax is now on baronies ; each barony pays for its own Toads. By another aft, juries were enabled to grant prefent ments of jiarrow mountain roads, at two fhillings and fix'pence a perch. By another, they were empowered to grant prefent ments of footpaths, by the fide of roads, to one fhilling a perch* By a vejy late aft, they are alfo enabled to contract, at three halfpence per perch per annum, from the firft making of a road, for keeping it in repair, which before could not be done without a frefh prefentment. Arthur French, Efq; of Moniya, whofe agriculture is defcribed in the preceding mi nutes, and who at that time reprefenfed the county of Galway, 'Vras the worthy citizen who firft brought this excellent meafure into parliament : Ireland, and every traveller that ever vifks it, ought, to the lat'eft time, to revere the meinbry of fuch a diftinguifhed benefaftor to the public. Before that time the roads, like thofe of England, remained impaffable, under the miferable police of the fix days labour. Similar good effefts would here flow from adopting the meafure, which would eafe the kingdom of a great burthen in its public effeft abfolutely contemptible ; and the tax here, as in. Ireland, ought fo be fo laid, as to be borne by the tenant, whofe bufinefs it is at pre fent to repair. Upon the imperfeftions of the Irifh fyftem I have only to remark, that juries fhould, in fome cafes be more ready than they are to grant thefe" prefentments. In general, they ire ex tremely liberal, but fp,metimes they take filly freaks of "giving none, or very few. Experience having proved from the gene ral goodnefeof the roads, that abufescannot be very great, they fhould go on with fpirit toperfeft the great work through out the kingdom ; and as a check upon thofe who lay out the money, it might perhaps be advifeable to print county maps of the prefentment roads, with correfponding lifts and tables of the names of all perfons who have obtained prefentments, the fums they received, and for whatroads. Thefe fhould be given freely by the jurymen, to all their acquaintance, that every rnan might know, to whofe careleffhefs or jobbing, the public was indebted for bad roads, when they had paid for good ones. Such .a, practice would certainly deter many. At 1,142,642 acres in the kingdom, ¦ ne hundred and forty thoufand pounds a year amounts to juft threepence an acre for Skz whole territory, a very trifling tax for fuch an improve ment, R O AD S—C A R S. $e) menti and which almoft ranks in public eafe and benefit with that of the poft-6ffice. - It Is not to this fyftem fingty, that Ireland is hidebted for the goodnefs of her roads ; another circumftance Calls mate rially for obfervation, which is the vehicle ef carriage : all land-carriage in that kingdom is performed with one- horfe car's or carts. Thofe of the poor people are wretched things, formed with a view to cheapnefs alone ; and the loads they carry on them when working by the day, are fuch as an Eng- lifhm'an would be afliamed to take in a wheelbarrow, yet they fuffer their horfes to Walk fo flow with thefe burthens, that I am confident, work of this fort, done by hire, is five hundred per cent', dearer than in England. Even when they work for themfelves, their loads are contemptible, and not equal to wha^ their garrens, miferable as they are, wourd draw. Cars, however, which work regularly'for mills in' carrying flour to Du.blin, do better ; the common load is from fix to ten hun dredweight, which, corifidering the horfes, is very, well ; eigh teen huh'dVed weight has been often carried thither from Slane mills. The loWn'efs of the wheels fuits a mountainous coun try ; but jf there is truth irf the mechanic powers, is in gene ral a great difadvantage to the animal. (Jireat numbers of thefe1 cars confift only of a flat bottom over the axletree, on which a few facks, logs, or ftones,- may be laid, or a little heap;of gravel in the center. Others have fide-boards, and fome bafkets fixed. But fuch' an imperfeft and miferable ma chine deferves not a moment's attention ; the obje.ft of impor tance arifing only from one horfe for draught. Some gentlemen have carts very well made in refpeft of ftrength, but fo heavy, as to be almoft as faulty as the com mon car. Others have larger and heavier two-horfe carts; and a few have been abfu'rd enough to introduce Englifh wag gons. ®The well-made roads preserving themfelves "for lb many years, is' owing to this praftice of ufing one-horfe car riages, which is worthy of univerfal imitation. Notwithftand- ing ihe expence beftowed on the turnpikes in England, great numbers of them are in a moft wretched ftate, which win con tinue while the legiflature permits io many horfes to be har- nelTed iri one carriage. A proof how little one -horfe carriages wear roads, is the method ufed in Ireland to conftruft them; they throw up a foundation of earth in the middle of the fpace from the outfides, on that they immediately form a layer of limeftone, broken to the fiz'e of a turkey's egg; on this a thin Scattering of earth to bind the ftones together, and over that a coat of gravel, where it is to be had. 'Their car riages cor/fidered, no fault is to be found with this mode, for the road is beautiful and durable, but being all finifhed at once, with very little or no time for fettling, an Englifh wag gon Would presently cut through the whole, and demplifh the road as foon as made, yet it is perfectly durable under cars and coaches. 'V I have So ROAD S— G A R S. I have weighed common cars in Ireland, and find the light- eft weigh 2C. 2qrs. 14.1b. good carts for, one horfe at Mr. CNeil's, 4C, zqrs. 21 lb, and Lord Kingfborough had larger carts from Dublin, with five-feet wheels, which weighed 7C. but thefe are much too heavy, in thelightnefs of the machine, confifts a great part of the merit. A common Englifh waggon with nine-inch wheels from S5Cwt. to three tons. I built a narrow wheeled one in Suffolk for four horfes, the weight of which was 25Cwt. 1 • ' Cwt.qrs.lb. Every horfe in the Irifh car draws, weight of carriage, — -*- , ( 2 a 14 In Mr. O'NeiPs carts, — *— 4 2 21 In Lord Jfcngfborough's, — 700 In a broad wheeled waggon, — » 710 In a narrow ditto, — — 610 The extreme lightnefs of the common car is not to be taken into the queftion, as it is inapplicable to a profitable load of any thing, except a fingle block, or facks. It is abfolutely neceff fary a cart fhould be capacious enough for a very light but bul ky load, fuch as malt duft, bran, dry afhes, fccas well as for hay and ftraw. The Suffolk waggon for four horfes is twelve feet long, four broad, and two deep in the fides and ends, confequently, the body of if contains juft 96 cubical feet ; the end ladders extended for hay or ftraw four feet, more, and there was a fixed fide one4 which added two feet to the breadth, confequently the furface on which hay was built, extended juft ninety-fix fquare feet. In a great variety of ufes, to which I applied that waggon, I found four middling horfes, worth about twelve pounds 'each, would draw a full load" of every thing in it ; viz. from fifty to fixty hundred weight of hay, twelve quarter? of wheat, or fifty-fivg hun dred weight, and the fullage of Bury fheets by computation, judging by'the labour of the horfes to a much greater.weight, perhaps above three tons. I have more than opce taken thefe meafures as a guide for a one-horfe cart, to give one horfe an exaft proportion of what four did in that waggon, the dimea*. lions of the cart muft be as follow : the body of jt muft be juft four feet long, three feet broad, and two feet deep ; the. end ladders- each one foot, and the fide ones fix inches. This will be upon a par with the waggon ; but I gave the carts trie advantage, by end ladders being each eighteen inches, and the fide ones twelve, which made the whole furface thirty-five fquare feet, four times which is one hundred and forty, inftead of ninety-fix. The weight of thefe carts complete were from four to five hundred ; the wheels five feet high, and the a^xle- tree'iron, which is effential to a light draft ; fuch carts coft in England, complete and painted, from nine pounds to tengui- neas. Whoever tries them will find a horfe will draw in them far more than the fourth of the load of a four horfe team, or ROADS— CARS. 4t than the eighth of an eight-horfe one, for he will in a tolera bly level country draw a ton. I have often converfed with the drivers of carriers waggons, as well as with intelligent carters in the fervice of farmers, and their accounts have united with my own obfervation, to prove that one horfe in eight, and to the amount of half a horfe in four, are always abfolutely idle, moving on without drawing any weight ; a moft unremitting attention is neceffary even for a partial remedy of this, but with carelefs drivers the evil is greater ; hence, the ftiperiority of horfes drawing fingle, in which mode they cannot fail of performing their fhare of the work. The expence, trouble and difappointment of an acci dent, are in proportion to the fize of the team ; with a broad wheeled waggon and eight horfes, they are very great, but with eight carts they are very trifling ; if one breaks down, the load and cart are eafily diftributed among the other feven, and little time loft. When bufinefs is carried on by means of fingle horfe carts, every horfe in a ftabte is employed ; but with waggons, he who keeps one, two, or three horfes, muft ftand ftill ; and what is to be done with five, fix, or feven ? It is only four or eight horfes that form an exaft team ; but the great objeft is the prefervation of the roads ; to fave thefe the legiuature has prefcribed wheels, even fixteen inches broad, but all fuch machines are fo enormoufly heavy, that they are ruinous to thofe who ufe them ; befides, they form fuch ex-. aft paths for the following teams to walk in, that the hardett road is prefently cut into ruts, the moft folid materials ground into duft, and every exertion in~repairing baffled as faft as tri ed. Roads, which are made annually at a vaft expence, are found almoft impaffable from the weights carried in waggons. It may be aflerted, without exaggeration, that if there were -nothing but one-horfe carriages in England, half the prefent highway expence might be laved, and the roads at the fame time incomparably better. It muft be admitted, that the expence of drivers would at firft be greater, for a man would not drive above three of them ; a man and two boys would do for nine : but why they fliould not be as well managed here as in Ireland I can not fee ; a man there will often drive five, fix, or even eight cars. I have myfelf feen a fingle girl drive fix. Even in this refpeft there is an advantage which does not attend waggons, a boy could any where manage one or two, but twenty boys would not be trufted to drive a waggon. Granting, however, that the expence under this head was fomething greater, ftill is it vaftly more than counterbalanced by the fuperior advan tages" ftated above, which render it an equal objeft to indivi duals and the public. SECTION 6a T I M B E R— P LANTING. SECTION X. Timber-*- Planting. THROUGH every part of Ireland, in which I have been", one hundred contiguous acres, are not to befound with out evident fignsj they were once wood, or at leaft very well wooded. Trees, and the roots of trees of the largeft fize, are dug up in all the bogs ; and in the cultivated countries, the flumps of trees deftroyed fhew that the deftruftion has riot been of any antient date. A vaft number of the Irifh names for hills, mountains, vallies and plains, have forefts, woods, groves,, or trees for the fignification ; Lord Kingfbotough has an hundred thoufand acres about Mitchelftown, in which you muft take a breathing gallop to find a ftick large enough to beat a dog", yet is there not an enclofure without the remnants of trees, many of them large ; nor is it a peculiarity to that eftate : in- a word the greateft part of the kingfJorn exhibits a naked, bleak, dreary view for want of wood, which has been deftroyed for a century paft, with the moft thoughtlefsprod'i- gality, and ftill continues to be cut and wafted, as if it was not worth the preservation. The Baltic fir fupplies all the ufes of the kingdom, even thofe for which nothing is proper but oak ; and the diftance of all the ports of Ireland from that fea, makes the ftipply much dearer than it is in England.1 In converfation with gentlemen, I fourd they very general ly laid the deftruftion of timber to the common people ; who, they fay, have an averfion to a tree; at the earlieft age they fteal it for a walking-ftick ; afterwards for a fpade handle ; later for a car fhaft ; and- later, ftill for a cabbin, rafter ; that the poor do fteal it is certain, but I am clear the gentlemen of the country may thank themfelves. Is it the confumplion of flicks and handles that has deftroyed millions of acres ?. Abfur- dity ! The profligate, prodigal, worthlefs landowner cuts down his acres, and leaves them unfenced againft cattle, and then he has the impudence1 to charge the fcarcity of trees to the walking-fticks of the poor, goes into the houfe of com mons and votes for an aft, which lays a penalty of forty fhill ings on any poor man having a twig in his -pofFeflion, wh'ich- he cannot account for. This aft, and twenty more in the fame fpirit, (lands at prefent a monument of their felf-con- demnation and oppreffion. They have made wood fo fcarce, that the wretched cottars cannot procure enough for their ne ceffary confumption, and then they pafs penal laws on their Sealing,, or even poffeffing, what it is impoflible for them to buy. If by another aft you would hang up all the landlord's who cut woods without fencing, and deftroy trees without planting, you would lay your axe to the root of the evil, and rid the kingdom of fome of the greateft pefts in it ; but in the name of humanity and common fenfe, let the poor alone, for whofe Healing in this, as in moft other cafes, -nobody ought to be TIM B-ER-rP L-A.N T ING. t$s be anfwerable but yourfelves. I was an eye-witnefs in vari ous parts of the kingdom, of woods cut down and not cppfed., The honefteft poor upon earth, if in the fame fituation as the Irifh, .would be dealers of wood, for they muft either fteal or go without what is an abfolute neceffary of life. Inftead of being the tleftroyers of trees, I am confident they may be mad© preservers of them ; recollect Sir William. Ofborne's mountai neers, to whom he gave, a few Lombardy poplars, they che- rjfhed them with as much care as his own gardener "could have done. At Mitchelftown, t had opportunities of making obfeivations which convinced me of the fame thing; I faw in every refpeft, indeed all over Ireland, the greateft readinefs to do whatever would recommend them to their landlord's favour. I had three plans relative to wood, which I have reafon to believe would anfwer in any part of the kingdom ; Firft, To give premiums to the cottars who planted and preferved trees, and not to let it depend on the premium alone, b.ut to keep a lift of thofe,- who appeared as candidates, and upon every other occafion to let them be objects of favour. Second, To force all the tenantry to plant under the following claufe in their leafes : " And alfo, that the faid A. B. his heirs and ajtgns, fhall and '- will, every year, during the continuance -of this demife, vieli and '¦' truly plant, and thoroughly fecure until the ind of the faid term, " from all injury or damage by cattle, or other-wife, one timber tree '¦' for every acres that are- Contained in the herein demifed '¦' premifes, provided thai fuch trees fhall be fupplied gratis, on de- " mand, by the faid C. D. his heirs and affigns ; andin cafe arty " trees fhall die or fail, that in fuch cafe the faid A. B. fhall and " nsiill plant in the year next after fuch death or failure, an equal " number of timber trees in- the faid demifed premifes, in the place " or ftead of fuch tree or trees fo dying or failing as aforefaid ; and " in cafe, at the expiration of the faid demife, the proper number of '' trees, of a due age, according to the meaning and intent of thefe " premifes, -he not left growing and ftanding upon the faid demifed " premifes, or fome part thereof, that then the faid A. B. his heirs or " aJFgns> fhall forfeit and pay unto the faid CD., his heirs and " affigns> the fum offt've fhillings for every tree fo deficient by death, " failure, injury, or negligence." The proportion of acres pe,r tree to be according to circum ftances. It fhould always be remembered, that the claufe.s of a leafe rarely execute themfelves; it is, the landlords or his agent's attention that muft make them efficient, A tenantry every where is very much dependent, unlefs leafes for lives are given, but I fuppofe them for twenty-one yearsl In Ireland their poverty .makes this, dependance .ftill greater. They afk tiine for the payment of their rent ; they run in ar rears ; they are threatened or driven ; if they pay well, ftill they have fome; favour to alls, pr expect ; in a word,, they are in fuch a fituation, that attention would fecure the moft entire compliance 64 T I M B E R— P LANDING. compliance with fuch a daufe. If once, or twice, upon an e^te, a man was drove for his rent, who neglefted the trees, while another in the fame circumftances had time given him, becaufe he preferved them, the effeft would prefently be feen. Third, To have a magazine of fticks, fpade handles, pieces for cars, and cabbins, &c. laid in at the cheapeft rate, and kept for fell ing at prime coft- to whoever would buy them. Thefe would want to be purchafed but for a few years, as fmall plantations of the timber willow would in four years furnifh an ample fupply. That thefe three circumftances united, would prefently plant a country I am convinced ; I faw a willingnefs among Lord Kingfborough's little tenants do it, fome even who made a beginning the very firft year ; and hundreds aflured me of their moft affi'duous compliance. Such a plan moft certainly fhould not preclude large annual plantations on the land which. a gentleman keeps in hand ; but the beauty of the country de pends on trees, fcattered over the whole face of it. What a figure would Ireland make on a compkrifon with its prefent ftate, if one tree now flood by each cabbin ! but it is the fpi rit of the Irifh nation to attempt every thing by laws, and then leave thofe laws to execute themfelves, which indeed with ma ny of them is not at all amifs. It is by no means clear, whe ther the aft which gives to the tenant a property in the trees he plants, to be afcertained by a jury at the end of the leafe, and paid by the landlord, has any great tendency to encreafe the quantity of wood. It has unfortunately raifed an undecid ed queftion of law, whether the aft goes to trees, which were originally furnifhed from the landlord's nurfery, or planted in confequence of a daufe in a leafe. If it fhould fo interfere with fuch plantations, it would be highly mifchievous : Alfo, for a man to be forced either to buy or to fell his property, at the price fixed by a jury, is a harfh circumftance. To this caufe it is probably owing, that the plantations made in confequence of that aft, are perfeftly, infignificant. I have made many very minute calculations of the ex- pence, growth, and value of plantations in Ireland, and am convinced from them that there is no application of the beft land in that kingdom will equal the profit of planting the worft in it. A regard for the intereft of pofterity call for the oak and other trees which require more than an age to come to maturity, but with other views the quick growing ones are of profit much fuperior ; thefe come to perfeftion fo fpeedily that three-fourths of the landlords of the king dom might expeft to cut where they planted, and reap thofe great profits, which moft certainly attend it. There are timber willows (fallies as they are called in Ireland) which rife with incredible rapidity. I have meafured them at Mr. Bolton's near Waterford twenty-one feet high in the third year from the planting, and as ftrait as a larch. With this willow, woods would arife as it were by enchantment, and ali T I M fi E R— P LANTING, .65 all forts of farm offices and cabbins might be built of it in feven years from planting. Is it not inexcufable to complain of a want "of wood when it is to be had with fo much eafe ? Larch arid beech thrive wonderfully wherever I have feen them planted; and the Lombardy poplar makes the fame luxuriant fhoots for which it is famous in England ; and though a foft wood yet it is applicable to fuch a multiplicity ofprirpofes, and fo eafily propagated, that it deferves the greateft attention. As to oak they are always planted in Ireland, from'a nur- fery I have feen very handfome trees as old as fifteen years, fome perhaps older, but even at that age they run incompara bly mpre into head than plants in England which have never been tranfplanted. It is a great misfortune that a century at leaft is neceffary to prove the raifchief of the practice : We know by moft ample experience that the noble oaks in Eng land applicable to the ufe of the large fhips of war, were all fovin where they remained. That tree puihes its tap root fo powerfully that I have the greateft reafon to believe the future growth fuffers efTentially from its being injured, and I defy the moftikilful nurferyman to take thein up upon a large fcale without breaking, if it is btoke, in the part where it is an almoft imperceptible thread, it is juft the fame as cutting it off in a; larger part, the fteady perpendicular power is loft, and the furface roots muft feed the plant, thefe may do for a certain growth, and to a certain period, but the tree will never be come the fovereigri of the foreft, or the waves. I know feve ral plantations of fown oak in England from twelve to thirty, and fome forty years growth, which are truly beautiful, and infinitely beyond any thing I have feen in Ireland. The woods yet remaining iri that kingdom are what in Eng land would be called copfes. They are cut down at various growths, fome being permitted to ftand forty years. Attentive landlords fence when they , cut to preferve the future fhoots, others do not. But this is by no means the fyftem with a view to which I recommend planting, timber of any kind cut as fuch will pay double and treble what the, fhoots from any ftubs in the world will do. They may come to a tolerable fize, and yield a large value,; but-the profit is not to be compared with. To explain this,- permit me one or two remarks. If wjllow, poplars, afh, &c. are planted for timber to be cut at whatever age, ten, twenty or thirty years; When cut the ftools will throw out many fhoots, but let it not be imagined that thefe fhoots will ever again become timber ; they will never be any thing but copfe wood, and attended in future with no more than the copfe profir, which is not half that of timber, in fucha cafe the land fhould be new planted, and the old ftools either grubbed Up for fuel, or elfe the growth from them cut very often for faggots till the new timber get* up enough to drip on and deftrpy it. The common practice in Ire land is cutting young trees down when they do not fhoot well, this is converting timber to copfe wood ; attention to cutting Vol. II. E 1 off 66 T I.M B E R— P L A N T I N G. off all the fhoots but ODe will train up a ftem, but I queftion whether it will ever make a capital tree : if the other fhoots are not annually cut it will never.be any tree at alt; and yet it is certainly a faft that the new fhoot is much finer than the old one, which perhaps would have come to nothing ; but bet ter remove it entirely than depend on new fhoots for making timber. The gentlemen in that kingdom are much too apt to think they have got timber, when in faft they have nothing but fine large copfe wood. A ftrong proof of this is the great dou- , , ble ditches made thirty or forty years ago, and planted, with double rows' of trees, generally afh, thefe for two reaforis are ufoaHyffor the age) not half fo good as trees of the fame growth in England ; one is, many of thern were cut when young, arid'arofe from ftools ;; the other is their growing out of a high dry bank, full pf the roots of four rows of white thorn or apple quick, befides thofe of the trees themfelves. It isa fact that I never faw a fingle capital tree growing on thefe banks : ail hedge trees are difficult' to preferve, and therefore muft have been cut when young. Alh in England growing from a level are generally worth" in forty years from forty fhil lings to three pounds. And I know many trees of fifty to fixty years growth that would fell readily at from four to eight pounds, yet fhe price in Ireland is higher. Another praftice which is common in that kingdom is pruning timber trees, and even oaks. I was petrified at feeing oaks often and fifteen feet high with all the fide fhoots cutoff. There are treatifes upon plantingwhich recommend this practice as well as cutting down yonng trees' tP make the better timber. There are nor follies which are not countenanced, and even prefcribed in fome book or other, bin unhappy is it for a kingdom when they are liftened to. Burn your books., and attend to nature ; come to England and view our oak, pur afh, and our beech-all felf fown, and never curfed with. the exertions of art. Shew me fuch trees from the hands of nurleryman and pruners before you wafte your breath with lhallow reafoning to prove that the moft common of the operations of nature muft be affifted by the axe i' er pruning hook. One reafon why both fences and trees in Ireland which have J ' j once- been made ai?e now 'neglected and in ruin, is owing to the ' v firft planting being all that is thought of; the hedges are fuffer- ed to grew for thirty or forty years without cutting * the con fequence of which is their being ragged, and open at bottom, and full of gaps whole perches li-ng. But all fences fhould be cut periodically, for the fame reafon that trees ought never to be touched, their" pufhing. out many fhoots for every one that is taken off; this fhould be repeated every fifteen years ; a proper portion 6f the thorns fhoald b,e plafheddbwn to form an impenetrable live hedge, and the reft cut off, and made into faggots. But in the Irifh way the fences yield no fuel at all. Toperniit.a hedge to grow too long without cutting, not only sums it for a fence, but fpoils the trees that are planted, with it. Laftly, MANURES. 67 Laftly, let me obferve, that the amazing negleft in not planting ofler grounds for making balkets and fmall hoops, is unpardonable throughout the kingdom, they no where thrive better ; a fmall ope I planted in the county of Corke grew fix feet the firft year, yet at that port there is a confiderable im portation, of them from Portugal. SECTION XI. Manures— Wafte Lands. THE manure cpmmenly ufed in Ireland is lime ; ipexhauftible . quarries of the fineft lime-.ftone are found in moft parts of tjiat ifland; -with either turf, or culm at a moderate price to Burn it. To do the gentlemen of that country juftice, they underftand this branch of hufbandry very well, and praftice it with uncommon fpirit. Their' kilns are the beft I have any where feen, and great numbers "are kept burning the whole year through, without a thought of flopping on account of the winter. Their draw kilns burn up to forty barrels a day; and what they' Call French kilns, which burn the ftone without breaking, have befen made even to five thoufand barrels in a kiln. Mr. Leflie kyiog ten thoufand barrels on his land in one year, and Mr. Aldworth as much, are inftances which I never heard equalled. The following table will fhew the general praftice. 1 ' -". -- ' - 1 — -w ...,..., _... Barrels Price per barrel. per acre. s. d. Mr. M'Farlan, 160 7 Slaine, IZo 7 Headfort, 80 Packenham, 6 Mr. Marley, 160 1 0 Kilfaine, , 80 Mr. Kennedy, 40 ; 2 6 Haimpton, 125 7 Ld. Ch. Baron Forfter, 160 9 Market Hill, 3°" » S Warrenftown, 140 1 1 Lecale, Il5 1 1 Mr. Leflie, 160 Newtown Limavady, 100 1 0 Caftle Caldwell, 6 Ihnifkillingj 80 •8 Florence Court, 60 8 Farnham, 150 Mr. Mahon, S Mr. Brown, 3 'Mr. French, 4 Woodlawn, ' 4 Annfgrove, • too 8 Mr.' Aldworth, E 100 2 6 Lord 68 MANURES, Barrels per acre. Lord Donneraile, 80 Mallow, IOO Mr. Gordon, 5» Coolmore, 40 Nedeen, Mucrus, ,7° Mr. Blennerhaflet, ; 100 Mr. Bateman, 5° Tarbat, TVL' ' 4° Lord Tyrone, 200 Average, 100 Price per Barrel, s. d. f. s 2 1 I .7 *'¦,. 9 I 0 76 6 1 0 :'.;' r 1 0 -t. 9 , Thefe quantities are upon the whole confiderable. The price fhews the plenty of this, manure in Ireland. T° find any place where it can be burnt for three pence and four pence is truly wonderful, but can only be from the union of turf and limeftone at the fame place. '••-., I no where heard of any land that had, been over limed? or on which the repetition of it had proved fo difadvantagcous as it has fometimes been found in England *. Limeftone .gravel is a manure peculiar to .Ireland ; and is moft excellent. It is a blue gravel, mixed with ftones as large as a man's fift, and fometimes with a clay7 loam* ; but the whole mafs has a very ftrong efitervefcence with acid. On un cultivated lands it has the fame wonderful effect as lime, and on clay arable, a much greater ; but it is beneficial to all foils. In the ifle of Anglefea, a country which very much. referable; Ireland, there is a gravel much like it, which, has alfo fbme. effervefcence ; but 1 never met with it in any other part of England. Marie in Ireland is not fo common as thefe manures. That ; Which is ofteneft found is white, and remarkably light ; it liej generally under bogs. Shell marie is dredged up in the Shan non, and in the harbour of Waterford. - In the catalogue of manures, I wifh. I could add the com- pbfts formed in Well liltered farm yards, but there is not any part of hufbandry in the kingdom more neglected than this ; indeed I have" fcarce any where feen the leaft veftige of fuch a convenience as a yard furrounded with offices for the winter fhelter, and feeding of cattle. All forts of animals range about the field in winter, by which means the quantity of dung raifed ' is contemptible. To dwell upon a point of fuch acknowfedg- i ed importance is needlefs. Time it is to be hoped will intro-. ; duce a better fyftem. WASTE' * See a Letter from the late Earl of Holdernefs to me, inferted in the fecond Edition of the Northern Tour. WASTELANDS. 69 WASTE LANDS. Although the proportion of wafte territory is not, I appre hend, fo great in Ireland as it is in England, certainly owing to the rights of commonage in the latter country which fortu nately haveno exiftence in Ireland ; yet are the trafts of de- fart mountains and bogs very confiderable. Upon thefe lands is to be praftifed the moft profitable hufbandry in the King's doriiinions ; for fo I am perfuaded the improvement of moun tain land to be. By that, expreffion is not to be underftPod 'only very highlands, all wafte in Ireland that ar.e not bog they call mountain ; fo that you hear of land under that denominati on Where even a hillock is not to be feen. The largeft trafts, however, are adjoining to real mountains^ efpecially where they flope oft" to a large extent gradually to the fouth. Of this fort Lord Kingfborough has a very extenfive and moft unprofit able range. In examining it, with many other mountains, and in about five months experience of the beginning only of an improvement under my direftiori there, I had .an opportuni ty of afcertaininga few points which made me better acquaint ed with the practicability of thofe improvements than if I had only paffed as a traveller through the kingdom. . ByTfating a few of the circumftances of, this attempt, others who haye mountains under fimilar circumftances may judge of„jhe pro priety of undertaking their improvement. The land has a ve ry gentle declivity from the Galty mountains towards, the fouth, and to a new road Lord Kingfborough made leading from Mitchelftown towards Cahir, which road he very wifely judged was the firft ftep to the improvement of the wafte parts of his eftate as well as a great public benefit. The Sooth fide of this road limeftone is found, and on the North fide,1 the im provement was begun in a fpot that included fome tolerable' good land, fome exceeding rough and ftoney, and a wet bot-' torn where there was a bog two, three, and four feet deep ; the land yielded no other profit than being a commonage to the adjoining farm, in which way it might pay the rent pof- fibly of a fhilling an acre : Twenty thoufand acres by eftim'a- tion joined it in the fame fituation which did not yield the " fourth of that rent. In June I built a lime kiln which burnt twenty barrels a day, and cut, led, and flacked turf enough to keep it burning a whole twelvemonth, fketched the fences pf four inclofures, making thirty-four acres;" and fi nifhed the firft work of them, leaving the reft, and plant ing till winter*. I cleared two inclofures of ftones ; pared and burnt them ; burnt eight hundred barrels of lime, limed one * Where fences muft be done by the day and not the perch, -which will generally be the cafe in the beginning of an improvement in a very -wild country, from the labourers being totally ignorant of tak ing -work by meafure ; all that is poffible fhould be executed in July- c r -t r;ier, 70 W AS T E L AND S. one inclofure, and fowed one third with wheat, a third with rye, and the other with bere, as an experiment j the other field with turneps, which from the continual drought, failed. Two cabbins were built. And the whole expence in five months, including the price of all ploughing, and carriage, (the latter from the miferable cars and garrens at a moft extravagant rate) buying timber, ftewafds wages, &c. amounted to one hundred apd fifty pounds. The mo ment the neighbours underftood the Works were at an end, fome of them offered me ten fhillings"" an acre for the land to take it as it was, which is juft eleven per cent, for the money, but I could have got more. The following were the only data gained : lime burnt for fivepence a harrel. Paring with the grafran in ftoney'land 30s. to 40s. an acre, and done by the plough at eight fhillings much- better, burning apd fpreadjng the afhes depends on weather, one piece coft above twenty fhillings an acre, the other not five, but on an average I fhould calculate it at ' ten fhillings. The whole operation may be very well done with the plough at twenty fhillings. Clearing from ftones and carting away, various ; I found a very ftoney piece could be cleared at twelve fhillings an acre. A fingle ditch feven feet "broad, and from three to five deep,, the bank nine feet high from the bottom of the ditch, coft one fhilling arid fixpence ; but this expence would have leffened when they were more accuftomed to it : confequently a double fence with a fpace between 'eft for planting, three fhillings. My defign was to purchafe a flock of mountain fheep in tne following fpring, and keep them through the fummer iri the mountains, but folding them every night in the improvement-, in which work I could have inftrufted the people, and when once they had feen the benefit, I d6 not think the praftice would ever have been loft. To have provided plenty of turneps for their winter fupport, and improved the breed by giving them fome better tups, but to have done this gradually in propor tion as their food improved. Turneps to be for fome years the Only crpp, except fmall pieces by way of trial. To have laid down the land to grafs after a proper courfe of turneps in the manner and with the feeds I praftifed in Hertfordfhire, which would have fhewn what that operation is." There is not a complete meadow in the whole country. To have proportions ed the fheep to fhe turneps at the rate of from twenty to'thirty an acre according to the goodnefs of the crop : there is a pow er in fuch wafte trafts of keeping any number in fummer ; the common people keep them all the year round on the mountains. The mer, efpecially info 77'5 — 1776 — 1,777 § — ¦ 1778 — 1779 — 77 Wool in the Fleece, Linco'lnjhire. ( Tod reduced to ftone of ,i6,lb. s.d. ¦9 o 96 10 o 9 9 8069 In the year 1774 — *77S — 1776 — 1777 — 1778 — "779 II — Average, — • 1.3 8 Average, 47 percent, higher in Ireland that in England. — 93 From hence it appears, that wool has been amazingly higher in Ireland, which accounts for the fuperiority in the profit of fheep. There are feveral reafons for their height, of price, but the principal are a-decreafe in the quantity produced, and 1 at the fame time an encreafe in the confumption. The boun ty on the inland carriage of corn, as I fhall fhew hereafter, has. occafioned the ploughing up great trafts of fheep walk ; and at the fame time the poor people have improved in their cloath ing very much : thefe reafons are fully fufficient to account for that rife in the price of wool, which has brought, it tobehigher than the Englifh rate. There is, however, another very pow erful reafon, which has had a conftant operation, and which is the cheapnefs of fpinning ;. in Ireland this is twopence half- . penny and threepence, but in England fivepence and fixpence. Great quantities are therefore fpun into yam in Ireland, and in tha,t ftate exported to England., for the price of the la bour is fo low, that a yarn manufafturer can afford to give a much higher price for wool than an Englifh one, and yet fell the yarn itfelf, after the expence of freight is added, as cheap as Englilh yarn. . The quantities of yarn, &c. export ed, will- be feen hereafter. .Many gentlemen have made very fpirited attempts in im proving the cattle and fheep in Ireland, fo that the'mixture of the Englifh breed of cattle has fpread. all over the kingdom ; Englifh fheep are alfo extending. The minutes of the jour ney fhew that the fize of the bullocks is much encreafed in the laft twenty years. ' But profitable as fheep are in Ireland, they are not near fo as they might be, if turneps were properly attended to : and the , reafon why oxen and cows yield ftill lefs is the fame deficiency. The mildnefs of the climate enables the ftock-mafter to do with but little winter food, and this natural advantage proves § Communicated by Mr. Jojhua Pine in the woollen trade, Dublin. || Communicated by Mr. James Oaks in the woollen trade, Bury, Suffolk. 7T W O O L.x an artificial evil, for it prevents thofe exertions, which the far- naersin other countries are obliged to make, in order to fupport their flocks and herds. Mild asi the Irifh climate is, the gra ziers in Tipperary, that is in tjie fouth of the kingdom, find nothing more profitable than turneps, though hoeing them is qaaite unkfiow-ri, and by -means of that root, fp very imperfefthr managed, fupply Dublin with mutton "in the fpring, to their very great emolument. But the want of Winter food is more apparent in black cattle, whiqh upon fucjj very rich land, ought to rife to a fize which is fcarce ever' met with in Ireland, th/e ufual-weight being from four to eight hundred ; but from four hundred and a half to five arid fix hundred weight, the common fize on the rich grounds pf Limerick ;. fuch land in, England is covered with herds that weigh from ten to fifteen hundred weight each ; this vaft difference is owing to their be ing reared the two firft winters with fuch a deficiency pf food, that their growth isftinted, fo that when they come upon the fine bullock land, they are of a fize' which can never befat- . tened to the weight of Englifh oxen.' The deficiency in turneps, &c. renders hay very valuable in Ireland, which oc- , cafidns its being given fparingly to cattle ; but 'if they had while young, as many turneps as they would eat in addition tp their prefent quantity of hay, and' were protefted in warm yards againft the wind and rain/they wbuld rife to a fize unknown at prefent in 'that kingdom. Upon this and a variety of other ac counts, there is fcarc-ely any object in its agriculture of fp much importance as the introduction of that plant under the right cultivation.- SECTION XIII. Tythes— Church- Lands. OUR filter kingdom labours under this heavy burden as well as her neighbours, to which is very much owing the un cultivated ftate of fo great a part of her territory. The fol lowing are the minutes of the journey ; Places. TYTHES. 79 Places Ce Abridge, Dolleftown, Slaine,Packenham, Tullamore,Shaen Caftle, Brownfhill,Kilfaine,Mount Kennedy, "Hampton, Ardmagh, 10 /O 8 6 05 <3 o s. d. s. 5 3 3 o oo oo oo ¦i a s. d. s. d. 5 o 5 o 7 o 5 o 6 o 4 o 7 o > eo s. d. s. d: 5 o 3 o 3 6. 2 o o 3 S ooo| 3 o 4 6 Lecale, 2s. ad. an acre for the whole crop. Shaen Caftle, Clonleigh, Strokeftown,Mercra, Drumoland, Annfgrove,Adair,Ballyeanvan, Johnftown, Derry,Cullen, Averages, 2 o' i.: s o S o 9 o 8 o 1 0 8 0 .8 o 6 o 4 o 3 6 5 o \ o 2 0 to o 8 o 6 o "' 6 o 6 o 2 0 6 o S o 4 o 9 o 2 O 5 6 S 6 S 6 1 6 6 o 3 o 3 o 6 o 6 o 5 o S o 2 6 S o 9 o 2 O 8 o 7 o 4 6 7 o I I o 2 8 6 9 5 4 3 8 5 A 7 2 3 3 o z\ 3 O 2 b 6 O 2^ Wheat. Barley. Oats. Hay. Average ofthe Tour through \ the North of England, j Eaftern ditto, ' Average, - Ireland, per Etfglifh acre, 5, 2 4 8 3 I' 4 o 3 4 2 8 I 10 4 n 3 ni 3 o I IO 4 21 3 4 2 3i 2 o This So TYTHES". This table does not contain any proof thattythes in, Ireland ;are unreaforrably rated ;'t but that there are abufes in the modes ^of levying them is undoubted : the grea'teft that I heard of Were the notes and bonds taken in fome parts of that kingdom '.bythe proctors for the payment of tythes, which bear intereft, and which are fometimes continued for feveral years, principal and intereft being confolidated until the fum becomes too great for the. poor irian to pay, when great extortions are complairierj of, and formed the grievance; which feemejd moft to raife the refentmentof the rioters, called Whiteboys. The great powef of the proteftant gentlemen render their compofitions Very lighr| while ,the poor catholic is made in too many cafes to pay fet verely for the deficiencies of his betters. This is a great abufe, but not to be remedied till the whole kingddm is animated with a different fpirit. Thehoufeof commons fome.years ago paffed a vote, decla ring every la-Wyer an enemy to his" country, who in any way whatever was coricerned in any cafe of tyt;he for fat bullocks and cows; and without its becoming a law was fo compleatly, obey? ed.that it has regulated the bufinefs ever fince ; it was ,cerl tain'ly a reproach to tha.t parliament, that potatoes and turf were not the objefts ; for if any thing called for fo violent an exemption, 'it was certainly the potatoe garden and fuel of the poor cottar. No objefts in both the kingdoms can well be of greater im-i portance than a fix.ed compofition for tythe. It is 3 mode ofpay-* ment fo difagreeable in every refpeft to the clergy, and fo ruin-f ous to the laity, that a" general public improvement would follow'fuch a meafure. In Ireland there can be no doubt but the recompence fhould be land, were it for no other reafon but having in every parifh a glebe fufficient for the ample and agree able refidence of a. reftor. Force by the moft exprefs penalties by ftatute lawt the re^dence of the clergy, after which extend that moft excellent law which enables any bifhop to expend, in a palace, offices, or domain wall, two yeaTs revenues of the fee, with a power of charging, by his laft, will, his fucceflbr with the payment of the whole of the fum to whatever ufes he leaves it, who in like manner is enabled'to charge his fucceflbr with three fourths, -and fo on ; this law fhould be extended .to par- fonage houfes, with this afliftance, that wherever rhe reftor or vicar proved the expenditure of two years revenue in a houfe, he fhould receive a permit from the. grand jury, for expending half as much more for offices, walling, &c. and when in like mannerhe brought his certificate of fo doing, .the money to be paid him by the county treafurer in like manner as the prefent ment roads are done at prefent, not however t» leave it at the option of the jury. A refident clergy ipending in the parifh the whole of their receipts, would in all refpeftsbe fo advantage ous and defirable, that it is fair the county fliould affift in enabling them to do it in a liberal manner. The expence would TYTHES. ti would be gradual, and never amount very high, if churches, when greatly wanted, were built at the fame time. " If the ex.- pence was for a time confiderable, ftill it would be laid out in a manner amply to repay it. Decent edifices rifing in all parts of the kingdom, would alone, in the great bufinefs of civiliza tion, be advantageous ; it would ornament the country, as wellas humanize minds, accuftomed to nothing better than cabbins of riiud ; and fecuringone refident gentleman of fome learning arid ideas in every parifh of the kingdom, living on a. 'property Tn' which he had an intereft for life, could fcarcely fail of introducing improvements in agriculture and planting ; the whole county would profit by fuch circumftances, and ought to afiift in the expence. I muft obferve, however, that fuch plans fliould depend entirely on the clergy accepting a perpetual re- compence in lieu of tythes ; for as to a pnblic expence, to introduce refident reftors, whofe bufinefs, when fixed, would be an e'xtenfion and feverity in that tax, and prove a premium pn taking them in kind to the ruin of agriculture, common fenfe would certainly diftate a very different expenditure ofthe public money. So burthenfome is this mode of payment, that where their refidence is followed by tythes being paid in kind, the clergyman, who ought to be an objeft beloved and revered, lives really upon the ruin of all his parifhioners, fo that iriftead pf giving public money to bring him into a parifh, no applica tion of thofe funds would be more beneficial in fuch a cafe, than to purchafe his abfence. If ever fuch plans came in agi tation, it would- certainly be right to eftablifh a provifion for parifh clerks, to teach the children of all religions to, read and write. The revenues of the clergy in Ireland, are very confiderable.' Here is-a lift of the bifhoprics with the annual value, which I have had correfted fo often in the neighbourhood of each that I believe it will be found nearly exact. I. 1. The Primacy per ann. 8,000 Clonfert, — 2,400 Dublin, — 5,000 Clogher, — 4,000 Tuam, — 4,000 Kilmore, — 2,600 Cafhef, >— 4,000 Elphin, — 3,700 Derry, — 7,000 Killala, — 2*900 Limerick, — 3>5°o Kildare, — 2,600 ' Corke, *— 2,700 Raphoe, — • 2,606 Cloyne, — 2,500 Meath, — 3-400 Offory, — 2,000 Killaloo, — 2,300 Waterford, — 2,500 Leighlin and Ferns, 2,200 Down, - — 2,300 ¦ — - Dromore, — 2,000 73'4°° Vol. II. "•". F This Zz A B S E NT E E S. This total does not, however, mark the extent or value of the land whicfi yields it". I was informed in converfation that the lands of the primacy Would, if tett as a private eftate, be worth near one hundred thoufand a year. Thefe of Derry half as much, and thofe of Cafhel near thirty thoufand a year.' Thefe circumftances taken into the account will fhew. that feventy-four thoufand pouhds a year" include no inconfi- derable portion of the kingdom. I have been alfo informed, but not on ari'y certain authority, that thefe fees have the pa tronage of an ecclefiaftical revenue of above one hundred and fifty thoufand pounds a year more. SECTION XIV. Abfentees. 2 THERE are very' few countries in the world that do riot experience the difadvantage of remitting a part of their rents td landlords who refide elfewhere ; and it muft ever be To while there is any liberty left to mankind of living where they pleafe. In Ireland the amount proportioned to the tetri- tory is greater probablyrthan in moft other inftances } arid not having a free trade with the kingdom in which fuch abfentees fpend their fortunes, it is cut oftfrom that return which Scot land experiences for the lofs of her rents. Some yeafy ag° Mr- Morris publifrred a lift of the Irifh abfen tees, and their rentals, but as every day makes confiderable alteration's1, it is of courfe grown obfolete, this induced me to . form a new one, which I got corrected bv a variety of perfons living in the neighbourhood of many of their refpective eftates. ' in fuch a detail,' however, of private property, there muft ne ceffarily be many miftakes. , . I Lord Abercorn, — 8,000" Mr. Dutton, — 8,oo» Mr. Barnard, — 8,000 Lpndon Society, — 8,000 LordConyngham, — «• 8,000 Lord Cahir, — 8,ooo Earl of Antrim, — 8,ootf Mr.BagnalT, — < 7,000 Mr. Longfield,' — 7,000 Lord Kenmare, — - 7,000 Lord Nugent, — 7,000 Lord Kingffion, — 7,000 Lord Valentia, — 7,000 Lord Graridiflbn, — > 7,00a Lord Clifford, — 6,oocr Mr. Sloane, — 6,000 Lord Egmont, — 6,000 . Lord / f. Lord Donnegal, — 3 r, 000 Lord Cdurtnay, — - 30,000 Duke of Devonfliire, 18,000 Earl of Milton, — 1 8,000 Earl of Sheiburne, 18,000 Lady Sheiburne, — 15,000 Lord Hertford, — 14,000 Marquis of Rocking ham, — - — 14,000 Lord Barrymore, 10,600 Lord Montfath, 10,000 Lord Belborough, 1 9,000 Lord Egremont, — 10,000 Lord Middleton, 10,000 Lord Hilfborough, 10,000 Mr. Stacpoole, — • 10,000 Lord Darnley, —* 9;ooo Lord Upper Oflbry, — ¦Mr. Silver Oliver, — Mr. Dunbar,. — Mr; Henry Obrien, — Mr. Mathew, — - Lord Irnham, — Lord Sandwich, — Lord Vane, - — Lord Dartry, — Lord Fane, - - — LordClaremont, — Lord Carbury, — Lord Clanrkkard, — Lord Farnham, — Lord Dillon, — Sir W. Rowley, >-7 Mr. Palmer, — LordClanbraflil, — Lord Maffareen, — Lord Corke, , — Lord Portfmouth, — Lord Afhbrook, — Lord Villiers, ' — Lord Bellew, — .. Sir Laurence Dundafs, Allen family, . — Mr. O'Callaghan, — General-Montagu, — Mr. Fitzmaurice, — Mr. Needham, — Mr. Cook, — Mr. Annefley, — Lord Kerry, — Lord Fitzwilliam, — Vifcount Fitzwilliam, Epglifh Corporation, Lord Bingley, — Lord Dacre, — . Mr.MurrayofBroughton Lord Ludlow, ¦ — Lord Weymouth, — Lord Digby, — Lord Fortefcue, — Lord Derby, — Lord Fingall, — Blundenheirefles, — Lady Charleville, — Mr. Warren, — Mr. St. George, — BSENf EE& 1. 6,000 6,000 6,000 6,000 6,000 6,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 83 I. 3,006 3,006 3,000 3,000 3,000 2,500 2, Sod 2,500 2,5002,000 2,000 2,006 2,006 2,0002,OQO 2,000 2,000 2,00a2,000 mi. upton, 2,000 Mr.JohnBakerHolroyd,2,ooo 4,000 Sir N. Bayley, — 2,006 4,000 Duke of Chandois,' 2,000 4,000 Mr. S. Campbell, — 4,000 Mr. Afhroby, — 4,000 Mr. Damer, — 4,000 Mr. Whitehead, — 4,000 Mr. Welbore Ellis-, 4,000 Mr. Folliot, — 4,000 Mr. Donellan, — 4,000 Mrs. Wilfon, — 4,000 Mr. Forward, — ¦ 4,000 Lord Middlefex, — 4,000 Mr. Supple, — 4.000 Mr. Nagles, — 3,500 Lady Raneleigh, — 3,500 Mr. Addair, — Lord Sefton, — Lord Tyrawley, — - Mr. Woodcock, — ¦ Sir John Millar, - Bald 6,000 Mr. John Barry, — • 6,000 Mr. Edwards, — 6,000 Mr. Freeman, — Lord Newhaven, — Mr. Welfh, (Kerry) Lord Palmerftown, Lord Beaulieu,, — Lord Verney, — * Mr. Bunbury, — Sir George Saville, Mrs. Newman, — _,, Col. Shirley, — 5,000 Mr. CampbelU, — 5,000 Mr. Minchin, — 5,000 Mr. Burton, — 4,000 Duke of D.orfet, — 4,000 Lord Powis, — 4,000 Mr. Whitfhead, — 4,000 Sir Eyre Coote, 4,000 Mr. Upton, 4,000 3,000 ,3,000 3,000 3 o°o 3,000 Mr ^,v.w- ..... uaiJwyn, — 3,000 Dr. Moreton, — 3,000 Dr. Delany, — 3,000 Sir William Yorke, — 3,000 Mr. Arthur Barry, — 3 000 Lord Dyfart, — 3,000 Lord Clive, — 3 000 Mr. Bridges, —* Fa 2,000 2,006 2,006 2,006 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,0002,000 2,oOQ2,O0o 2\00O 2,0002,0002,0°02, OOO 2.00O 2,000 !,8oO 1,800 1,706 I,60o 1, 6oO i,6oo1,50* Mr, H ABSENTEES. Mr. Cavenagb, — Mr.'Cuperd'en, — Lady Cunnigby, — Mr. Annefley, — Mr. Hauren, — Mr.Long, — ' Mr. Oliver Tilfon, — Mr. Plumtre'e, — Mr. Pen, — Mr.Rathcormuc, — Mr. Worthihgton, — Mr. Rice, — Mr. Ponfonby, — General Saridford, — Mr.Bafil, ' — Mr. Dodwell, — Mr. Lock, " — Mr. Cramef, — Mr. W. Long, — Mr. Rowley; — Mifs-Mac Artney, — Mr. Sabine, — Mr. Carr, — Mr. Howard, — Sir F. and Lacly Lum, Lord Albemarle, •— Mr. Bmler, — Mr. J. Pleydell, — Mrs. Clayton, — Mr. Obins, " — Lot-d M'Cartney, — Mr. Chicllefter, — I. 1- 1,500 Mr. Shepherd, — 1,000 1,500 Sir P. Drains, . — >,Q°o 1,500 Lady Dean, — 1,°°° 1,500 Lor-d Lilburne, — . ',poo 1,500 Mr. Ralph Smith, — 1,000 1,500 Mr. Ormftjy, — 1,000 1,500 Lord Stanhope, ¦<— 1,000 1,400 Lord Tilney, — 1,000 1,400 Lord Vere, -r- 1,000 1,200 Mr. Hoar, • — 1,000 1,200 Mrs. Gte'vill, — 1,000 1,200 Mr. NappreT, — 1,000 1,200 Mr. Echrro-, — 800 1,200 Mr. Taaf, — 800 1,206 Mr. Alexander, — 800 1,200 Mr. Hamilton, — 800 1 ,200 Mr. Hamilton,(Longfbrd) 80S 1 ,200 Mr. William Barnard, 800 1 ,200 Sir P. Leicefter — > 800 1 ,200 Mr. Moreland, — 800 1,200 Mr. Cam, — 700 1,100 Mr. Jonathan Loveft, 700 1,006 Mr, Hull, — 700 1,000 Mr. Staunton,- — 700 1,000 Mr. Richard Barry, — 700 1 ,000 Colonel Barre, — 600 1,000 Mr. Afhxm, — 600 1,000 Lady St. Leger, — 600 1 ,000 Sir John Hort, — 500. 1 ,000 Mr. Edmund Burke, — 500 1 ,000 Mr. Ambrofe, \ — 500 1 jooo — — ¦ -Total 732, 20q This total, though not equal to what has been reported,, is certainly an amazing drain upon a kingdom cut off from the re-aftion of a free trade, and fuch an one as muft have a, very confiderable effeft in preventing' the natural courfe of its prol-, perity. It is not the fimple arnourit of the rental being remit ted into another country, bnt the damp on all forts of improve ments, and the total want of countenance and encouragement which the lower tenantry labour under. The landlord at fuch a great diftance is but of the way of all complaints, or which is the fame thing, of examining into, or remedying evils ; miferids of which he can fee nothing, and probably hear as little of, can make no impreffion. All that is required of the agent' is to be punctual in his remittances, and as to the people who pay him, they are too often Welcome to go to the devil, provided their rents could be paid from his territories. POPULATION. 85 territories. This is the general pifture. God forbid it fliould beurtiverfally true ! there are abfentees who expend large fums ¦ upon their eftates in Ireland ; the earl of Sheiburne has made great exertionsfor the introduftion of Englifh agriculture. Mr. Fitzmaurice has taken every means to eftablifh a manufafture. The bridge at Lifmore is an inftance of liberal magnificence in the duke of Devonfhira. The church and other buildings at Belfaft do honour to lord Donnegall. The church and tow/n of Hilfborough, are ftriking monuments of what that nobleman performs. Lord Conynglfam's expenditure in his abfence in building and planting merits the higheft praife, nor are many other inftances wanting, equally to the advantage ofthe king dom, and the honour of the individuals. It will not be improper here to add, that the amount ofthe penfion lift of Ireland, the 29th of September, 1779, amounted to 84,5911. per annum ; probably therefore abfentees, penfions, offices, and intereft of money, amount to above a milliok! SECTION XV. Population. IT is very aftonifhing that this fubjeet fhould be fo little un- derftood in moft countries ; even in England, which has gi ven birth to fo many treatifes on .the ftate, caufes and confe- quences of it, fo little is known, that thofe whohavethe beft means of information, confefs their ignorance in the variety of their, opinions. Thofe political principles which fhould long, ere this time, have been fixed and acknowledged, are difpu- ted ; erroneous theories ftarted, and even the evidence. of facts denied. But thefe mifchievous errors ufually proceed from the rage of condemnation, and the croaking jaundiced fpirit, which determines to deducepublic ruin from fomething ; if not, from a i king, a minifter, a war, a debt, or a peftilence, from depopula tion. In fhort, if it was not to be attributed to any thing, ma ny a calculator would be in bedlam with difappointment. We have feen thefe abfurdities carried to fuch a length as to fee grave treatifes publiftved, and with refpectable names to them, which have declared the depopulation of England itfelf to take place even in the moftproduftive period of her induftry and her wealth. This is not furprifing, for there are no follies too ridi culous for wife men fometimes to patronize, but the amazing circumftance is that fuch trafts are believed, and that harmlefs politicians ugh in the very hey day of propagation, left another age fhould fee a fertile land without people to eat the fruits of •it. Let population alone, and there is no fear of its taking care o£ itfelf. but when fuch fooleries are made a pretence of re commending laws for the regulation of landed property, which has been the cafe, fuch fpeculations fhould be treated with contempt and deteftation -3 while merely fpeculative, they are- r peileftly 86 POPULATION. perfectly harmlefs, but let them become active in parliament,' and common fenfe fhould exert her power to kick the abfurdity out of doors. To do juftice to the Irifh, I found none of this folly in that kingdom : many a violent oppofer of government is to be found in that country, ready enough to confefs that population increafes greatly ; the general tenour of the in* formation in the minutes declare the fame thing. There are feveral circumftances in Ireland extremely fa. vourable to population, to which muft be attributed that coun try being fo much more populous than the ftate of manufafturing induftry would feem to imply. There are five caufes, which may be particularized among others of lefs confequence. Firft, There being no popr laws, Second, the habitations. Third, The generality of marriage. Fourth, Children not being bur thenfome. Fifth, Potatoes the food. The laws of fettlement in England, which-confine the poor people to what is called their legal fettlements, one would think framed with "no other view than to be a check upon the national induftry, it was, however, a branch of, and arofe from thofe monuments of barbarity and mifchief, our poor rates, for when once the poor were made, what they ought never to be confidered.a burthen, it was incumbent on every parifh to lefr fen as much as poflible their numbers ; thefe laws were there fore framed in the very fpirit of depopulation, and moA certainly have for near two centuries proved 'a bar to the kingdom's be coming as populous as it would otherwife have done, -For-' tunately for Ireland, it has hitherto kept free from thefe evils, and from thence refults a great degree of her prefent pbpulati- on. Whole families in that country will move from one place to another with freedom, fixing according to the demand for their labour, and the encouragement they receive to fettle. The liberty of doing.this is certainly a premium on their induf- trv, and confequently to their increafe. The cabbins of the poor Irifh being fuch apparently miferable habitations, is anothervery evident encouragement to population. In England, where jhe poor are in many refpefts in fuch a fu perior ftate, a couple will not marry unlefs they can get a houfe, to build which, take the kingdom through, will coft from twenty-five to fixty pounds } half the life, and all the vigour and youth of a man 7°6 Parliament houfe, — — — — 16,270 Dublin workhoufe, fouth wallpaffages, new road and marfhalfea, '— ¦ — — — — '4P»372 Hofp.itals, — — . — — — 44,251 Trinity college, — — — — — 45>000 Alfo, for the following purpofes during" the fame period. Rewards and bounties to manufacturers, Linen manufacture — — Cambrick ditto, — — Whale fiThery, — t — Incorporated fociety, — — Dublin fociety, .— — 29,829 180,546 4,000 1,500 ^96,000 64,000 j£ 1, 018, 862 It is to be noted however, that this account includes the difburfernerits neither of the navigation, nor the linen board, for it is upon record, -that the gr'and canal alone has coft above three hundred thoufands pounds, by fome accounts half a million. Granted by the navigation board only, from 1763, to 1771. 1768. 1 1769. 1.770- 1771. Total. - 1. I. 1. 1. 1. Newry, cana), 2,216 130 88 2.434 Drumglafs navigation, «.97i 244 2,151 1,200 5*566 .Barrow navigation, , , 3,000 100 3,100 Shannon navigation, 4,162 162 3.336 7 (660 Grand canal, 550 i,z8o 7SS 2,000 4.585 Boyne navigation, 2»i43 2,860 2,000 2,504 9.5°7 Fergus navigation, 500 4,676 35° 11,592 5-,892 850 1 1.542 33^702 Incomplete PUBLIC WORKS. 9f Incomplete as thefe data are, we find from them, that great fums' of money have been granted for inland navigations, and are to this day giveri for the fame purpofe ; let us therefore enquire how this money has been expended, and what has been the effeftof it. I made fome enquiries, and travelled .many miles to view fome of the navigations, and the only one which, appeared to me really comp|eted, is the canal from the town of Newry to the fea, on which I faw a brig of eighty or one hundred tons burthens, The fame canal is extended farther than that town, but' flops fhort of the great objeft for which it was begun and made, viz. the Drumglafs and Dungannon colleries ; this may therefore be clalfed as incomplete relative to the objeft, but as Newry is a place of confiderable trade, finifhing it fo far has merit. The great defign was to furnifh Dublin with Trafljii coals, which was probably feafible, for the feams of coals in thofe collieries are aflerted to be of fuch a thicknefs,and good- nefs,as proved them more than equal to the confumption of half a dozen fuch cities as Dublin ; but two great difficulties, were to be overcome : firft, to make the navigation fo, that ail land carriage might be faved, which was properly a public work; and fecondly, to work the collieries, which was properly pri vate bufinefs, but from the utter 'deficiency of capital in the hands of the individuals concerned, could never have been done Without public afliftance. To get over thefe difficulties, parliament went very eagerly into the bufinefs ; they granted fo liberally tP the canal, that I think it has been finifhed to with in two or three miles of the collieries ; at the fame time a pri vate company was formed for working the mines, to whom confiderable grants were made to enable them to proceed. The property in the works changed hands feveral times ; among others, the late archbifliop of Tuam (Ryder) was deeply concerned in them, entering with great fpirit into the defign ; but what with the impofitions of the people employed ; the lofs of fpme that were able and honeft ; the ignorance of others j and the jobbing fpirit of fome proprietors, parliament^ after granting enormous fums, both to the canal and collieries, had the mortification, inftead of feeing coals come to Dublin, nothing but gold fent from Dublin, to do that which fate feem ed determined fhould never be done, and fo in defpair aban doned the defign to the navigation board, to fee if their lefler exertions would effect what the mightier ones had failed in. A Mr. Dularte, an Italian engineer, and very ingenious archi tect, has had for a few years the fuperintendance ofthe works, but the temper of the nation has been fo foured by difappoint- ments, that he has not the fupport which he thinks neceffary to do any thing effectual. The 92 COALS. The foUowing Table of the Import of Coal to Ireland, Will fhew the Importance ofthe Objeft. Tons. 182,973, 211,438 186,057 189,237 203,403 217,938 240,893 Tons. Intheyear 1764 161,970 Intheyear 1771 176; 185,927 1772 1766 1 86,6 1 2 1773 1767 ' 172,276 '774 1768 1 85.554, I77S 1769 171,323 1776 1770 '97.135 >777 Average of 7 years* 180,113 Average of 7 years 204,566 Frpm this table it appears, that not only the quantity idft'lf is great, but that it is a very riling import, owjng to the' in creafe of Dublin, which has arofe with the increafing profperi* ty ofthe kingdom. ' The little effeft of all attempts to fupply Dublin with Irifh coals will be feen by the following table of the bounties paid for that purpofe. 1. s., d. 1. s. d. Intheyear 1761 107 15 6 In the year 1770 169 11 4 1762 220 3 10 1771 105 4 10 1763 125 14 9 1764 218 19 3 »765 135 «3 3 1766 81 13 o 1767 75 4 o 1768 150 18 4 1769 164 15 . 4 Before I entirely difmifs this undertaking, I cannot but re mark, that nothing can more clearly prove the amazing want of capital in Ireland than the prefent ftate of thefe works. The navigation is complete except two or three miles ; I will ven ture to affert, that parliament would grant the money for finifh- ing it without hefication, provided men of undoubted fubftance engaged for working the collieries at their own expence; we may therefore affert, there is water carriage from fome of the fineft feams of coal in the world, and at a very flight depth, directly into the heart of the fecond market in the Britifh do minions, with the advantage of a parliamentary bounty per chaldron on their import into Dublin. Yet, with all thefe advantages, nobody has capital enough to undertake the work. This faft feerris to call alfo for another obfervation. I remem ber in'the Englifh Houfe of Commons, in the feffion 1777-8, When the friends of the Irifh trade bills urged, that the want of 1772 "3 11 0 }773 209 11 8 *77* 204 7 2 '775 213 14 4 1776 86 0 0 *777 88 0 0 g rand cana l. 93 of capital in Ireland was fuch that fhe could never rival the manufaftures of Great Britain: it was replied, that Englifh capitals would go over to do it for them —but what I have juft recited, proves that this remark is perfeftly unfounded. If capitals were fo readily moved from one country to another, the Drumglafs collieries would have attrafted them,, efpecially. as an intereft for ever is to be pufchafcd in them V but the faft is, that removeable capitals are in the hamds of men who have been educated, and perhaps, have made theni locally in fome trade or undertaking which they will not venture tp re move. Prejudice and habit govern mankind as much even as their intereft, fo that no apprehenffoncan be fb little founded as that of a country lofing the capital fhe has made, by tranf- ferringit into another for greater feemingadvantages in trade. But this point I fhall have occafion hereafter to dwell more particularly on. The grand canal, as it has been ridiculoufly termed, was anothei- inland navigation which has coft the public ftill greater fifths. The defign, as the maps of Ireland fhew, was to form a communication by water between Dublin and the Shannon by this cut, moft of the way through the immenfe bog of -Al len. The former plan of bringing coals to Dublin was a very wife one, but this of the grand canal had fcarcely any objeft that feemed to call for fuch an exertion. If the country is ex amined, through which the intended canal was to pafs, and alfo that through which the Shannon runs, it will be found, confidering its extent, to be the leaft pioduftive for the Dublin market, perhaps of the whole kingdom. Examine Leitrim, Rpfcommon, Longford, Galway, Clare, Limerick, and thofe parts of Weft Meath and Kings, which the line of the canal and Shannon lead through, there are fcarcely any commodities iri them for Dublin. Nay, the prefent bounty on the' inland carriage of corn' to Dublin, proves to ademonftration, that the quantity of corn raifed in all thefe counties for that market is contemptible : What other produfts are there ? Raw wool takes another direftion, if goes at prefent from Rofcpmmon to Corke. Manufaftures in that line are very infignificant. ; there are~fome in Galway, but the ports of Limerick and Gal- Way are perfeftly fufficient for the fmall exportation of them. There remains nothing but turf; and who at Dublin would burn that while Whitehaven coals are at the prefent price ? Moft ofthe inland navigations in England have been exe cuted with private funds ; the intereft paid by the tolls— one ftrPng reafon for this mode, is the prevention of unneceffary and idle fchemes ; the manufaftures muft.he wrought, or the produfts raifed, and feel the clog of an expensive carriage be fore private perfons will fubfcribe their money towards a cheaper conveyance ; in which cafe, the very application to pariiament is generally proof fufficient that a. canal ought to be cut. Having fomething to carry before you, feek the means of carriage. I will venture to fay, that if the grand canal was entirely 94 GRAND C A N A L; entirely complete, the navigation of it, including whatever the country towns took from Dublin, would prove of fuch a beg garly account, that it would then remain a greater monument of folly if poffible, than at prefent. Some gentlemen I have talked with on this fubjeft, have replied it is a job ; 'twas meant.. as a fob; you are not to conftder it as a canal of trade but as a canal for public money ; but even this, though advanced in Ireland, is.; npt upon principle. I anfwer that fomething has been done, fourteen miles with innumerable locks, quays, bridges, &c. are abfolutely finifhed, though only for the benefit of eels and float ing :' Why throw this money away ? Half what thefe fourteen miles have -coft would have finifhed the Newry canal, and per fected the Dungannon collieries. Admit your argument of the job ; I feel its weight ; I fee its force ; but that does not ac count for the fums aftually expended. Might not the fame per fons have plundered the public to the fame amount, in execut ing fome work of real utility ; from which fomething elfe might have refulted than difgrace and ignominy to the nation ? As to the other navigations, there is in general this objefti- on to be made to them all, however neceffary they might be,- they are ufelefs for want of being completed ; three-fourths are only begun. The gentlemen in the neighbourhood of them have had intereft enough in the navigation board to get'a part only voted, and from the variety of undertakings going on at the fame time, and all for the fame reafon incomplete, the public utility has been more trifling from all, than from a fingle one finifhed. Sorry I am to fay, that a hiftory of public works in Ireland would be a hiftory of jobs, which has and will prove of much worfe confequence, than may be at firft apparent: it has given a confiderable check to permitting grants, of money- Adminiftration feeing' the ufes to which it has been applied, have viewed thefe mifapplications, as they term them, ofthe public money with a very jealous eye. They have curtailed much : until another very queftionable meafure, the bounty on the inland carriage of corn to Dublin demanded to much as to leave nothing for jobs -of another fort ; that meafure may be repealed, arid the money applied to it will be at the difpofal of parliament, either for the common purpofe of government, or applicable to fome national improvement of a more decifive nature ; the latter may, after fo many inftances, be rejefted for fear of jobs : how melancholy a confideration is it, that in a kingdom which from various caufes had been fo fortunate, as to fee a great portion of public treafure annually voted for public-purpofes, fo abominably mifapplied, and pocketed by individuals, as to bring a. ridicule and reproach upon the very idea of fuch grants. There is fuch a want of public fpirit, of candour and of care for the interefts of pofterity in fuch a con- duft/that it cannot be branded with an expreffion too harfh, or a condemnation too pointed : nor lefs deferving of feverity is it, if flowing from political and fecret motives of burthening, the/ DUBLIN SOCIETY. g? the public revenues to make private faftions the more impor tant. Great honour is due to Ireland for having given birth to the Dublin Society, which hasfheundifputed merit of being the father of all the fimilar focieties now exifting in Europe. It was eftablifhed in 1731, and owed its origin to one of the moft patriotic individuals .which any country has produced, Dr. Samuel Madan. For fome years it was fnpported only by the voluntary fubfcriptions of the members, forming a fund much under a thoufand pounds a year ; yet was there fuch a liberality of fentiment in their conduct, and to pure a love of the public intereft apparent in all their tranfaftions^ as enabled them with that fmall fund to effeft much greater things than they have done in later times fince parliament has granted them regularly ten thoufand pounds a feflions. A well written hiftory of their tranfaftions would be a work extremely ufefulto Ireland ; for it would explain much better than any reafoning could do, the proper objefts for the patronage both "of the fociety and parliament. I fhall confine myfelf to a few general observations.. It was inftituted, as their charter ex- preffes, for the improvement of agriculture, and for many years that material objeft poffefled by far the greateft part of their attention; but when their funds by the aid, of parliament grew more confiderable, they deviated fo far into manufactures, (in which branch they have been continually increafing their ef forts,) that at prefent agriculture feems to be but a'fecondary object with them. During the life time of that ingenious but Unfortunate man, Mr. John Wynn Baker, his fupport drew fo many friends of agriculture to their meetings, that the premi ums In its favour were very numerous ; fin'ce his death, the nobility and gentry not having the fame inducement to attend the tranfaftions of the fociety, they were chiefly directed by fome gentlemen of Dublin, who underftand fabrics much bet ter than lands, a"nd being more interefted in them, they are at tended to, perhaps, in too exclufive a manner. It would be te dious to enter into an examination of many of their mea- fnres, there are fome, however, which demand a few re marks. In order to encourage the manufacture of Irifh woollen cloths, arid Irifli filks, the fociety have two warehoufes *, in one of which filk is fold on their account, wholefale and retail, and in the other cloth ; both arefent to them by the weaver. whofe name is written on the piece, and the price per yard on it : nothing but ready money is taken ; the ftock of filks ge nerally amounts to the value of twelve or thirteen thoufand pounds in hand ; and of woollens to ten or eleven thoufand more ; and the expences in rent and falaries of thefe ware houfes * The woollen voarehoufe was opened May 29, 1773; that for ftlkFeb. 18, 1 76 J. cj6 DUBLIN SOCIETY. houfes amount to five hundred pounds a year each. Call the ftock twenty-five thoufand pounds at fix per cent, the total ex- pence of this meafure is juft two thoufand five hundred:pounds a year ; or four times over rhe whole revenue of the fociety for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, arid commerce at London. I have examined their, fales in the. weekly returns publifhed, and find that from June 23, 1777, to February 7, 1778^ their average weekly receipt was Silk 150 .Wool — • 339 Or per annum Silk ¦ ; 7,800 Wool ¦*-* r- 17,628 ias the fociety give a premium of 3I. per cent, on a\{ the Irijb ¦wrought ftlk bought in. the -kingdom by wholefale for the purpofe of retailing', that is above four fhillings a yard} it will help us to form an idea of the filk manufafture. Prom the firft of June 1776, to the firft of June 1777, the amount Was '34,0231. 8s. '2d. in cluding Corke, Limerick, Belfaft, &c. and they paid fix hun dred and fifty pounds premium on it, from hence we find that their own filk files muft be a large proportion of the whole fale in Dublin. This has been the grea'teft exertion ofthe Dublin Society bf late years. The' intention of the'meafure is evidently to take the wea vers, both of filk and wool, Put of the hands, of mercers and drapers, and let their manufaftures come to market without any intermediate profit on them. There is orie effeft certain tp refuit from this, which is taking a great part of the ready mo- ney'cuftom from the draper and mercer, which being the moft beneficial part of their trade, is to all intents and purpofes lay ing aheavy tax on them : now upon every principle of common fenfe as well as, commerce, it will appear a ftrange mode bf dis couraging a manufafture to lay faxes upon the mafter manu facturers. But all taxes laid upon a tradefirian in confequence of his trade, mtift be drawn back in the"fale of his' con'nhodl- ties, and this tax muft be fo as well as others j whatever he does fell muft be fo much the dearer, or he can carry on no trade at all ; here therefore is a frefh tax, that of enhancing the prices paid by all who do not buy with ready money, a very great majority of the whole : the dearer a commodity is the lefs is confurned of it, fo the confumption on credit "is undoubt edly leffened, in order that thofe who have ready money in their hands may be ferved fomething the cheaper : here is a manifeft and felf evident mifchief, in order to attain a very doubtful and queftionable benefit. Is there under the fun, an inftance of a manufafture made to flourifh by fuch meafures ? Mafter manufacturers with" that vi gour, attention, (kill and invention, which are the refuit of a profitable bufinefs, are in all parts of the world, the very foul. of profperous fabrics. It is ' their profit which ' animates them to thofe fpirited exertions, upon which the advance of manufaftures DUBLIN SO CI E T Y. 97 ¦ manufaftures depends. If the Dublin fociety's conduct is right in part it is right in the whple,- which would be attrafting all the demand to their own warehoufes ; in which cafe there Would not be" a mercer or draper left in Dublin. Their com mittees, and gentlemen, and weavers, may choofe and payv clerks, and difoharge their rent, but where are thedireftors of finer fabrics to come from ? Where the men pf tafte who are to invent ? Where the quicknefs and fagacity to mark and fol- v ,Iow the caprice of 'fafhion ? Are thefe to coiiie from wea vers"? 'AbTufdtW idea I It Lsthe aftive and intelligent' mafter that is to do all this. Go to the weaWs'in Spitalfields, and fee them mere tools directed by their mafters. Goto any other- fabric rupon earth, and1 fee what would become of it if the heads were confidered as ufelefs, and'rivalled 'in their profits with public money. If the manufafture is offuch a fickly growth, that it will not fupporf the rfiafter as well as the man, it is ridt worth a country's notice. What is it that induces in- dfviduajs^to embark ip a fabric their capital and induftry ? Pro fit'. ' Thegreafer this is, the greater the Capital that will" be1 attrafted ; but eftablilh 4 fy&em that fhall rival, leffen and de-; ftfoy this profit, who will bring'therr capital fo fuch a trade ?: And'Can any people befp fenfcle'fs as tp imagine^that a manu-| ifactiire js't'o be encouraged by^bkniihirig capital from if ? ' s There 'is another "effeft, Which I fhouldc fuppofe muft ftpw. •from tn s extradrdi'nafy idea, which is, thai pr"raiTiri.g great hea^rt-b n'riings'ahd'jealoufies among the trade ; the drapers: and-xne*cers- axe not~prohably at all pleafe A with the weavers, who work for the fopiety's warehoufes ; this muft be very de trimental to the bufinefs" at large. I may alfo obferve, that mafter- manufafture r*s -have more ways of encouraging fkilful and'iriduftrious workriien., than the mere buying their goods and employing them ; 'there are a thoufand little points of fa vour in their power; which the fociety cannot praftice ; but howcan they be inclined to fuch things, while fteps are taken to deprive them of' every workman that can do without their afliftance ? Fortunately for the kingdom, it is at Dublin as in other cities, the ready money trade is by jio means equal to that of credit, confequently the pernicious tendency of this meafure "cannot fully be feen. The drapers and mercers do and will fupport their trade in fpite of this formidable rival, backed with a premium pf two thoufand five hundred pounds a year, Appro priated to their ruin, in order to encourage their trade ! The tendency of the meafure is evidently the deftruftion of both the manufaftures. This is a faft, which appears fo obvious, that I fhould appre hend it muft have done mifchief,; in direft proportion to the amount of the operation. It is extremely difficult to difco- verfafts that can prove this from the nature of the cafe ; no wonder if the import of foreign filk and woollens fhould have encreafed from fuch a meafure. Let us examine this point. Vol. II. G Account 98 D U Bi L I N S O C I E T Y. Account of Silt iniported into Ireland in Twenty-fix Years.* Tears, Manu- Raw. Rib 1 Tears. Manu- Raw. W- \ - faclur- ed. ; band. facJur- ed. band. \ "Il' lb. lb. It. lb. lb. : 1752 14,654 53705 160 1765 21,582 54.655 •'543 ; . -.1753 13,360 60,155- 184 1766 17,260 54,418 1,724 , ",754 '5.4*1 43.665 361 1767119,104 46,067 1.527 . »755 9.874 43-947 265 1768 23,446 52,062 1,646 .1756 •3.7'5 32,948 140 . 1769 17,522 57,oqi 1.4O1 . ; 1757 7.70-9 41.354 •7 .!77Oj20,58i 44.273 •>i83; . 1758 17,292 5i,3«>3 27 1 . 1771..14.095 38,107 650 . *759 13,836 44.493 118 1772:15,804 33.6u 644 ' 1760 21,878 55..905 366 1773' 17.379 53.662. . 378,, , 1761 i4>8l5 51,348 180 1774114.665 38,811 553 1762 21,054 7P.292 306 1775 13.658 29,578' 35 5 f 1763 17.74' 41,021 469 1776 17,326 4'.594 7i7,; ... ,764 Aver. 23,511 36,581 746275 1,777 Aver. 24,1 §7 54.04..3 '..514 15,760 48,132 1 8,200 " ', ' 45«S9ft' i'tcM" .,.1 1 Confidering the extent of the period, I will not. afert thai this tabje is very, decifive ; whatever conclufions, however.that arp to be drawn from it, are as far as they go againft the late Bieafurejs that refpeft the Irifh filk manufafture, for the import, ep fabrics h&ve increafed, while the ra,w material worked up in Ireland has detreaftd ; a proof that the manufafture has not •71- freeh of any very healthy growth". S. Communicated iy Mr. Forfter. DUBLIN SOCIETY. 99 An Account of the Import of Woollen Goods for 1 4, Years t; Years. New Dra pery. OldDra- pery. . Tears. Neva Dra pery. Old Dra pery: 1764?765 . 1766 ; ^71768 '1,769 177°' Average Tards. 248,002 239,365 313,216 325.585 337.558 39J-.SS3 462,499 Tards. 220,828 176,161 197,316189,882 198,664 207,117 249,666 1 77 • 177* 1773•774 •7751776•777 Average Laft 7 years Former do. Increafe, Tards. 362,096 3I4.7°3 387. '43 461,407 465,611676,485 731.819 Tards. 217,395 153.566 210,065 282,317 281,379 290,215 381,330 331.548 205,662 485,609 259.466 r 485,609 33I.548 259,466 205,662 154,061 53.8o4: The increafe is fo great that it might juftify conclufions againft all the late meafures, none of which are near fo much to be condemned as the eftahlifhment of the focieties ware- houfe. Impopt of Linen, Cotton, and Siik, BritifkManufafturej . Value. Value: 1. — 20,282 In the year 1764 — 18,858 In the year 1771 1765 — 18,037 1772 — .14,081 1766 — I5.S57 1773 — 20.472 1767 — 1 2,7 1 0 •774 — 21,611 1768 — 16,021 •775 — 24,234 1769 — 13,402 1776 — 30,371 1770 — 20,907 A rets. . " 1777 ge of feven — 45.411 Average of feven years 16,784 years 25,208 X Pari. Rec. of Exp. and Imp. MS. G 2 When ioo D tJ.-B LIN SOCIETY. When it is considered, that the undoubted mifchief of this fyftem is not fu'bniitted to as ari unavoidable evil, but purcha- fed with great expence, attention and anxiety ; and that the two thoufand five hundred a. year thus ' beftowed, as the price of fo much harm, might be expended inpbjefts of great confequence to the public, it will furely feem unpardonable iri parliament t.o appear io liuie-folicitous for the Welfare of fthejf manufaftures, as to give ten thoufand pounds a feffion, at large. aud-not limit the application -of fuch a liberal grant . tb purpofef of certain advantage. And it furely behoves, thefociety itfelf to recoairiiit this matter ;' to extend their views ; to cenfider the principles upon which- , all the manufacture's, itf the world' are carried on, fupported and increafed ; an_fj if they fee no veftige of fuch a policy, as they patronize andjj'raftice, iriany country tliat. has pufhedher fabrics to a great. /height, atleaft tp be dubious of thjs favourite meafure, arid, nbt perfift in forcing it [at fuch a confiderable expence. , , s ' . , Another meafure of the fociety, which I hinted at before, is to give, three per cent. to. the. wholefale purchafers of Irifh filkj for retailing,, and this cofts them above fix hundred pounds a year,... Upon What found principles this is dorie I cannot difco* v.er ; if the mercers have not a' demand for«thefe Irifh filksj five jimes: the fociety's premiums will not make them purcha fers ; on-'the -contrary, if they have a demand- for them, they moft undoubtedly will buy them without any premium for fo doing.-" It appears therefore tb me/ that the only end which fuch a meafnfe eofcld anfwer, was to difcovef the abfolote in- fignific-ance ef the whole Irifh filk manafafture, which is prov ed through the whole kingdom to be to the amount only of thirty-four thoufand pounds a year, of four fhillings a yard and upwardsi.j but the repetition of the. premium fhews that this was not the defign. Of all other fabrics this is the moft im- . proper for Ireland, and for any 'dependant country ; it is an ab folute manufafture of tafte, fancy, and fafhion ; the feat of •empire w+H always command thefe, and-if Dublin madefnpe- rior filks, they would be defpifedon comparifon- with thofe of London : -we^feel fomething of this in England from France, being the fource o* moft of the fafliions in Europe. To force* a filk manufafture in Ireland is therefore to ftrive againft whim, caprice, fafliion, and all the prejudices of mankind, inftead of which, k is tfeefa that become a folid fupport of fabrics when wifely- fet on foot. There are no linens fafliionable in England, ' but the Irifli people will not wear any other, and yet gulic hol- ¦Jands are alferted to be much ftronger. .Should not the Irifh, therefore, bend their voice to drive the nail that will go, in ftead of plaguing themfelves with one which never will. This is a .general obfcrvation, but the particular meafure df the fo ciety, fuppofing the objeft valuable, is perfeftly infignificant, it is throwing away fix hundred pounds a year to anfwer' :io one purpofe whatever. '"* • The DUBLIN SOCIETY. lot The fociety offers a great number of other premiums for manufaftures, many-of which are very exceptionable, but it would take up too much room to be particular in an examin ation of them. In agriculture they have a- great number offer ed to poor renters feparately. Upon the general^ fpirit of thefe I nave to remark,' that the ¦defign of encouraging poor renters is very meritorious, and does honour to the humanity 6f the fociety ; but from a great variety of inftances which were pointe"d out to me, as I travel- N led through the kingdom, I have too much reafon to believe, that abufes and deceptions are numerous, that the fociety has aftually paid premiums per acre, to great numbers of claim ants, who have, as foon as they received the money, let the land run wafte again, fo that no perfon could diftinguifh it from the adjoining bog or moor. There are two reafons vihy thefe premiums muft very much fail of their wifhed-for fue cefs ; the extreme difficulty, not to fay impofTibility, of afcer- taining the merit of the candidates, or the fafts alledged ; and the utter impofTibility that fuch very poor, fellows fhould work any improvements worthy the fociety's patronage. The Lon don fociety have found, by repeated experience, their utter in capacity of doing any thing by weight of money, in bounties per acre for any objeft ; I am convinced the fame faft will hold true with that of Dublin ; the funds even of the latter are much .too inconfiderable for this mode. The objeft ought to be to infpire thofe men, who have the neceffary capital to em ploy it in the way the fociety thinks for the public good : the premiums fhould be honorary but cftnfiderable, with that de gree of variety and novelty that fhould attraft the attention of men of fortune. But nothing was ever better imagined, than the plan of fix ing an Englifh farmer in the kingdom, fo much at the fociety's expence, as to give them a power over a part of his manage ment. This was the cafe with Mr. Baker ; and it was alfo a very wife meafure to enable him to eftablifh a manufactory of hufbandry implements. The only errors in the execution of • this feheme were : Firft, Not fupporting hinrmuch more libe rally, when it was found that his private fortune was too in confiderable to fupport himfelf and family ; had he been eafy in his private circumftances, his hofhandry would have been perfeft. Second, The not direfting him in the choice of his farm, which was not a proper one for an example to the king dom ; it fhould have been in fome mountainous traft, where there was bog, and tolerable foil. Third, In permitting him to make and publiih fmall and trifling experiments, objefts of curiofity to a private fpeculatift, but quite unworthy of the Dublin Society ; befides, fuch a perfon fhould be brought to eftablifh what a previous experience has convinced him Uright, not to gain his own knowledge at th« fociety's expence. The feheme, had it, in the cafe of Mr. Baker, been exera- Scd'in this manner, or was fuch an one now to be adopted, would 102 DUB LI N SOCIETY. would tend more to fpreading a true practical- knowledge. of agriculture than any other that, could be executed-j anti the union of a nianufaftory of implements unites with it perfeftly, "To inform a backyard country of right fyftems has its ufe, but it is very weak compared with the aftual praftice and exhibi tion of it before their eyes ; filch an objeft in full perfeftion of management,, with an. annual publication of the refuit, fim^ ply related, would tend more to the improvement of the hatU- cnal hufbandry than any other fyftem. The farm fhould not be lefs than five hundred acres, it fhcmld have a traftof bog and another of mountain s one thoufand pounds fhould be applied in the neceffary buildings ; five hundred pounds immediately iri fences ; one thoufand pounds a year for five years in flocking it ; one thoufand pounds for eftablifhing a manufaftory of im plements, not to be fold but given away by the fociety as pre miums ; five hundred pounds a year allowed to the fupeririten- dant for hisprivate emolument, that no diftrefles of his own might interfere with the public views j and in addition, to ani mate his attentioh, ten per cenl. upon the grofs produftof the farm. The fociety to delegate their power over it to a feleft committee, and no member to be eligible to that committee, who had not in his owfl%ccupation one hundred acres of land, or more. The fiift ex-pence would be feven thoufand five hun dred pounds, and the annual charge five hundred pounds ; this would be an effective eftabliihment that could not fail, if the manager was properly chofen. He fhould be anaftive, fpirited m&n, not fo Ibw as to have no reputation to lofe, but at th« fame time more a practical than a fpeculdtive farmer, and who could teach the common Irifh, with his own hands, the opera tions he wifhed them to perform. The annual charge of only one of the fociety's warehoufes is equal to. this, and the capital appropriated to it near twice as large ; how much mdre bene ficial would this application of the money be ¦? Relative to the premiums for the encouragement bf agriculr fure-, I fhall venture to hint fome which fapprehend would be, of great advantage j and by throwing them into the words commdn in offering premiums., my hieaning will be better ex plained. i. Turwep "Husbandry, 177.9. To the perfdn who fhall cultivate the moft land, not lets than twenty acres, in the following Courfe of crops during four years, viz. 1. Turneps. 2. Barley or oats. 3. Clover. 4. Wheat. The turneps to be twice thoroughly h,and*hoed and eaten where they grow by fheep, and to make a full report of the cultivation, expences, produce, and effeft of the turneps on the fheep fed, a piece of plate of the value of one hundred pounds, with a fuitable infcription. Accounts to be delivered in in the year 1784. 2. For the next greateft quantity of land, not lefs than ten acres fo cultivated, a piece of plate of the value of fifty pounds, with a fuitable infcription. 3- Tq DUBLIN SOCIETY. 103 3. To the perfon who fhall in the year 1780, have the moft acres of turneps, not lefs than twenty, twice thoroughly hand- hoed ; to report the effeft, a piece of plate of the value of one hundred pourids, with a fuitable infcription. 4. For the next greateft quantity, riot lefs than ten acres, a piece of plate- of the value of fifty pounds, with a fuitable in fcription. 5. Bean Husbandry, 1779, To the perfon who fhall cultivate the tiioft-laird, not lefs than twenty acres, in th» fol lowing courfe of crops during four years, viz. 1. Beans, a. Wheat. 3. Beans. 4. Wheat. The beans to be in rows, eigh-teen inches afunder, and three times thoroughly hoed, and to report the effeft to the fociety. A piece of plate of the value of One hundred pounds, with an infcription. Accounts to be laid in in the year 1784. 6. For the next greateft quantity, not lefs than, ten acres, a piece of plate of the value of fifty pounds, with an infcrip tion. 7'. To, the perfon who fhall cultivate the greateft quantity of tend, not lefs than twenty acres,? in the following courfe of crops during foiir years, viz. 1. Beans. 2. Barley or oats. 3. Clover. 4. Wheat. The beans as before, and to report the effeft. A piece of plate of the value of one hundred pounds,', with an iriferiptipn. 8. Next greateft quantity, not lefs than ten acres. The va lue of 56I. with an infcription. 9. Flax Husband-ry, 1779. To the perfon who fliatl cultivate the moft land, not lefs than twenty acres, in the fol lowing Courfe of crops during four years, viz. 1. Turneps. <2. Flax.- 3. Clover. 4. Wheat. The turneps to be twice hand- hoed, and the flax to be feedecj, (lacked and threfhed like corn, and then watered and dreffed, and to report the effeft to the fociety. A piece of plate of the value of one hundred and •Irty p6unds, with a fuitable infcription. 10. For the next greateft quantity, not lefs than ten acres. The plate eighty pounds. Accounts to be delivered in in 1784: n. Mount aim imp rovement, 1779. Totheperfon who fhall improve the largeft traft of mountain land, not lefs than one hundred acres, at prefent wafte, and not let at one fhjlling an acre, and make a full report of the cultivation, ex pences and produce to the fociety in the year 1787. tA piece of plate of the value of five hundred pounds, with a fuitable. infcription. Conditions. ' The improvement at the time ofthe certificates being figned to be -completely enclofed ; to be divided into fields of not inore than ten acre's each ; the fences to be either walls in niortar^ or double ditches well planted with white thorns and timber, the gates, piers, &c. to be perfeft. The land to have :» had four crops in the following courfe : 1. Turneps. 2. Oats, ''here or rye. 3. Turneps. 4. Oats, the turneps twice hand- hoed, io4 DD B LI N SOCIETY. hoed, and eaten when green -by fheep, and one half bf the improvement to be'in grafs laid down with the laft crop of oats. : Not lefs than one hundred barrels of lime per acre to have- been fpread on the whole. An orchard of two acres to be well planted ; and a fally garden of as much. One good t farm houfe, with a barn, ftable, cowhoufe, &c. and four cabbins to be built and inhabited,- the whole of ftone or mortar, and * covered with flate.. And the traft to be aftually let on lepfe to one or more tenants, not occupying any other land, and refid-. i,ng on the premifes. Whoever intends to be claimants to give notice to the fociety that they may appoint infpeftors, 12. To thenext greateft quantity, not lefs than fixty acres, on the like conditions, the plate three hundred pounds. 13. Bog Improvement, 1779. To the perfon who Jhall drain and improve into rich meadow, the greateft quan tity of bog, not lefs than 50 acres, being part of a bog not lefs than s 00 acres, and make a fujl report to the fociety ofthe mode, expences and produce in the year 1788, a piece of plate pf the value of 400I. with an honorary infcription. Thje focw £ty leaves to the claimarit to purfue whatever mode he pleafes, but the land muft have a good houfe, cowhoufe and neceflary offices, with two cabbins built all of ftone and flate, and the improvement let to refident tenants occupying no other land, 14. For the next greateft quantity, not lefs than thirty acres, the plate two hundred pounds. , * . 15. Planting. To the perfon who fhall inclofe with. a wet wall', not lefs than -fix feet high, apd plant, the gTeateft quantity of land, not lefs thap fifty acres, in the year ^780, a piece of plats' of the value of four hundred pounds, with 3 fuitable infcription. The trees to be afh, elm, poplar, beech, larch, fcotch, fpruce or filver fir, to be not more than four years old, nor more than four feet afunder, and in the centre ;pf everv fuch fpace, acorns to be fown and covered. 16. For the next greateft quantity, not lefs than thirty acres, the plate two hundred pounds. 17. To the perfon who fhall in the year 1780, plant and fence fo as tp be completely fecured from cattle, the greateft quantity of land with the common balket fallow in beds fix feet broad, and four rows on each hed, not lefs than thirty acres, a piece of plate of the value of one hundred pounds, with a fuitable infcription. 18. For the next greateft quantity, not lefs than fifteen acres, the plate fifty pounds. All to be continued by previous notice, every year when once they came into turn; . I have to obferve upon them, that the courfes of crops here recommended can only have fair juftice done them in the infancy of the huibandry by gentlemen, or men of confiderabje ' capital ; confequently, it is the wifeft to offer a premium that fhall at traft their notice, and not vary it for leffer tenants, who at firft would be incapable of executing the conditions. The mountain and bog improvement are great objefts, and therefot§ M .'A. N "N . E: R/S.T'" 165. therefore well deferve ample • encouragement ; I have added the condition of being let by way of fatisfaftory proof,, that fhe improvement is completely finifhed, for if it was kept in hand, it would be a matter of opinion, and valuation, which is never fatisfaftory. - The planting premiums would in all pro bability have many claimants. The ftone wall iseffentialj planting without prefervation is trifling As 'to the nature of the premiums, I recommend, viz. pieces of plate, I think they would have a greater effeft than any .thing elfe ; money would be out of fight and' forgotten ; a medal that has been proftituted to all forts of trifles, would. be a contemptible reward for fuch exertions, but a handfome cup, vaze, tray, table, &c. would be always in fight, and on every occafion a fubjeft for converfation to animate others to gain the fame. The experience of a: few years would prove whether the quantities of land required were too high or not. An infpeftor to view all proceedings would be abfolutely necef fary, whofe reward fhould be devifedrin- fuch a manner as to fecure his integrity ;, ;unlefs, fome 'gentlemen of confiderable confequence in the neighbourhood took that office voluntarily upon them. .,¦<'., . Some premiums upon thefe principles, united with fuch a plan as I have ftated for the eftabllfhment of a farm, would be attended with all the advantage to the national agriculture, in the power of any fociety to effeft, . The expence would not be fo large, as not to leave a confiderable portion of the focie- tyjs funds- for trade and manufaftures, and confequently to pleafe thofe who wiflied fuch objefts not to be neglefted, S EC T I ON XVII. Manners and. Cuftoms. ,\ Quid legis- fine, pioribus, . Vana prpficiunt I ; , IT is, but an illiberal bufinefs for a traveller, who defigns to publifh remarks upon a. country, to fit down coolly in his clofet and write a fatire on the inhabitants. Severity of that fort muft be enlivened with an uncommon fharc of wit, and ri dicule, to pleafe. Where very grofs abfurdities are found, it is. fair and manly to note them^ but to enter into character and difpofition is .generally uncandid, fince there are no people but might be better than they are found, and. nope, but haye vir tues which deferve attention,. at leaft as m.uch,asrthejr failings, ; for thefe reafons this.feftion would not have, found a place in my obfervations, had not fome perfons of much more flippant cy than wifdom, given very, grofs mifreprefentations of the Iriih nation. It is with pleafure,. therefore, thatl take up the pen, on the prefent occafion j as a much longer refidence there IS6". M' A-^N :n E R 'S.;. tnere enables me to -exhibit a very different pifture j ini doing- tbis; 1 fhall be free to remark, wherein -I think the conduft of certain glaffes may have given rife to general and confequently injurious condemnation.- , ¦¦ • There are three races of people in Ireland, fo diftinftj as to ftj-ike the leaft attentive traveller : thefe are the Spanifh whieh are found in Kerry, and. a part" of Limerick and Corke, tall; and thin, -but well made, a long vifage, dark eyes, and long black lank hair. The time is not remote when the Spaniaudsi had a kindof fettlement on the coaft of KeTry, which feem-. ed to be, overlobked hy government. There were many of them in Queen Elizabeth's reign, nor were thej« entirely driven out till, the time of Cromwell. There is an ifland of Valentia on that' coaft, with' various other names, certainly Spaniih. The Scotch race is in the North, where are to be found the features ¦which are fuppofed to mark that people, their accent, arid many of their cuftoms: In a diftrift, near , Dublin, but. more particularly in the baronies of Bargie and Forth in the county of Wexford, the Saxon tongue, is fpoken without any^ mixture of the Irifh, and the people have a variety of cuftonis mentioned in the minutes, which diftinguifh them from their neighbours. The reft- of the kingdom is made up of mongrels. TheMilefian race of Irifhy which may be called nalivi, are fcattered over the kingdom, but chiefly found- in Connaught and Munfter ; a, few confiderable -: families, whofe genealogy is undoubted, remain, but none of them with confiderable pcsffeffions, except the O'Briens and Mr. O'Neil, the former have near twenty thoufand. pounds a year in the, family s the latter half as much, the remnant of a property once his an- ceftors, which ,now. forms.fix,-or feven of the.grea.teft eftates in the kingdom. ' O'Hara and M'Dermot are great names in Connaught, andO'Donnqhue a confiderable one in Kerry ; but 1 heard of a family of O'Drifchal's iri Corke, who claim an ori gin prior in Ireland to any of the Milefian race. The only divifions- which a traveller, who paffed through the kingdom, without making any residence,- could make, would be into people of confiderable fortune and mob. The interme- fliate divifion ofthe fcale, fo numerous and refpeftable in Eng land, would hardly attraft the leaft notjce in Ireland. A reii- dence in the kingdom convinces ohe^ however,' that there is ariother clafs ifl general of fmall, fortune, — country gentlemen and renters of land. The manriers, habits and cuftoms of people of confiderable fortune, are much the fame every where, at leaft there is very little difference between England and Ireland, it is among the. common people one muft look for thofe traits by which we discriminate a national character. The circumftances which ftruck me mdffi in the common Irifh ¦were, vivacity and' a great -and eloquent volubility of fpeech1, One Would think they could take fn'uff and talk without tiring "till doomfday. They ate infinitely flipre chearful and lively • ""- •' ' ¦'¦' than M A N " N E R S. 107 than any thing we corrimonly fee in England, having nothing of that incivility of fullen filence, with which fo many Eng- jiihrhen-feem to wrap themfelves up, as if retiring within their own importance. Lazy to an excefs at work, but fo fpiritedly active at play, that at hurling, which is the cricket of favag-es, they fhew the greateft feats of agility. Their love of fociety -is as remarkable as their curiofity is infatiable ; and their hof- pitality to all comers, be their own poverty ever fo pinchinjg, has too much merit to be forgotten. Pleafed to enjoyment with a joke, or witty reparteej they will repeat it with fuch expreffion, that the laugh will be univerfal. Warm friends and* revengeful enemies ; they are inviolable in their fecrecy, and inevitable in their refentment ; with fuch a notion of ho nour, that neither threat nor reward would induce them to belray the fecret or perfon of a man, though an oppreffor^ whrJie property they would plunder without ceremony. Hard drinkers and quarrelfome ; great liars, but civil, fiibmiffive and obedient. Daricing is fo univerfal among them, that there are every where itinerant diancing-mafters, to whom the cot tars pay fixpence a quarter for teaching their families. Be fides the Irifh jigj which they can dance With a moft luxuriant expreffion, minuets arid country dances are taught ; and I even heard fbme talk 0/ cotillons coming in. Some degree of education is alfo general ; hedge fchools,as they are called (they might as well be terriied ditch ones.for J have feen_.many a ditch full of fcholars) are every where to be met withi where leading and writing are taught; fchools are alio common for men.; I have feen a dozen great-fellows at fchbol, and was told they were educating with an intention of being priefts. Many ftrokes in their character are evidently to be af- cribed to the extreme oppreffion under which they live. If they are as great thieves and liars as they are reported, it is certainly owing to this caufe. If from the loweft clafs we rife to the higheft, all there is gaiety, pleafure, luxury and extravagance ; the town life at Dublin is formed on the model of that of London. Every night in the winter there is a ball or a party, where the polite circle meet, not to enjoy but to fweat each other ; a great crowd crammed into twenty feet fquare gives a zeft to the agreements of fmall talk and whift. There are four or five houles large enough to receive a company commodioufly, but the reft are fo fmall as to make parties deteftable. There is however, an agreeable fociety in Dublin, in which a man of large fortune will not find his time heavy. The ftile of living may be guef- fed from the fortunes of the refident nobility and great com-. moners ; there are about thirty that poffefs incomes from feven to twenty thoufand pounds a year. The court has nothing remarkable or fplendid in it, but varies very much, according to' the private fortune or liberality of difpofition in the Lord Lieutenant. " " „ In 108 MANNERS. , In. the country their life has fome circumftances which are not commonly feen in England; Large trafts of land are kept in hand by every body to fupply the deficiencies of markets, this. gives fuch a plenty, that, united with the lownefs of taxes and prices, one would fuppofe it difficult for them to fpend their incomes, if Dublin in the winter did not lend affiftance. •Let it be confidered; that the prices of meat are much lower than in England ; poultry only a fourth of the price j wild fowl and fifh in vatlly greater plenty 5 rum and brandy not half the price; coffee", tea and wines far cheaper; labour not above a third j fervants wages upon an average thirty per cent, cheaper. That taxes are inconfiderable, for there is no land tax, no poor rates, no window tax, no candle or foap tax, only half a wheel tax, no fervants tax, and a variety of other articles heavily burthened in England, but not in Ire land. Confidering all this, one would think they could not fpend their incomes ; they do contrive it however. In this bufinefs they are alfifted by two cuftoms that have an admira ble tendency to it, great numbers of horfes and fervants. The excefs in the latter are in the lower fort : owing, not only to the general Iazinefs, but alfo to the number of atten dants every one of a higher clafs will have ; this is common in great families in England, but in Ireland a man of five hun dred pounds a year feels it'. As to horfes the number is car ried quite to a folly ; in order- to explain this point, I fhall in- fert a table of the demefnes of many of the nobilit/ and gen try, which will fhew not only the number of horfes, but of other cattle, the quantity of land they keep, and other cir cumftances explanatory ol their country life. Names* DEMESNES. 109 Names. Mr., Clements, Col, Marley, •Mr. Rowley, Lord Conyngham, Lord Beftive, . Mr". Gerard, Lord Longford, Mr. Johnfon, -Dun Coote, .General Walfli, Mr. Brown, Mr. Bufhe, Lord Courtown, .General Cuflinghame, Lord Goifoft, Mr. Clofe, Mr. Lefly, Mr. Savsje, Mr. O'Niel, .Mr, Leflie, , < Sir J.. Caldwell, Mr, Corry, Lord Rofs, Lord F^rnham, . ' Mr. Newcomeii, .-*¦',' . Mri Mahon, Mr, Cooper, '",,„, Mr. Brown, Mh'G-ore, ' Lord Altamont, . Mi. Fmneh, -Mr. Xrenohj : Sir Lucius O'Brien, Mr. Fitzgerald, •Mr.- Aldworth, ' " ' Lord Doririeraile, .Colonel Jepfon, Mr. Gordon, " Mr. Jeffries,,. Mr. Trerjt, Lord Shannon,. Mr. Longfield, .. , ¦ Rev. Archd, Oliver, M/-" Herbert, Mr. Bateman, , ^. ' Lord Glendour, • ."' '- Mr. Fitsgergldj '"'' Mr. Leflie, Mr. Olivej, ;i ,, - 'v Mr. Ryves,. Lord ClajiwiHiam, Mr. Macartney, ' Lord 3e Montalr, Mr .,LMoo(re,^ "'.,-¦ Lord Tyrone, ,;'-;, Mr. Bolton, Mr. Nevill, r ', Mr. Lloyd,- - Mr. Holmes, \ :" Mr. Head, Lord Kingiborough, Acres 440 Wood Com. 14 Turn, Cabb. Rent, Lab' rers. 20 Hor fes^ 0.1 Pica Oxen 6 Sbeef <63 40 1.420 aoo 3' n 300 8 4 700 100 S 700 90 456 447 16001200 110 3* «4. 64 3 2000 1300 140 37 100 12 40 44 500 1300 3*0 3* 5 300 20 26 12 100 410 no r» 5 326 9 8 4 200 500 35 8 3 So 3° 35 8 400 700 7' 5 5° 150 800 JOO, 460 8 170' 3.o so 2 330 15 8 7070 300 ,3° 7' 3'5 30 21 12 150 34 375 zo 16 5 7<> jco- 25 3 45° 30 !43 4 46 1 00 *3 , '35 9 10 40 350 100 3* 35° -30 37 20 150 ijo 35' 2 250 32 40 731 60 "57 '7 549 40 68 44 500 101 790 50 46 a4 80 . 700, 300 4i 11 900 1000 68 900 120. ( 500 95° 125 30 30 120 100a 200 Si 10 • 806 IOO (08 44 485 400^ 40 18 I IOO IOO 60 840 20 30 500 1000 360" 44 8 60 25 12 130 370 .. »?. IO 30 300 3300 I6b 6 2JI0 120 170 5080 J 500 tio IOOO IOO 70 ' 4p 400 1790 1046 252 ' ss IOO io 14 444 IOO '3 600 80 45 IO 980 399 30 •47 560 60 26 II 138 3000 2000 26 54 18 1800 1 170 600 550 ra IOIO 33 16 500 1400 200. 200 5 1500 60 54 ,40 400 300. 35 900 4-4 140 9'5 114 700 45 •3 •5 187 3°4 10- 300 >, 3a 200 138 24 cn '3 11 s 400 . 1600 *68 8t 1C.0O 132 36 470 1 1 00 i 78 800 20" «5 '4 200, 900 136 1 6 650 5° *5 21 100 1300 780 400 18 '30 300 250 5 250 .30 60 1000 IOO 55 1000 50 400 200 .23 3 zoo 21 8 60 150 5° 27. 230 44 -6 . 60 500 IOO 24 10 500 5o 30 10 . 125 300 * 1 25 -45° 6 20 300 640 .,1u .34, 8 600 30 ,4o 600 9000 10,000 170 180 "Bo" 8600 1 360 300 1 ' 1 75 40 40 151S0 : 600 17 . < , U55 iooo ' n 00 1500, 64 , 1200 200 J* 48 400 ¦ ' 200 - .-.4.8 . ¦ .. ¦ 300 .4° 45 . 6 70 iio 24 ' 35° 22 too 200 IJO 12 '182, ; 54° ' 49 *i' '5 54° 4o 30 »4 590' 45° 16 27 - 675 20 400 600 IOO 30 5 40c 100 40 200 ito MANNERS and- CUSTOMS. The intelligent readej will colleft fcteoeihing move than: mere c«ribfity from .this, table ; -it will' neeefiiw41y--ftr-ike him, that a country refidence! in jrelaftd' demands a much larger quantity of lapd' in, hand thap 'in England, from which might be defaced, if not from any thing elfe, how much baekwardi- er the! former is than the latter; where markets-are wanting every thing muft : be had at home, a cafe ftronger ftill in Airf. . rica. In England 'fuch extenfive demefries would-be parks: ground the' feats fpjr beauty as much, as .ufe, but it, isinot fo in Ireland'; T the' words dee]r-park and demefne are to be-diftiri- ,guifh4d ; jthere are great derne'fnes without any=parks, but a Waftt of tafte,' too common in Ireland, is haying a deer-park at si diftance from thp houfi? ; the residence furjroundedj.by walls.,; or hedges, or cabbins ; and tfie lawn enclofure fcattered with d*niriia|st.of various forts, perhaps three- miles off. The ftnall quantity of corn proportipnerj to the total acres, fhewshow lit tle tillage is attended to even fey thofe who'are'the beft able to carry it on ; and) th,e column of turneps prqses, in. the cleareft manner, what the progrefs1 of improvement. is: in! that kingdom. The~ number' of horfes may alijrioft bfe eftbemed; a , fatife ;upop common fenfe ; were they; well fed enough to be ufeftil, they would not be , fo nurriefpus, ljut I hay e found a good hack fotj a comtriori ride,' fcarce in si houfe.rwfeese- there Were a hundred. U;pr>n an average,; tlie hcjrfes in gentlemen's ftables, throughout the kingdom, are ndt fed half- fo wpllas they are in England by men of equal fortune j yet' fte hum-. ber rriakes the expenee'of them yery heavy. t , „,,,,., R. Another circumftance to be remarked in the courttny life is the miferablenefs of tnariy of their hqtifes- ; there, are tneti pf five thoufand a year in Ireland; who live in haTb'itktib'H's tha^ a' man of feven hundred a year in England would "difdain ;!an air of neatnefs, order, drefs, and propretc, is wanting to a fur- prizing degree around the tnanfion ; even new and'; excellent houfes have often nothing of this abopt them. But the bad- nefs of the hpufes 'is remedying every hour throughout the, whole kingdom., fqr the number "pf new ones |uft,,biiilt, or building, is, prod igioufly great, I fhould, fuppofei there were not ten dwellings in the kingdom thirty years ago that were fit for an Englifh pig to live in. Gardens were equally b^d, but now they ;are running into the contrary extrerr/g, arid wall; in five, fix, ten, and e'vejn twenty Irifh «cres for a garden, ljut generally double or treble what is neceffary. i Thetables of people of fortune are very plentifully fpread ; many elegantly, differing , in nothing fr'om thofe pf England. 1 think I remarked that venifon wants the flavour' it" has, with! lis, probably for the fame reafon, tb, at the produce of rich parks is never equal to that of-poor ones ; the moifture'bf the climate,-and the richnefs, of the foil, give fat but Tlbt flavojir. Another reafdn'is the fnjallnefs'of the parks, a maif, who has three or fpun thoufand acres in h'is hjands, has not, perhaps, above three or flour hijndred.jfl. fais deer park, ,andf-rarsge; .M.A'NNE.RS and ;C.IiaTOMS. j» is a great point for good Ve-njfbfi; -Nor do I think that garden vegetables haveth'e flavour found in thofe ofEngland, certain ly owing to the climate; green peas I found everywhere per'feaiy infipid, and lettuce, &c. not good.' Claret is the common wine of all tables,' and fo much inferior to what is drank in England, that it does not appear to be the- fame wine, but their port is incomparable, fo much better! than the Eng lifh; as to prove, if proof was wanting, the abominable adul- rerations it nvuft'tindergo with us. Drinking and duelling are two charges which ha-ve 'long been alledged againft tile gen tlemen of Ireland, but the change of manners which has taken place in that kingdom- is not generally known in England. Drunkennefs ought no longer to he a. reproach, for at every table I was at in Ireland I faw perfeft freedom reign, every perfon drank* jiift as4"ittle as 'they pleafed, riar have lever, been diked to'drink a fingle glafs more thanlhad an inclination for >; I may go farther, and -affert that haird- drinking is .very rare among people of fortune"; yet it is certain that they fit much longer at tablethan in England/ I-was. much furpriaed, at firft gpin'g over to find no fummons to coffee, the company often fitting till eight, nine, or ten o'clock before fh'ey.went to the ladies. If a gentleman likes tea or poffee, he retires without faying any thing, a ftranger of rank may propofe ir to the mafter of the houfe, who from cuftom contrary to lhat of England-, will not ftir- till- he receives fuch a hint, as they think it would imply a id'efire to fave their wine. If the gentlemen were generally defirous of tea I take it for granted they would have- it,1 but their flighting is one inconvenience to fuch as defire it, not knowing when it is provided, converfation may carry them beyond1 the time, and then if they, do trifle over the coffee it will certainly be cold. There is a want of atten tion in this, which .the- ladies fhould remedy, if they will not break the1 old cuftom' and fend to the gentlemen, which is what they ought to do, they certainly fhould have a falver fneih. I rnuft however remark; that' at the politeft tables', which- are thofe of people wbo have refided much out of Ireland, this point. is conducted exactly as it is in England. Duelling was once carried to an excefs, which was a real re.- proach arid' fcandal to the kingdom ; it of courfe proceeded from exceflive drinking ; as the caufe has difappeared, the effect has nearly followed : h'ot, hdw-ever, entirely, for it is yet far more common amongpeople of fafliion than in England. Of all practices' a man 'who felt for the honour =of his country, would wifh fooneft to banifh this, for there is not one favour able conclufion to be drawn from it : as to courage nobpdy can queftion that of a polite and enlightened nation, entitled tp a fhaTeof the reputation of" the age; but it implies uncivi lized manners, an' ignorance of thofje foftns which govern po lite focieties, or elfe a brutal drunkennefs ; the latter is no- longer the caufe of the pretence. As to the fo.rrji.eJV they would place -the national character fo backward, would- ,tajkp • i.i2 M A N-NER,S . a nd C US TOM S, from it fo much of its pretence to civilization, elegance and po- J&tenefs of manners, tthat.rio true Irifhman would bepleafed with the imputation: Certain it is, that none are fo captious as ¦;thofe wh6.tnirijt.rriemfelives. neglected ordefpi.fed s and none are fo readyjto believe 'themfelves either, one or the other, as per- , fans unuffed to good company. Captious people, therefore, whp are ready to take an affront, muft inevitably have been accuf- lomed.to. ill company, unlefs there fhould be fomething uncom,- naonly crooked in th'eir riatural difpofitlons, which is not to-be fuppofed. Let, every, man that fights his.orie, two, three, or half a dozen duels,- receive it asa maxim, that every one he adds to the number is but an additional proof of his being iljl educa ted, and having vitiated bis manners: by the contagion pf bad company ; who is it, that can reckon the mqft numerous rencoun- teis?"who but the bucks, bloods, landjobbers, and little drunk en country gentlernen ? , Ought not people of faihion to bliifh at a, practice which, will very foon be the diftinftion only of the moft contemptibleipf the people ? the point of honour will and muft remain for theldecifion of certain affronts, but it will rarely be had recourfeto in polite,, fenfible, and WeH bred com pany. The praftice among real .gentlemen in Ireland every day declining is a ftrong proof, that a:knovsrled_ge of the .world corrects the okfmannersj and confequently its having ever,bee,n prevalent was owing to the caufes„to which I have attributed, it. There is another point of manners fornewhatconnectedwith the prefent fubjeft, which partly induced me to place a motto a( the head of this fection.i It is the conduct of juries ; the, criminal law of Ireland is the fame as that of England, but in the exe-r cution it is fo different, asfcarcelytobe known. I believe jt is a fact, a.t leaft I have been affured fo, that no man was ever, hanged inlreland fort-killing another in a duel : the fecurity is ¦fuch that nobody ever thought of removing out of the way.of juftice, yet there have beeri deaths of that fort, which had.no •more to do with ^'honour, than ftabbing in the dark. I ,be^ lieve Ireland 'is theonlyiconntry in Europe, I am fure it is, fhe only part of tbeBritifh dominions, where afloci'ations among men of fortune are neceffary for apprehending ravifhers. Ii is fcarce ly credible how many:young women, have even of late years been ravifhed, and carried off in Order (as they generally have fortunes) to gain to appearance a voluntary marriage.. Thefe "actions it is true are not committed; by the clafs I am confider- ingat prefent;;ibut they are tried by them, and ac qjji tt ed, I think- there has been only one man. executed for, that cringe, which is to common as to occafion the affociatipns 1 mentioned J - it is to this fupine execution ofthe law that fuch enormitifs.are owing. Another circumftance which has the effeft of fcreening ¦ai-l-forts of offenders, :is men of fortune protefting them^, and making intereft for rheir acquittal,, which is attended w^th a variety of evil confequences. I'heardit boafted* in the county of 'Fermanagh, that there had not been a man hanged in it for two and twenty years: all- 1 concluded , from this .was^'that there had been many a jury who deferved it richly. Let , MANNERS. 113 Let me, however, conclude what I have to obferve on the conduft of the principal people refiding in Ireland, that.there are^ great numbers among them who are as liberal in all their ideas as any people in Europe ; that they have feen the errors which have given an ill charafter. to the manners of their country, and done every thing that example could effeft t6 produce a change : that that happy change has been partly effected, and is effecting every hour, infdmuch that a man may go into a vaft variety of families which he will find actuated , by no other principles than thofe ofthe. moft cultivated polite- nefs, and the moft liberal urbanity. But I muft- now come to another clafs of people, to whofe conduft it is almoft entirely owing, . that the charafter of the nation has not that luftre abroad, which I dare affert, it will foon very generally merit : this is the clafs of little country gentlemen * ; tenants, who drink their claret by means of profit rents ; jobbers in farms ; bucks ; your fellows with round hats, edged with gold, who hunt in the day, get drunk in the evening, and fight the "next morning. I fhall not dwell on a fubjeft fo perfeftly difagreeable, but remark that thefe are the men among whom drinking, wrangling, quar reling, fighting, ravifliing, &c. &c. &c. are found as in their native foil ; once to a degree that made them the peft of fo ciety ; they arc growing better, but even now, one or two of them got by accident (where they have no bufinefs) into bet ter company are fufficient very much to derange the pleafures that refuit from a liberal converfation. A new fpirit ; new fafhions ; new modes of politenefs exhibited by the higher ranks are imitated by the lower, which' will, it is to be hoped, put an end to this race of beings ; arid either drive their fons and coufins into the army or navy, or fink them into plain farmers like thofe we have in England, where it is common to fee men with much greater property without pretending to be gentlemen. I repeat it from the intelligence I receiv ed, that even this clafs are very different from what they were twenty years ago, and improve fo faft that the time will foon come when the national charafter will not be de graded by any fet. That charafter is upon the Whole- refpeftable : it would be unfair1 to attribute to the nation at large the vices and fol lies of only one clafs of individuals. Thofe perfons from whom it is candid to take a general eftimate do credit to their country. That they are a people learned, lively and in genious • the admirable authors they have produced will be Vol.11. H' an * This expreffion is not to le taken in a general fenfe. God for- ' I fhould give this charatler of all country gentlemen of fmall # bid. _ fortunes in Ireland : 1 have myfelf been acquainted with exceptions. —I mean only that in general they are not the moft liberal people in the kingdom. ii4 c ° R N TRADE. an eternal monument,- witnefs their Swift, Sterne, Congreve, Boyle, Berkeley, Steele," Farquhar, Southern, and Goldfmith. Their talent for eloquence is felt, and acknowledged in the parliaments of both the kingdoms. ^Our own fervice both by fea and land, as well as that (unfortunately for us) of ¦ the principal monarchies of Europe fpeak their fteady and determined Courage. Every unprejudiced traveller who vi- fits them will be as-.mucb pleafed with their chearfulnefs, as obliged byj their hofpitality : and will find them a brave,- polite, and liberal people. SECTION XVIII. Corn- Trade of Ireland. Bounty on inland Carriage. THE police of corn in Ireland is almoft confined to one of the moft Angular meafures that have any where been adopted, which is giving a bounty on the inland carriage of corn from all parts of the kingdom, to the capital. Before it is fully explained it will be neceffary to ftate the'motives that ,were the inducement to it. Dublin, it was afferted from the peculiarity of its fituation, on the eaftern extremity without any inland navigations lead ing to it, was found to be in point of confumption more an Englifh than an Irifh city, in corn almoft as much as in coals. The import of corn" and flour drained the kingdom of great fums at the fame time that the fupply was uncertain arid pre carious. It was farther afferted that tillage was exceedingly neglefted in Ireland, to the impoverifhment of the kingdom, and. the mifery of the poor. That if fome meafure could be ftruck out at once to remedy thofe two evils, it would be of Angular advantage to the community. This reafoning furnifhed the hint to a gentleman of very confiderable abilities,, now high in office, there to plan the meafure 1 am fpeaking of. It has been perfefted by repeat ed afts giving a bounty on 5 Cwt. or 40 ftone Flour threepence per mile. ditto — ditto Malt two-pence fe'alfp. ditto. ditto — ditto Wheat three-halfpence ditto. ditto — - ditto Oats one penny ditto. ditto — ¦ ditto Bere three-halfpence ditto. ditto — ditto Barley three-halfpence ditto. *¦ ' I* Oatmeal the fame as oa^s ; the ten firft miles from Dublin deducted, it amounts, as has been found by experience, to near twenty per cent, more for flour than the real expenfe of carriage, and one and a half per cent, more for wheat. In confequence of this aft many of the fineft mills for grinding ¦i ' corn CORN TRADE. 115 corn that are to be found in the world were erefted, fome of Which Haye been built upon fuch a fcale, as to have coft near 20,000 1. The effeft haS , been confiderable in extending til lage, and great , quantities of the produce are carried to Dublin. Before I offer any obfervations on this fyftem, it; will be neceffary to infert fuch tables as are neceffary to ex plain the extent, effeft, and expenfe of the meafure which took place jn 1762, and in 1776 and 7, arofe to above 6o,ooal. In order to fee what the import was before that period, and alfo what it was before ,the bounty was in full fway, as well as fince, the following table will have its ufe. IMPORT of CORN and FLOUR. Barley and malt. Wheat. Flour. Year 1744 $rs. $/-,. Ct. 2P,977 2,450 329 •745 «J.3°S 6,34a 24,708 1746 138,934 129,190 110,832 '747 85,316 28>973 37,190 1748 29,015 - 3>4°2 1749 Average, Value, £ Year 1750 39,«2' 8,720 29,492 30,50a 5' .023 37,368 '5 1,023 44.238 16,275 18,684 44,836 5°,637 1751 47,58i 20,317 60,985 j 752 69,861 30,425 78,282 , '753 61,927 18,195 63,527 ' "754 109,539 39,635 9I>583 »755 99,386 57,699 89,015 1756 Average, Value, £ 78,061 73,027 73,027- 20,412 28,994 7i,343 72,196 43>49« 36,098 Barley and Malt. Quantity. Value. Year 1757 .758 17591766 1761 1762 '763 Quantity. Value qrs 59,354 38,'23 6,071 34,678 30,208 37»5°o 44,26444,264 Wheat. 1. 59.354 38,«23 6,071 34,67830,208 37>5oo,7»'„29 qrs 3',727,850 4,718 3>6972,427 Average, 735,74235.743 22,655 Ha 15-74' I, 47,5674-W775 7,078 5,546 3.641 25,69433.9g2 Flmr. Quantity. Value. C. 55.975 23,612 1. 27.978 72,-49QJ36,24527,258)13,6293o,o93ji 5,046 30,98^15,49151,52225,761 57,04828,524 46,48 1 '23,382 u6 CORN TRADE- IMPORT of CORN and FLOUR. Barley &f Malt. Wheat. | Flour. j Quant. Value. Quant. Value. Quant. Value. 1. qrs. 1. , ,qrs. 1. Ciut. Year 1764 3L587 3'.587 25,763 38.645 t'o8,209 54,104 1765 -48,854 48,854 10,529 15.794 67,409 33,7°4 1766 40,356 40,356 14,130 21,196 81,371 40,685 1767 30,681 30,681 39.456 59,184 58,182 29,091 '-; 1768 5,684 5,684 1 1,802 17,704 22,600 11,300! 1769 4,759 5>948 2,199 3.299 '5.447 7*7*3' 1770 Average, Year 1771 35,5'4 44,392 -29,643 43,532 21,059 53,448 87,065 86,776 52,065 . . 1 28,205 34,698 62,856 ,;l 32,667 55,626 69.525 106,897 125,321 1 7S''93 I772 22,372 27,965 12,163 24,327 47.754 28,652 1773 6,970 8,712 2,861 5.722 10,306 6,18.3 1774 189 236 4,104 8,893 23.465 14,079 *775 656 820 3,235. 7,009 28,902 17.34'^ 1776 7.857 8,643 ' 7.54? '6,353 26,292 '5)775 !777 Average, 43> «°i. 47,45i 23,330 3-457 12,402 7,49c 69,838 4i.9D5 19,538 25,242 47.697 28,446^ BARLEY and MALT. Value.. ! Average import of the Qrs. 1. j Firft period, — — 51.023 , 51,023 Second ditto, 73.027 73,027 Third ditto. • 35.742 35-743 Fourth ditto, — - 28,205 29.643 Fifth ditto, — — 19.538 23,330 W H E 'A T. . Value.) Average of the Qrs. I. -1 Firft period,' 29,492 — 44238 Second ditto, 28,994 — 43,491 Third ditto, •5.741 — 23,612 Fourth ditto, 21,059 - 34.698 Fifth ditto, — — 1 1,40a — 25,241, * M S. Communicated ly the Right Hon. John Beresford, firft cotnmijjioner of the revenue in Ireland. FLOUR- 1 CORN TRADE, F L OUR. Average of the Firft period, Second ditto, Third ditto, Fourth ditto, Fifth ditto, Cvot. 37.368 72,196 46,481 62,856 47.697 117 Value. 1. 18,684 36,09823,38a 32,66728,446 1. Average value of the three commodities J t. c. in the three firft. periods — \ ~~ 116,43b Ditto of the two laft, 71.013 The import iri the laft fourteen years is \ ~ 45,423 lefs than in the preceding twenty, by \* Import of the fourth period ¦ ,. 97,008 ~'tto of the fifth, being the period in " which the bounty hath taken full effeft, Ditto of the fifth, being the period in J „ i,i - 77.o.8 Difference, ; — — — 19,990 Thefe authentic comparifons differ moft furprizingly from the affertions that have been made to me in converfation. I' was led to believe that Dublin was no longer fed with Englifh corn and flour, and that the difference of the import fince the bounty took effeft was not lefs than 200,0001. a year. What thofe affertions could mean is to me perfeftly senigmati- cal. Have the gentlemen who are faft friends to this meafure, never taken the trouble to examine thefe papers ? Has the bufinefs ' been fo often before parliament, and committees of parliament, without having been particularly fifted ? We here find that the import into Ireland of foreign barley and malt, wheat and flower have leffened in the laft feven years, compared with the preceding feven years, no more than to the amount of about 2o,oool. I read with attention the re port of Mr. Forfter's committee in 1 774, the purport of which Was to eftablifh the principles whereon this bounty was given, but as the whole of that performance turns on a comparifon of fifteen years before 1758, and fifteen years after, though itfelf contains a declaration (page 7) that "the great effect of the meafure then concerned only the three laft years, very lit tle infomation of confequence is to be drawn from it, fince it affigns a merit to the meafure while it admits none could flow from it ; nor does the whole report contain one fyllable of the decreafe in the export of pafturage, which ought to have H 3 been nS C O R N T R A D E. been minutely examined. But in order that we may have the whole corn trade before us, let me infert- the import of other forts of corn. Wheat Meal. Oatmeal. Beans & Peafe. Oats. Quant. Value. Quant. Value. Quant. Value. Quant. Value. Barrels. 1. Barrels. J. Qrs. 1. Qrs. 1. Year 1757 ' 4,677 '.559 425 382 1758 4,038 i,346 647 582 5.985 3,591' '759 10 3 269 242 59 35 1760 9 11 410 ' 369 72 43 1 761 2«5 256 56 ' 33- 1762 95 lip 1,181 393 497 447 9 5 i7«3 Average, Year 1764 23 20 7,9H 2,637 366 329 18 22 2.545 848 414 373 883 529 M3<> 1,420 55 18 543 489 '39 83 ' 17S5 46 57 868 781 1766 -417 5*' 520 '73 579 52i . 744 446 1767 9.659 12,074 740 246 689 620 2,854 1,712 1768 5,35i 6,689 '389 35o 950 •570- 1765 1,023 1,278 453 453 "5 74 1770 Average, Year 1771 1,854 2,781 104 3* 752 752 - 44 28 .416 •',355 3.546 202 67 610 566 692 3,6«6 5.5^1) 14.625 5. "9 ¦',356 2>356 1,820 1,274 1772 2,004 4,356 '3.599 4.759 836 K36 .35' 246 "773 782 M73 ',495 523 428 428 56 39 1774 759 1,138 430 15° 481 602 333 250 '775 1,600 2,400 1,171 410 1,110 1,388 4 - 3 1776 682 1,023 781 976 24 18 1777, Average, 36 4« ',558 545 6,305 i,757 7,882 3«7 290 1, 402 2,238 4.695 1,644 2,067 425 303* Value bf the import per annum of J thefe articles in the laft feven years, J Ditto in the preceding feven years,- ; Increafe, I. 6,252 4. 595 1,657 Here therefore we find that inftead of a decreafe in the im port the contrary has taken place. Recapitulation of the total Value of Corn, Flour, &c; imported. Is . * MS. communicated by the Flight Hon. Ifaac Barre. CORN TRADE. 119 Intheyear 1757 - 136,860 Intheyear 1764 -'"126,346 •758 - iai,66a 1765 - 98,190 '759 - 27,058 1766 - 103,898 1760 - 55,654 1767 - 133,608 1761 - 49,629 1768 - 42,297 1762 - 89,919 1769 - 18,776 1763 - 109,765 1770 -* 187,1 19 Average of 7 years, 84,369 Average of 7 years, 101,604 >• 1. Intheyear 1771 - 265, 897* Intheyear 1775 - 29,371 1 1772 - 91,141 1776 - 42,788 1773 - 22,780 1777 - 105,559 1774 " . 25,348 Average of feven years - 84,697 1. Second period, ¦ ¦ '101,6 Laft feven years, '— — 84,907' Decreafe, — 16,907 Here is the refuit of the whole import account ; the balance of which in favour of the nation is no more than this trifling fum of fixteen thoufand pounds. The account however muft be farther examined ; we muft take the export fide of the queftion, for there has been an export notwithftanding this f' reaf import. We fee fomething of this in the regifter of our nglifh corn trade, where is a confiderable fpeculative com merce in corn ; but as no fuch thing exifts in Ireland, where the corn trade is a fimple import of a neceffary of life, it is a little furprizing if any great export appears. Let us however examine the account. . - • The Dublin Society viere not very accurate, when in their pe tition to parliament they fet forth, that in two years preceding 1 7 7 1 , ' the import amounted to upwards of 6oo,oool. VALUE 120 CORN TRADE. w O w o u < O • i «n <*¦ et 0\\f*> *» m j.^-w^a^chin** ,1" ro' ?-< ro — Os ei * so SO Oh «*¦ rv. O O 00 O '^ WtN ¦^¦SO 3b 1- \i% Tf ¦*¦ m c« 3DCC vi et OS Ch - N CO tt- 0\ CH OS Ch c* \t> CO O SO 0 CO -* «^ct o( —CO "T 0> Ch •* coSO c^ O SC^ J& SOr co co o\to "• 0 CO 4 vo Si o os vi *-oo' ¦<*• - ^¦1 so NO\wnnrs >0 ' VC rt ct h. m r ?J 2 coj to ov n s (J) 1 ' ¦— !- " _. ' vo-voovooo* 5 *- 1 . r*. m m « - toco fti 1 , - o\d •- 0 f>.vo olol^oo ovo OS't^- CO -^ O CO 0\00 -^-l CM Ch ¦*" ¦=»* O ¦*«*¦-. m 0 nhod moo loo | ^j- c» O ^»ts» 1^. »« 0\ — V> tC 0> rnl ml 0 O >h CO O\Q0 in O OS d 00 et 0 «*> "* _S - t^O\mr-» to m vo CO V> e* e» O fO tntOrt et -, / ct ct SO SO » tflO Q V> 0 « c» « WNN CO 0 y >» Xi ¦0 £) ¦ • ; Ch1 Os t-* in ** ¦* ¦•*¦ ws et Ch «h ^t ct ct O ^ ^ .M m O^ ¦* m ro OsCO CO SO cty '5 i s0V w u 3 .K. ThO m r^~ to -fr _j 0 win >- <-* *0 eT O0 ^¦ftw ,ct et ° Od ct ¦^- -^ inoo 'tioeo o\ r- ct vo 0 v* So coco et N ?< „« -»t - co 0 vo' tO ct ct CO0 - ro en Sc CO OO uim ct SO cr» CO z*> "*t" r*N. 0 Oi J i> t— in co -rf in 1 io .3 V 2 *ij! ' \n OuOO 1- co O co q*!-5 ct mrsvfiNH 00 CO NN (t COCO 6 P^SOX co _, ro tt ct ct co coin^MCOco •*l -¦ co inSo ct no <* — j « w et to ro O cu M PS 1 OO - coso ° **! *M ¦* ^.^oo 0»,tJ- 0 SO^et CO coco CO ..n- J 0\ Op -\Q tvjO 0 d 1 Ch _; ro ¦- et ct S0 Vo co] O JVo ^rt,! co -ef CM f* ~ in co el( - •* -*| ^?>|Vo toso Ch Os. ei | « tso\o O r-oo « - r-- v> co ^so — c» O ct to roSO 0\ co'M- 0 iswitric. , *. « co et ^t ^t Chin M 4> 0 ull >? 0] » V i c ^; pio« 0 owoi- *£, ' - H rf « H V) (S W SO VO ct co *^.^| in «n» \n rf% ¦ m « it, n CO O^ O « Ct J ^f « M SO «| M O So in tJ- in et. CO - m SO CO CO in ct s GO wco A m eoso v • Jn. et « m inOO 0 ~* •* co moo co «- 5 JJO it ' 0 OO so r* 1-1 ^ 0 i^.So rO 0\00 1-1 SO so '5- coSo 00 ro co in r- m ct •«*¦ « «¦*. « * -^-lO t-wel ct r > **¦ 1 ° I- -if **¦ r-vo — et ^* t ¦ej- PO r»- O "^" "t1 n _ , tnO t> O\co r- Sq ct ro ct *- e Y u 1 c - CO % v* -^ ?! in mso ) W Nh O CO \£ r^co i>. c* -* c - op efiocT - sc CO ON rh u-i 1^. -t O ^ O » O d N'u ¦- "H t-. ^}- COCO CO h in tf M N K t £• 2- E- £ ^ •! * *- *- «- *- ^ K £ £ £ K £ £ fc £ i i* < Ix ¦§ >. 'i C O R N T R A D E. i*i 1. Exported in the laft feven years per annum,* — 64,871 Ditto in the feven preceding, — — '•" 36,299 Increafe, — 28,572 But as the preceding table includes the export from all the ports in the kingdom, I have inferted it as an objeft of general information, not fis immediately neceffary to the enquiry be fore us, which concerns the port of Dublin only. A meafure which draws the corn to that capital from all tiie ports in the kingdom, can never promote an export from them, but mull operate in a contrary manner: for this reafon I have drawa the export of the port of Dubliit from the general tables for twenty-one years, and find the averages of the three periods, each of feven years, to be in value as follows : the table itfelf is too voluminous to infert.* • * 1. s.d. Exported in the firft feven years, per annum, — 2692 5 o — ' ¦ fecond ditto, ¦ — 3978 z o • ____— laft ditto, ' — — 755o 9 a The laft period greater than the preceding by, 3572 70 Which fum is the profit to be carried to the account ofthe inland carriage bounty. I muft here obferve, that there was a bounty given on ex portation, which took -place the 24th of June, 1774. viz- 3s. 2d. on the quarter of wheat, ground wheat, meal, or wheat flour. 2s. 4d. on the quarter of rye, peafe or beans ground or unground. is. 3d. on the quarter of oats, which aft declares the half quarter of wheat, rye,' peafe, beans, meal, &c. fhall be 2241b. barley and malt were left put to cal ibre the afts pafling in England." The following feflions an additional duty on the import was laid of 25. a barrel on all wheat, and -is. per hundred weight on all flour, meal, bread, and bifcuit, except of the •produce pf or manufafture of Great Britain, to be levied when the middle price of wheat at the port where imported fhall exceed 23s. Englifh, the barrel of 28olb. The old duty on wheat was 2d. .per barrel ; on flour is, from all ports, Great Britain included. 1. Decreafe in the import of the laft feven years, — 1 6,907 Increafe in the export from Dublin, — 3»57z Total gain per ann. according tb this account in the 7 -0 . 70 laft feven years, -r, J '"*'" The reader is not to imagine from hence, that the corn trade of Ireland yields a balance of profit; the advantage to be attributed to the bounty from this account is only a leffening of lofs, as will appear from the following ftate of export and import over the whole kingdom. r IMPORT t22 CORN TRADE. IMPORT and EXPORT COMPARED in VALUE. Import. Export. Balance profit. Balance] lofs. 1. •1. 1. I. , Year 1757 136,86c 12,105 '24.755 1758 1 2 1 ,662 I3>IP4 108,558 »75:9 27,058 31,642 4.584 1760 55.694 J3>539 ' ' 42. 1 55 i 1 761 49,629 1 1 ,927 37,702 .1762 89,919 ' 9.54* 8o.377 1763 109,762 ,12,403 97.359 Average, 84,369 14,894 654 70,129 Year 1764 1 26,346 18,868 107,478 1765 99,190 28,149 ' 7 ',.04' 1766 103,898 35.557 68,341 1767 133,608 447 133,161 1768 42,297 42,470 173 1769 18,776 99,340 80,564 1770 187,119 29,268 •57.851 Average, 101,604 36,299 "»SJ3 76,838 Year 1771 265,897 >4'326 261,571 1772 91,141 37,616 53.525 '773 22,788 3 • .280 8.493 v »774 25,348 96,048 70,700 •775 29,371 65,894 36.523 1776 42,788 114,297 71,509 1 777J1 05,559 1 04,642 917 Average, 83,-270 64,87-1 26,746 45.H4 ¦ .76.838 ".533 6S.3°5 45>I44 26,746 . 18,398 It re a reduftiori of the lofs of 65,0001. down to i8,oodl. Having thus discovered the advantage of the meafure, let us in the next place examine, at what expenfe this benefit has been Obtained: The following table (hews the payments of the bounty to each county ; the totals ; the ftones of corii, and the cwts, ef flour brought. Lofs per annum in the middle feven years, Gain ditto, ' — Neat lofs per ahhytfl, , — — Lois per annum in the laft feven years, Gain ditto, , ¦ — — Neat lofs per annum, — — jp An ACCOUNT of the gums paid as Bounties on the Inland Carriage of Corn to Dublin. From the beginning to 1777 Antrim, 1761. 1763. 1764. ¦765- 1766. 1767. 1768. 1769. 1. J. 1. 1. ' 1. 1. 1. 1. 41 Armagh, 1 Carlour,Cavan,. 160 161 *i8 '- 94 15 '5i 59 "97 5 849 Clare, 1 3'. 907 25 >33 Cork, Donegal, 83 133 587 Dublin, 4 Fermanagh, Galway, 50 Ii r©7 3^7 345 18 178 5*8 303 Kiidare, 748 614 518 387 44°" . 3»8 2,304 •Kilkenny, 2,079 i-,507 2,647 2,719 4,506 3,172, ^ 5-7" 9?z94 King'sLeitrim, Limerick, -Longford, ¦Louth, 447 3 327 461 5 1* 5M 685 47 . 3 380 1.383 3« 2 133 772 16 620 669 8 544 , 304 78 I,2°7 41 799 5.341 42 Ma-yo, a 7 11 6 61 •Meath, 'Monaghan, 506 42.1 39°" 303 "67 461 i.3'4 2,567 Queen's "Rofcommon, 651 13 707 6 75« 105 59« 312 S97J59 48 1,085 346 2,308 ^53 Sirgo, 9 14 8 119 93 226 Tipperary, Waterford, 191 210 70 232 339 17? 338 806 Wcftmeath, Wexford, 3333 *530 6261 3'3 45 3*5 143 15 3 6a 910 874 1,166 Wicklow, Totals, 21 55 .35 *5 22 53 124 ^,940 5,096 5.483 6,660 9,212 6,074 13,675 2,148,805 ft.* 25,225 1,730,869 It. 1 i,59»,4l8 «. 1,622,933 ft. 1,409,72,6 it. 11,464,296 ft.* 945,289 It, » 2,608,910 It. 1 . - 107,986 Ct. * Flour included. An ACCOUNT of the Sams paid as Bounties on the Inland Carriage af Corn to Dublin. Continued. . Antrim, 1770. 1771. 1774- _'773- 1774- 1775- 1776. 1777- 467 ' '33 1 7 1. 27 1, 1. 1, t Armagh, 3 4 "* Carlow^ 800 '¦ 4*3 1,025 2,676 2,813 2,425 '.994 2,479 Cavan,- 2 6 8 24 i» : Clare, . 34 4 116 '79 199 '3' '33 Corke, 979 1.399 '.35° 1,491 1 ,902 783 4,200 V 2,350 - Donegal), Dublin,. -300 289 400 488 576 460 469 5'7 Fermanagh, 4 5 Galway, 70 13 45 1 643 812 i,570 1,873 1 ,200 Kiidare, 11,910 2,187 2.939 3,374 2,922 2,603 4,199 3.485 Kilkenny, 8,104 .9.754 18,215 16,279 14,966 14,690 16,316 20,816 King's 624 678 4,243 4,021 2,647 1,75° 3.138 3.'6i Leitrim, 3 I 20 20 3 8 4S _ 17 Limerick, 79 4«3 7'4 '.'34 2,604 3,066 2,773 607 Longford, '43 '5 3'7 *77 170 341 339 3" Louth, 36 - *7 * '63 '3' 66 27 '50 212 Mayo, 4 S »S 214 203 339 201 '57 Meath, 2,158 '.35' *>333 *.4S5 *.733 4,739 3.633 4.594 Monagham, 3 4 '3 66 Queen's '.479 1,781 ' 3.5'J 3,5«4 ¦ 3,5" 3.558 4.056 3.161 Rofcommon, '93 18 59« 958 1,135 1,012 1,892 i.74o Sligo, 201 14 39' 433 388 198. 320 192 Tipperary, 38' 103 2.997 4.563 8,070 10,448 '0.577 9,862 Waterford, no 129 188 46 Weflmeath, 35" 292 877 1,467 1,912 ; '.4i5 2>°4S , 1.562 . Wexford, 495 493 820 «.437 I.74S 2,306 3.172 4.95* Wicklow,r Totals, 81 28 «3 125 204 124 116 3'8 18,706 | 19,290 39,56° 44,465 49,674 53.889 68,745 61,786 ,920,978 ft. ,641,867 ft. 3,146,960 ft. 3,463,199 ft. 3.553.996 ft. 3,211,414 ft. 3,622,076 ft. 3,240,692 ft. 79,350 Cr. 87,965 Ct. 153,139 Cl. 175,177 Ct. 1,90,346 Ct. 213,885 Gt. 255,256 Ct. 3'7,753Ct.% $ Taken from the Journals of the Houfe of Commons, In 1778 the total payment was 71,533 I. and in 1779,67,8641. befides 2,500!. for it coaftwaye, a new bounty. I N Total pay ment in LAND 1. 1764 - 5.483 1765 - 6,660 1766 - 9,212 1767 - 6,074 1768 - •3.675 1769 - 25,225 1770 - 18,706 BOUNTY. Total pay ment in 1771 - 177a-1773 " J7741775 - 1776 - 1777 - 125 i. 19,290 39.56o 44,465 49*674 53.889 60,74561,786 Paid in feven years, 85,038 , ' Paid in feven years, 329,413 Which is, per ann. 12,148 Which is, per ann. 47,059 If therefore the account was to be clofed here, it appears that forty-feven thoufand pounds per annum, have been given of the public money for a gain in the export aud import ac count of corn of twenty thoufand pounds a year. Surely this is paying very dear for it ! — but the account does not end here. From this table the reader finds, that the bqunty has been continually rifing, until it has exceeded fixty thoufand pounds a year. It alfo appears, that the encreafe of tillage has been chiefly in the counties -of Kilkenny, Tipperary,. Carlow, Meath, Kiidare, King's, Wexford, Queen's, and Limerick, as will appear by contrafting the firft and the laft years of thofe counties. . '762 1. 2,079 • 191 160 506 -; 748 Counties, Kilkenny, Tipperary,Carlow,Meath, Kiidare,King's Wexford,Queen's, Rofcommon, 447 33 651 12 1777 1. 20,816 9,862 2.479 4.594 3.4«5 3.»6i 4.9523>'6i 1,740 And Limerick arofe from nothing at all to 2773 1. in the year 1776 ; from hence one fact clearly appears, that the in creafe of 'tillage has by no means been in the poor counties, by breaking up uncultivated lands ; on the contrary, it has been entirely in the richeft counties in the kingdom, which confirms the intelligence I received on the journey, that it was good fheep land that had principally been tilled. The bounty to Tipperary, Carlow, and Rofcommon, once the , greateft flieep counties in Ireland, was infignificant at the beginning of the meafure, but lias at laft become very great. This circumftance,' fo eflential in the fubjeft, renders it abfo- lutely 126' \ PASTURAGE EXPORTS. lutely neceffary to enlarge our enquiry, that we may examine, as well as our materials will permit, whether any national lofs, as well as profit, has refulted from converting fo much rich pafture land into tillage ; and in order to do this,,it will be neceffary to lay before the reader the exports of the pro duce of pafturage from Ireland, during thefe two periods of feven years each, which ferve us for a comparifon. ^ Ul U> \S\ jL, bn- "4, " \o t>>o w covo io m Vo 'to >-« inwOiis cf vo d "* ¦"*" - oo *h. ¦* Q\ O O NiA« C\ d « Tt Cr\CO W *¦• to CO ro O^ ^- h in Oi pr w u a vo d m ro co ro M" c* - CO « « c* ct - c* « / c» O rtf Oh ^4. Ot r*.\AO into **- *-- oo t^to Ovoo in o -§ g- oo vo coco p d -co c4 OAuir*.wi — co ^t* ¦<*¦ few c-^ O N-» mto CO cl o ¦* co ¦* o to O O 5 "0' - »h d « CO c? ~ C* m ii w co, 1-^.co in ¦^¦ 4* c § o | co vo o\ t-*to o ?•« CO •-• VO W>« pt o\'o to c» W. o O **> 0\ e* o\ h md « Oto m O O "^--^to oo vo ¦r^ ¦^•co rt in OS ^" 0 5 H H O « O ^(^ vinwOIO Or* ov CO Ov 0\ ro M in in 0\ 2* . 0\ O to HOO £-*. d w O dto -. « o\00 ON VO *+ ON - e* O co 4 d c» « 61 r^ i « cl w inm^in in^" ^fr- * ¦¦* -^ en ¦* •* in "^i •* ¦ ¦ vo o\ "* co im r-.cn ro d in tf ui o\vo O ¦f 0\0 OO cT Vo *>• ¦* inCO »-( ¦«- O oo roco oo -¦ o — to t*- on o\ p» r* »o^ro OJ « ~ te O oo ¦<*¦ mco »-» r^* d coto >h m -^ ro M ¦* OV in O\oo to « *fl- Cm. d 55 \o c i/ih into « ¦. c* - -+¦ - o N - r- d Cm r-* oo x/i co e* ^'mw 4 rt m cf eT eT rr» >Z cf w d ' ' ' d j| o oo "*to ¦* -^ p\ Vo ' 0\ ON, t-* CO tnvo 0\ to , 0\ VO , r*- CO rOts O — r^ Ovto O » ¦- k.. • to t-> O ^ ^ P* 1ft — O in ov ov ^ ¦- oo O OH d OO ii ¦* -> w Ov m OS o to « r^- io CO -t M O w ^" « d ' *J U-* v 0 r>ro«H _. r** m X h* — i» -*J- in ci co co «' o ¦* d ¦^- r>. O 01 O o " O 00 oo ro o mO r^. v> O w Vo o cooo r^r^to r^to to S J( H « t* « H C( et c* rod « co co d t* el H d- et e( M O d ¦V ' I-..00 o to ** o\\o «* O, 0\ 0\ r(- t-^co o\ o\ O 0\ •-< -^ N inoo f-, WOO CO O OO in CO M 0\0C0 rJ-VO to o\ - c< o\ o\ «-oco t^ o ^ *< oo m 0\to °o *~~* ro O^ c* o\.,t i-os m n tr^ OOB m ^ -vo r^oo OyO i d co ^- into t*«. ui m w jn io wi v> ^o^o ^o^o^a'o n r«. t»» r*» t»*. *-^. r-. i-^ o < ¦ 00 HO 6fj rt rt rt v. — »- S- u E. « m u « «J n Q> > OJ > < t> . *< >* <\* < ao . I 2. q3 M u c * =5 rt. a. The prices of all thefe commodities muft be afcertained, ia order to difcover the increafe or decreafe of value. The cuftom-houfe price of ,beef is il. 6s. 8d. per barrel ; but 1 find that the average price at Waterford, from 1764 to 1776, was 16s. per cwt. or il. 12s. the barrel. The cuftom- houfe rate of butter, is 2I. per cwt. but by the fame authority, I find the real price on the average of the laft fourteen years to be 2I. 5s. 6d. Candles at the cuftom-houfe il. 15s. per cwt. the real price 2I. 10s. Tallow at the cuftom-houfe 2I. the true price 2I. 4s. 6d. Average PRICES of PRODUCTS. 127 Average Price of four and a half hundred Beef pe%r Hundred Weight. s. d. Year 1756 - 12 3 Year 1764 - 1757 - 11 6 - 1765 - 1758 - 12 0 1766 - 1759 - 11 6 1767 - 1760 - 12 6 1768 - 1761 - 12 6 1769 - 1762 - 12 0 1770 - 1763 - 13 0 s. d. 1. s.d. 13 6 Year 1771 - 0 16 6 14 0 1772 ¦ ¦ 0 16 0 16 6 . 1773 ¦ - 0 16 6 17 0 •774 • 0 18 0 13 0 15 0 16 0 17751776 0 18 0 ¦1 00 Average of the laft 13 years, 16 s. Shipping Pricea of Butter, Tallow, Candles, and Pork, in Waterford, from the Year 176410 1777, both inclufive f. Butter per tallow per\ candles per Pork per ' Cvot. c™t. Civt. Barrel. s. ' s. d. s. s. d. s s. d. s. s. d. In the year 1764 43 to 36 0 31 to 30 0 41 1040 0 40 to 39 0 1765 36 -38 0 39 - 40 0 40-41 0; 38-40 0 1766 38 - 36 0 42 - 41 0 47 - 48 0 38 - 39 P 1767 47 - 38 0 43 - 44 0 49 - 5o 0 43-45 0 1768 38-42 6 44-43 ° 51 - 52 0 45 - 48 6 1769 42-53 0 44-450 54-53 0 42-38 0 1770 45 " 48 6 42 - 40 0 54-53 0 41 - 45 q 1771 57-48.0 44-45 ° 53 - 54 0 44 - 46 0 1772 54-48 0 46-52 0 54-56 0 53 -54 « 1773 56-54 0 44-42 8 5« -52 0 58 - 60 0 1774 56-40 0 40-43 0 54-55 0 42 - 45 0 . *775 53 - 44 0 40-41 0 50-51 0 45 - 42 0 1776 53-43 0 41 - 40 0 50-51 0 47 - 49 0 Average, 1777 58-55 0 41-43 0 51 -52 0 66 - 70 0 45 6 ,44 6 50 0 46 6 Thofe are the prices as they appeared at the beginning and at the end of the year. Prices f MS. Communifated by Cornelius Bolton, Efq; member for that eity. tag PASTURAGE EXPORT. Prices of Ox hides of 1 1 2lb. from the Year 1 7 5 6 to 1 776, both' . inclufiye. Year 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1762 ¦ 17631764 176's1766 s. 7 72 1 o22 '918 45 Year 17671768 1-769 •1770 1771 1772 ,1773 1773 '775 1776 s. 6 '8 1 1 8 4 1 3 10 '3 H d. a 6o o o o o©' o a The real price of hides I was 'difappointed jn at Corke, muft therefore take that of the cuftom-houfe, which is il. 13. 4d. tanned, and il. 5s." untanned ; as more of the latter,, I fhall fiippofe, il. 8s. on an average. Of the cows, bullocks, and Stories., I am quite ignorant, fhall therefore guefs them at 5L on an average, Cheefe at the cuftom-houfe il. per cwt. TOTAL EXPORTS of PASTU Firft Period- Export of beef from 1753 to 1759, 162,034 barrels, at il. 12s. per, Ditto butter, 203,569 cwt. at 2I. 5s. 6d. per, Ditto hides, 142,033, at il. 8s. per, Ditto tallow, 22,118 cwt. at 2I. 4s. 6d. per, , Average of the .firft feven years, RAGE, Per annum. 1. 259,25:4 - 463.' '9 1 98,(8-45 - '49'211 970,429 Second Period. Beef from 1764.10 1770, 200,799 barrels, at il. !2s. per, Butter, 281,510 cwt. at 2I. 5s. 6d. per. — Candles, 4284 cwt. at 2I. 1 os. per, Hides, 124,604, at il. 8s. per, ¦ Tallow, 49,976 cwt. at 2I. 4s. 6d. per, — Live ftock, 2,127, atji. per, — '¦ ¦ Cheefe, 3,341 cwt. at il. per, — '-. 321,277 640,434 10,710 174445 11 1,196 10,635' 3.34' Average export of the fecond feven years, — , 1,272,038 Third Period. Beef from 1771 to 1777, 195,605 barrels, at il. 12s. per, — — Batter, 267,212 cwt. at 21. 5. 6d. per, — 312,967 607,907*' Candles, EXPORTS FROM SHEEP." Candles, 2,280 cwt. at 21. 10s. per, . Hides, 121,963, at il. 8s. per, Tallow, 44,919 cwt. at 2I. 4s. 6d. per, Live ftock, 4,040, at 5I. per, : — Cheefe, 2.122 cwt. at il. per, 129 5,916 1 70.747 99.94320,200 2,122 Average export of the laft feven years, — 1,218,902. Second period greater than the firft by- Second period greater than the laft by 301/09 53.»36 The fecond period being greater than the firft by near three hundred thoufand pounds, ^nd Ireland having been .through out all three periods* on the advance in profperity, it follows,' that the increafe fhould have continued, had not fome other reafon interfered, and occafioned, inftead, of -a fimilar increafe. of three" hundred thoufand pounds, a falling off of above fifty thoufand. I cannot fupofe that the increafe of tillage did all this ; 1 fliould fuppofe that impoffible. Moft of thefecdmme- dities are. certainly confumed at home, which perhaps may account for there being no increafe ; but the inGreafe of tillage muft inevitably have had its (hare, and i( is affigfling a very moderate one to it, to fuppofe the amount n,b more than this decre^fe of fifty thoufand pounds a year. We come next to fheep, andthe exports which depend on them. The follow— ng table fhews the whole at one view., Yeari7ff4 1755 1765 1767 1768 1769 177° Average, Yeari77i 1771 - 1773177.4 1775 177? 1777 Average, ! Wool, ftones. 10,148 17,316 21,712 48.73318,521 3,84^2.578 18,976 118 1,04 s' 1,8391,007 1,007 I.PS9 1.734 .415 Value I rVollen valueat Worfted at 14s. | Tarn. I7s6d. yarn. 1. 7,089 11,111 15,105 34 19,964 1,688 1,804 13,183 151 1.43'1,187 704 1,404 7.41 I.H3 99° ftones. 9.991 '•3.45° 7>98o 7.553 11.387 5,oii 3.8338,458 4.4^8 5.947 . 1. 8,742 11,768 e,r 6,603 9,963 4.385 3,353 7,399 3,9°95>a°3 ftones 139,411 149,915 1 51,121 151,940'57,7V 131.364 u7'753 141,8 '39,37s1 1 5,904 94,098 63,910 78,85686,527 U4,7°3 t-'alue at 40 s. 1. 78,824 299,830 304,244 303,880 315,441 262,728 235,506 285,779 278,756 131,808 188,196127,840 '57*792 '73.054 '229,406 'Jdtat ftones. 159,531 180,681.181,824 2o8v,226 197,629 138,216124,164 170,03 1 44,064 123,896 95,937 64,927 80,903 87,586 116,437 Total •value. ,111 101.964)100.413^ J; *94,6S 5 3*3,719326,431344,596 345,369 169,801 240,663306,462 282,817 238,442 189,483128,544159,196 '73.795 130,619 Vol. II. % The quantities taken %£&i and the value added. i>459' ',3°' 99,°6o!i5 I from the Parliament Records of Import and Export^ f36 WOOLLEN EXPORT S. In the laft century the quantity of wool, &c. was much larger, indeed it was fo great, as will appear from the follow ing table, as to form a confiderable; proportion of the' king dom's exports. Tarn. ftones.36,873 55.273 60,108 68,548 53,147- Relative to the prices I have charged, the following table is the authority. Market Prices of Wool in the Fleece, per Stone of fi^teea, pounds; and. of Bay Yarn, per Pack, containing fourteen great Stones, of eighteen pounds each. Wod. Bay Tarn. Wool. Bay Turn. per ft. per pack. per ft. per pack. s. d. 1. s. d. [ ' s. d. 1. s. d. 11 o 26 5 Wool. Yarn. ftones. ftones. Year 1687 256,592 3,668 1.697 217,678 , i'3,48° • 170D 33-6->292 .26,617 1 70-1 302,812 23.39° 1.702. 31 5.473- 43»«4.8 Wool. ¦ / fton.es. Year 1703 360,862 1711 310.136 1714 263,946 '713 171,871 1711 •HT.JSJ Year 1764I766r 1767 1768 1769 17-701771 10 II «3 •3 '3 14. '4 H 13 25 4 \z6 26,1526,1526 15 Wool. per ft. "s. d. Year 1772 * 0 '773 § 0 1774 14 0 i77S 16 0 17.76. 16 6 »777 17 6 Average is nearly 14 0 28 2725 29 303° I 4 8 99 27 4 5 Wool is here- rated at the market price for combing wool-; rpugh in the fleece ; but ao eftimate can be formed from this, upon what has been exported, the fmall quantities whereof liave been for the moft part wool upon fkins or coarfe fells, which muft have come much, lower than; the prices herein, mentioned. Woollen yarn for export has not been an article for fale in- Ireland, what has been fent out was directly from the manu facturer, I prefume in very fmall quantises, and from the post of Corke only, Worfted* or bay yara, is fent principally to Norwich and, Manchcfter, it fells by the fk^in in .Ireland, but in the preced ing * Unfiltled, but ve-ry higk— Tie pack- ef bay yarn is taken ta contain 2100 fkains. v % .Communicated by Mr. Jofb.ua Pine, in the yarn trade. The cuftom-houfe price of iuooI is 15*. woollen yarn i"is. andvierjied yarn il. 13/. 4^. "W'OOL-LE-tt EXPORTS. ,i|t 1 i»g table it is rated by the pack ; the eoft at market is only no* ticed, the neceffary charges on fhipping amount to full two per (Sent, exclufive of commifllon which is two per cent. more. Wool, woollen, and bay yarn, are exported 'by the great ftoney containing eighteen pounds weight A licence for ex- pbrting muft be procured from the lord lieutenant, the coft of which is nearly fourpence halfpenny per ftone §. From com paring the prices at different periods, exported woollen yafa nfay pretty fafely berated at feventert fhillings and fixpence per ftone, of which five fhillings a ftone is labour. , Exported value in the firft period, — ' 307,663 Ditto in the laft, — ¦ '200,413 Decreafe, -— > — ¦ 106,049 Whoever recurs to the mimites of the journey* in the coun- ' tfcs of Carlow, Tipperary, and Rofcommon, the great fheep- walks of Ireland, will have no reafon to be furprized at this lofs of one hundred thoufand pounds a year. There are yet other fmbjeas fo connefted with the prefenp enquiry, that in order to Wave a clear and diftinft idea of it, we muft include in the account. I . thjnk it fait tp give tillage credit for any increafe there may be hi pork, bacon, lard, hogs, and bread ; it is true they do not entirely belong to it, for dairies yield much ; but to obviate objections, I will fuppofe them' totally connefted witJi tillage. The following table includes $1 thefe articles, £XP Q RT B> 13* EXPORTS OF P O R IC» Export of pork per annum, from 1764.ro 1770^ 41,649 barrels, at 2I. 6s. 6 EXPORTS , 0 F ' Pork Flitches Lard, Bread, Bogs. "Ye*. 1^53 barrels. 23,682 of bacon. Cwt. Cwt. ' >754 23,684 '755' 20,930 »756 'SI>345 ¦. -.1757 25,071- ¦ 1758 28,746 1759 Average, Year 1764' 40,336" 30,542* • 35,066 ' 226 1.852 8,783 60 1765 44,361 3.-592 3 >?4° M'7 8,228 140 1766 50,155 9.6*4P 1,783 481' 1767 34-995 *>77* 1.055 6,876 0 1768 ,43.041 2ij2^i 1.49s 6,791 22 1769 40,039 8,156 M49 6,792 444 1770 Average, Year 1771 43,947 6,506 '.9' 3 5.597 416, 41,649 7,881 1,8691,841. 7.197 " 223 '- -76 42,519 5.773' 8^06 1772 44>7»3 14,142 2,235- 4.57S . 90 1773 51,112 19,256 2,156 ' 5.827 J35 1774 52,328 26, 1 60 a.37f> 5,090. 882 »775 50.367 32,644 1,686 4,012 680 1776 72>7 H 24,502 3,216 J3.302 1,148 1777 Average, 7 2,93 » 55,240 1 1 ,462 19,125 2,981 2,356 29,627 »,358' 6245 1 0,062 1. 96,833 5,910 1,869 3.598 166 rmm ¦' ¦— 11* 108,376 ¦•It Export * Journals of the Houfe of Commons. § Parliament Record «f Export and Import, MS. f Waterftlrd price. \\ Cuftom* Jx'eufe price. % Suppofed at that rate for want of authority. Average export of feven years, ¦ EXPORTS OF PORK. t3j Export of pork per annum, from 1 77 1 to 1777, • I. 55,240 barrels, at 2I. 6s. 6d. per barrel, •— 128,435 Bacon, 19,125 at 15s. 14,343 Lard, 2356 ewt. at il. per cwt- ¦ 2,356 Bread, 10,062 cwt. at io's. per cwt. , ,.n- . . 5>P3l Hogs,' 624, at 15s. a piejce — 4$8 Average exports of the laft feven years,. __. 150,631 increafe in the laft feven year,?, , 42.25 5 The data are now very completely before the reader, from^ which the merit of this .extraordinary meafure maybe eftimat- ed. I will not affert that any cuftom-hpufe accounts are ab-< fojutely authentic ; I know the common objections to them, and that there is a foundation for tho£e objections ; but the point of confequence in the prefent enquiry does not depend ' on their abfolute, but comparative ajccuraey; ;that is-to.fayj if the errors obje&ed to them exifi, they will be found as great in one period as in another, confequently- their authority ij» perfectly-competent for the cpmparifon of different ones.. Whor ever will examine the entries with a minute, attention, and compare them with a variety of ipther circumftances, will ger neraliy be able to diftinguifh the fufpiclous articles. In the prefent enquiry I will venture to affert that they fpeak truth, for they correspond exadtly (as I fhall by and by fhew) with many other caufes which could hardly have failed without a miracle of producing the effects they difplay. I fhould fur ther add, that or the greateft number of the articles inferted in the preceding tables,' there are duties paid on the export which exempt them from the common objection to the entries. But to reafon againft the accuracy of fuch accpunts is per fectly ufelefs, while minifters in defence of their meafures, and patriots in oppofition to them found their ^arguments on them alone. Whoever attends either the Englifh pr Irifh houfe of commons will prefently fee thjs in a multiplicity of inftances. All who come to the bar of thofe houfes de pend on thefe accounts ; committees of parliament rely on them, and the beft political writers of every period, from Chiid and'Davenant to Campbell and Whitworth, have agreed injhe fame condu<3, knowing the • errors to which they are liable; but knowing alfo that there is no better authority, and. that they are perfectly competent to companions. ' Having thus clofed my authorities, X fhall now draw them into one view, by ftating the account of the inland carriagg bounty, Debtor and Creditor. BpUNT'/ 'm Dr. BOUNTY ACCOUNTS.' Bounty on the Inland Carriage 6f Corn. Cfc 1. to payments of pub lic, money on the a- verage of the4aft f years,- — 47»°59 \fo dec-reafe In the ex port of beef j butter, ««*S' T. \~ 53'136 To decreafe in the ex* port of wool and yarn, — - 106,049 1. By decreafe in the im port of corn, Sec. - 16,907 By increafe in the ex port of corn, — 3>570 fey increafe in the ex- I iort of pork, hogs, iread, &c. — 42.255 206,244 . 62^34 Balance againft the bounty, — , HS.S10 206,244 Thus far I have laid before the reader a connected chain of Tllch fafts as the records of the meafure, and the parliamen tary accounts Would permit : it appears as clearly as the tef- timony of figures can fpeak, that it has had very ill eWe&a upon the general national' account. Had the effedt we have feen taken place of itfelf without any artificial means to affift it, the friends ofthe public would perhaps have been well em ployed to remedy the evil : how abfurd therefore muft it ap pear to find that it has been brought about with the utmoft care and affiduity, and at an expence of near fifty thoufand pounds ayear of the public money ! It is the intention and effect of this bounty, to turn every local advantage and natural fuppjy topfy turvy. We have had for feveral years in England, an importation of foreign corn more than proportioned (the kingdoms compared) tp any thing the Irifh knew.f If any one to remedy this, pro posed a bounty on bringing corn by land from Devonihire and Northumberland, ft) as' to give it a preference in , the London market to that of Kent and Effex, with what con tempt would the propofer and propofition be treated ! the corn counties of Louth and Kiidare in the vicinity of Dublin are not "to fupply that market, but it is to eat its bread frpty Corke and Wexford ! It muft alfo be brought by land carriage ! the abfurdity and folly with which fuch an 'idea is pregnant in 3 country bleffed with fuch ports, and fuch a vaft extent of coaft, are fo glaring, that it is amazing that fpphiftry could bjind the legiflature to fuch a degree as to permit a ffecohd thought" of ' ¦ it. t Iti' 1774 we imported to the value' bf 1,02^,0007. ; and in l77$tethatefi)i6$,<;i6%. INLAND BOUNTY. 135 it. Why not carry the corn in fhips, as well as tear up all the roads leading to Dublin by cars ? Why not increafe your failors inftead of horfes ? Are they not as profitable an animal ? If you muft have an inland bounty, why not to the neareft port from which it could be . carried with the moft eafe, . and at the leaft expence to Dublin ? This would have anfwered the fame end. The pretence for the meafure was the great import of foreign corn at Dublin ; this Is granting that there was a great demand at Dublin ; and can any one fuppofe that if the corn was forced to Corke or Wexford, it would not find the way to fuch a demand as eafily as from the eaft of England, which is the only part of that kingdom which abounds with corn for exportation ? But the very pre tence was a falfhood, for with what regard to truth could it be afferted, that Dublin was fed with Englifh corn before this meafure took effect, when it appears by the preceding ac counts, that the import of the whole kingdom from 1757 to 1763 was only 84,0001. a year, and from 1764 to 1770 n© more than 101,6041. ? This import account does not diftih- guilh like the export one, the ports at which the foreign corft was received ; if it did, I fhould in all probability find but a moderate part of this total belonging to Dublin, as it is very Well known that in the north there is always a confiderable import of oatmeal. Granting howeyer the evil, ftill the plafl N of remedying it by a land carriage of 130 miles was abfurd to the laft degree. But fuppofe fo .confiderable a city as Dublin did import foreign com to a large amount, is it wife to think this fo great a national evil, that all the principles of common policy are to be wounded in order to remedy it ? Where is the country to be found that is free from confider able importations even of the product of land ? Has not Ire land a prodigious export of her foil's produce in the effects of pafturage, for which her climate is Angularly adapted ? And while fhe has thai;, of what little account is a trifling im port of corn to feed her capital city ? We have feen the un* doubted lofs that has accrued to the nation from a violent endeavour to counteract this import, yet the meafure has only leffened it to an inconfiderable degree. I was at a mill on Corke harbour above 1 20 miles from Dublin, and faw cars loading for that market on the bounty ^ with a fhip laying at the mill quay bound for Dublin, and waiting for a loading ; could invention fuggeft any feheme more prepofterous than thus to confound at the public ex- pence all the ideas of common practice, and common fenfe ! By means of this meafure I have been affured it has happen ed, that the flour of Slaine mills has found its way ta Carlow, and that of Laughlin Bridge to DrOgheda : that is to fay* Mr.' Jebb eats his bread of Captain Mercer's flour, and the latter makes his pudding with Mr. Jebb's afliftancej they live • — - too- ,36 INLAND, BOUNTY. - ioo miles afunder, and the public pay's the piper while the flour dances the hay in this manner. ' The vaft difference between die expence of land and water carriage fhould ever induce the legiflature, though failors were not in queftion, to encourage the latter rather than the for mer. From Corke there is paid bounty 5s. 6fd. yet the freight at 10s. a ton is only 6d. The bounty from Laiighlin Bridge is 2s. 3fd. yet Captain Mercer pays in fummer but is. 4d< and in winter no more than is, 6d.: Mr. Moore at Marlefield receives 4s. bounty, but his carriage coft him only 2s. 6d. in fummer, and 3s. in winter; hence therefore we find that the bounty more "than pays t;he expence, and that the profit is in proportion to the diftance, i. e. the abfurdity. ; In the year ending September 1777, there were 34,598" barrels of malt brought from Wexford to* Dublin by land, re ceiving 7077I. 4s. 1 id. bounty. ? ' 34,598 barrels are 51,897 Cwt. which at 6 Cwt. per horfe, Would take for one day, From Wexford to Dublin and back takes feven days, or — > — One man to two^horfes, — <— The horfes at- 1 6d. a day, — - Men at 9d. a day, 1— 8,649 horfesi 60,546 horfes. 3°'273 men. I. s. d. 4.3o6 ' 8 0 M3S 4 9 Seven days men' and horfes, — ¦ 5,171 12 9 The. freight of which to Dublin at 8s. a ton fhould be, ' — I>°37 '2 o Saving by Sea, J — 4>'34 o 9 , * ¦ — ¦ — .. It is .therefore a lofs of about 80 per cent- purchafed by the* bounty. •¦ ' , In proportion as failors are leffened, horfes are increafed; Suppofe common coafting veffels navigated at the rate of one, man to twenty tofis, it requires fixty -fix horfes to draw that burthen,'; and thirty-three men : fo that^ for every, failor loft, there are above threefcqre of this wprft of all ftock kept; which is of itfelf an enormous national lofs. If the number; of horfes kept at actual work by this, bounty, with the mares, colts, &c. to fupply them, were known, it might probably be, found fo large as to leffen a little pf the veneration with which this meafure is confidered in Ireland. ( I find that in the feffions of 1769 and 1 77 if there was a bounty paid on the carriage of corn coaftways to Dublin. It amounted . t MS. communicated by Richard. Nevill, Ef959 1760 37 75,846 3,8i4 4« 9,473 89,016 1761 ' 43 64,589 3,272 40, 9,7J>4 77,736 1762 1.1 S 63,980 , 3,347 54 10,484 77,98i ' «763 904 66,150 3*505 124 10,764 81,443' 1 7^4 i>54* 79,710 3, 814 161 10,663 95,888 1765 i,6i 1 64,705 3.427; -. i4"2' io,053 79,938 1766 1 1 ,000 39-39» 6,6io 48a 14,476! 7r,?66 1767 8,oo<> 61,346 6,466 i>»5°7 1,150 1 2,006 Total, 88,774 836,748 1768 4,430 76,684 39 15,858 110,518 21,723 124,373 1769 5,669 8"ii749 14.479 753 1770 6,062 68,378 18,542 3»i 9,130 104,473 i77i 5,4^5 60,530 8,558 232 16,157 9,0,902 17.7* 8,130 49,638 i8,455 743 14,468 9i,454 1773 3,525 48,836 17,105 469 12,117 ;8*>853 1774 4-755 46,724 27,659 76 17,181 96,395 1775 8)1 49*13 25,165 290 5,615 '81,1,5 1776 1, 1 Si 51,778 21,790 -6,591 81,341 1777 71-4 37.5" 17.467 630 io,733 Total, 67,053* 927,477 Average of the ? Ulr 7 years, $ 3,5o8 49,178 ¦9,457 340 n,837 84,301 f June 1, 1768, Jth George III. chap. z\. ^d. per Cwt. corn of Irifh growth ly wate)r coaftways to Dublin, fouthward hetiueen Wicklow and the Tufcar ; north, bet'ween.Drogheda or Carrickfergus. $d. per Cwt. if fouthward of Tufcar, or north of Carrick fergus.. ^d. per Cwt. fouthward of CW 1771 1,641,867 87,965 1772 3,146,960 I53»'39' 177,3 3,263,199 I75»I77 1774 3.553.996 190,346 »775. 3,211,214 213,885 I7J6 3,622,076 255,256 1777 3,240,692 3J7»753 Average of Jaft 7 years ; 3»°97.I43 - 199,074 Ctvt, By thefe accounts, [Dublin on an average pf the laft fevei years has confumed 3,097,143 Stones of corn, 199,074 Cwt. of flour, ' ' 84,301 Barrels of both coaftways. If the average Weight of the corn is 14 ftone pet barrel, the firft of thefe articles Will make in barrels, — — 221,224 The 199,074 Cwt. of flour may be called in bar rels of Wheat, — — 180,000 Add the above barrels coaftways, — 84,301 Total, — 485,525 To this fhould be added the import of foreign corn, which is known to be confiderably more than the export, and it will appear that if there are 150,000 inhabitants- in Dublin, they muft confume above, threejbarrels each, of all forts pf coram • a year. PASTURAGE asd TILLAGE COMPARED. 1J9 a year, which confidering that the mafs of the' people live very much upon potatoes, is a great allowance, and fuggefts the idea either that the people are more numerous, or that more money is paid in bounties than there ought to be by the acts, which is probable. I come now to confider one. of the principal arguments ufed in favour of this meafure. It is the increafe of tillage being fo beneficial to the kingdom. Taken as a general po- fition, there mayor may not be truth in the affertion ! I am apt to think rather more ftrefs is laid on it than there ought tp be, and fome reafons for that opinion may be feen in Political Arithmetic, p. 363, &c. But not to enter into the general queftion at prefent, I have to obferve two circum ftances upon the ftate of Ireland; firft the moifture ofthe climate, and fecondly the fort of tillage introduced. That the climate is far moifter than that of England I have already given various reafons to conclude ; but the amazing tendency of the foil to grafs would prove it If any proof was wanting. Let general Cunningham and Mr. Silver Oliver recollect: fhe inftances they fhewed me of turnep land, and flubble left without ploughing, and yielding the fucceeding fummer a full crop of hay. Thefe are fuch facts as we have not an idea of in England. Nature therefore points out jn the cleareft manner, the application of the foil in Ire land moft fuitable to the climate. But this moifture which is fo advantageous to grafs, is pernicious to corn. , The fineft corn in Europe and "the world is uniformly found in the drieft countries; it is the weight pf wheat which- points out jts gpodnefs ; which leffens per meafure gradually from B,ar- bary co Poland. The wheat of Ireland has no weight com pared with that pf dry countries ; and I have on another occafion obferved, that there is not a fample of a, good colour in the whole kingdom. The crops are full of grafs and weeds, even in the beft management, and the harvefts are fo wet and tedious as- greatly to damage the produce ; but at the fame time, and for the fame reafon cattle' of all forts look .well, never failing of a full bite of excellent grafs, : the very drieft fummer s do not affect the verdure as in England. I do not make thefe obfervations, in order to cohelude that tillage will not do in Ireland. I know it may be made to do ; hut I would leave the vibrations from corn to pafturage, and from pafturage to corn, to the cultivators of the land to guide themfelves as prices and other circumftances direct, but by no means force an extended tillage at the expence of bounties. But what is the tillage gained by this meafure I It is that fyftem which formed the agriculture of England two huhdred years ago, and forms it yet in the worft of our common fields, but which all. our exertions of, enclofing and improving are bent to extirpate. 1. Fallow. 2. Wheat ; and then fpring corn until the foil is ejthaufted ; or e\kt i. Fallow. 2. Wheat; 3. Spring 1.4© INLAND BOUNTY. 3. Spring corn ; and then fallow again. In this courfe the fpring corn goes to horfes, &c. the fallow is a dead lofs, and the whole national gain the crqp of wheat ; one year in three yields nothing', and one a trifle, whereas the grafs yields a full crop avery year. Let it not be imagined, that wafte and de- fart tracts, that wanted cultivation, are only, turned to this tillage. Nine tenths' of the change is in the rich fheep waits of Rofcommon, Tipperary, Carlow, and Kilkenny. I have- already proved this fact ; the queftion therefore is reduced to this: Ought you to turn fome of the fineft paft'ures in the world, and Which in Ireland yielded twenty fhillings an acre, into the moft execrable tillage that is to be found on the face of the globe ? The comparifon is -not between good grafs and good tillage ; it is goodgraCs againft bad tillage. The tables I inferted prove,' that Ireland has loft fifty-three thoufand .pounds a year for feven years in the produce of cows and bullocks, and one hundred and fix thoufand pounds in that of fheep ; this is a prodigious lofs, but It Is not the whole'; ¦ there is the lofs of labour on above fifty thoufand ftones of woollen yarn annually, which is a great drawback from the fuperior population fuppofed; perhaps falfely, to flow from tillage. When thefe circumftances are therefore well confi- dered, the nation will not, I apprehend, be thought to have gained by having converted her rich fheep walks, which yielded fo amply in wool, and in the labour which is annexed to wool, into fo execrable a tillage as is univerfally intro duced. Another efrcumftance of this meafure is, that of facrificing all the ports of the kingdom to Dublin ; the natural trade, which ought to take a variety of different little channels, pro portioned to vicinity, was by this fyftem violently drawn away to the capital; a very ill fituated capital, the increafe of which, at the expence pf the out ports, was by no means a ^national advantage. A queftion naturally arifes from the premifes before us ; fhould the bounty be repealed ? Abfurd as it is, I am free to declare, I think not at once. Upon the credit of the meafure great fums have been laid out in raifing mills, moft in. fitua1- tions which render them dependant on' this forced trade for work. Great lofs would accrue in this" to individuals, and the public faith rather injured. The foUowing tables will fheiH that this is not a flight confideratjon, ' ' Tho INLAND BOUNTY.' Ttf The principal mills of Ireland, from June 1773 to June 1774. Cwt. Marlefield, — Stephen Moore, Efq; — 15,382 Slane, — D. Jebb, Efq; and Co. — 11,070 Anner, — Mr. J. Grub, — 1 0,395 Rathnally, — ¦ J. Nicholfon, Efo; — 9,870 Lodge, — Richard Mercer, Efq; — 9,826 Kilkarn, t — Wade and Williams, — 9,496 Carrick, — D. Tighie, Efq; — 6,996, Archer's .Grove, — Mr. W. Ratican, — 5,503 Lock, — Mr. H. Bready, — 5,446 Ballykilcavan, — Doyle and Hdfkms, — 5>396 Tyrone, — H. O'Brien, Efq; — 4,967 Newtown Barry, — Hon. B: Barry, — 4>574 The moft diftant mill from Dublin is that of Barnahely, Corke, one hundred and thirty miles. A prodigious number of men and horfes would be thrown at once out of employ ment, which would have bad effects ; and a fudden diverfion of that fupply, which has now flowed to Dublin for fo many years, would certainly have very ill confequences. The policy therefore to be embraced is this ; lower the prefent bounty to the fnnple expence of the carriage, and no more ; and coun teract it by raifing the bounty on the carriage of corn coaft- wife, until it rivalled and gradually put down the land car- ' riage. Perhaps it might be neceffary to accompany this mea fure with a land carriage bounty from the mill to the neareft exporting port, the Dublin bounty .would therefore ftand in order to prevent the evil of a fudden change, but when the other bounties had got fo far into effect, as to leffen the old one confiderably, then it fhould be totally difcontinued ; and it would, then certainly be proper for the other bounties (hav ing performed their office) to be difcontinued alfo. 'The pre fent fyftem is fo undoubtedly abfurd, that the rival bounties fliould be raifed' higher and higher until they had turned the commerce into the natural channel ; an expreffion I am fen- fible implies an apparent'abfurdity, for a natural channel of commerce does not want fuch bounties, but a bad proceeding has made it fo exceedingly crooked, that a mere repeal, leav ing the . trade to itfelf, moft certainly would not do. You , muft undo by art the mifchief which art has done ; and the commercial capital in Ireland is too fmall to bear any vio lence. ' United with the conduct I have ventured to recommend, in cafe the tillage fyftem was perfifted in, it would be very well worth the attention of parliament, to annex fuch conditi ons to the payment of any new bounties, as might have the effect of fecuririg a good tillage inftead of a bad bnel If it* was H* INLAND BOUNTY.' was found practicable, which I fhould thinbit might be, no public money fhould ever' be given for barley j bere, or oats,- that did not fucceed turneps ; nor for wheat, or rye, that did not follow beans, clover, or potatoes ; by this means the na tion would have the fatisfaction of knowing, that if the plough was introduced iri valuable pafture land. It would at leaft be in a good fyftem. Before I conclude this fubjeet, it may be proper to obferve a circumftarice, which however ill it may be received in Eng land, has, and ought to have this weight in Ireland. .The revenue of that kingdom is under fome difadvantages which, England is free from ; the hereditary revenue is claimed in ' property by the crown ; a great penfion lift is charged on it, and much of the amount paid out of the kingdom ; there is no free trade to compenfate this ; a large part of the military eftabliifhment is taken out bf the kingdom, and of late years the nation has run very much in debt : in fuch a fituation of affairs, it is thought wife and prudent to fecure the payment Of fuch a fum as fifty or fixty thoufand pounds a year to wards the internal improvement of the kingdom. Nobody can deny there being much good fehfe in this reafoning ; but the argument is applicable to a well founded meafure, as ftrongly as it is to an abfurd one ; and I fhould farther ob ferve, that. if this or any bounty -is the means of running the nation fo much in debt that new taxes are neceffarily the con fequence, this idea is then vifionary ; the people do not fe cure an advantage but a burthen. I cannot here avoid a c"omparifon of expending fo large a fum annually of the public money rationally-, or in a meafure at beft fo very doubtful; for indulge the prejudices of gentlemen, and fup pofe for a moment, that all the proofs I haye given do not amount to an abfolute condemnation, they certainly, even then, give it the moft dubious complexion that ever meafure had. But fuppofe from the beginning, the money which has been thus advanced, had been- given in premiums of ten pounds per acre on all land abfolutely wafte> which, was brought in and reclaimed. That fum I fheWed on another occafion, will build excellent dwellings, fence, plant, drain, pare and burn lime, plough, fow, and complete ah acre ; the premium would therefore pay the whole, and leave to 'the proprietor no other bufinefs than, to take the trouble of fee ing the conditions of the premium complied with. The fol lowing table will fhew what the effects of fuch a premium would have been, calculating the annual' produce at four pounds an acre, which is much under what it ought to be. The firft column fhews the fums paid as bounty, the next the. number of acres that fum would have improved at ten pounds per acre, and the third the produce at four pounds per acre, waiting three years at firft to give time for operations* Sums. IMPROVEMENT op WASTES.' *4$ Qums. 1. Intheyear 1762 4,940 1763 5,096 1764 5,483 1765 6,660 1766 9,212 1767 6,074 1768 1 3.67 5 1769 25,225 1770' 1 8,706 1771 1 9,2,90 1-772 1 39,560 1773 44.465 .1774 49,674 '77? . 53,889 1776- 60,745 *777 61,786 . Acres. 42,433 Produce: $.788; 12,43.6 14,864 20,33a 30,42037,90045,616 61,440 79,224 99,092 120,644144,9401 69>733 845,428 , From hence, we find, that at the end of the year 1777, there would have been 42,433 acres improved in the complete and, mafterly manner ten pounds an acre effects, the annual produce of which would be at four pounds an acre, 169,732b all abfolute and , undoubted profit to the kingdom ; there would have been received in this manner no lefs than' 845,0001.. If the lands were thrown; as they ought to be into the courfe of — 1. turneps; 2. barley; 3. clover; 4. wheat ; and reckoning the barley at ten barrels,' and the wheat at fix, there would now be -a produce every year of 63,649 barrels of wheat, and. 186,082 of harley; and, this from only half the land ; the other half in turneps and clover would undoubtedly keep ten fheep the year through, and yield fifty pounds .of wool, or in the. whole 106,080 fheep and • 33,150 ftones of wool, with all the employment -and popula tion which would refuit from fuch excellent tillage, building, fencing, manuring, and fpinning. How different this effect from having in the laft fevenyears loft above a million fter- Jing by the inlaad carriage ; in that period the bounty has juft trebled ; if it goes on fo it will be. one hundred and eigh ty thoufand pounds a year in feven years more, and by thaU time there will be neither fheep nor cows left in the king- , dom ; but fuppofe it to ftand at fixty thoufand pounds a year, that fum in feven years, applied in a bounty on culti vating- wafteSj would improve forty-two thoufand acres, and confequently m manufactures; confequently be attended with all the effects which would have flowed from a fimilar number, the paft bounty would ..have- improved. -I have now done with this meafure; my Englifh reader will, I hope, pardon fo long a detail, which J fhould not have gone into had I found the facts known in Ireland, or any juft conclufions drawn from ideal ones ; but in the variety of converfations I have had in that kingdom with,' all defcriptions of men, I found not. one who- was ac quainted with the facts upon which the merit of the meafure could alone be decided. It is for their ufe that I have col lected them from very voluminous manufcripts. Another meafufe relative to corn, which is in execution in Ireland^ is a parliamentary bounty on corn preferved on (lands, that is flacked on ftone pillars capped, to prevent the depredations of rats and mice. I have been affured, that very great abufes are found in the claims ; if thefe are obviated, the meafure feems jBo'tjqbjectable in a country where little is done, without fome public encouragement. The following are the payments in confequence of this bounty. the Year 1766 ¦ - 891 In the' Year 1772 - 5487 >767. - 891 1 '773 - 5487 1768. • 3442 '774 - 6565 1769 ¦ ¦ 3442 -1775 - 6565 1770 • • 4266 1776 - 6866 1771 ¦ • 4266 1777 - 6866* It would be a proper condition to annex to this bounty, that it be given only to corn preferved as required, and threflied on boarded floors ; the famples of Irifh wheat are exceedinglydamaged by clay floors ; an Englifh miller knows the moment he takes a fample in his hand if it came off a clay floor, and it is a deduction • in the value. The floors fhould be of deal plank two inches thick, and laid on joifts- two or three feet from the ground, for a free current of air 10 preferve them from rotting. SECTION XIX. Manufailures. THE only manufacture of confiderable importance in Ire land is that of linen, which the Irifh have for near a cen tury confidered as the great ftaple of the kingdom. - The hi ftory of it in its earlier periods is very little known ; a com mittee ofthe houfe of commons, of which Sir Lucius O'Brien : was * The reafon of the fums being the fame for two years thtmgh± «ut, is their being returned every ftand year to parliament. LINEN MANUFACTURE. 105 was chairman, examined the national records with great at tention, in order to difcover how long they had been in it ; ' alt they difcovered was that by an act paffed in. 1 542, the 33d. of Henry 8. linen and woollen yarn were enumerated among the moft confiderable branches of trade poffeffed by the na tives of Ireland in an act made againft grey merchants fore- Sailing. The i ith of Qtteen Elizabeth the fame ad was re vived, and a further law made againft watering hemp or flax, &c. in rivers. By the 13th of Elizabeth all perfons were .pro hibited from exporting. wool, flax, linen and woollen yarn, ex cept merchants rending in cities and boroughs; and by a further act the fame year, a penalty of 1 2d. a pound -was im- pofed on all flax or linen yarn exported, and 8d. more for the ufe of the town exported from. In this laft act it is recited, that the merchants of Ireland had been exporters of thofe ar ticles in trade upwards of one hundred years preceding that period : and by many fubfequent acts, and proclamations dur ing the reigns of Charles I. and. 1 1, thofe manufactures were particularly attended to ; from whence it evidently appeared that the kingdom poffeffed an export trade in thefe commo dities at thofe early periods. The Earl of Strafford, Lord Lieutenant in Charles I. reign, paffed feveral laws and took various meafures to encourage this manufacture, infomuch that he has by fome authors been faid to have eftablifhed it . originally. At the end of the laft century, in King William's reign, it arofe to be an object of confequence, but not fingly fo, for it appears from a variety of records1 in both kingdoms, that the Irifh had then a confiderable woollen manufacture for exportation, which raifed the jealoufy of the Englifh ma nufacturers in that commodity fo much, that they prefented fo many petitions to both lords and commons, as to induce thofe bodies to enter fully into their jealoufies and illiberal views ; which occafioned the famous compact between the two nations, brought on' in the following manner. Die Jovis 90. Junji. 1698. The Earl of Stamford reported from the lords committees (appointed to draw an addrefs to be prefented to his Majefty, relating to the woollen manufacture in Ireland ) the follow ing addrefs, viz. "WE the lords fpiritual and. temporal in parliament af- fembled, Do humbly reprefent unto your Majefty, that the growing manufacture of cloth in Ireland', both by the cheap- nefs of all forts of neceffaries for' life, andgoodnefs of mate rials for making of all manner of cloth, doth invite your fub jects of England, with their families and fervants, to leave their habitations to fettle there, to the increafe of the woollen • Vol. II. K manufacture •146 LINEN MANUFACTURE. manufacture in Ireland, which makes your, loyal fubjects. in this kingdom very apprehenfive that the further grpwth pf it may greatly prejudice the faid manufacture here ; by which the trade of this nation and the value of lands will very much t 'decreafe, and the numbers of your people be much leffened Jiere; wherefore we do moft humbly befeech your moft fa- cred majefty, that your majefty would be pleafed, in the moft ; public and effectual way that may be, to declare to all your fubjects of Ireland, that the growth and increafe of the wool len manufacture there hath long, and will ever be looked upon with great jealoufy, by all your fubjects of this kingdom : and if not timely remedied, may occafion very ftrict laws totally to prohibit and fupprefs1 the fame, and on the Other hand* if they turn their induftry and fkill to the fettling and improv ing the linen manufacture, for which generally the lands of that kingdom are very' proper, they fhall receive all counte nance, favour, and protection from your royal influence, for the encouragement and promoting of the faid linen manu facture, to all the advantage and profit that kingdom can.be capable of." To which the houfe agreed. It is ordered by the lords fpiritual and temporal in parlia ment affembled, That the lords with white ftaves do humbly attend his majefty with the addrefs of this houfe, concerning the woollen manufacture in Ireland. Die Veneris \o° Junij 16980. The Lord Steward reported his Majefty 's anfwer to the addrefs, to this effect, viz. * " THAT bis Majefty will take care to do what their lord- fhips have defired. ASHLEY COWPER. Cler. Parliamentor." jfovis 30 Die Junii 1 698. " Moft Gracious Sovereign, " WE your majefty's moft dutiful and loyal fubjects, the commons in parliament affembled, being very ferifible that the wealth and power of this kingdom do, in a great meafure, depend on the preferving the woollen manufacture as much as poffible entire to this realm, think it becomes us, like our an- ceftors^ to be jealous of the eftablifhment and increafe thereof elfewhere ; and to ufe our utmoft endeavours to. prevent it. .':. " And LINEN MANUFACTURE. 147 " And therefore we cannot without trouble obferve* that Ireland . is , dependant on, and protected by England in the enjoyment of all they have ; and which is fo proper for the linen manufafture, the eftablifhment and growth of which there would be fo enriching to themfelves, and fo profitable , to England ; fhould, of late, apply itfelf to the woollen manu fafture, to the great prejudice of the trade of this kingdom ; and fo unwillingly promote the linen trade, which would be- 1 nefit both them and us. " The confequence whereof will neceflltate your parliament of England to interpofe to prevent the mifchief that threatens us, unlefs your majefty, by your authority and great. wifdom, fhall find means to fecure the trade of England, by making your fubjefts of Ireland to purfue the joint intereft of both kingdoms. " And we do moft humbly implore your majefty's protec tion and favour in this matter ;. and that you will make it your royal care, and, enjoin all thofe' you employ in Ireland to make it their care, and ufe their utmoft diligence, to hinder the exportation of wool from Ireland, except to be imported hither, and for the difcouraging the woollen manufaftures, and encouraging the. linen manufactures in Ireland, • to which we fhall always be ready to give our utmoft afliftance." Refolved, That the faid addrefs be prefented to his majefty by the whole houfe. Sablati. 2. die Julii. HIS MAJESTV'S ANSWER. " Gentlemen,' " I fhall do all that in me lies to difcourage the woollen manufafture in Ireland, and to encourage the linen manufac ture there ; and to promote the trade of England." Thurfday 27th September, 1698. Part of the Lords Juftices Speech; " AMONGST thefe bills there is one for the .encourage ment of the linen and hempen manufactures : at our firft meeting we recommended to you that matter, and we have now endeavoured to render that bill prafticable and ufeful for that effeft, and as fuch we now recommend it to you. The fettlement of this manufacture will contribute much to people the country,' and will be' found much more advanta- Kr geous 148 COMPACT WITH ENGLAND. g&ous to this kingdom than the woollen manufacture, which being the fettled ftaple trade of England, from whence all foreign markets are fuppiied, can never be encouraged here for that purpofe ; whereas the linen and hempen manufac tures will not-only be encouraged, as confiftent with the trade of England, but will render the trade of this kingdom both ufeful and neceffary to England." The Commons of Ireland returned the following Anfwer to the fpeech from the throne., "WE pray leave to affure-your excellencies, that we fhall lieartily endeavour to eftablifh a lineri and hempen manufac ture here, and to render the fame ufeful' to England, as well as advantageous to this kingdom, and that we hope to find fuch a temperament in refpect to the woollen trade here, that the fame may not be injurious to' England." And they paffed a law that feffion, commencing the 25th of March, 1699, leaving 4s. additional duty op. every 20s. value, of broad-cloth exported out of Ireland, and 2s.; on every 20s. value of ferges, baize, kerfeys, fluffs, or any other fort of new drapery made of wool or mixed with wool, (frizes only excepted), which was' in effeft a prohibition. And in the fame feffion a law was paffed in England, reftraining Ireland 'from •exporting thofe, woollen manufactures, including frize, to any other parts except to England and Wales. The addreffes of the two houfes to the king carry the clear- eft evidence of their fource, the jealoufy of merchants and manufacturers ; I might add their ignorance too, they are dic tated upon, the narrow idea that the profperity ofthe woollen fabrics of Ireland was inconfiftent with the welfare of thofe of England ; it would at prefent be fortunate for both king doms if thefe errors had been confined to the laft century. , There is an equal mixture alfo of falfhood in the reprefenta- tions ; for- they affert that the cheapnefs pf neceffaries in Ire land drCwi. from England;' fhe .woollen manufafturers, but they forgot the cheapnefs of labour in Ireland, to which no workman in the world ever, yet emigrated. The Irifh were engaged in various' flight fabrics not made in England ; but had they been employed on broad cloth .- for exportation, the Englifh' manufacture Would 'well' have bore it ; they did at that time and afterwards bear a rapid encreafe- of. the ¦r French fabrics, and yet flo'urifhed themfelveL We have had fo long an experience of markets increafing with induftry and inventions, that the time* ought to have come long ago for yiewing competitors without the eye of jealoufy. The memoirs of the time, as Well as the expreffion in .the above transaction, evidently prove, that it was uhderftood by both kingdoms to be a fort of compact, that if Ireland gave UP ' COMPACT WITH ENGLAND. 149 up her woollen manufacture, that of linen" fhould be left t° her under every enc6uragement. I have however .myfelf heard it in the Britifh parliament denied to have been any compact ; but fimply a promife of encouragement, not pre cluding a like or greater encouragement to the Britifh linens. This is certainly an error, for fo underftood, what is the meaning of the ample encouragements promifed by the Britifh parliament ? They could not mean internal encouragement or regulation, for they had nothing to do with either : it. could fimply mean, as the purport of the, words evidently ihew, that they would enter into no meafures which fhould fet up a linen manufafture to rival the Irifh.1 That woollens fhould be cbnfidered and encouraged as the ftaple of England, and linens as that of Ireland : it muft mean this or it meant nothing. That the Irifh underftood it fo cannot be doubted for a moment"; for what did they in confequence? They were in poffeflion of a fiourifhing woollen manufafture, which they aftually put down and crippled by prohibiting exporta tion. Let me afk thofe who affert there was no compact, v/hy they did this I it was their own aft. Did they cut their own throats without either reward or promife of reward ? common fenfe tells us they did this under a perfeft convic tion, that they fliould receive ample encouragement from England in their linen trade ; but what moonfhine would fuch encouragement prove if England, departing from the letter and fpirit pf that corapaft, had encouraged her own linen manufafture to rival the Irifh, after the Irifh had de ftroyed their woollen fabrics to encourage' thofe of England ? Yet we did this in direct breach of the whole tranfaftion, for the 23d of George II. laid a tax on fail cloth made pf Irifh hemp. Bounties alfo have been given in England without extending fully to Irifh linens. Checked, ftriped-, printed, painted, flamed, or dyed linens of Irifh manufacture are not allowed to be imported into Britain. In which, and in other articles, we have done every thing poffible to extend and in-, cre'afe our own linen manufafture, to rival that of Ireland. I admit readily, that the apprehenfions ofthe Irifli at the progrefs of Britifh linens are in the fpirit of commercial jea loufy, as well as our violence in relation to their woollens. But with this great difference ; we forced them to put down a manufafture they were aftually in poffeflion of ;, and we ' . being the controuling power, do not leave them that freedom of market which we poffefs ourfelves, points which neceffarily place the two nations in this refpeft upon very different foot ings. Give them as they ought to have, a free woollen trade, and they will then have no objeftion to any meafures for the encouragement of our linens which do not abfolutely exclude theirs. . The following table will fhew the progrefs of their linen manufacture through the prefent century- An «5o, LINEN EXPORT. An ACCOUNT of the EXPORT of LINEN -CLOTH, and LINEN- YARN; from IRELAND. Value cloth Valueyarn Linen TarH. at^is. 3d at 61. per Total Cloth. per yard. 1. 120 lb. Value. Yards. Cwt. 1. 1. In the year 1 700 14,112 1710 ',688,574 7-975 '°5-537 47.853 153,389 171 1 1,254,815 7.321 78,425 43,928 122,354 1712 1,376,122 7,916 86,007 47,496 '33.5°4 J7»3 1 ,819,816 1 1,802 "3.738 7°.8i,5 184,554 1714 2,188,272 i5.°78 155,002 158,326 3 '3.3 29 1715 2,153,120 '3.93' 107,650 146,283 z53.939 1716 2,188,105 IO>747 109,405 1 12,847 222,252 1717 2,437>265 18,052 132,018 ¦89.555 32 '.574 1718 2,247.375 14,050 121,732 147,527 269,260 1719 2,359.352 15,070 127,798 158,239 286,038 1720 2,437,984 15,722 121,899 94.334 216,233 1721 2,520,701 14,696 126,035 88,178 2I4,2'l3 1722 3,419,994 '4,754 170,995 88,524 259,519 1723 4,378,545 15,672 218,927 94.637 312,964 1724 3,879,170 •4.594 193,958 87,564 281,522 1725 3,864,987 r3»7°i '93.249 82,207 275.457 1726 4,368>395 J7,5°7 218,419 105,042 323,462 -. 1727 4,768,889 17,287 238,444 103,720 342,171 1728 4,692,764 11,450 234,638 62,975 297,613 x 1729 3-927>9'8 '1.855 \ 96.395 65,206 26 1 ,602 1730 4,136,203 r 0,088 ,206,810 SSaH 262,295 >73< 3,775>83° '3.746 220,256 84. '94 304,451 ,»732 3,792.55' '5,343 237,034 92,061 309,096 1733 +>777>P76 '3,357 298,567 82,372 380,939 J734 5.45 1>758 18,122 34C734 ' o8.733 449,468 '735 6,761,151 15,900 422,571 94,405 5'7,977 1736 6,508,151 '4.743 406,759 88,463 495,222 *737 6,138,785 1,4,695 409,252 •8.'73 497.325 1738 5.175,744 '5.945 345.°49 95»674 440,724 1739 5,962,316 18,2,00 397.487 129,202 506,690 1740 6,627,771 18,542 441,851 111,256 553,108 1741 7,207,741 21,656 480,516 129,941 5'o,457 1742 7*074,168 •6,330 471,611 97,984 569,595 •743 6,058,041 14,169 403,869 85,016 1-88,885 J744 6,124,892 18,01 1 459,366 108,066: 567,432 '7457,i7>.9D3 22,066 537.«97 132,398 570,295 v I 7466,820,786 27.74' 5 ".588 166,451 578,010 1747 9.633.884 2*8,910 722,54-1 ¦73»464 396,005 1748 3,692,671 19,418 543.29' 116,508 ( 359,800 17491 ;>»5°4»338 51,694 594»02i 130,164 j 24, 185 LINEN EXPORT. 15' An ACCOUNT of the EXPORT of LINEN-CLOTH, and LINEN,YARN, from Ireland. Continued. Value Cloth Value yarn JLmen Cloth. Tarn. at 1 s. 3 d. at 61. per Total'value , per yard. C.izo.lb. Tards. . Cwt. 1. I.' 1. Io the year 1750 1 1 ,200,460 ",373 653,360 134.438 787,598 ¦751 ' 11,891,318 *3,743 751,993 142,459 894,452 175?, 10,656,003 1 3,4°7 64 1 ,600 140,444 764^044 •753 10,41 1,787 43,438 694,119 139,428 839,018 '754 14,090,903 ",594 806,060 '3S.567 ' 94L732 1755 13-379,733 47,948 891,984 1 167,692 1,059,675 I7i6. Average, In the year 1757 11,944,348 46,997 44,3*8 3I.078 796,488 161,984 1,046,841 11,796,361 15,508,709 745,057 145,972 1,86,473 904,479 (,033>9'3 .1,440,387 • 1758 14-982,557, 3 ',995 998,837 191,970 1,190,807 1759 ! 4,?9 3, 431 47,571 939,564 165,426 1,104,988 1760 i3,375.45«f 31,044 s9i,697 186,454 1,077,95 ' 1761 14,048,881 39<6$9 803,451 438,198 1,041,457 1761 15,559,676 35,950 1,037,311 215,704 1,253,014 1763 Average, In the year 1764 16,013,105 i4,5",97315,401,081 34,468 33,U4 3I.7I5 1,067,540 406,808 1,274,348 1,166,136 967,445 198,690 1,006,738 1 90,492 1,I97,°3I 1765 '4>355>z°5 46,147 957,013 156,7-62 1,233,402 1766 17,894,104- 35,oi8 i,r94,8o6 410,109 1,552,017 17^7 40,148,170 30,474 i,343,2H 181,648 1,694,761 1768 18,499,019 32,590 1,434,667 •95,542 1,382,494 176i9 17,790,705 37>°37 1,186,047 244,243 1,5.56,525 1770 Average, 40,560,754 17,776,862 33.417 34,3H 1,370,716 1 ,184,171 200,504 1, 74*>559 193,868 1,379,512' In the year 1771 25,376,808 34,166 1,691,787 204.996 2,io8,2«7 1771 40,599,178 3*,44i 1,544,938 194,650 168,473 1,739,588 1773 18,450,700 48,078 1,383,804 1,552,276 16.916,674 49,194 1,147,7,77 174,864 1 ,302,641 1775 40,265,087 3o,598 1,346,985' 183,588 i,530,573 40,504,587 36,152 1,306,838 216,914 1,583,750 1777 . Average, i9-7'4,638 20,452,239 43,698 31.47S 0 years fi 1,314,308i,39o,9i9 178,188 1,492,496 188,810 1,615,654 Average qf 3 rice 1748 __ 1,248,148 Average of 30 -years b :fore, 417,60a Mr. Henry Archdall, in the year 1 77 1 , afferted before a, committee of the houfe of commpns, that Ireland manufac tured for Exportation 152 LINEN MANUFACTURE* Exportation, 1,541,263 And for home confumption, — ¦ 658,906 * 2,200,106 The latter article muft be a mere guefs ; the firft we find contradicted in the preceding tabje, unlefs he meant cloth only. - This ample table calls for feveral obfervatibns. It firft ap pears that the manufafture has gone on in a regular increafe, imtil it has arrived in the laft feven years to be an objeft of prodigious confequence. The averages of each period of fe ven years are of. particular importance ; as there is, one poli tical leflbn to be deduced from them which may be of gre.it ufe hereafter : they prove in the cleareft manner that no judg ment is ever to be formed of the -ftate of the manufafture from one or two years, but on the contrary from feven years alone. In 1774 it appears that the export was lower than it had been for nine years before, and we very well recollect the noife which this fall made in Englapd. I was repeatedly in the gallery of the Englifh houfe of commons when they fat in a committee for months together upon the ftate of the linen trade, and from the evidence I heard at the bar I thought Ireland was finking to nothing, and that all her fabrics, were tumbling to pieces : the affertion of the linen fabric's de clining a third was repeated violently, and it was very true. But they drew this comparifon from 1771, when we find from the preceding table that it was at its zenith, to appearance a very unnatural one, for it rofe at once five millions of yards which was unparalleled. It was ridiculous to draw a fudden ftart into precedent, for what manufacture in the world but experiences moments of uncommon profpexity, the con tinuance of which is never to be expected ; this fall of a third therefore though true in faft -was utterly falfe in argument. In truth the fall was exceedingly trivial, for the only cofnparifon that ought to have been made was with the average of the preceding feven years, the decline then would havS appeared only feven or eight hundred thoufand yards, that is, not a twentieth inftead of a third. But becaufe the trade had run' to a moft extraordinary height in 1771', the manufacturers and merchants felt the fall the more, and were outrageoufly clamorous becaufe every year was not a jubilee one. If fuch were to be the confequences cf an unufual demand, minifters smd-legiflatures would have reafon to curfe any extraordinary prosperity, and to prevent it if they could, under the con viction that the grafping avarice of commercial folly, would be growling and dunning them with complaints when the trade returned to its ufual and natural courfe. In the year 1.773 and 4, all Ireland was undone ; the linen manufafture was * Journals of the commons, vol. 16. page 368, LINEN MANUFACTURE. 153 •was to be at an end ; but lo ! at the end of the period of fe ven years upon examining the average it is found - to be in as great a ftate of increafe as ever known before ; for the four periods have-all the fame rife one above another of three mil lions of yards each : confequently I fay, upon the evidence of the cleared: facts that there has been na declenfion but an increase. And I fhall draw this manifeft conclufion from it to diibelieve commercial complaints as long asl exift, and put no credit in that fort of proof which is carried to parlia ment in fupport of fuch complaints. Falfhood and impofition I am confident find their way to the bar of a houfe, and I do not think it much for the credi: of thofe who fupported the Irifh complaints at the period above mentioned, that I fhould find in copying at Dublin part of this table from the parlia mentary record of imports and exports, the export of the year 1775 erafed; the only confiderable erafure there is in thofe volumes, the total of particulars makes 19,447,250 yards, but it now ftands written over that erafure 20,205,087. It is eafily accounted for; if the trade had been known to have ex- , perienced fo immediate a revival, half their arguments4would have had no weight, it might therefore be convenient to fink the truth. If it was merely accidental in the clerk I can only fay it was at a moft unfortunate time and fubjeet !*. The following table will fhew that England is the market for eighteen twentieths of the total Irifh exportation. QUANTITIES of IRISH LINENS imported into ENG LAND from Chriftmas 1756, to Chriftmas 1.773. Yards. In the year 1757 11,925,290 i758 14,383,248 »759 12,793,412 1760 13,311,674 1761 i3,354-,448 65,768,072 or per Annum 13,153,614. ' Yards. Intheyear 1762 13,476,366 1763 13,110,858 1764 13,187,109 1765 14.757-353 1766 17,941,229 72,472,915 or pef annum 14.494,583. In , * In the wMen manafafture of England the fame fpirit of com plaint and falfhood has at different times peftered both par bament and the public See this point difcujfed in my Political Arithmetic, page 152. t Subftance of Mr. Glover's . evidence before the houfe of commons 1774, page do, »54 In the year 1 767 1768 1769 1770 1771 LINEN IMPORTS. Yards. - 16,500,755 • ' - 15.249,248 - 16,496,271 - 18,195,087 - 20,622,217; 87,063,578 or per, annum 17,612,715. In £11? year 1772 J773 19,171,771. >••' 17,896,994. The following table will fhew the importation of the raw ma terial for this fabric. IMPORT of FLAX, HEMP,' and FLAX SEED, into IRELAND- . Hogjbeads Undrejfed Undreffcd. Total .. -\-of Flax- feed.. Value . flax. % Value. hemp.\. Value. 1. •value, j I! C'wt. I. Cwt. ' I. Year 1764 ¦34,168 114,588 53,8?o 149,284 13,195 41,111 262,983 ..:: 1765 27,769 97,19' ia',871 30,870 23,95' 38,321 166,384 176,6 31,040 108,640 8,047 19,314 14,140 44.644 I50,57S 1767 43,076 150,766 7,397 17,752 7,78o 14,448 1 80,966 1768 19,161 . 67,063 9,908 2-3-779 1 14.531 23,249 1 14.091 1769 ,50,042. ,'75,°77 7,690 18,456 14,263 . 19,640 413,153 177° Average,Year 177 1 19,43431,809 45,089 68,012 9,276 24,464 47,842 1 6,443 44.547 45,988 1 4,609 134,841 m,333 15,608 37-387 174,710 187,583 '57,8m 6,318 15,163 -5,131 1774 24,430 84,403 .6,054 14,529 13,685 n,895 141,449 1773 39.75° '39,125 10.551 25,344 9,670 '5,472 179,919 1774 25,375 88,814 8,677 40,844 24,361 35,777 ¦45,4'3 1775 40,41 8 140,763 10,153 ¦24,367 14,264 ^4,824 187,952 1776 24-07711 84,469 5,295 14,708 13,602 11,763 1 18,740 J777 34,613* 114,145 18,214 43- 70S 19,419 31,069 188,944 Average, ¦ 33,05° H5,675 9,344 24,374 14,590 2.3,343 i6l,394 This account is favourable to the ftate of the manufacture ; for the increafed import of flax-feed in the fecond period, im plies that the country fupplied herfelf with more flax of her own producing, which accounts for the falling off in the im port of undrefled flax ; the perfons who have fludied the ma nufafture, ¦ » f At of. 1 os. a hogfhead from 28*. to 6A § At 48s. from' 45/. to 52/. per ton. , 4 At 32s. from 24/. to 40/. per ton, aver rage $2!. -\[ From the- plantations of this 12,441. * Ditfo, . 4,512. ' ' ' ¦-;•> "• '¦ ¦ ' CULTURE of F L A X.. 155 nufafture in all its branches with the moft attention, agree there is no greater improvement to be wifhed for, than the railing the flax inftead of importing foreign. It is much to be lamented, that the flax-hufbandry has not made a greater progrefs in the kingdom ; for the profit of it is very great. The minutes of the tour furnifh the following particulars; Places. Expences. Stones At per Value. fcutchea ftone. 1. s. d. s. d. 1. s. d. Ardmagh, 664 3° 4 2 6 5 0 Ivfear ditto, 48 8 0 '9 4 0 Mahon, 4 »3 4 25 8 0 10 0 0 Warrenftown, v 13 3 10 1 4° 7 6 '5 0 0 Lifburne to, Belfaft, 9 4 2 ': 56 9 4 26 2 8 Ards, 90c •' Shaen Caftle, 846 1 54 , 7 10 21 3 0 LeflyHill, 824 ' '6 Newtown Limavaddy, 93c ) 2rj 5 4, 7 9 4 Innifhoen, 5 '4 c ) Clonleigh, | 3° Florence Court, 9 7 A r 18 1 2 Ballymoat, 12 7 c ) Mercra,Averages, I 40 8 13 5 • 36 7 t 8 1 From hence we find, that the profit is near feven pounds an acre, clear, after paying large expences, and that on the Cunningham acre. There is a notion common in the north -of Ireland, which I fhould fuppofe muft be very prejudicial to the quality as well as the quantity of flax produced ; it is, that rich land will not do for it, and that the foil fhould be pretty much exhaufted by repeated crops of oats, in order to reduce it 'to a proper ftate for flax. The confequence of this is, as I every .where faw full crops of weeds, and of poor half-ftarved flax : the idea is abfurd ; there is no land in the north of Ireland that I faw too rich for it. A very rich foil fown thin produces a branching harfli flax, but if very clear of weeds,, and fown thick for the ftems to draw each other up, the crop will be in goodnefs, and quantity proportioned to the richnefs of the land- A poor e.xhaufted foil cannot produce a flax of a ftrong good ftaple ; it is .the nourifhment it receives from the fertility ofthe land which fills the plant with oil, and bleachers very well know that, the oil is xheftrength ofthe ftaple, and unforr tunately it is, that bleaching cannot be performed withoutan exhalation ,56 W E AV E R S. exhalation of this oil, and confequent weaknefs. But though it is neceffary for colour to exhale a portion pf the oil, flax that never had but little from the poverty of the foil it grew in, is of little worth, and will not bear the operation of bleaching like the other. Potatoes kept very clean under the plough/ are an excellent preparation for flax; and turneps, well hoed, the fame^ The following are the EARNINGS of the MANUFACTU RERS in LINEN FABRICS. Weavers. Women. Places. Fine linen.Courfe lin. Spin. s. d. s. d. d. f. Market Hill, i 6 1 2 3 ° Ardmagh, I 2 Mahon, I O 3 2 Lurgan, 1 4 I O 3 o Warrenftown, i 6 I I 3 o Innifhoen, 4 ° Mount Charles, 2 2 Caftle, Caldwell, 2 2 Innifkilling, 4 o Belleifle, ' 3 4' ° Florence Court, IO 3 ° Farnham, " 4 o Strokeftown, 3 2 Ballymoat, 3 2 Mercra,. 2 2 Sortland, 3 ° Weftport, • 2 O 3 o Annfgrove, 2 O Averages, 1 5 I of 3 » 1 Thefe earnings are from double to near treble thofe of huf bandry labour throughout the kingdom, and yet complaints , ¦75' 1754 1753 17541755 1756. 1757 ^ettduties. Bounties 5,637 6,348 5,314 6,7489,181 8,676 10,623 10,087 7,894 13,180 14,56113,77° 14,84418,066 I5,°46 17,924I4,«5718,335 17,81314,47717,175 12,231 12,884 14,29212,439 1,722 I. .2,500 ,5>5oo 4,0004,000 .4,000 ,4,000 '8,000 8,060 . 8,000 8,000 3,5408,060 8,000 8,0008,ooo8,000 8,000 8,000 *4,ooo 8,000 In ihe year 1758 17591*760 i-761 176417631764 17651766 1767 1768 17691770i77i 1772 i773 1774 1775 Totals, - - Nut tea duties/or 7 years, ending 1775. " " Average ofthe laft 7 years duties Diuo of tea duties, Together, Nettduties. Bounties. i-' 1. , S.771 \,933 8,000 , 6,581 1 <^4i 8,000 14,014 15,064 8,000 14,998 I5.&20 8,00Q l8.,634 12,717 8.000 10,414 t2,l8l 8,000 i,«35 S61 8,000 1,348 1,700 8,000 58q i,387 8,000 453,204 ^72,500 184,540 184,540 710,244 } «& io,3S7 1 1.742 The tea duties were .granted for the ufe of this manufafture. But that this account is not complete appears by another %. to the following effeft. . An *T3y King's Letter. . _ T: Here the tea duties were feparated, and produced in 3 year to L. V. j4,;ooJ. and 16,000 1. a year each year afttr. X Commons journals, vol. \Jt p. 2S3. TJ8 B 0 U N T I E S to ,L I N E NS. An account of the feveral fums of money for which the vice- treafurers have claimed credit, as being paid, by them for the ufe of the hempen and linen manufaftures, from the 25th of March 1700, to, the 25th of March 17.75, diftin- guifhing.each year, returned to the hon, houfe of commons purfuant tb their order, November 25, 1 775. , In the year 1700 1, IOO In the year 1748 1. 5,154 In the year 1754 1. 17,402 1701 374 1729 n,34o ¦ 1755 j.*,885" / 1702 213 1730 10,824 1756 14,764 1703 430 1731 13.7H 1757 15,762 1705 3,384 1732 5,H9 1758 13,792 1706 1,783 1733 7,422 1759 7,498 1707 1708 1,498 1734 5,670 1760 16,447 1,475 1735 i3,io'3 ~ 1 1761 9-154 1709 1,180 1736 14,785 1762 32,865 •1 710 1,180 1737 12,927 1763 19,463 171 1 1,77° 1738 i4,93i 1764 44,041 1714 2,023 , 1739 13,085 1765 41,041 1713 1,596" 1740 16.973 1766 16,844 17-14 7»9 1 741 1 5,484 1767 ¦5,474 j ' '7*5 ui'sf 1744 40,085 1768 17,061 1716 1^641 ,1743 17,917 1769 1 6,4 1 6 1717 3,981 1744 23,587 1770 19,03° 1718 3,337 1745 18,948 1771 15,039 '7'9 4,784 1746 9,154 1772 12,546 1740 3,365 1747 11,216 •773 i2,4o5 1721 4,441 1748! i5,37i 1774 1 6,030 1744 5,173 '749 20,979 1775 ¦5,459 1743 3,439 '750 31,109 1776 i4,75i ' ' 1744 5,678 1 75 1 16,680 •777 15,102 1745 6,4,90 1752:24,556 — — I746 7,779 1753:16,886 Total, 847564 ._ J7J7 6,701 . i . Averag : of the [aft 7 years, '4,446 The expenditure of this moiiey is under the direction ofthe linen board, "upon a fimilar plan as the navigation board ex plained above. Their mode of applying it will be feen by the following account. "'_,'¦ Difburfements ofthe Linen Truftees, from 1757, to 1772. Spinning1 fchools, Flax fhops, Flax dreffers, Bleachers, Contractors, Yarn infpeftors, Manufacturers,UtejafUs, .¦ Railing flax, 3>6342ii97 4.H5 14.323 5,720 : 654 55.013 69,445 5,101 Flaxfeed BOUNTIES to LINENS. Flax-feed, mixed with potatoes, — — FraudulentJapped linens, — — — . Buildings and repairs, . _ Clerks, &c. at linen office, — — . Ditto, linen and yarn halls, lnfpeftors, itinerant men, and reed makers, Incidental charges, • In fixteen years, >— . >59 1. 2,818 748 25,936 11,728 '7,642 7.723 ".773 225,606 Or per annum, 14,100* Subfequent to 1698 Ireland,. at an enormous expence to the public, made a progrefs in the linen manufafture, &cf. The truftees of thelinen board expended near half a mil lion of money to extend and 'promote the linen manufacture 'before the year 1 750 J. But thefe accounts* do not yet fh'ew the full amount of. pub lic-money which has been granted for the ufe of this great manufacture ; to havethis complete we muft take in the boun ties on the import of feed, and on the export of canvas and fail cloth, which have been as follow; :.*,'. Years, end Import Export can- Years, end Import Export can ing Laiy- hemp and ¦ vas and ing Lady- hemp and vas and • day. flaxfeed. 1. 1,211 fail-cloth. day, ¦ flaxfeed. ¦fail- cloth. 1731 1. 1,446 '755 l._._ 10,500 1. §73l '733 2,120 1,207- '757 9,873 '735. 2,658 1,301 '759 1 1,058 '737 •5*004 1,492 1761 11,273 1739, 6,792 3.664 '763 9,187 . . .".- . ' '74«J 6,1 12 3,5' 7 1765 11,464 !743 ";5»9"" 1,540 1767 15,894- ,. . , , '745 7,536 ',367 i769 16,810 "! '747 4,482 2,283 '77' 16,062^ '749 7.939 3.4'6 '773 16,279 1751 8,027 4,802 '775 14,674 »753 Totals Avera 1 1 ,48 1 '.9=9 . 1777' ears, — 1.4,479 . "™~ — • 226,834. .28,682|| ge of the laft feven 5 1 15,094 ' By * Journal of the Houfe of Commons, vol. xv. p. 37.5. + Report of Sir Lucius O'Brien's committee journals, vol. xv. p. 296. t M''a'- P- 4°°" § This year this bounty ceafed. || Extracted from ah account of national premiums, MS. Com- ' munhatedby the Right Hon. John Forfter. i6t> LINEN MANUFACTURE*- By one of thefe accounts the annual net produce 1. of thofe duties appropriated to this manufac ture, on an average of the laft 7 years, is — n.74a But by the other, the treafury charges the ma nufafture on the fame average with, — 14,446 Difference, -*— -- * ,¦¦¦ 2,704 The faft however is, that the larger of thefe fums'is paid to this purpofe, and the account of the linen boards difburfe- ment amounts to 14,100]. The total annual fums at prefent applied appear to be , thefe : 1. Produce of duties appropriated to the purpofe — 14.446 Parliamentary bounty, — — 4,000 Bounty on the import of flax-feed, - 1 5.094 Total per annum, ¦ — . 33.54© And that the totaPfums thus applied fince the year 1700 have been : . - ' , . , •_ ' 1. Paid by the vice treafurers, ' — ¦'847,504 Parliamentary bounty, r-r 192,540 Bounty on flax import, -- - : 226,834 Ditto on export of canvas, — — — - , 28,682 Total, ¦ r 1,295,560 The moft carelefs obfer.ver cannot help remarking, die great amount of this total ; and muft think that an annual grant of 33,0001. a year in fupport of a manufacture Which works to the annual amount of two millions fterling, an extraordi nary meafure. I muft he free to own, that I cannot, upon any principles, fee the propriety of it. • They cannot have done any confiderable mifchief I grant, but if they do no good there is a great evil in the mifapplication of fo much. money.,' That a manufacture in its very cradle, if it happens to be -of a fickly growth, may be benefited by bounties and pre- > miums, is certain ; but that even in fuch a cafe it is_ wife to '. give them, I doubt, very much ; for fabrics hieing fickly in their growth is a reafon againft encouraging them. The truly valuable manufaftures, fuch as linen in "Ireland, wool' and hardware in England, and filk in France, want no help, but a demand for their produce. Ireland has always hitherto had a demand for her linens^ and having fo much longer than the beginning of this century been ,hy the trade, would naturally increafe ABSURDLY CONDUCTED. 161 increafe it in proportion to the demand; andsfhe would have done that though no, linen board nor bounties had, exifted. It is contrary to all the principles of commerce to fuppofe, that, fuch an increafing manufafture as this has been, would want flax or flax-feed without bounties on the import; or that manufacturers in it would not earn their bread without a prefent of 55,000!. The only inftance in which thefe boun ties would certainly have a confiderable effeft is, the cafe of expenfive machines ; the firft introduftion of which are diffi cult to individuals in a poor country. But this article, in its fulleft extent, would have demanded but j\ The balls are a pound and an half each of twelve fkatns, the woman fpins a ball in four days, being paid ten pence ; in Leinfter it is ten pence halfpenny, and in Munfter it is nine pence ; average nine pence three farthings. Combing a ball is about three pence, which with fpinning nine pence threefarthings, makes twelve pence three faFthings labour on a ball ; and the price of a ball, both wool and labour, in the year 1778, was three fhillings and fixpence, In a war the price pf wppI generally falls in Ireland. The laft French war did npt fink prices in Ireland, but the Spa'nifh one did. The filk manufafture of Ireland has»been already difcuffed in Sec tion 16, and is a fabric that merits neitherthe encouragement ofthe natives, nor the attention of others. SECTION XX, Revenue Taxes. THE rife, progrefs, and prefent flate of the revenue of Ireland, is' very little underftood in England, though an objeft of confiderable importance to that kingdom. The va riations of this revenue are ufeful marks, among many others, ofthe profperity or declenfion ofthe ifland, and everything Which enables us to judge of the real ftate of a country with which we are fo intimately connefted, well deferves our at tention. The public revenue in that kingdom Hands upon a very ' different footing from ours in England, owing to the opera tions Of the revolution relative to this objeft not having ex tender 168 .REVENUE. tended to Ireland. Before that epoch the two kingdoms were in this refpeft fimilar ; but the old fubfidies and other duties which formed the hereditary revenue of. the Stuarts in Engr land, were purchafed of the crown at the revolution with the civil lift revenue of 700,000 1. no fimilar bargain took place in Ireland, confequently the old hereditary revenue in that king-: dom is at prefent under the fame circumftances as the like funds were in England before the year 1688. "It is uppn this old revenue that the penfions on the Irifh cflablifhment , are granted ; the crown claims a' right to apply the whole of it at its pleafure, but arguments have'been urged againft that claim. % The following tables will fet the progrefs of late years, and prefent receipt of the revenue, in a clear light. . , Cuftoms REVENUE. i5g | Additional 1 Cuftoms - Import Inland duty on ale Hearth Cvjloms in out. exeijc. e.\ cife. beer and money. fir on? •waters In the Year 1730 1. 97)811 : 1. 17,011 78,148 1. 64,360 1. 50,909 41,301 173' 71,671 14,030 '66v8o8 71,416 56,43^ 41,263 173' 76,886 25,807' 74,159 76,473 60; 374 41,810 1733 8.7,395 24,174 76>*5? 74.835 59,*84 43,55o '734 84,541' 25,780 75,974 76(076 60,501 43-9*6 ' 1735 88,311 2S.624 77,14' . 66,851 53,071 44, *o j ; , 1735 104,580 24,124 84-875 63,636 50,54* 44,m '737 96,118 *4,7°5 74,160 65,653 5*, i94 43-9*1 ' 1738 98,086 26,131 87.302 70,787 ' 56,114 44,035 '•' •¦'¦• ' 1739 95.4*8 24,414 79*203 7:t'.7-3* 56,895 A 4,* 44 '•. ., 1740 ' 84,91 - 15,388 73,33s 69,675 55.375 45.045 ¦ ,, • '74' 93,38i. 2^,0.64 79,3fio 66,956 53,i5i 44,965: 174* 9A630 11,093' 72,104 67,156 53,4'9 41 ,'8i'8 1743 95,893 21,086 76,910 '79,785 63,710 41,165 1744 88,451 17,64) 69,759: 88,874 70.939; 41,823 '745 86,531 23,8*4. 72,001 84,39*: 67,56.2 , 42,91' 1746 .89,685 12,836 U3.710 74,626 59,564 41,410 1747 89,814 29,627 64, 1 64 73-347 58,803 40,327 , 1748 9'5,8i9 26,486 84,916 84,182 67,895 40,960 1749 109,840 3',329 88,463 88.817 71,648 .42,180' 1750 151,279 29,698 123.858 91,294 74,404 ¦ 43,039 175' 147,366 17,484 1 10,21-9 91,59s, 73,89* ., -44i794' 1751 137,731 30,726 105,492, 94,802 76,389 51,914 .1753 159,813 29,990 108,764 90,556 73,192 '- 51S-946 '754 186,990 26,770 131,906 08,694 71,566 53v405 '755 1 56,764 305485 U9,765 83,311 67,i55 53,789 >7S6 J 47*4 69 16,8,84 98,261 80,718 65,041 S4,*83 1 1757 124,418 28,569 .84,049 73,196 58,716 54,i53. I75» i37,57o 3LI35 95.086 67,611 54,416 51,859 1759 '6l'578 30,018 111,018 69,301 54,74* 53,482 1760 148,445 33,673 1 16,831 77,4H 6i,533 .54,570 , J76i , i5°)997 -39,419 103,115 , 8^,504 ,69,119 55,027 1761] i9°.553,- 39,988 132,540 93,543 76,349 55-97o 1763 -'77.834 i 1764 109^999 3,1,893 38,805 121,679 i44,585 91,842 75,9H 56,6u56,878, -9*,745 75,878 1765 113,118' 35,943 152,367 87,75.4 72,109 57,137 1766 214,985 37-788 i73-3'3 85,75* 70,250 57,513 1767 104,864 1768 111.743 34,259 147,411 80,694 64,788 , 57,4o6 39-754 1S5V58 79,765 65,536 57,93° 17691 111,049 40,045 157,141 83,557 69,1,47 58,361 177c Average, — 177 - 177 ,' 210,490 37,39037,71* 35,7" 151,996 79.631 63,3*8 68,718 | 49,160 58,81057,736, 58,970 111,036 1 100,27° 154-753 84,185 146,329 70,743 , 199.368 38,850 146,461 7°-3'9 48,971 58,439 1773! *3*,767 1774' 119,609 37,397 151,661 74-991 53,274' 59,938 37,169 144,796 77,679 . 55,419 59-383 •77 '77 ••77 5 103,008 38,010 130,104 77,i5i 54,894 60,900 5 248,491 42,488 152,238 79,4n 57,353 60,966 7'i5i,°s5 35,883 153,7*7 80,461 57,75° 60,5.80 — - ¦ '-- " Average of laft" 7 years, J - 1*3,709 37,9*9 146,473 75.83S 53.831 59,868 __.. 177¦ 77 8 I98,55c 36,027 131,184 81,761 58,611 61,646 9 165,805 31,71' 106.076 76,33, , 1 54,934 60,617 i7o REVENUE. A very flight examination of thefe columns will fhew a gredf increafe in all (except the inland excife, and cuftoms outwardj about the year 1 748. The conclufion of the peace of Aix la Ghapellc feems from this table* as well as. from a variety of others to have been the principal epoch in the profperity of Ireland. The inland excife is a revenue fo wretchedly adl minifteredby the confeflion ofthe whole kingdom, that nr| conclufions whatever are to be drawn from it.. The cuftoms outwards have rifen but little ; and; not at all in the laft feven years; which is to be accounted for from fome of the principal •articles of the exports, fuch as linen, &c. being either duty free, pr having fp fmall a cuftom as. to be merely with defig* of afcertaining quantities ; and alfoj by the falling off in the export of the produce pf pafturage "whieh I have fhewed be; fore, moft of the ar-ticles of it having an, ill judged duty oii them. But the cuftoms inwards is not a bad one,.1 for an in-- creafed import, though at firft fight it feems to lie againft a nation, ought never to be taken in that lights No kingdpm ever imports goods which it cannot pay for; and an increafed confumption is the flrongeft proof of an increafed ability tip pay fbr it. I muft however remark, that the increafe in this column the laft feven years is ve,ry trifling. There are in all th£ bth.er' columns, except hearth money, a decline in this perio| whiclji very well deferves to be enquired into. That the kingdom .has flourifhed in it I have little or no doubt, it man therefore, probably be owing to the multiplication of abufe£ in the collection of the revenues, which being fb many cancerg in the body politic ought to be remedied with the utmoft affiduity. The increafe of the hearth money is a matter of importance, for it proves an increafe of population clearly; which indeed could not be doubted from the increafed profperity and wealth ofthe kingdom, and from the repeated information I received all over it to that purport. The whole grofs revenues offer a different appearance from thefe particular duties, the following account fhews there has been an increafe, but owing to an increafe of taxes. R E V E- K. E V E "N U E. 171 Fir receiving Nett pro Heredita Old addi revenue, pay duce ofthe Two years end ing Lady day. ry revenue grofs. tional du-' ties grofs. ing draw backs and pre hereditary andolddd- miums' on cdm dithnal 'fee. duties. 1. I. 1. 1. Intheyear 175k 1,048,858 366,462 192^13 I>233>943 "753 1,047,062 349.557 1 854766 1,210,853 1755 1,127,552 367,98-0 193.259 1,302,274 1757 954,668 322,568 191,357 1,085,880 '759 , 9»9.937 320,41 5 205,290 1,105,062 1761 ".053,939. 346,649 234,077- 1,166,50 1763 1,201,300 418,258 260,602 1,358,956 Average, 1,060,474 355.698 208,981 1,209,068 in the Year 1765 1,298,165 452.375 273,010 I.477>529 1767 ,>29s»3I7 471,240 318,044 1,448,513 1769 1,309,828 481,998 , 347.943 1,443,882 . 1771 1,276,711 454.955 , 349.275 1,382,391 "773 1,288,694 439.6i5 398,380 «. 329'33° 1775 1,279,275 404,415 428,180 «.«55>5°9 1777 1,388,044 419,748 464,762 1,343,126 Average, 1,305,06a «.i75»'45 446,33S 368,786 i;38z,896 In the Year 1 779 346,696 1 ' Thefe are for feflions not years. Befides thefe duties there are others appropriated by parliament to particular pur- pofes ; thefe are for paying the intereft of loans, for the en couragement pf the linen manufacture; pf tillage, of pro teftant fchools, and the cambric manufacture. The whole revenue of the kingdom for twenty years in two periods, of ten each with the averages, will fhew the general increafe, whether - owing to new duties or an increafe of old. ones. TOTAL 172 R E V* E U U E. TOTAL REVENUE of IRELAND-. 1. 1. ' : In the year 1758 650,763 In'the year 1768 945,,527S7 t6 1 ,223 794'364 362,674 1,318,263 1759 181,964 820,383 298,173 1,300,521 1761 202,052 997,072 281,888 1,481,013 1763 221.365 1,124,743 332.934 1,679,043 1765 241,271 988,535 275.955. 1,505,761 ¦11&I. 257,988 971,007 337>646 1, 56^,642 ',5 5 '.SO* J769 270,040 954.426 327,094 1 771 272,678 976,917 373.997 , 1,623,59^ «773 323'833 l^1^7^3 389,634 V 1,886,191 I77S 366,838 1,223,326 342.377 1,932,541 1777 410,-904 1,1 1 2,68a 410,172 ".933.758 1779 336.475 | 937»679 432.474 1,706,628 ¦ ,,- Salaries exclu- Salaries exclu- T-wo years ending ftve of hearth- Two years ending five ofh'eartb- Lady day. money colleftors. Lady day. .. mgney colleftors In the year 1751 1. 110,622 In the year 1 765 1. 151,655 "753 1 1 1 ,478 1767 156,157 1755 113,721 1769 164,364 '757 115.552 •77" l65.374 J759 n 6,344 '773 169,567 ,761 130,274 >775 176,107 1763 !¦, '. ' II- 144,316 * 7-7-7 I7L573 Sosnr D.U T I E S; .175 Some of the particular duties which go towards Raifing the above revenue will be feen among the following articles. Goods exported. Duty. 1. Year 1773. Beef, — 10,759 v Bulls and cows, — 29 Butter, • — 6,809 Candles, — 109 Cheefe, — 52 Horfes, — 88 Bacon flitches, — 1 20 Hides, — 2857 Tallow,,cwt. — 2>994 Tongues, — 75 Total, — 23,892 Goods imported. Year 1773. Tobacco, — Rum, — 121,1481 6 (,080 Gin, — Brandy, — Tea, — Salt andfalt petre, Silk, — Wine, — 2-1,935 34,206 16,406 11,305 1 8,382 * 104,701 489,163 To lay a duty of near 24,000!. a year uponihe export of the produce of pafturage is iheavy and . moft unpolitic, and ought to beabolifhed. The other articles in this lift are very proper ones to tax. ' The decline in feveral branches of the revenue having United with an increafed expence to run the nation in debt as above mentioned, new taxes are of courfe in contemplation every feffions. A land tax has been a matter of converfation in Ireland for fome years : fome increafe muft be made to the revenue, but in what mode is an enquiry of the moft in terefting nature to that kingdom ; I fhall fpr this reafon offer a few remarks pn the ftate of the country relative to the taxes which would be moft proper for it. There are a variety of objections to land taxes in general, • befides the particular ones whichapply immediately to Ireland. Taxes ought all to be equal, but an equal land tax muft be a variable one which is at once a tythe, the moftperaicious bur then to'which any nation can fubmit ; it is the taille, the equal 1 land tax of France which is fo well known to be the ruin of •.; ' ,i lh-e * Commons Journals, vol. 1 6, p. 268. 176 ALAND -T A'X. the agriculture of ;that kingdom: hence therefore equality mufl not be thought of in a land tax : and if there were no other objections, this alone ought for ever to preclude them. But fuppofe a fixed unequal tax as in England, yet there are great evils in it, a man's poffeflions are rarely tP be taken as a proof of, his capability to bear a tax ; a landlord who receives a thoufand pounds^.a! year from .his eftate, and pays feven hundred intereft 'of . mortgages' is taxed at his whole rental ; what enormity and ruin is this ! that the ability to bear the burthen, is, to be of no, confequence, in laying the tax. When the amazing amojint of mortgages oh landed property is con - fidered, the greatnefs of this oppreffion muft be fully felt. But land taxes w.hen they are unequal are unproductive ; hence the. oppreffions. under this name which crufh the agri culture pf France, Milan, and the flates pf Auftria and Pruffia, in moft of which actual valuations of the land are made peri odically, as if no man's improvement fhould efcape taxation : hence alfo the defigns of the Englifh miniftry once remark- ' ably manifefted, of dropping the prefent land tax "n order to obtain an equal one:. thefe are. univerfal objections to land taxes. But in Ireland there are others which concern that country fingly, and therefore the more deferving attention; avail proportion of it is under leafe for ever ; other parts let for five hundred years ; others for lives and a hundred ,years ; others for lives and* fifty and thirty years ; in a word, under leafes of every defcription. How' cpuld a land tax be laid in that kingdom confiftently with the reigning principle of the Englifh tax, that the landlord only fhall pay it ? Difficulties innumerable would arife at every flep"; no gordian. knot but the fword. of power can cut ; but the queftion is whether all the principles that have directed a' fimilar tax in England would not be cut with them : for the tax to be either equal or productive, if muft- be laid on fpme clafles pf tenantry : it ought certainly to be laid on all who do not occupy ; but1 from that moment there is an end of it as ah Englifh land tax, It is a taille, a tax on tenantry:- break' the -limits, th^e great line between theT owner of the land and the tenant, and who will fay how far the innovation will be carried, the moft dangerous that can ever be made in a. kingdom ? Adieu to all improvements in agriculture wherever flich an one tikes pla.ce._ \* ' ' Evils of this fort- rarely make their full appearance- at firft ; a land tax in Ireland would probably come in under a very fair appearance ; but the ftate of the country ought to tell its inhabitants that fucha tax would be too unproductive to. laft ; the fucceffive alterations would do the fatal bufinefs, and pro duce the mifchief in its full deformity. Adminiftration have had experience in England of the lofs, as it-'hasbeen called, to the revenue from a fixed tax : if ever therefore A L A N D; T A X. , 177 therefore they introduced it into Ireland, it .would be in a form which admitted alterations, in order to avoid the circum- flahce which has mpre' than pnce raifed a ftrong inclination to a new afTeflment. Fpr thefe and pther reafpns too nume-, rous to give in detail here, I am convinced that Ireland can never experience. a more pernicious tax than that on land. But as I obferved before, government muft go 6n, and muft be fupported at an increafing expence ; new taxes muft confequently be had recpurfe tP, and I fhall not hefitate a mo ment in recommending excifes as the only ones which can be much extended without any natipnal injury : an entire change in the adminiftratipn of them fhould take place ; ' the monftrpus abufes in them remedied, and new ones laid. The cheapnefs of whifkey with which a man may get dead drunk for twp pence, is an enormity too great to be borne. The mprals, healthy peace, induftry, agriculture, manu factures, cpmmerce, and wealth pf the kingdom, are all materially injured, by the eheapnefs of .this vile beverage ; there is npt an object in Ireland which would yield a more productive revenue, at the fame time that every fhjjling go vernment gpt wpuld be half a crown benefit to the public : a judicious, and well cpllected excife pn this liquor would raife an immehfe revenue. All other fpirits, wines and to bacco, are alfo very well able to bear' much heavier taxes than they labour under at prefent. An excife on tea alfo might be .applicable ; but there is no want of objects ; and if the. le giflature of the kingdom will not fet themfelves very fteadijy to the bufinefs, a land tax will , be the confequence, and in it all the mifchiefs that muft attend: the, meafure. The propofition. for a land tax on abfentees was very wifely rejected; the execution of it would have fmopthed fome ofthe' difficulties, or at leaft rendered them familiar, and certainly have facilitated a .general tax of the fame nature. The mode purfued in Ireland pf raifing money by tontine, at an exceeding high intereft, fo-high even.as 7 per cent, is very mifchievous to the kingdom. The great want of .that country is capital,, confequently .any meafure. which tends to tefTen. capitals that are employed in, any branch of. induftry, is pernicious : feven per cent, intereft in national funds muft . be a fevere blow to every branch of induftry, for who will lend. money on_ private fecurity at , fix per cent, while the .public .gives feven ? And what man will undergo the trouble, and run the hazard of manufactures or commerce, while; he qan.fit by his fire fide with feven per cent, in his pocket. , In England where the capital is, fo immenfe,,, $nd with all that of Holland.at.command, fimilar tranfa<3io,ns.are found exceedingly detrimental, . infomuch . that no induftry can be carried on whiph will not yield very large .profits ; , no money to be procured . on bond ;i fcarce .any pn mortgage. ; v.aft 'fums 4rawjng,out,of the general ,^»4viftry for inveftwspt Vol. II. M » i78 COMMERCE. in the public funds, and a general fall in the value of that great portion of landed property which is obliged to be fold. But the fums borrowed in this country maybe too large to raife by taxes ; I do not think it is the fame in Ireland ; and that kingdom had much better raife their fupplies within the feffion than leffen their little capital by tontines. SECTION XXI. Commerce — ¦ — Fijheries—r— Embargoes. I; , UNFORTUNATELY for Ireland, the general commerce of it is to be fully treated in a very fmall compafs ; and the facts which I have already had occafion to lay before the reader, in the, two preceding fections, go very far tpwards completing the whple that is neceffary to explain its flate. Being a dependent country, the LBritifh legiflature has upon all occafions coptrouled its commerce, fometimes with a very high hand, but uhiverfally upon the principles of monopoly, as if the ppverty pf that country was tp form the wealth of Britain. I have on every occafion endeavoured to fhew the futility pf fuch an idea, and tp prove from the evidence of in variable facts, that the wealth of • Ireland has always been, and is, the wealth of England, that whatever fhe gets is ex pended in a very large proportion in the confumption of Bri tifh fabrics and commodities. The increafed profperity of Ireland, which fhe has experienced in fpite of our abfurdre- flriftions on her commerce, has raifed her to be one of the greateft and beft markets this kingdom poffefles in any part of the glpbe. It is a remarkable fact which was ppinted out to me by that very able politician, the Earl of Sheiburne,. that the narrow- nefs'of our prohibitory, laws in England is of late date ; from the old Englifh acts of parliament it appears, that before the reftpration the true fyftem of commerce was much better un derftood than it has been of late days :- if the tranfkctions of the commonwealth are examined, there will appear great li berality and the foundeft principles in Cromwell and' the leading men of thofe times ; and that it was the clear -deter mination of the protector as well as of the long parliament, to make the trade of Ireland as free as poffible ; nay, the aft of navigation itfelf, at the reftoration, included Ireland upon the fame footing as England ; it was not till twelve years af terwards, that the exception crept in by a fingle claufe in an- ' other COMMERCE. 179 other act, which probably was pafTed at the defire of fome mer chant, without any perfon's caring about it, which has been the cafe with many an American aft. The next prohibitory law, which declared the importation of Irifh cattle a nuifance, was a contefted job between the duke of Ormond and the duke of Lauderdale ; afterwards it became the fafhion to pafs acts againft Ireland, which nobpdy had the knpwledge or libe rality to opppfe. In the full perfection of this fpirit it was, that a bill, which paffed in Ireland in 1759, for reftricting the importation of damaged flour, was thrown out in Englahd at the inftigation of a fingle miller at Chichefler. Whenever old prejudices wear out, it will certainly be found for the intereft of England to give every freedpm poffible to the trade of Ireland. 1 am convinced if this extended to its being an abfolute free port, no mifchief would refuit frbm it ; but as to a free export to all the world, not the fhadow of a good argument ever yet appeared againft it ; for upon what principles qf policy, or of common fenfe, can we found a con duct which reftrains our own fubjects from the free fale of their products . and manufactures, when the returns of fuch fales muft flow into our own coffers by that extenfion of de mand which has been infeparably connected with the wealth of Ireland, when the population and the^power thafrife upon fuch wealth are our own ? A mercantile landlord at London might as well fay to his tenant in Yorkfhire, You fhall npt fell ypur corn to whom you pleafe, you fhall fhip it to me ; you .fhall npt cpnvert your wool to the beft purpofes, you, fhall fell it raw to me, This language might be that bf his leafes, but it would be that of folly. Would he not. foon find, that by leaving his tenants to make the beft of their own com modities, they would afford to pay him a better rent ; their wealth becomes his, if he keeps them poor he muft be fp him felf. The cafe of Ireland is exadly parallel ; the inhabitants of that ifland, in their public, revenue, in their military, hy their abfentees, and in their commercial balance, pay to this kingdom a direct rent for it, which vibrates in its amount to the variations of their national wealth. While it was a wil- dernefs of favages it paid the rent which defarts every where yield; as it improved our receipt has been proportioned, until it has become a cultivated flourifhing eftate, and yields a rent which marks to an iota the extent of the cultivation, and the, degree of that profperity. Of what ufe is the experience of a century of fads, if we are not to open our eyes to the leffons they convey ? Long experience has told us what the effects of Irifh wealth are ; we feel thofe effefts flpwing like vital warmth through the whole extent of our own territory, and fhall we yet hefitate to encourage and extend a profperity which is the fource and foundation of our own ? M 2 I nave '•iBb C 0 M^E R C E. I li-afve taken the great line of leading principles ; will the littlenefs1 of commercial jealoufy reply in its true fpirit, that this town will be hurt; that that manufacture will be ioft ; that Manchefter will be alarmed; and that Norwich will have apprehenfions : it is not a queftion for the weavers of one place and the merchants of another to decide,' it 'is THE EMPIRE that is concerned; the general intereft de mands the meafUrfe, and ought fo abforb every pitiful cpnfi- deration : but all Experience fpeaks only one language even to thefe miftakeh individuals : I obferved it before, and gave inftances of manufactures finking in the pofleffion of a mono poly ; and thriving from a tivalry ;- of markets rifing to in creafing induftry ; of the -welfare of one country rifing from the profperity of others : truths as univerfal as the world. And fhall we deny the application to a lifter, but dependent kingdom, from whom we have fo. many 'ways of gaining all- the advantages df her wealth ? But arguments are little - wanted where facts are fo numerous ; to thofe I have already inferted, let me add the following ftate bf our imports and ex ports in the Irifh trade. TRADE of GREAT BRITAIN with IRELAND. Imports. Exports. Imports excefs Exp "rts excefs 1. 1. i. 1. In the year 1697 223.9'i 251,262 • 27,348 ,_ 1698 333>968,293.8i3 40,154 1699 4i7..475,269,475 '47.999 1-700 233.853261,115 27,262 1701 285,490296,144 1 o,753 1702 258,121 215,112 43,008 '7°3 324,289266,324 57.965 1704 321,847215,949 105,897 A 1705 279,992244,057 35.934.. 1706 266,269198,176 68,092 17°7 306,423263,412 43,010 1708 274,689125.1,974 22,715 1709 276,423251,519 -. 24,904 1710 310,846285,424 25,421 , 1711 297>238!26i,42;6 . '35.8'1 . / 1712 291,669 274,845 16,823, TRADE COMMERCE, i.8i TRADE of GREAT BRITAIN with IRELAND*. Continued. Intheyear 17,13 1714 1715 1716 L7' 7 1-7 1 8 1719 17201721 1722 J723 Imports. &ports. 1. 295,9263-26,393^9,437 561,673469,657 3,26,283 380,130 28,2,8 332,882 356.095 360,526 Exports- excefs. 1724 17251726 J727 1728 1729 1730I73I 17321733*734 >-735 1736 "737 1738 «73917401741 1.74a1743 1744 !745- 1.746 1747 1748 1749 ' 1.750 '751752»753J754 1. 306,964 397>°48 420,062 345.252429,880 33 3, 988 387,460 328,583378,838 488,37P 553.945, 1. 216,421 39,776 367,889333.870 332.604 3° 7. P3 8 3I'8,,i4 287,648 294,156308,936294,484 386,105401,42^ 417,421 447,176 346,476 381.372 41 1 ,924 390,565404,863 346,814 816,797 39P>874 ,441 ,4,98 532,686 54i,393 464,489 567,776 612,808 468,257474»836 569,553 43,6,0 1 2 475,762 517,198 532,698 618,684614,754 5;95>25I627,154 769,244720,555 730,910 696,590 673,621 628,288 698,715 775,650 860,178703,227910,920 : 796,157 748,677 906,424 1 ,006,045 1 ,31 6,600 664,4841,174,493 563,959 561.489 610,466 1 , 140,608 I>'49>5521, 1 73>829. Exports excefs. 53°>578 1. 11,038 70,656 30,625 7.7°4 7.329 45,77i 37.956 132,274 193,418 100,367 140,965 236,949 128,973'57.615 229,549238,542 3°9'745225,731 351,822 225,731 3.51,822 273,378 384.433315,218261,697 237,723 293,851428,835 43,380 3 '2,353 263,471 207,284 44',935 438,268 703,79,2 516,008 576,648 58,8,063, 56.3,362 TRADE l82 COMMERCE. TRADE of GREAT BRITAIN with IRE LAND, Continued. ; • Imports. Exports. Imports excefs. Exports excefs. 1. 1. 1. 1. '¦ In the" year 1755 643,165 1,070,063 426,897 1756 827,811 1,1 1 1,801 283,990 !757 687,471 960,843 . 273.371 1758 1,050,331 926,886 123,446 1759 832,127 931,358 99,23' 1760 904,180 1,050,401 146,220 1761 853,804 1,476,114 - 622,310 1762 889,368 1,528,696 639,328 i763 769.379 1,640,713 871,333 1764 777,4'2 1,634,382 856,969 1765 ',07P,533 1,767,020 696,486 1766 1,154,982 1,920,015 765,033 1767 1,103,285 1,880,486 777,201 1768 1,226,094 2,248,315, 1,022,221 1769' 1,265,107 1,964.742 699>634 1770,1,214,398 2,125,466 9 1 1 ,068 '771j1.380.737 1,983,818 603,081 1772,1,242,305 1,963,787 721,481 • * »773 1.252,817 1,918,802 665,985 The reader will recollect that it was the general tenour of the information received' in the journey, that the year 1748 was the epoch ofthe modern profperity of Ireland ; all agree that after that peace, Ireland advanced greatly, her rife of rental will mark this clearly. The following is a review of the minutes : RISE OF RENTS. Lord Longford more than doubled in thirty years.— Earl of Innifkilling quadrupled in ditto.— Mr. Cooper almoft tre bled fince 1748. — Mayo trebled in forty years.— King's county two * Extracted from the accounts laid before the Britifh parlia ment. It is a'circumftance very much to be regretted, that thefe' ac counts no lohgcr fee the light ; they have npt been laid before par liament fence 1773, why fhould a practice thai had continued for above a century ceafe juft then ? If there were any trades like the American which did not offer a. pleafing fpeftacle, there vpere others like thofe of Ireland, Ruffta, W c. to make amends. COMMERCE. 183 two thirds fince 1750. — Tipperary doubled in twenty years. — Barony of Owana and Ara doubled in ditto. — Rich lands of Limerick rifen a fourth in twenty years, and two thirds fince 1748. In the preceding enquiries the truth of this is confirmed by every, proof which authentic records can fhew ; as the table now before us marks the commercial connection between Great Britain and Ireland, it is neceffary to divide it into pe riods, in order to fee the average of each. The table con tains twenty-five years fince 1 748, during which period. The averages are — Ditto in the 2 5 preceding years, Latter period fuperior by, — Imports 1. ' 965,050438,665 526,385 Exports. 1. 1,482,513 657,972 824,541 Here is an account that is worth a dozen arguments ! It is from hence evident, that our exports to Ireland have in the laft twenty-five years confiderably more than doubled, almoft 'trebled ; and this great rife has been exactly in the period of the internal profperity of that ifland. If I did not know per fons of very refpectable characters in parliament, who think very differently upon this great queftion of the freedom of Irifh trade, I fhould be afhamed of dwelling a moment on the fubjeet. How would it have been poffible for that country to fupport fuch an increafed importation, unlefs fhe had increaf ed in wealth ? And having proved that fuch advances in na tional profperity have been attended by this increafe demand for the manufactures and products pf England, are we not perfectly founded in concluding, that future advantages to Ire land will alfo be attended by fimilar effects ? The influx of wealth into that country brings a tafle, for the elegant luxu ries with which we abound, and the capability of purchafing them enfures the purchafe. An Englifhman cannot go intp a fingle houfe in Dublin, or fee a perfon dreffed, of either fex, without having this truth flaring him in the face. But ' there ' is a circumftance in this account which deferves particular at tention, and that is our import trade not haying increafed fo much as the export one, from which this plain cOnelufion is to be drawn j that let Ireland get her wealth from where fhe will, it comes infallibly to England. The fourth column of the table which fhews the balance fhe pays us, and which amounts of late years, from fix hundred thoufand to a million a year, could not poflibly be fupported with the abfentee drain, unl«fs fhe made by her trade elfewhere. Average 1*4 • F RE E T'R A DE. Imports. 1. Average, of- the laft feven --years, - Ditto of the preceding feven years, Increafe, 1,240,677 917,088 323,569 Exports. 1. 2,012,202" '¦',5.73,934-- 438,268 • From this comparifbn we find, that the rapid increafe of; our ex-ports to Irelnad is in late y.earss the ftronger reafon. therefore to expect, that whatever increafe of wealth fhe ex periences, it will be England that will receive the full tribute of, it. By means of the profperity of Ireland the trade we carry on with that kingdom is«grown< to be one of the moft important which we poffefs ; and in the laft year of this table, nearly equalled the export to the whole continent- of North America. 1. Exports from- England to the continent of North- \ „ America, from Chriftmas,, 1772, to 1773, - 5 Ditto to Ireland, 1,918,802- . Freight, in/ur-ance and profit on both twelve per cent. Hence-the-refore this nation has no demand of policy fo ftrong ©U her' at prefent, as tp encOurage Ireland to the utmoft of her powgi?, in ocder to increafe her own trade to that ifland, that AfmeriGan loffes may be the lefs fenfibly felt : but this can only be done by1 embracing a fyftem- totally it new. And here it is a tribute fairly due to genius, long, fince departed,, to obferve, that the relative interefts of England and Ireland were betteu nnclerflood ,b.y Mr. Houghton in 1682, than by any later wri ter, whofe productions have come to my knowledge ; and as I have mentioned him on this occafion, I muft remark, that he feeins to- me- to have had jufter ideas of trade, manufactures, prices of provifions, enclofures, &c. than nine tenths of the authors who have treated of thofe fubjects : " The richer Ire land grows the more wealth- will the landlords have,, and the more willthey that live here fpend. I am told by an i-nquifitive and undetftanding knight, that hath a great eftate there, and Very well u-nderftands the Irifh affairs, that what their gentry fpend here, with the penfions and the rent that, are paid from thence to the city of London, amounts to about three hundred thoufand pounds per Annum,, and I fee no rea>- fon why this expence fhould not increafe according to their thriving." — " Even in the woollen manuf3$ure I queftion whether they, could in cloth do more than the Dutch; and' for other manufactures, why might, it. npt put both nations at flrife to find out fome nenu confumptions, and fo increafe the trades of both? If there muft be but a fet quantity cpnfumed, feeing England bears, up againft, and in clpathing outdoth Terra Firma, nuhy may vie not, if Ireland be F R E E T R A D E. 185 BE jointed to vsifpoil- the trade on the other fide, and fo le both enriched*?" Here is the intereft of England, relative to thitf country, explained upon the moft enlarged and moft libera* principles of freedom and of commerce. This penetrating genius, who faw deeper into the true Englifh interefts than half our modern politicians, was fenfible of no mifchiefs from a free Irifh woollen trade : the prevalence of commercial jea loufy had not then arifen to the heights we have fince feen. itv Without any- hefitation, Ireland ought to have an abfb- Itotely freeta-ade of export and import to all our American co lonies, and African fettlements ; alfo a very confiderable free- domin her exports to Europe : but when this fubjeet was in converfatipn in the houfe pf commons; I heard the minifler mention one circumftance, which feemed to ftand in the way of doing juftite to Ireland, that is to ourfelves : taxes there being fo.much lower that their manufaftures not being equal ly under the burthen of excifes, would have an unfair flart of ours f . With great fubmiffion, I think this will not be found found doctrine either in fact or reafon. I might here go into the queftion of a poor and cheap country robbing a rich one of her manufactures, for the affertion comes directly to this ; but Dr. Tucker has treated it in fo mafterly a manner, and has fo clearly proved the abfurdity of the idea, 'that what he has faid ought to be confidered as conclufive. But why give in linen, what you deny in other fabrics ? Irifh linen has all the advan tages of a freedom from a great variety of excifes, which the manufacturers of Englifh linen labour under, and yet we not only fupport the competition but thrive under it, from there being a -difference in the fabrics, and as great a difference would be in all other fabrics. Their broad cloth, alfo, is made under the fame advantages, and compare it in both. price. and quality with that of England; I bought it at fe venteen fhfllings. and fixpence a yard at the Dublin fociety's warehoufe, without the mafter manufacturer's profit and ex pences, and I will venture to affert, from wearing both, twenty-three fhillings for Englifh cloth to be cheaper. The fame fact runs- through a variety of their fabrics. The fixed trade, capital and fkill of England will for ever bid defiance to the no excifes of Ireland. But fomething was forced to be given — had woollens been put down and linens not permitted, the opreffed and ruined people would have fought redrefs with arms in their hands. The monopolizing fpirit of com mercial jealoufy gave as little as poffible, and would not have given that little could fhe have helped it. But the argument fays, that Ireland having few excifes will get much trade and wealth : and is it not your defign that fhe fhould ? Ought not this, in common fenfe, to he your wifh and aim?' For whom *¦ Colkfthm of Hufbandry and Trade, vol. 4. p. 48- f Written in June 1779. i«6 F R" E E TRADE.' whom does fhe grow rich ? If I have not proved that point there is no proof in fact, nor t ruth in figures. Why cannot fhe rival France, Holland and Germany, as well as England ? But we have ample experience to tell us that fhe may rival without impoverifhing us ; thatfhe may grow rich and we great by her wealth ; that fhe may advance and we be profperous. To affert becaufe there are not as many excifes in one part of our dominions as another, that therefore their trade fhall be cramped is exactly like faying, that labour is cheap there, and for that reafon fhall never be dear ; making the poverty of the kingdom the motive for keeping it poor. Taxes flow from trade and confumption, give them the wealth toconfume, and never fearbut'taxes will follow. FISHERIES. There is fcarcely a part of Ireland but what is well fituated for fome fifhery of confequence ; her coafts and innumerable creeks and rivers mouths are the refort of vaft fhoals of her ring, cpd, hake, mackarel, &c. which might, with proper attention, be converted into funds of wealth ; but capital is fuch a univerfal want in Ireland, that very little is done. The minutes of the journey contain fome valuable information on this head, but the general picture is rather an exhibition of what ought to be done, than any thing that actually is executed ; nor have the meafures of the legiflature been at tended with any confiderable effect ; fome of them feem . 'to have done mifchief, of which the following is an inftance- By the 3 G. 3. c. 24,— Twenty fhillings, per ton on Englifh or Irifh built veflels" decked, after the commencement of this act, not under twenty tons, nor to be paid for more than one hundred, to proceed from fome port in Ireland. Bounty of two fhillings a barrel on export of white herrings. Ditto of two fhillings and fixpence on mackarel. Ditto of five fhillings for fix fcore of ling. Ditto of three fhillings for hake, haddock, glafing, and conger eel. Ditto of four fhillings and three-pence halfpenny for every tierce, of 41 gallons of wet fifh exported, Ditto of three pounds per ton ") for whale oil, | Ditto of .thirty fhillinp-s, ditto ! r „ , . T , , for other oil of fifh, > manufactured m Ireland. Ditto of four pounds per cwt. j , for whale bone, J The following has been the effect of this meafure, ' BARRELS FISHERIES. 187 BARRELS or HERRINGS IMPORTED ikto IRELAND for EIGHTEEN YEARS. From j From ¦ G.Britain E.Country Total. Barrels. Barrels. Barrels. In the year — 1756 28,999 1,277 30,276 >757 28,955 2,080 3L035 1758 29,960 «.37° 3',33° '759 23,61 1 U3 23.724 1760 17,038! 1 5 1 7,009 1761 20,41 if 142 20,554 1762 121,388 844 22,232 1763 23>5'9 2,156 25>675 1764 14,932 8,661 23,593 Average of 9 years be fore the bounty, In the year — 1765 23,201 1,847 25,048 '4,587 17,030 3',6i7 1766 35>552 24,555 60,107 1767 12,094 12,6,8 24,712 . 1768 16,640 23,252 39,892 1769 11,286 25.847 3.7.J-33 j 770 22,891 23,655 46,546. '77' 12,952 26,555- 39,507 1772 10,445 34,241 44,686 1773 '3,47' 4o,539 54,010 Average of 9 years af ter the bounty, 16,657 25,365 42,022 Import of herrings in the nine years fince the . bounty exceed the preceding period in 1. s. d. 155,156 barrels. Value at fifteen fhillings per barrel, — — 116,367 u 3 Export lefs by 16,357 barrels, at twenty fhillings per barrel, — - '6,357 15 o Lofs alfo on the export and import of dry cod, 1,298 cwt. at 14s. per cwt. 973 10 o Ditto on barrelled cod, 364 1 7 6 134,063 13 9 Hake 9,566 cwt. at fifteen fhillings per cwt. 7>'I5 > 3 Salmon 1,108 tons, at twelve pounds per ton, 14,200 o o Mackarel, 2,666 barrels at twenty fhillings. per barrel, 2,666 o o Increafed import fince the bounty, *i 58,604 15 o Imported * Manufcript report of the fifh committee, 1778, communicated hy the Right Hon. William Burton. iSS FISHERIES. Imported herrings for home confumption are from Scot land* for foreign ufe from Sweden. The former twenty fhil lings a barrel. The latter from; fourteen; to; fixteen fhillings. And their own from fixteen to twenty drillings. Prices- of other forts of fiflj. Dry ling from eighteen to twenty fhillings per cwt, Salmon frpm twelve to thirteen poimds per ton, Hake from fourteen to fixteen- fhillings'per cwt. Dry cod. from fourteen to fixteen fhillings per cwt. Wet cod from fourteen to eighteen fhillings per barrel f A STATE of the FISHING TRADE of IRELAND, , for Nine Years, fince the Commencement of the Bqunty, compared* with the Nine preceding Years. Import in c- years to the Import in 9 years, to the Increafe in, laji 9 Decreafein laft 5 Total lofs in laft 9 Total gain m laft 9 Herrings, barrels. l-t,th of Marcki 773 379>63i , 2$th of- March-ijGq «*4,475 years. years. years. years. 1.55,156 171,514 Codd, cw,t. Codd, barrels 4-575 1,103 3-*35 -S36, 1,34° 867 v 1,298 486 liing, «w.t., Salmon, tuns, 149 1,415 166 45* 17 391 Hake, cwt. 5.7 57 , Mack are), barrels, 1*8 128 i Export inlaft Export in firft 9jears. 9 years. Herrings, barrels, Salmon,' ton, 34,986 - '*>'59 Si, 344 4,084 16,357 1,1*5 1,108 Hake, cwt. Ling,~'cwt. Mackarel, barrels, 8,617 18,241 9,613 9,5ee 4il *>*49 47* 5>°43 61 *,794 T.,666 febdd, cwt. Codd, barrels, • * *72 4* 38l 4* 1. s. d. Amount of premiums paid to fifhjng buffes in the- lafl nine years, 47,06* 6.5 Ditto to exported fifh — , — 1,265 4 7 ?48,328 '4 7 ¦¦"¦ r '«•¦,» ' ' Before I quit this article of Irifh fifheries,' I fhall obferve that next to the cultivation of land there is* no object in their national ¦f Manuftript- Report Com. communicated by, the Right Hon. William Burtem ¦ « Ibid. F I :S H E R I E . S. 189 national cecpnomy of fo much importance. No manufactures, no trade can be of half the confequence to Ireland, that many of her fifheries might prove if encouraged with judgment. There is no undertaking whatever in which a fmall capital goes fo far ; nor any in which the largeft will pay fuch ample profits. Scptland has the herrings fomewhat earlier,' but they come in good time to Ireland for the Mediterranean trade, and in a, plenty that ought to make their capture a fa vourite object. The bounties hitherto given have been fo far from anfwering that they have in fome refpecls done mif chief, I was prefent mpre than pnce at the meetings of the fifhery committee of the Irifh houfe of commons, and I found them making anxious enquiries how to avoid great frauds, from which I found that notorious ones had been committed ; this is the great misfortune of bounties when they are not given with great judgment and care. Relative to the fi fheries the profit is fb great, that all acquainted with them will engage as far as their capital will admit, whatever boun ties are given therefore fhould not beSyith a view to inftigate, men ppffeffed of : capital, , for they do not exift, but tp put ca pitals intp the hands pf thofe who will certainly make ufe pf them. It appeared in the minutes of the Loch Swilly fifhery that one boat and the nets fufficient coQ. 20I. ; the belt boun ty would be to give boats and nets to men ufed to the fifhery, becaufe few are able to buy or build them. To give a pre mium on the export of the herrings or uppn the tonnage of the boats will not anfwer, for it fuppofes them actually taken, and built, that is, it fuppofes the very difficulty got over which want of money makes perpetual. Before the boat is in the fifhery it muft be built, and before the fifh are exported they muft be taken, thofe who have money to do either will go to work withput any bounty, the profit alone being fufficient. In countries fo very poor, the firft fteps in fuch undertakings are the moft difficult : and to aflift in overcoming the early difficulties is what the legiflature fhould aim at. Giving boats and nets to men that would certainly ufe them does this, and would be productive of great national good ; always fuppofing that frauds and jobbing are guarded againft ; if they are per mitted to creep in, as in giving fpinning wheels, the mifchief would be far more than the benefit. 2o,oool. per annum thus expended would give 1000 boats, which would foon accumu late to a vaft number, and if the effect was fo great as to find the herrings regorge in the home market, then would be the time to drive them out by a bounty on the export, if their own cheapnefs did not bring the effect withput it. »I am far' from recommending' a new fyftem of bounties upon an object that ¦had not received them before, they have been long given or jobbed, all I mean is. that if the public is burthened with fuch payments, care fhould be taken that they are given in the mode that promifes to be moft advantageous. EMBARG0ES, ro.o EMBARGOES. EMBARGOES. OF all the" reftriftions which England has at different times moft impoliticly laid upon the trade of Ireland, there is none more obnoxious than the embargoes on their provifion trade. The prohibitions on the export of woollens, and various other articles, haye this pretence at leaft in their favour, that they are advantageous to fimilar manufaftures in England ; and Ireland has long been trained to the facrifice of her national advantage as a dependant country ; but in refpeft to embar goes even, this fhallow pretence is wanting ; a whole kingdom is facrificed and plundered, not tp enrich England, but three or four Lpndon contractors 1 a fpecies of men of an odious eaft as triving only on the ruin and defolation of their country. It is well known that all the embargoes that have ever been laid, have been for the profit of thefe fellows, and that the govern ment has not profited a fhilling by them. Whenever the affairs of Ireland come thoroughly to be confidered in England anew fyftem in this refpeft muft be embraced. It may npt be proper fpr the crpwn direftly to give up the prerogative of laying them ; but it ought never to be exerted in the cafes, and with the views with which we have feen it ufedi The fingle circumftance pf facrificing the interefts pf a whole peo ple to a few mPn'ppplizing individuals in anpther cpuntry, is to make a nation the beafts of burthen to another people. But this is not the only ppint ; the intereft of England and of go vernment is equally facrificed, for their objeft is to have beef plentiful and cheap. But to reduce it fo low by embargoes as to difcourage the grazier, is to leffen the quantity ; he in-- creafes his fheep pr ploughs more, oris ruined by his bufinefs, ¦which^ necefTarily renders tfie commodity top dear, from the very circumftance of having been too cheap. A fteady' regu lar good price, from an active demand encourages the grazier fo much, that he will produce a quantity fufficient to keep the price from ever rifing unreafonably high, and government would be better fupplied. Another confideration is the Ipfs to the kingdpm by npt taking French money, and fending them tp Pther markets ; if it cpuld be proved, or indeed if the faft was poffible, that you could keep their fleets in port for want of Irifh beef there would be an argument for an embargo, perhaps, twice in half a century ; but when all experience tells us that if they have not beef from Ireland they will get it from Holfteim from Denmark and elfewhere, is it not folly in the extreme to refufe their money, and fend them to other markets. The Dutch were rediculed in Louis XlV's reign for felling the French, before a campain, the powder and ball which were afterwards ufed againft themfelves : but they were wife in fo doing, they had not the univerfal monopoly of iron GOVERNMENT. 191 iron and gunpowder, as of fpices, and if they did not fupply the enemy others would, for no army ever yet ftaid at home in the heart of commercial countries for want of powder and ball : nor will a French fleet ever be confined to Breft for want of beef to feed the failors. Embargoes therefore cannot be laid with any ferious views of that fort, but when contrafts are made, the contraftors gaping for monopoly, raife a cla mour, and pretend that np beef can be had if France is ferved, directly pr indirectly, and in prder tp make their bargains fo much the more profitable, government gives them an embar go on the trade of a kingdom (like a Ipttery ticket to a fund lubfcriber) by way of douceur. This conduft is equally injuri ous to the true intereft of England, of Ireland and of govern ment. Before I conclude this feftion, I muft obferve one circum ftance, which though not important enough to flop the pro grefs of commercial improveirient in Ireland, yet muft very much retard it, and that is the contempt in which trade is held by thofe who call- themfelves gentlemen. I heard a lan guage common in Ireland which if it was to becpme univerfal, wpuld effeftualiy prevent her ever attaining greatnefs. I have remarked the hpufes pf country gentlemen being full of brothers, coufins, &c. idlers whofe beft employment is to follow a hare or a fox ; why are they not brought up to trade or manu fafture ? Trade ! (the anfwer has been) They are gentle men ; — to be poor till doomfday : a tradefman has not a right to the point pf hpnpur — ypu may refufe his challange. Tri nity Cpllege at Dublin fwarms with lads -who ought to be educated to the loom and the cpunting houfe. Many ill effects flow from thefe wretched prejudices ; one . confequence manifeft over the whole kingdom, is commercial- people quit ting tra^leor manufaftures, when they have made from five to ten thoufand pounds to become gentlemen ; where trade is difhonourable it wilL not flourifh, this is taking pepple from induftry at the very moment Chey are.the beft able to command fuecefs. Many quakers who are (take them for all in all the moft fenfible clafs of people in that kingdpm) are exceptions to this folly : and mark the confequence, they are the only wealthy traders in the ifland. The Irifh are_ ready enough to imitate the vices and follies of England ; let them imitate her virtues ; her refpeft for commercial induftry which has carried her fplendor and her power to the remoteft corners of the earth. SECTION XXII. Government- Union. THERE never was a jufter idea than that which I had occafion in another feftion to quote, that the revolution did not extend to Ireland ; the cafe of the hereditary revenue was 192 GOV E R N -M EN T. •was. a remarkable inftance, .but the whole government of that ifland is one collective, proof of it. The revolution was a mo ment in which all the forms of government were broken through in order to affert the fpirit of liberty, but Ireland loft that opportunity ; meeting fecurity againft the Roman catholics in the victorious arms of king William, fhe refted fatisfied with a government which fecured her againft the immediate enemy. It is certainly more a government of pre rogative than that of England, and the law of the empire, the common law of, the land is in favour of that prero gative ; hence the abfurdity of proving the rights of Ire land in the details of common law^ as Fitzgibhon and Mc. have done. Ireland from diftance and backwardnefs loft thofe fortuitous opportunities which proved fo important to the liberty of England ; fhe couldnot claim' the latter ofthe revolution, but fhe could have claimed the fpirit of it. The contribution of that territory to the general wants of the empire is in two fhapes. i . By the penfion lift. 2. By the military eftahlifhment. The great liberal line for that king dom to purfue is tp examine not only the prefent amount of thefe articles, but what might baa fair eftimafce for the future. To come0 openly to the Englifh-govemment with an offer pf an equal revenue applicable to whatever purpofes government fhould find moft beneficial fpr the intereft pf the whple em pire ; with this neceffary condition that the military, fhould be abfolutely in the power of the crown to remove and employ " wherever it pleafed. To think of tying down government, to keeping troops in any fpot, is. an abfurdity. Government can alone be the, judge where troops are moft wanting,; it has an unlimitted power in this refpeft in England, and it ought to have the fame in Ireland ; the good of the empire demands it.. It is the fleet qf England that has proved, and muft prpve the real defence of Ireland, and that ifland .fhould take its chance- of defence in common with England. At the fame time any apprehenfions, that they would be left without tropps, wpuld be abfnr.d ;' fince it wpuld be the' king's intereft fo keep a great bpdy of forces there, for feveral reafons ; among others, the cheapnefs of provifions, which would ren der their fubfiffance comparatively eafy ; alfo, barracks being built all over the kingdom : another point which induce him, is the affiftance their circulation would be ,of to the king-, dom, whereas in England they would be a burthen. But the point might as well he given up chearfully, as to have it carried by a- majority in parliament. Penfions have been always on the increafe and will be fo ; and as to the troops, government carries its point at prefent, and ought to do fo, why not therefore give up the point chearfully for a valuable confideration ? As thefe things are managed. now, government is forced to buy, at a great expence, the , concurrence of an Irifh parliament to what is really neceffary, would UN I O N. i93 would it not be mpre for the public intereft to have a fixed permanent plan, than the prefent illiberal and injurious fyf tem ? The military lift of Ireland, on an averge of the laft feven years, has amounted to 528,544!. to which add 8o,oool. .penfions, and the total makes 608,5441. Wpuld it npt be wife in Ireland to fay to the Britifh government— — " I will pay you a neat feven or eight hundred thpufand pounds- a year, applicable tp ypur annual fupplies, pr paying pff ypur debt, and leave the defence of the kingdom entirely to your own difcretion, on condition that I fhall never have any mi litary charge or penfions laid on me ; the remainder of the revenue to be at the application of my own parliament, for the ufes of interior government only, and for the encourage ment of the trade, manufaftures'and agriculture of the king dom. That you (hall give me a fpecified freedom of commerce, and come to a liberal explanation of the powers of ypur at torney general, the privy cpuncil, and Ppyning's aft." It would he the beft bargain that Ireland ever made. If the government was once placed pn fuch a footing, the office of Jqrd lieutenant would be that pf a literal reprefen>- tative pf majefty, without any of thofe difagreeble confe- quences which flow from difficulties effentially neceffary for him to overcome ; and the government of England having in Ireland no views, but the profperity of that kingdom, would neceffarily be revered by all ranks of people. The par- • liament of the kingdom would ftill retain both importance and bufinefs, for all that at prefent comes before it would then he within its province, except the military, and complaints of penfion lifts and reftrifted commerce. Perhaps the advantages of a union would be enjoyed without its inconyeniencies, for the parliament would remain for .the civil prpteftion of the kingdom, and the Britifh legiflature would not be deluged by an addition of Irifh peers and commoners, one reafon among others, which made the late Earl of Chatham repeatedly de clare himfelf againft fuch a meafure f . The great objeft of a, union is a free'trade, which appears to be of as much importance to England as to Ireland ; if this was gained the ufes of an entire coalition would not be numerous to Ireland ; and to. England the certain revenue, without the neceffity of buying majorities in parliament, wpuld be a great Objeft. But as to the objeftions to a union, common in Ire land, I cannot fee their propriety ; I have heard but three that have even the appearance of weight ; thefe are : 1 . The Vol. II. N increafe * / have mentioned feven hundred thoufand pounds, but the fum would depend of courfe on the liberality of the. return, a free trade would be worth purckafin^ at a much higher rate. f The Earl of Sheiburne' has ajfured me of this fail; nor let me mil to add, that to that nobleman I am indebted for the out line of the preceding plan. 194 G E N.E R A L ,S T A T E. increafe of abfentees. 2. The want of a parliament for pro- teftion againft the officers of the crown. 3. The increafe of taxation. To the firft and laft',' fuppofing they follo\ved, and were admitted evils,, the queftion "is, whether a free trade would not more tiian balance them ; they imply the impo- verilhment of the kingdom, and were objected in Scotland againft that union which has taken place ; but the faft has been directly otherwife, and Scotland has been continually on the increafe of wealth ever fince ; nay Edinburgh itfelf, which was naturally expected moft to fuffer, feems to have gained as much as any other part of the kingdom. Nor can I upon any principles think, a nation is lofing, who exchanges the refidence of a fet of idle country gentlemen, for a numerpus race of induftrious farmers, manufacturers, merchants, and failors. , But the faft in the firft objeftipn dpes npt feem Well founded ; I cannot fee any inevitable neceffity for abfentees inci;eafmg.; a family might refide the winter at Londpn with out becoming abfentees ; and frequent journies to England, where every branch of induftry and ufeful knowledge are in fuch perfection, could not fail to enlarge the views and cure the prejudices which obftruft fhe improvement of Ireland. As to taxation; it ought to be confidered as a circum ftance that always did,' and always will follow profperity and wealth. Savages pay no taxes, but thofe who are hourly in creafing in the conveniencies, luxuries, and enjoyments of life, do not by any means find taxes fucha burthen as to make them wifh' for poverty and barbarity, in order to avoid taxa tion. In refpeft to the fecond objeftion, it feems, to bear nearly as ftrong in the cafe of 'Scotland, and yet the evil has had no exiftence, the four-courts at Dublin would of courfe remain, nor do I fee at prefent any great proteftiori refulting to individuals from a parliament, which the law of the land does not give ; it feems therefore to be an apprehenfidn not very well founded. So much in anfwer to objeftions ; not by way of proving that an entire union is abfo'utely neceffary, as without fuch a meafure Ireland might certainly have great commercial freedom, and pay for it to the fatisfaction of England. ( SECTION XXIII. General State of Ireland. IT may not be difadvantageous to a clear idea of the fubjeft at large, to draw into one view the material facts- difperfed 'in the preceding enquiry, which throw • a light on the gene ral ftate of the kingdom, and to add one or two others,1 which- did not .properly come in nnder any of the former heads, that we may be able tp have a diftiiift notion of that degree, of profperity which appears to have been, of late years, the inheritance of her rifing induftry.. BUILDINGS" GENERAL STATE. 195 BUILDINGS. .. Thefe improving, or falling into decay, are unerring figns fof a nation's increafing grandeur or declenfion": the minutes of the journey, as well as obfervations already made, fhew, that Ireland has been abfolutely new built within thefe twenty years, and in a manner far fuperior to any thing that was feen in it before ; it is a fact univerfal over the whole kingdom; cities, towns, and country feats ; but the prefent is the sera for this improvement, there being now far more elegant feats rifing than ever were known before. R O AD S. . The roads of Ireland may be faid all to have originated ;frprri Mr. French's prefentment bill, and are now in a ftate that do hohour to the kingdom ; there 'has been probably ex pended in confequence of that bill, confiderably above a mil lion fterling. TOWNS. ' The towns of Ireland have very much increafed in the laft twenty years ; all public regifters prove this, and it is a ftrong mark of rifing profperity. Towns are markets which enrich and cultivate the country, and can therefore never depopulate it, as fome vifionary theorifts have pretended. The country is always the moft pppulpus within the fphere pf great cities, if I may ufe the expreffion, and the increafed cultivation of the remoteft corners, fhew "that this fphere extends like the circulating undulations of water until they rgach the moft dif tant fhores. Befides towns can only increafe from an increafe of manufaftures, commerce and luxury ; all three are other words for riches and employment, and thefe again for a gene ral increafe of people. RISE of RENTS. The minutes of the journey fhew, that the rents of land have at leaft doubled in twenty-five years, which is a moft un erring proof of a great profperity. The rife of rents proves ' a variety of circumftances all favourable ; that there is more capital to cultivate land ; that there is a greater demand for the produfts. of the earth, and confequently a*higher price ; that towns thrive, and are therefore able to pay higher prices ; that manufactures and foreign commerce increafe ; the vari ations of the rent, of land, from the boundlefs and fertile plains of the Miffiffippi, where it yields none, to the province of Holland, where every foot is valuable, fhews the gradati ons of wealth, power and importance, between the one ter ritory and the other. Tiie prefent rental of Ireland appeared to be 5,293,3121. and for reafons before given, probably not lefs than fix millions. N 2 M A N U- ic.6 GENERAL STATE. MANUFACTURES. Linens the great fabric of the kingdom for exportation, hayev increAfed rapidly. • 1. «• The export from 175010 1756, in value of cloth and yarn was, — 9°4,479 Ditto from 1757 to 1763, — 1,166,136 Increafe, • From 176410 1770, — Increafe, \ From 1771 to 1777, Increafe, From 1771 to 1777, From 1 750 to 1 7 56, Increafe, — 1, 379>5 12 461,657 1,615,654 213,376 236,142 7", '75 810,548 1,615,654 9°4>479 ¦ than thirty years before, by COMMERCE. Trade in Ireland, in all its branches, has increafed greatly in twenty-five years ; this has been a natural effect from the, other articles of profperity already enumerated. 1. The Irifh exports to Great-Britain, on an average of- twenty- five years before 1748, were, — ¦ 438,665 Ditto on twenty-five years fince, . . ¦ ¦¦ 965,050 ^Increafe, ¦ 526,385 This greateft article of her trade has therefore more than doubled. Export to Great-Britairf per annum for the laft feven years, ¦ ' 1,240,677 The preceding feven years, ¦ ¦ » • 91 7,088 323>569 The CONSUMPTION. 197 The greateft exports of Ireland, on an average of the laft feven years, are Linen, ¦ ¦ 1,615,654 The produft of oxen and cows, — 1,218,902 Ditto of fheep, — ' . 200,413 Ditto of hogs, ¦ ' ¦ 156,631 Ditto of corn — — 64,871 3,25°,47 1 Her total exports are probably three millions and a half. The balance, of trade in her favour muft be above a million.* CONSUMPTION. A people always confume in proportion to their wealth, hence an mcreafe in the one marks clearly that of the other. The follpwing table will fhew feveral pf lbs principal articles of Irifh confumption. Tears. * Mr. Gordon, furveyor general of Munfier, favoured me with an account of the trade which made the total exports in 1772 to amount to I. s. d. 5,167,159 2 o The.i-mports,- — 2,147,079 3 2 Balance, — 3,020,079 18 10 — '. ', , But the above table clearly proves thai this is exaggerated, for the exports not included in my account can never amount to two millions. If her balance, however, wtis not above a million, it would be impoffible for her to pay ,800,000 /¦ in abfentees and penfions, befides offices, intereft of money, &c. ££c. to do that, and yet in creafe as fhe has done in wealth, it fhould be near 1,200,000 I. 1^8 CONSUMPTION. Beer, ate and | Tears. porter barrels., Brandy, Hum, Sugar, Tea, lis. Tobaccor lbs-. Wine, at ''31 gallons'. gallons. gallons. iHufccv. tons. 175° 439-301 \ 179,641 ,1751 700,905 130,306 17.51 S'3,166 191,566 - - 1753 784>945 140,465 , 1754 987,m 166,558 * 3,574,<>37 -1755. 507,864 199,93s * 4,154,103 ',756 1757 i3,572 815,887 163,693 * 3, 4-*4,3'59 ¦ -- 678,470 167,451 A 104,926 - ~ io,949 §5H,68l 1 4,769,975 1758 15,412 534,692 t H7,IU t 4,953,7H (759 16,517 810,915 I H9,673 \ 3,662,246 1760 13,5°° 249,197 17.^1 18,837 34I>97: , 1764 18,007 656,53' 1763 1764 ' 11,099 _ '691,017 |6,447 18,935 543717 1 657>°3' 913,110 167,011 204,891 5,715,777 4,685 1765 17,7,87 757, "95 1^230,840 119.331 236,908 4,431,801 6.416 1766 31-44° " 65i',943 1,480,697 133,249 297,9*8 6,049,270 5,93,8 1757 29,487 770,319 1,667,540 133,819 183,267 4,083,379 5,683 1768 4o,54i 685,661 1,873,173 181,914 239,800 4,346,769 5,7-86 1769 45 '45a 410,584 1,100,419 183.337 1,007,693 4,842,197 5,870 1770 Ayeragt, 1771 38,439 437,437 515,716 1,640,791 183,245 1,130,486 5,445,942 5,H9 34,71s 44, 104 1,558,097 158,846 47/,576 4,988,(62 5<643 408,01 1 1,035,388 176,914 913,19s 5,012,979 4,948 '771 47-735 374-144 1,973,731 188,260 74', 762 5,525,8.49 4,63- 1773 58,675 310,015 1,-704-557 201,109 839.218 5,i3i,7i4 5,415 -1774,' 5 Ij995. 39-5 -74P 1,503 086 171,347 1,207,764 5,434,9*4 •5>?»9 1775 S3,9°6 556,133 1,321,506 105,85.8 1,041,51-7 3*949574° 4,696 "77s 4- 65r9H (03,706 i,888;o68 238,746 680,526 5,379,405 4,5n 1777 Average, • 56,101 • 479.996 489,679 1,680.133 193,158 704,221 3,916,409 4,646 1,7.19.65-2 196,500 875,471 4921,572 4.941 - 4- • Thefe -two years are, only of beer. § JThe foUowing years differ in apother adcount, Com. Jour. vol. 14. p. 141. • --7» the year 1757. 'Rum, 1758 1759 _^_ 1,760' — — ¦ -..'•..,.. 1761 f Commons journal) vol.. 11. p. 1 79 || Ibid. p. 180. jf Ibid, p, 1 69. * Ibid. p. 169. A Commons journals, vol. p. 3 1 8, gallons. 5l3*,'93 618,945 903,809 275,732 370,0-a POPULATION. 199 The articles pf beer, rum, and fugar, are greatly increaf ed ; tea_ quadrupled ; wine having leffened, is certainly owing to the increafed fobriety of the kingdom, which muft have made a difference in the import. The imports of filks and wopllen gppds given pn a fprmer occafion, fpoke the fame language of increafed confumption. SPECIE. The fpecie of Ireland, gold and filver, is calculated by the Dublin bankers at 1 .,600,090 1. POPULATION. This article, which in fo many treatifes is reckoned to be the only objeft worth attention, I put the laft of all, npt' as being unimportant, but depending totally pn the preceding articles. It is perfeftly needlefs to fpeak of population, after fhewing that agriculture is improved, manufaftures and com merce increafed, and the general appearance of the kingdom carrying the face of a rifing profperity ; it follows inevitably frpm all this, that the pepple muft have increafed ; and ac cordingly the information, frpm one end pf the ifland to the other, confirmed it: but no country fhould wifh for popula tion in the firft inftance, let it flow from an increafe of induftry and employment, and it will be valuable; but population that arifes, l'uppofing it poffible, without it, fuch a caufe would, inftead of being valuable, prpve ufelefs, probably pernicious : population therefore, lingly taken, ought never to be an en quiry at all ; there is npt even any ftrength refulting from numbers withput wealth, to arm, fupport, pay, and difcjpline them. The hearth tax in 1778 produced 61,646!. which cannot indicate a lefs pppulatipn, exceptions included, than three millipns. The minutes pf fouls, per cabbin, at Caftfe Caldwell, Drumoland, and Kilfarie, gave 6 and 6f. Upon the whole, we may fafely determine, that judging by thofe appearances and circumftances which have been gene rally agreed to mark the profperity or declenfion pf a country, that Ireland has fince the year 1 748 made as great advances as could poffibly be expected, perhaps greater than any other country in Europe Since that period her linen exports have juft trebled. Her general exports to Great Britain more than doubled. The rental of the kingdom doubled. And I may add, that her linen and general exports-have in creafed propprtipnably tp this in the laft feven years, confe quently her wealth is at prefent pn a like increafe. SECTION 200 P R E S ENT STATE. SECTION XXIV. State of Ireland, brought dov»i,to the End of the Year 1779 — £tj- flreffes — Free Trade — Obfervations— Armed Affociations. THE preceding feftions have been written near a twelver- month, events have fince happened which are of an imr portahce that will not permit me to pafs them by in filence, much as I wifh to do it: The moment of national expeftation and heat is feldpm that pf copI difcuflion. When the minds of men are in a ferment, queftions originally fimple, become complex from forced combinations. To publifh opinions, however candidly formed, at fuch times, is a moft unpleafant bufinefs, for it is almoft irtipoffiblfe to avoid cenfure ; but as a dead filence upon events of fuch importance would look either like ignorance or affectation, I fhall lay before the reader th§ refuit of my own refearches. Upon the meeting of the Irifh parliament in October laft, the great topic which feemed to engrofs all their attention was the diftrefs of the kingdom and the remedy demanded— A free trade. In the preceding papers Ireland exhibits the pifture df a country, perhaps the moft rifing in prpfperity of any in Europe, the data upon which that idea was formed, were brought down- to Lady-day 1 778. I muft therefore nar turally enquire into the circumftances of a fituation which feems to have changed fo fuddenly, and to fo great a degree. I have taken every meafure to gain whatever proofs I could of the real declenfion in Ireland during this period, and I fiiid the circumftance of the revenue producing fo much lefs than ufual, particularly infifted on, the following is the ftate of it. The greateft declehfipn is in thefe. articles : In the years, 1776. 1777. 1778. 1 779. Cuftoms inwards, Cuftoms outwards, Import excife, Wine, firft, I. 248,491 42,488 152,238 15,825 1. 251,055 35,883 1 53.727 16,124 1. 198,550 36,027 131,284 '3-497 The totals are as follow, including the hereditary revenue, old and new additional duties, damps, and appropriated duties.In the years, \ 1776.- 1777.. 1778. |i • 1779 Totals, 1. 1,040,055 1777.. 1. 1,993,881 1. 968,683 1. 862,823 The PRES-ENT STATE. zm The total decline in the laft year amounts to about one hundred thoufand pounds, and from the particulars it appears to lie on the import account ; for as to the fall of five thou fand poinds on the export cuftoms, it is very trivial,* thofe diftreffes which have, by affectations or naturally, fo imme diate an effeft in cutting off the expences of importation. while exports remain nearly as they were, have a wonderful tendency to produce a cure the moment the- difeafe is known; for that balance of wealth, arifing from fuch an account, muft animate every, branch of induftry. in a country, whofe greateft evil is the want of capital and circulation. Generally fpeaking, a declining revenue is a proof of de clining wealth ; but the prefent cafe is fo ftrong an exception, that the very contrary is the fact ; the Irifh were very free and liberal confumers of foreign commodities ; they have greatly curtailed that confumption, not from poverty, for their exports have many of them increafed, and none declined comparably with their imports, circumftances marked by the courfe of exchange being much in their favour, as well as by . thefe and other accounts ; this liberal confumption being leffened from other motives, they are neceffarily accumulating a confiderable. fiiperhicratioh Of wealth, which in fpite of fate will revive their revenues, while it increafes every exertion of their national induftry. In the years 1776. 1. In the above ac-"} count, cuftoms in- I wards, import ex- | cife, and wiije du- ^416,554 tf, added together I amount to thefe | fums, being, - j Cuftoms outwards, j 42,488 1777. 1778. 1. ,1779. ; 1. 1- 420,906 343,33 ' 280,802 35,883 36,027 31>717 Prom 1777 to 1 778, the cuftoms on their exports increafed, but their cuftoms on imports declined above 77^0001. From 1778 to 1779 the former fell 4,3101. or more than a ninth, at the fame time the import duty fell 63,0001. or a fifth ; this difference in thefe articles is very great, and if all the heads of the revenue were included, it would be more ftill. It is not furprizing that the national debt fhould increafe while the revenue declines. At lady-day 1779, it amounted to 1,062,5971. whichis more than in 1777, by 237,1711. But the decline of the revenue has by no means been gene ral, as will be feen by the following table of-articles, which have been upon the rife. In PRESENT STATE. In the Years, 1776 1777 1778 17-79 1. 1. 1. 1, 7,272 7,182 7,363 7,5" 1 9,563 19,984 205823 20,298 60,966 60,580 61,646 60,617 4,404 4,590 7,300 5-747 58,046 S',453, 47,698 52,558 5,659 18,586 18,782 •8,233 l9>725 20,784 21,174 21,316 2,141 3,9^4 2,427 4,012 Ale licences, — Wine and ftrong wa- "( ter ditto, j HeartS money, — Tea duty refidues, Tobacco, ' • — • Strong waters, third, Stamps, — Hops, — All of which, except the article of ftamps, are laid upon the great confumption pf the common people ; whatever diftrefs, therefore, is marked by a falling revenue, the lower claffes do not feem, fortunately, to have fuffered proportion- ably with the higher ones. But let us farther enquire how far the declenfion1 of revenue is owing to an increafe of po verty -y and how far to a forced artificial meafure, that of af fectations for non-import. Thefe have been very general in Ireland during 1 7 79, and muft have had a confiderable effeft. In order to underftand the queftion, the f afts themfelves muft be feen ; the following tables -will explain them. The reve nue of Ireland, is raifed chiefly on the import of fpirits, tea, wine, tobacco and fugar. Coals. In the Year 1776 : Tons. 217,938 1777(240,893 i778,237,-'oi 1779219,992 Mufcova- do fugar. CW. 238,746 193,258 139,816 145,540 Brandy. Gallons. Geneva. Gal'o. 403,706153,43 c 479,996 1 37'>474 226,434144,438 180,705! 87,420 Rum. In the Year 1776 1777 1778 177.9' 1 Ted. 1 ea. Wines ofs Bohea. Green. all forts. Tons. Ik lb. '308,558 371,968 5,075 359,475 336,4?0 402,594 344,726479>1I5 375-269 5,'29 4>3'92,806 Gallons, 1,888,058 1,680,233 1,234,502 1,183,865 Tobacco, lb. 5>379>4°5 3,9.16,4093,629,056 4,0381479 The great decline is in fpirits and wine. Tea has not fallen upon the whole ; and tbbacco in 1779 is fuperior to 1778* Sugar fince 1776 is much fallen, but from 1778 to 1779 there is a rife. Coals are tolerably equal. The ftrongeft circum ftance .DECLIN Eor IMPORTS, 203 fiance is that of wine, which has fallen very greatly indeed. The principal caufe of the decline of the revenue is to be found in thefe imports. The remark I made before feems to be ftrongly confirmed, that the diftrefs of Ireland feems more to have affefted the higher than the lower claffes ; wine, green tea and brandy, are fallen off confiderably, but tobacco, bohea tea, and mufcovado fugar, are increafed from 1778 to 1779. This is ftrongly confirmed by the import of loaf fugar having fallingwhile mufcovado has rifen : theloaf in 1776 is 8,907 cwt. in 1777.it is 15,928 cwt. in 1778 it is 12,365 cwt. but in 1779 it is only 5,931 cwt. Other inftances may be produced: im ported millenery, a mere article of luxury for people of fafhion, • has fallen greatly : Englifh beer, confumed by the better ranks, declines much, but hops for Irifh beer, which is drank by the lower ones, has rifen exceedingly. In the year- 1776 17771778 1779 Hops. Ciut. 9,694 18,067 10,974 18,191 Millenary. Beer. l •ware. Value. 1. Barrels. •3,758 65,922 16,881 70,382 15,667 68,960 8.3 '7 ' 47,437 1 From this circumftance I draw a very ftrong conclufion, that rents are not paid as well as they ought, and that tenants and agents make a pretence of bad times to" an extent far beyond the faft. The common expreffion of bad times does fome mifchief of this kind in England, but in Ireland it is much more effective, efpecially in excufes fent to abfentees inftead of remittances. ,.„..„ c „ The great decline of the import of Britifh manufaftures and goods, which is remarkable, muft be attributed to the non-import affociations bearing particularly againft them; they have dropped fo much, that we may hope the Irifh ma nufaftures, they have interfered with, may have rifen in con fequence, In the year 1776 1777 17781779 New Old Muftin. Silk ' drapery. Yds. drapery. yL manufac. lb. Yds. 676,485 290,215 116,552 i7,3z6 731,819 381,330 l 162,663 24,187 741,426 378,077 j 121,934 27,223 270,839 1 176,196 1 44>5°7 '5,794 In 264 PRESENT STATE Jn moft of thefe articles we find fuch a decline of import, that there is no wonder the revenue fliould have fuffered. If it is faid, that this decreased import is to be attributed to a preceding poverty, it will only throw back the period of en quiry into the years difcufled in a preceding feftion, and from which no national decline can by any means be deduced. Somearticles of import, however, contain fuch a decline, as induces me tp think there muft be mpre diftrefs than appears frpm others. The following are the objefts I fix on. Flax seed. Hemp- Seed. Clover- Seed. 'Raw- Silk. Cotton Wool. Mohair Yarn- Year 1 776 1777J778 1779 Hhds. 24,077 32,61337,2 u 20,419 HSds. 150 !59 106 • 69 Cvit. 4,648 '5,988 5,664 3,852 lb. 4 '»594 54>°435 ',873 2^,633 Cwt. 3,860 4,569 4i565 1.345 lb. 29,34527,424 18,327 4,55 2 Thefe are demanded by the agriculture, or the manufac tures ofthe kingdom, andnre the laft that ought to fall. The declenfion in the trade of Ireland is not, however, in imports only, there is. a great decline in many export articles, enough to convince any one that all is not right in that coun try ; the following particulars will fhew this. !fi the Vear 1776 17771778 1779 Beef. barrels, 203,685- 168,578 ioo,'6-55, 138,918 Hides. 574 5 No. 108, 84,39179,53!55,823 Tallow Owt.0,549 48,502 38,45'0 4i,384 Butter. Cwt. I7i,4ii 264,181258,144227,829 Pork. barrels. 71,7147*>93i77,61270,066' lard. Candles. Cat. 3,2l6 2,9813,428 3,517 Cwt. ?,I54 1,764 938 1,817 It is fome confolation that hogs have not experienced the declenfion which has attended oxen and cows. The article beef puzzles me. I have been informed, that for thefe two years, all government contracts for beef, &c. have not been entered on .the cuftomhoufe books, by an order of Mr. Gor don, the furveyor general ; if this is the faft it accounts for the heavieft articles in this declenfion. The circumftance that the export of ox horns has fcarcely declined at all ; that the export of ox guts has greatly increafed, and that glew has rifen, would juftify one in fuppofihg that fomething of this fort maft have affected the accounts of beef, &c. In © F IRISH T A D E. acs Civt. In the year 1776 577 1777 338 1778 928 1779 896 Ox b, orns. Ox guts. Barrels. 141 243 17135° Glew. Cwt. 1,025 ' 1,215 1,127 I need npt obferve, that the greateft export of provifions from. Ireland by far is to Great Britain, efpecially iri. time of war : npw the accounts which have been laid on the table pf our houfe of commpns do npt admit the fame conclufipns as the Irifh .accounts, owing probably to fome circumftances with which we are not fully acquainted," if not to the identical one I have mentioned. The following particulars are extracted from the accounts brought in by Lord North. IMPORTS from IRELAND. , Value of Value of Value of Value of beef. butter. tallow. park. 1. 1. 1. 1. In the year 1768 55,802 173,259 52,557 28,609 1769 55,107 260,357 45,635 18,544 1770 51,695 149,464 44,928 22,240 1771 64,072 236,403 43,274 25,504 1772 48,434 ¦ 204,810 1 7»4i 9 22,401 »773 4^,364 229,528 43,23o 3Q,'98 ' »774 46,064 211,152 38,247 21,830 1775' 50,299 245,624 46,398 40,358 1776 95»»94 237,926 48,072 42,737 1777 106,915 274,535 41,695 29-575 1778 106,202 210,986 39,209 37,981 As far as this account comes, for the year 1 779 is not in it, here is almoft every appearance of -increafe, or at leaft the de cline where there is' any, is much too inconfiderable to found any conclufions on. Let us examine manufaftured exports from the fame account. In * The preceding tables in this feftion are taken from, a MS. account ofexp. and imp. communicated by William Eden, Efq. 20S TRADE with ENGLAND. x . Linen. Lineiiyarn rata. Bay yarn. ' tn the year T~ards. Value. ' lb. | -Value. Ou/t. Value.' .1768 15,249,248 500,778 4,794,916 209,778 21,04347.426 1769 16,496,271 549,875-i 4,I97,478 179,702 19,331 43,58o 1770 18,195,087 606,502 i;5,240,687i229,28o I9,9°3 44,864 1771120,622,217 687,407 I 4,035,756 176,564 18,598 41,894 177-2(19,171,771 63^,°59 3,608,424; 1 57,649 14,828 33,4H , 17731 17,876,617 595,887 3,082,274' 134,869 11,073 24,964 1774: 11, 447, »98 7 14,906 4,660,8331203,911 1**019 28,289 1775)21,916,171 73°,539 4,363,5821,190,906 13,182,31,494 1776:20,943,847 698,128 3,9!4,35i I7i,25l 1 8,09 1 40>778 1777I 21,132,548 704,418 3,i98,437ii39,93i 17,897 40,269 1778118,869,447 628,981 3,788,6031165,751 »5,o53 33,870 From hence we find that thefe articles have not fallen off fp much as might frpm many reafons, hetve been expefted. Linen yarn has rifen frpm 1777 to 1778 cpnfiderably. Cloth has fallen, but not enough to give any a|arm. -From 177010 1771 in linen yarn was almoft as great a fall without any ill ejfefts enfuing. The following table contains the total export from Ireland. EXPORT of LINEN, YARN, &c. Linen Cloth. Linen Yarn. WorfledTarn In the year 1776 1777 1778 .1779 Tards. 20,502,587 19,714,638 21,945,729 18,836,042 Cwt. 36,152 29,698 28,10835,673 Stones. 86,527 1 14,703 122,755 100,939 Which does not mark, any fuch decline as happened upon the bankruptcy of Mr. Fordyce. It is remarkable from thefeN two accounts how great a proportion of the exported linen of Ireland is taken off by England, in the year 1776.it abforbed the whole. Indeed it appears to have more than done it, which apparent error arifes from the Irifh. accounts ending at Lady day, and the Englifh ones the 3 ift of December. But in order to explain this bufinefs as much as poffible, I fhall in the next place infert the Engliih account of all the exports and imports to and from Ireland. In TRADE with ENGLAND. C07 Exports to Ireland 1 of Englifh manu Goods, and 1 1 ' fafture, foreign merchandize Balance goods andmerchan- imported againft Ire dize, in and out of from Ireland land. ¦ time, and exported from Scotland. to England. 1. 1. 1. In the year 1768 2,248,314 1,226,094 1,022,220 ' .* 1769 2,347,801 1,542,253 805,548 ': 1770 2,544,737 ">358>899 1,185,838 1771 2,436,853 ',547,237 889,616 , 1772 2,396.152 1,416,285 979,867 : 1773 2,123,705 i,392,759 730,046 . . 1774 2,414,666 •>573,345 841,321 \ VI775 2,401,686 1,641,069 760,61 7 , 1776 2,461,290 1,654,226 807,064 ¦ 1777 2,211,689 1,639,871 571,818,; 1778 1,731,808 1,510,881 220,927 In the year 1768, the export and import between Scotland and Ireland is not included, but in the reft it is. This table is drawn from the accounts laid before parliament at the clofe ofthe feffions of 177I, relative to the valuation here fol lowed of the cuftomhoufe, I fhould remark it has been fuppof ed, that the real balance is in favour of Ireland, nothwith- ftanding the valuation fpeaks the contrary, and Lord North in December laft gave this as his information to the houfe of commons. But taking the account as it ftands here, it muft evidently appear that the diftrefles which have come upon Ireland within the laft year or two, do not in the fmalleft de gree originate in her commercial conneftions with England, for during the laft nine or ten years her balance has grown lefs and lefs. From 1776 to 77 it funk 230,0001.; and from 77 to 78 it fell 350,060 1. If therefore Ireland was prof perous while fhe paid us a balance of 7, 8, and 900,000 1, a year, furely fhe ought not to be more diftrefled under lefs than a fourth of it ? That kingdom muft upon the face of this account, have had a fuperlucration of wealth arifing of late years upon this trade to a very great amount. But this ac count does not include the year 1779, of which upon, the ge neral payments between the two kingdops I- have no other authority than td mention the courfe of exchange. Mr. Eden obferves (Four letters to the Earl of Carlifle) that during the year 1778 and 1779, the exchange of Dublin on London has varied from 55 to -j\ par is 8 i. Oftober.27, 1779 it was at 6J-, which is remarkably low, and proves that Ireland muft have been accumulating wealth through that period. The 2©« PRESENT DISTRESSES. The reader will naturally remark, that thefe are all exter nal authorities : fome of them feem to mark a diftrefs in Ire-' land, but others fpeak very ftrongly a direct contrary lan guage ; it remains to be obferved, that the interior authori ties have been much infifted on- It has been afferted, and by -eery i-efpeftable perfons,, that rents have fallen, lands unte nanted, prices low *, people unemplpye.d, and poverty uni- ¦werfal. The. misfortune of thefe circumftances when pro duced as argument, is that they admit no proof. I afk for figures and you give me anecdote: my lord this is ruined — the duke of t'other cannot afford to live at Dublin, the earl of A. has no remittances, Mr. C. has i8,oool. arrears- This is a repetition of the complaints which the Englifh home of com mons heard fo much of in 1 773. I am very far from denying them, but only defire that affertions may not be accepted as peoofis. •¦ They are national complaints when a new fyftem of policy is called for, the palpable confequence pf which is, that they are exaggerated— fuch complaints always were, and al ways will exceed the truth. Let it not however be imagined, that I "contend Ireland fitffers none, or very little diftrefs : while we fee Very great diftreffes in England we need not wonder that Ireland fhould, though in a lefs degree, fuffer likewife. We fee - the funds have in a few years fallen 27 per cent. The years pur- ehafe of land reduced from 33 to 23. The prices of all pro dufts fallen from 30 to 100 per cent. Wheat from 7s. to 3s. a bufhel ; other grain in proportion. Wool from 18s. to 12s. ail-greatly owing to the fcarcity of money arifing from the high intereft paid for the public loans :' I can hardly conceive thofe operations to have drawn money from the channels of induftry in every part of this ifland, without likewife affeft- iino- our neighbour, much of whofe national induftry was, if sTsolfup ported, at leaft much aftifted by Englifh capitals. There fore, from reafoning, I fhould fuppofe they muft have been fomewhat diftreffed, but the preceding fafts will not permit me to imagine that diftrefs to be any thing like what is repre- fented, * January 24, 1780. I have this minute received from my very obliging friend Mr. Bolton (member -for Waterford) the folloiuing note : " Butter has been here {Waterford) all this winter at 4.2s. per cwt. Pork at the beginning of the^viinter 23*. to 23.1. gd- from that it rofe by degrees, and is now 261. 6d. per cwt." The butter is •very low, t%iver than for tenyears ; but pork keeps up its price. At Limerick the minutes Jhew that 29.S. ^d. is a. very high price, and that \2s. voas the price only eleven years ago. I amyet in hopes, from an expreffion in Mr. BoUoiis letter, to re ceive the price of other commodities before the work is entirely finifhed at prefs. PRESENT DISTRESSES. 209 -fented, at the fame time that they fhew it is in many articles wearing out even while the complaints are loudeft. Admitting fome diftrefs, and connecting it with the general ftate of the kingdom rather than peculiarly to the prefent mo ment, I may be afked to what is it owning ? The preceding lections have been an anfwer to that queftion, but to' bring their refuit into a very fhort compafs I fhould here obferve, that the caufes which have impeded the progrefs of Irifh prof perity a)-e, I. The oppreffion of the catholics, which by loading the in duftry of two millions of fubjefts have dorie more tp retard the progrefs of the kingdom than all other caufes put toge ther. II. The bounty on the inland carriage of corn to Dublin, which by changing a beneficial pafturage to an execrable tillage at a he^vy expence to the public, has done much mifchief to the kingdom, befides involving it in debt. Ill- The perpetual interference of parliament in every branch of domeftic induftry, either for laying reftriftions or giving bounties, but always doing mifchief. IV. The mode pf condufting the linen manufafture, which by fpreading over all the north has annihilated agriculture throughout a fourth part of the kingdom, and taken from a great and flourifhing manufafture the ufual effeft of being an encouragement to every branch of hufbandry. • V. The ftoppage of emigrations for five years which has ac cumulated a furplus of population, and thereby diftreffed thpfe whp are rivalled by their flaying at hpme §. VI. The ill judged reftriftion,s laid by Great Britain pn the cpmmerce of Ireland which haye prevented the general indufti Take into one general idea the confumption of Britifh goods in that kingdom; the intereft they pay us for money j and the remittances from abfentee eftates ; and then let any one a ie judge, if they can poffibly increafe in wealth without vaft proportion of every fhilling of that wealth at laft cen tering 2i6 INTEREST OF BRITAIN. tering here. It is for this reafon that I -think myfelf the warmeft friend to Britain, by urging the importance of Irifh profperity ; we can never thrive to the extent of our capacity till local prejudices are done away, and they are not done'away. until we believe the advantage the fame, whether wealth, arifes in Rofcommon or in Berkfhire. Upon the whole , it appears, that the Irifh have no reafon to look for relief from this new and liber-al fyftem, to any dif trefs peculiar to the prefent moment ; the filen.fc progrefs. of time is doing that for them, which they are much too apt to look for in ftatutes, regulations and repeals. Their diftrefs will moft affuredly be pnly temporary. The increafe of wealth, which has for fome time been flowing into that kingdom, will animate their induftry ; to put it in the future is improper, it muft be doing it at this moment, and he is no friend to Bri tain that does not wifh it may continue in the moft rapid pro- greffion ; in this idea I, fhall not hefitate to declare, that the freedoms granted to Ireland, whenever they fhall take effeft to the benefit of that kingdom, will prove the wifeft meafures for enriching this. That all apprejienfipns of ills ariftng from them are equally contrary tp the diftates of experience, .ancj %o the cpnclufions of the foundeft theory. MODES MANAGEMENT op LAND, &c. MODES of AGRICULTURE RECOMMENDED TO THE GENTLEMEN of IRELAND. HAVING been repeatedly requefted by gentlemen in all parts ofthe kingdom, to name fuch courfes of crops ajj I thought would be advantageous ; I very readily complied to the beft pf niy judgment with the defire ; but as it is ne ceffary tp be mpre diffufe in explanatipns than poffible on the leaf of a pocket-book, I promifed many to be more particular in my intended publication ; I fhall, therefore, venture to recommend fuch modes of cultivation as I think, after view ing the greateft.part of the kingdom, will be found, moft ad vantageous. TURNEP COURSE*. i. Turneps. 2. Barley. 3. Clover. 4. Wheat. DIRECTIONS. • * 1-1. Plough the field once in Oftober into flat lands ; give the fecond ploughing the beginning of March; a third in April ; a fourth in May ; upon this fpread the manure, whatever it maybe, if ariy is defigned for the crop; dung is the beft. About midfummer plough for the laft time. You muft be attentive in all thefe ploughings thoroughly to extirpate all root weeds, particularly couch (tritiam repens) and water grafs ; the former is the white root, which is under b grounds * For dry and light foils. 2,8 MANAGEMENT of LAND . ground, the latter, which knots on the furface, and is, if poffible, more mifchievous than the former. Children, with bafkets, fhould follow the plough in every furrow to pick it all up and burn it, and as faft as it is done fow and harrow in the turnep feed. The beft way of fowi-ng.is- to provide a, trough, from twelve to fixteen feet long, three inches wide and four deep, made of flit deal half an inch thick, let it have partitions twelve inches afunder, and a bottom of pierced tin to every other divifion, the holes in the tin fhould be juft ferge enough for a feed to fall through with eafe, three of them to each 'tin ; in the middle of the -trough two circular handles of iron.; the feed is to be put, a fmall quantity at a time, into the bottomed divifions, and a man taking the trough in his hands walks with a fteady pace over the land, fhaking it iideways as he goes : if he guides himfelf by the centersand furrows of the beds, he will be fure not tp mifs any land; cover the feed with a light pair of harrows. A pint and half ef feed the proper' quantity for a plantation acre : the large globular white Norfolk fort, which grows above ground, yields the greateft produce. As foon as the crop comes up, watch them well to fee if at tacked by the fly, and. if very large fpaces are quite eaten up, inftahtly plough again, and low and harrow as before. When the plant-gets the third or rough leafy they are fafe from the fly, and as foon as they fpread a diameter of three or four inches is the- time to begin to hand hoe them, an operation fo indifpenfibly' neceffary, that to cultivate turneps -without it, is much worfe management than not to cultivate them at all. Procure hand hoes from England eleven inches wide, and taking them into the field, make the men fet out the turneps to the diftance of from twelve to eighteen inches afunder, ac cording to the»richnefs ofthe foil; the richer the'greater the diftance, cutting up all weeds and turneps which grow within thofe fpaces, and not leaving' two or three plants together in knots. Make them do a piece of land perfectly well while you. are with them, and leave it as a fample. They will be flow and aukward at firft, but will improve quickly. Do not apprehend the expence, that will leffen as the men become handy. On no account permit them to do the work with their fingers, uijlefs to feparate. two turneps clofe together, for they will never then underftand the work!, and the expence wjll aLways be great. • Employ hands enough to finifh the .field in three weeks. As foon as they have done it,, they are tp begin again, and hoe a fecond time to correct the deficiencies of the firft.; and for a few years, until the men become fkilful in the bufinefs, attend in the fame manner to remedy the omiffions of the fecond. And if afterwards, when the turneps are clofed, and excluded all hpeing, any weeds fhould rife' and fhew themfelves above the crop, children and women fhould be fent iri to pull them by hand. - - • ¦ - ¦V In RECOMMENDED. 319 ?ln order to feed the crop where they grow, which is an ef- fential, article, herdles. muft be procured; as apart therefore of the fyftem, plant two or three acres of the ftrait timber fally, in the fame manner as for a twig garden, only the plants not quite fp clofe, thefe at two years growth will make very good fheep herdles, they fhoUld be 6 or 7 feet long and 3 feet high, the bottoms of the upright flakes fh'arpened, and projecting frond the wattle work 6 inches, they are fixed down by means of flakes, one flake to each herdle, and a baud of year old fally goes over the two end flakes of the herdle, and the moveable flake they are fixed with : the herdles are very eafily made, but the beft way would be to fend over an Irilh labourer to England to become a mafter of it, which he would do in a couple of months. Being thus provided with herdles, and'making fome other fhift till the fallies are grown, you muft feed your crop (if yon would apply them to the -beft advantage) with fat wethefs, beginning the middle of November, or firft week in December, and herdling off a piece proportioned to the number of your ' fheep,* let them live there, night and day, when they have ' nearly eaten the piece up, give them another,. and fo on while your crop lafts : when you come to have plenty of herdles, there fhould be a double row in order to let your lean fheep follow the fat 'ones, and eat up their leavings; by which means none will.be loft. The- great profit of this praftice in Ireland is being able to fell your fat fheep in the fpring when mutton almoft doubles its price. If you fat oxen with tur neps they muft be given infheds, well littered, and kept clean, and the beafts fhould have good hay. Take care never to at tempt to fatten either beafts or wethers with them that ar£ lean at putting them to turneps ; the application is profitable only for animals that are not lefs than half fat. Upon the crop being eaten there is a variation of conduft founded on circumftances not eafy, fully to defcribe, which is ploughing once, twice, or thrice for barley ; the foil muft be dry, loofe, and friable for that grain, and as clover is always to be fown on it, it muft be fine, but if the firft ploughing is hit in proper time and weather, the land will be in finer order on many foils than after fucceffive ploughing?. The farmer in his field muft be the judge of this : fuffice it to fay, that the right moment to fend the ploughs into a field is one of the moft difficult points to be learned in tillage, and which no inftrufti- ons can teach. It is practice alone that can do it. As to the time of fowing the barley in Ireland I fhould mifs no •feafon after the middle of February if I had my land in or der. Sow three quarters of a barrel, or a barrel and quarter of barley to the plantation acre, according, to the richnefs of the land, if it had a moderate manuring for turneps, and fed with fat fheep, three quarters or a whole one would'be fuffici ent, but if you doubt your land being in heart, fow one and a quarter, plough firft, (whether once, twice or thrice) and then S2o MANAGEMENT of LAND then fow and cover' with harrows of middling weight, finifh- ing with a light harrow. When the barley is three inches' Aigh, fow not lefs than 2olb. of red clPVer to each plantation acre, if the feed is not very good do not fow lefs than 2jlb. and immediately rUn a light roller once over it ; but take care that this. in a dry day, and when the earth does notfticlc at all to the roller. When the barley is cut, and carried from the field, feed the clover before winter, but not very bare, . and do not let any Cattle be on it in the winter. Early in the foring before it fhoots pick up the (tones, clean, off where you intend mowing it for hay, but if you feed it this is unnecefTafy. As to the application of che crop for hay or food it nfu'ft be directed by the occafions of the farmer ; I fhall however re mark, that it may be made exceedingly conducive to increafe the number of hogs in Ireland, as it will fingly fupport, all quarter, half^ and full grown pigs. If mown it, fhould be cut as foon as the field looks reddilh from the bloflbms : it will yield two full crops of hay. Within the month of October let it be well ploughed, with an even regular furrow, and from half to three quarters of a barrel of wheat feed fown, according to the richnefs of. the land, and harrowed well in. When this crop is reaped and cleared the courfe ends, and you begin again for turneps as before. This fyftem is very well adapted to fheep, as the clover fattens them in fummer, and the turneps in winter. — Excellent as it is for dry foils, it is not adapted to wet ones ;' the fol lowing is preferable. BEAN COURSE*. i. Beans. z. Oats. 3. Clover. 4. Wheat. DIRECTION S. WHATEVER the preceding crop, whether corn or olct grafs, (for the firft manure is properly applied, but unneceffary on the latter) plough but once for planting beans, which fhould be performed from the middle of December to the middle of February, the earlier/the'bettfer f, and chufe either the maisagan or the horfe bean according to your market ; the fingle ploughing given muft be performed fo as to arch the land up, and leave deep furrows to ferve as open drains. Harrow the land after ploughing. Provide flit planed deal poles * For ftrong and wet foils. f In England it is proper to wait till the heavy Chriftmas froft breaks up, hut as fuch an rare in Ireland the fame' precau tion is not neceffary. RECOMMENDED. m$ -pqles ten fe_et lpng, an inch thick, and two inches broad, bore holes through them exaftly at fixteen inches afunder, pafs pack-threads through thefe holes to -the length of the lands you are about to plant, and there fhould be a pole at every fifty yards ; four flakes at the corners of the extreme jpoles, faften them to the gfound, the intention is to keep the lines every where at equal diftances and ftrait, which are great points in the bean hufbandry to facilitate horfe hoeing. This being ready, women take fome beans in their aprons* and with a dibber pointed with iron make the holes along the firings with their right hand, and put the bean in with their left ; while they are doing one fet of lines, another fhould be prepared and fixed ready for them< Near London they are paid 3s. and 3s. 6d. a bufhel for this work of planting ; but where they are npt aecuftomed tp it they dp it by the day. The beans are put three inches afunder, and two or three inches deep. A barrel will plant a plantation acre. A light pair of harrows are ufed to cover the feed in the holes, ftuck with a few buflies. By the time the cold eafterly winds come in thefpring they will be high enough to hand hoe, if they were early planted, and it is of confequence on ftrong foils to catch every dry feafon for fuch operations. The hoes fhould be eight inches wide, and the whole furface of the fpace be tween the . rows carefully cut, and every weed eradicated. This hoeing cofts, near London, from 5 s. to 7s.. 6d. per Englifh acre, but with unfkilful hands in Ireland I fhould fuppofe it would coft from 1 2s. to 1 4s. per plantation acre, according to the Iazinefs in working I have remarked there. When the beans are about fix inches high, they fhould be horfe hoed with a fhim, the cutting part ten or eleven ,inches wide. A plate of this tool is to be feen in my Eaftern Tour. It is cheap, fimple, and not apt to be out of order, one horfe draws it, which fhould be led by a careful perfon, another fhould hold the fhim, and guide it carefully in the center be tween the rows. It cuts up all weeds effeftually, and loofens the earth two or three inches deep ; in a little time after this operation the hand hoe fhould be fent in again to cut any flips which the fhim* might have paffed, and to extraft the weeds that grew too near the plants for that tool tft take them. This is but a flight hoeing. If the weather is dry enough a •fecond horfe hoeing with the fhim fhould follow when the bean's are nine or ten inches high, but if the weather is wet it muft be omitted, the hand hoe however muft be kept at work enough to keep the beans perfectly free from weeds. Reap the crop as foon as a few of the pods turn darkifh, and while many of them are. green, you had much better cut too foon than too late. You may get them off in the month of Auguft, (in England the max.ag"ms are reaped in July) which leaves a fufficient feafon for haff a fallow. Plough the ground direftly if the weather is dry ; and if dry feafens permit (but you muft be 222 MANAGEMENT of LAND he guided entirely by the ftate ofthe weather, taking care on this foil never to go on it when wet) give it two ploughing^ more before winter, leaving the lands rounded up fo as to fhoot off all water, with deep and well cleanfed furrows for the winter. It is of particular confequence for an early fpring fowing, that not a drop of water reft on the land through winter. The firft feafon dry enough after the middle of February, plough and fow the oats, harrowing them in, from three fourths of a barrel, to -a barrel and a quarter according to the richnefs of the land. As the fowing muft be on this one ploughing, you muft be attentive to timing it right, and by no means to lofe a dry feafon ; cleanfe the furrows, and leave the lands in fuch a round neat fhape that no water can lodge • and when the oats are three or four inches high, as in the cafe before mentioned of barley, roll in the clover feed as be fore, taking care to do it in a dry feafon. I need not carry the direction farther, as thofe for the turnep courfe are to be applied to the clover and wheat. The great object on thefe ftrong and wet foils is tp be very careful never to let your horfes go on them in wet weather, and in the forming your lands always to keep them the feg- ment of a circle that water may no where reft, with cuts for conveying it away. Another courfe for this land is, i. Beans. 2. Wheat. In which the beans being managed exaftly as before direct ed, three ploughings are given to the land, the third of which. covers the wheat feed : this is a very profitable courfe. POTATOE COURSE* i. Potatoes. 2. Wheat. 3. Turneps. 4. Barley. 5. Clover.' 6. Wheat. DIRECTIONS. I will ftippofe-the land to be a ftubble, upon which fpread . the dung or compoft equally over the whole field, in quantity not lefs than 60 cubical yards to a plantation. If the land be quite dry lay it flat, if inclinable to wetnefs arch it gently ; in, this firft ploughing which fhpuld be given the latter end of February * For light and dry- foil; potatoes never anfwer on clays or ftrong wet foils. RE COMMENDED. 223 February or the beginning of March, the potatoes are to be planted. Women are tolay the fets in every other furrow, at the diftance of 12 inches from fet to fet clofe to the - unploughed/ land, in order that the horfes may tread the lefs. on them. There fhould be women enough to plant one furrow in the time the ploughman is turning another, the furrows fhould be not more than 5 inches deeep, nor broader -than 9 inches, becaufe when the potatoes come up they fhould be in rows iS inches afunder. The furrows fhould alfo be ftraight, that the rows may be fo for horfe hoeing. Having finifhed the field, harrow it well to lay the furface fmooth, and break all the clods, and if the weather be quite dry any time in a fort night after planting run a light roller over it followed by a , light harrow. About a fortnight before the potatoes appear, fhim over the whole furface ofthe field with one whofe cutting edge is 2 feet long, going not more than 2 inches deep; this loofens the furface mould, and cuts off all the young weeds that may be juft coming up. When the potatoes are three inches high horfe hoe them with a fhim as direfted for beans -that cuts 1 2 inches wide, and go 3 inches deep, and immedi ately after hand hoe the rows, cutting the furface well be tween plant and plant, and alfo the fpace miffed by the fhim. ..Repeat both thefe operations when the. plants are fix or feven inches high ; and in about three weeks after give a hand hoe ing, directing the men gently to earth up the plants, but not to lay the mould Jiigher to their ftems than three inches. ¦After this nothing more is to be done than fending women in to draw out any weeds that may appear by hand. Take them up the beginning of Oftober, firft carrying away all the ftalks to the farm yard to make dung : then plough them up acrofs the field; making thefe new lands very wide, that is 4, 5, or 6 perch over, in order to leave as few furrows that way as poffible. " Provide to every plough from ten to fifteen men with Vthree pronged forks, and a boy or girl with a baiket to every man, and difpofe eight or ten cars along the land to receive the crop, I ufed three wheeled carts, as they do not require a horfe while they are idle* Have your wheat feed ready brined, and limed, and the feedfman with his bafket in the field ; as foon as the ploughman turns a furrow, the feeds man follows him clofe, fpraining the feed not into the furrow juft opened, but into the land thrown over by the plough, the fork men • then divide themfelves at equal diftances along it, and making the mould which the ploughman turned over with their forks, the boys pick up the potatoes. In ufing their forks they muft attend to leaving the land regular and handfome without holes or inequalities, as there is to be no, other tillage for the wheat. They are alfoalways toftandand move on the part unploughed, and never to tread on the other ; they are alfo to break all the land in pieces which the ploughman turns over, not only for getting all the -potatoes, but alfo for covering the wheat. And 224 M AN A GE M EN T of L A N D thus they are to go on till the field is finifhed. If your men - are lazy, and do not work hard enough to keep the plough conftantly going, you muft get more, for they fhould never ftand ftill* The treatment of %his wheat wants no directions, and the fucceeding crops ofthe courfe are to be managed ex aftly as before direfted, only you need not manure for the turneps, . if the potatoes had in that refpeft juftice donft th.em> FLAX COURSE. i. Turneps. ¦ • 2. Flax. 3. Clover. 4. Wheat. DIRECTIONS. This for flax on light and dry foils, the turneps to be ma naged exaftly as before direfted, and the remarks on the til* lage of the turnep land for ba.'ley are all applicable to flax which requires the land co be very fine and friable ; I would roll in the clover feed in the fame manner, and the weeding and pulling the flax will affift its growth. Let the flax be faved aiid ftacked like corn, threfhed in the fpring, and the procefs of watering and dreffing gone through the fame as in the common way. This hufbandry is exceedingly ' profi table, 1. Beausv 2. Flax. 3. Clover. 4. Wheat. This for ftrong foils. The bean land tp be prepared for the flax exaftly in the fame manner as before direfted for oats. 1. potatoes. z. Flax. 3. Clover. 4. Wheat. For any foils except the very ftrong Ones. The potatoes; to be nwiaged exactly as before directed, only uppn takirig them up the land to be left till fpring, but if wet no water to be fuffered on it in the winter. In the fpring to apply more or fewer plougbings as will beft enfurs a fine friable furface to fow the flax in. GENERAL R E C O M M E N D E D. 225- GrENER>AL OBSERVATIONS. In very ftoney foils, the implement called a fhim cannot be ufed to any advantage ; in which eafe the operations direfted for it muft be effected by extra hand hoeings* sly land I mean iHoffe beds formed in ploughing by the finifhirig open furrows : the fpace from furrow to furrow is the land. In ploughing wet foils be attentive to get thefe lands gradu ally into a right fhape, whieli is a direft fegment of a circle. A large fegment of a fmall circle raifes the centers too higb^ and makes the fides too fteep ; but a fmall fegment of a largg circle is the proper form — for inftance. The fegment of a appears at once to be an improper fhape for a broad land, but that pf b is the right form ; keeping wet foils in that fhape very much correfts the natural difadvantages. Permitting the teams to go on to wet foils in wet Weather, is a moft mifchievous praftice ; but it is much worfe in the fpring than in the autumn. In all thefe courfes it is proper to remark, that keeping the fallow crops, that is the turneps, beans and potatoes, abfolutely free from all weeds, and in a loofe friable order, is effential tp fuecefs. It is not neceffary only for thofe cjrops," but the fucceffive pnes depend entirely on this conduct. It is the principle of this hufbandry to banifii fallows, which are equally expenfive and ufelefs, but then it is abfolutely neceffary to be affiduous to the laft degree in keeping thefe crops in the utmoft perfeftion of management, not a fhilling can be laid out on them that will not pay amply. There are in the preceding courfes feveral refinements and praftices, which I not pnly approve, but have praftifed, but omitted here, as I do not think them likely to meet with the neceffary attention in Ireland. Vol.IL- P LAYING *26 MANAGEMENTS* LAND. LAYING LAND to GRASS. There is no part of hufbandry in Ireland lefs' underftood than this branch, and yet where land is to be laid down, none is more important. Begin according to the foil, with either turneps, beans or potatoes, and manage them as prefcribedvin the preceding in- ftruftions. If the land has been long under a bad fyftem, by which it has been exhaufted and filled with noxious weeds, take a fecond crop, managed exaftly like the firft, but one only to be manured. After this fow either barley, oats, or flax, according to the tenor of the preceding directions, but inftead of clover feed rolled in, harrow in the following feeds, with thofe fpring crops : quantities for a plantation acre, ' 151b. perennial red clover, called cow grafs (trifolium. alpeflre). ..._... I2lb. of white clover (trifolium repens). 151b. of narrow leaved plantation, .Called rib grafs (plantage lanceolatd). iolb. of yellow trefoil. — Which if bought at the beft hand, will not ufually exceed above jtwemty-five fhillings. All the ploughings given for this end, muft tend to reduce the furface to an' exact- level, but then a very correct attention muft be ufed to dig open fur rows, in order to convey away all water. APPENDIX; APPENDIX. The following particulars were omitted under their refpeftive i heads. DERRY. T^HE {hipping of this place in 1760 confifted of fvxty- -*- feven fail, from thirty to three hundred and fifty tons. 7 of and above $od tons, 1 8 to 20 men and boys. *• 200 14 — 16 18 , 100 ,2 — x^ , — ai under — ioo 5 total, 10,820 tons. In 1 776 about two thirds of the above ; the decline owing to that of the paffenger trade, and in the import of flax feed ; for eighteen to twenty years back, two thonfand four hundred perfons went annually, not more in 1772 and 1773 than ufual. ^ • C O R K E. v)' I was informed that there was no foundation for Dr. Camp bell's affertion, that this city fuffers1 remarkably in time of war r , • EXTENT. Dr. Grew calculated what the real contents of England and Wales were, not at the rate of the geographic mile, but real ftatute fquare, one containing 640 acres, and makes it 46,080,000 acres f, inftead of the. geographic content of 31,648,000. Ireland meafured in the fame manner, contains P 2 about * Political-Survey of Britain, vol, 1. p. 343. t Phil. Tranf. Iff. 330, f. 366". 228 APPEND! X. about twenty-five millions of Englifh acres, or fifteen millions and a half Irifh, which at nine fhillings and feven pence an acre, make the rental 7,427,0831. Thofe who cpnfider this attentively, will noMbink' I am above the truth at fix milli ons, as all uncultivatedbbg, mountain and lake, are includ ed in the valuations. ¦ RENTAL.1 The rental of England is flated at page 1 1 of the fecond part to be thirteen fhillings,- but it is not accurate to cgn^gare that with the 9s. 7d. Irifli rent. The latter is the grofs rent of all the ifland, including every thing let or not, deductions being made for the portions of lake, bog, river, &c. But that of England j at 13s. only v^hat is occupied by the farmers or landlords, and does not include large rivers, lakes, royal fo- refts, or common paftures (mountains, bpgs, marfhes and moors, npt tp be excluded, as .they are parts of the lands let, from which ;the calculation was made). Upon a very large^ allpwance, if thefe are eftimated at an eighth part pf-the whole, the account will, be 7-8ths of England at 15s. .and 1 -8th. at nothing, average us. 4d-. per acre, inftead of 13s. the cqmparifoniwlth Ireland' then will be, Ireland rent and roads England, rent, Rates^ — s. 9 d. 10 u 1 1? 6i 9 5 10 7 Irifh acre and money, _ , ¦_; ; Which for an Englifh acre and finglifh money is, Inftead of which it is 12s. 6id. confequently the proportion, between the rent of land in England and Ireland is nearly as five to eleven ; in other words that fpace of land, which in Ireland lets for 5s. would in England produce 1 is- DEANERIES of "IRELAND. I. 1. Raphoe*, . •— 1600 Down, .**• . 1700. Derry, — 1600 Kildare> ~~ .. izp. Ardfert, — - 6,0- - Achonry,. —a. • . h°P Connpr, ' — 200 Kilfedoe, — 140 Cfonmacaoife, — 50 . Offory . ¦— 600 Corke, , — ; ', ', 400 "Kilwiacdu^glB: -»¦ V..' 120 St. Patrick's, — - 800 Lifmbre, .*; -— 3qS Ardagh, A P -p EN D I X. 229 Ardagh, 1. 200 Eiflly, — I DO Kilmore, — 600 Elphin, — 250 Rofs,- — . 20 Killala, — 150 Cioyne, — 220 Kilfenora, — . 2IO Dfpfiidre, _ 400 Clohfert, -J. 20 1. Leighlin, — 80 Ardmagh, — 150 Waterford, . — 400 Chrift church, — 2000 Limerick, — 600. Cafhel, — 20O Clogher, — - 809 Tuam, — 360^ Ferns, ' — 300 Archdeaconry of Kells, 1 200 I D L E N E S S. La fbciedad ecohomica de Dublin ha levantado enteramente de mievo las lencerias de Irlanda; cuyo's habitantes eftaian pofeidos de gran inddencia. Han extendido fu agricultura, en hrgar que antes viviah de ganados y paftos, como los tartaros. See 'the Appendice a la Eiucacibn Popular. Parte Quar(;a, p. 35. Madrid 1777, by Campomahes. FALL IN THE PRICE OF THE PRODUCTS OF LAND. Having in the preceding fheets, mentidned much diftrefs being felt in England from the great fall in the price of all products, I think I iriay be pardoned cine or two obfervations in defence of opinions I have formerly held, and which then fflbjefted me to much cenfure from the pens of-, a variety, of pamphleteers. From the conclufion ofthe laft peace in 1762, to 1775 in- clufive, the prices of all the produfts of the earth were at fb high a price, that complaints were innumerable. I have a ftelfin my ftudy almoft full of publications on the fubjeft, and parliament itfelf was employed more than once in enquiring into the caufes. The fuppofitions of the public were endlels, there was fcarcely an objeft' in the kingdom, which was not mentioned as a caufe, jobbers, regrators, foreftallers, fample felling, export bounty, poft horfes, ftage coaches,- hounds, &c. &c. but fome refpeftable complainants' fixed oh great farms and inclofures'. During that period I more than once endea voured to perfiiade the public, that the complaint itfelf was not well founded, that prices were not comparatively fo high as had been afferted ; that the rife was not owing to any one of the caufes mentioned, and that a confiderable increafe of national wealth was fully fufficient to account for it. In the years 1 776, 1 777, and 1 778, prices fell confiderably ; and in 1779-fo low, that very genera! complaints have been heard 23P APPENDIX. heard of ruiried farmers and diftreffed landlords, and at ,the time I am now waiting the faft holds, that there is a very confiderable fall in all produfts, and great numbers of far mers ruined, I have t&e, prices, of. wopl now for forty years before me, and that which from 17,58 to 1767 was from 18s., ^.o 2*s. atpd, is. for, 1779 only 12s. and was in 1778 but 1,4s. We Isnuft go back to 1754 to find a. year. ft? low as the lafty Wheat and, all forts of grain are greatly fallen *. In addition to thefe fafts let me obferve, that great' farms and enclofures are now as prevalent as 'ever. °- 334- 342-. 369- 395- 72. * means of improving, » 73- Ballyfhannon, i.257. Belleifle, i. 271. r Ballynogh,.i. 296. Ballymoat, i. 310. Ballyna, i. 344- Baker, Wytm, i. %o. iojl *. Ballynaiil, i. 86. Brownfhill, i. 87. Bargie and Forth, i. 1 08. Ballygarth, i. 143. Boyne, battle of, i. 145. Belfaft, i. 202I Blarney, ii. 33. Beans in Ireland,!. 109.i1. 197. Bullocks, profit on, ii. 1 45'. 75*. Bifhopricks, value of, 81 *.- Bucks, 113*. Bounty on inland carriage of corn, 114 *. 1 24 *. Its ac count ftated Dr. and Cr. 134*. Ill effefts, ib. Beef, price of, 1 27 *. Butter, price 6t, 127 *. Ballyeanvan, ii. 188. ¦ Buildings, 195*. N D X. D. CelbridgCj t. 1 4.' Carton, i. 23,. Caftletown, i. 22. _ Cars, utility of,, i. 40. 212. 306. ii. 22. 6i *. Ctiurtown, i. 115. Cullen, i. 146. Caftle Ward,?. 201. Clay, burning" of, i. 209. Colerain, i. 219*. Clonleigh, i. 236. Caftle Caldwell, i. 258. Carrots, i. 288. Corn burned inftead of threfh- . ing. »• 3S°- 364- Conna Marra, i. 393^ CoFcaffes, i. 407. ii. 1. Caftle Oliver, ii. 7. 141. Caftle Martyr, ii. 46. Caftle Mary, ii. 63. Corke, Neighbourhood, ii. 65. Coolmore, 11. 75. Climate of Ireland, 3 *. Cloathing of the poor, 35 *. Cabbins, $$ *. Catholicks, ftate of, 43 *. Clergy, propofed improve-; ments for them, 80 *. Coal?, import pf, 9? *. Cotton, import of, 99 *. Caftle iflapcl* "• I21- Candlesj price of, 1 27 *. Charafter ofthe Irifh, 106 *. Corn trade, .114*. - — - aborted, 120*. — — ^ported, 1 22 *. « on ftands, 144 *» Brought coaftways to. Dublin, 137*. Ciuraghmpre, ii. 176. •¦-, ^ Compact with Ireland relative to linens and woollens^ 146*. Cyder, .ii. 200. Cullen, ii, 256. '| Confumption, 197 * Dublin, inhabitants in, j. 2. Lodgings, i. 5. Opera, ibv Dublin fociety, 95*. Con fumption of, 137*. Dolleftown, i. 24. Dang an, i. 31. Drueftown, i. 57. Dargle, i. 134. Derry, i. 229. Drumoland, i. 406. Donneraile, ii. 18. Dunkettle, ii. 38. Demefnes, 1 09 *. Drinking, 110*. Duelling, 112*. Dawfon court, ii. 214. Emigrations, i. 168.203. 42 *? Eyre Connaught, i. 3,88^ Extent of Ireland, 2*. Education, 107 *. Embargoes, 19a*. F. ,', Forfter, baron, his vaft im provement, i. 146. Flax, culture of, i. 207. -322. 394. 155*.' Fifheries,, i. *2i9> 228. 242. 244'. 392. ii. 194. 187*. Florence court, i. 276. Farnham, }¦ 385, Families, bid, i, 30$. 366, Foxford, i. 349. French, Mr. his bog improve ment, i. 372. Food of the poor, 32 *. Folding fheep,' ii. 117. Furnefs, ii. 206. G> Gibbftown, i. 51. Gowry, i. 1 14. Glen of Downs, i. ¦ 1 3 2. . Glafslaugh, i. 1 70. Giant's caufeway, i. * 218. "" - : Gun I N D Gun harpoon for whales, . i. 251. Grafs, tendency of the foil to, i. 131. Gillaroo trout, i. 351. Glofter, i. 215. Government,-i9i *. H. Headfort,!. 54. .,, . Hampton, i. 139. Hillfborough, i. 184. Hearts of fteel, i. 217. Horfes drawn, by the tail, i. 392. 350. Hollymount, i. 367. Hops, ii. 25. Hearth-money, exemptions from, 87*. Houfes, up.*. Hides, price of, 128 *. Improvement .of the kingdom in the laft . twenty years, i. 1 53. State of, compared with England 1 1 *. Juries, 112*. Johnftown, ii, 227. K. Killadoon, i. 13. Kilfaine, i. 92. Killrue, i. 137. Kingfton, i. 308. Kilalla, i. 346. Killartan, i. 405. Kildining, ii. 62. Killarney, U.-90. '? Kingfborough,Lord,his moun* tain improvement, 69 *. L. Luttrel's town, i. 6. Lucan, i- 2 1 . E X. Laughlin mills, i. 90. Linen manufacture, account of, i. 161. 172. 178. 316. 360. 385. expdrt of, 150*, pretended decline in 1 773, 152*. — — import to England, 1 5 3 *. — — wretched conduft of, 161 *. Lurgan, i. 175. Lifhurne, i. 185. Lecale, i.' 1 96.- Leflyhill, i. 218. Loch Swilly, i. 227. Loch Earne, i. 268. Limerick, ii. it Living, cheapnefs, ii.6. 108*. Lime, ii. 10. 76. 67*. Kilns, ii. 25. Lota, ii. 65. Labour, payment of, 30** Price of, i. 37. Lixnaw, ii. 129. Limerick, grazing, ii, 143. M. Mahpn, i. 170. Magilligan, i. * 221. Mount Charles, i. 342. Mercra, i. 327. Mules, i. 343. iii 28. Moniva, i. 371. Mallow, ii. 26. Marino, i. 4. Monknewtown, i. 46* Mullingar, 1. 69. Mount Juliet, i. 92. Mount Kennedy, i. 122, Mountains, improvement of, i. 141. 146. 352. ii. 76. 125. 69*. Market-hill, i. 156. Middle men, 17*. Mountains, height of, ii. 113. Manners, 105*.- Mahaghree iflands, ii. 127. Macarthy^ of Spring-houfe, his I N D his farm the greateft in the -'world, ii. 157. Jilills of Ireland, 141*. Manufactures, 144*. MitchelftowW, ii. 269. ; — N. - * '< 1 Newry, i. t$e.,- ~ — Newtown Stewart, i. 188. Newtown Linimbvaddy,' i< * 22 1 . Newgrove, ii. 29. Nedeen, ii. .&§• Navigations, 90 *. 93* ' National debt,- 172 *. .'-.;:.;., 0. ' O'Connor, i. 305. ¦%: Orchards, i. 4 1 1 . : Oxen drawn by the1 horns, W-. 22. 55. Oppreffion, i. 38. P. Packenhani, i. 58. Poor, ftate of, i. K8-. 98. 14^. 151. 263. 412'. 25 *. 36*. 40*.,:ii. -222. 234. 247. Portaferry, i- 190. Produfts fti Ireland, quantity of 13*. Provifions, price- of, 54- *. , Penfions, amount' of, 85 *-. People, '-numbfer in Ireland, 88 *.- Potatoes, oiten fattened on, i. 29." 336. < hogs ditto, i. 34. '¦'¦" ' fort, ii, 24. 63. ¦ review of. intelligence, i. 27. • proportipn cf to wheat, 1. Population, 1; 98. 263V 412. , 85*." PowerfcPUrt; i. . Rofs, i. 101. Ravenfdale, i..i54. •>¦ Roftellan, ii. 64. > ,1 Rental of Ireland, 6 *. Roads,. 56*. My Rapes, 112*. Revenue, 167*. S. Summer-hill, i.- 28. , Slaine, i. 371 Mills, 4,3. Suckling lambs, i. 126. , • Sheep walks;,' i. 299. 306. Strokeftown, i. 297. Sligo,i. 338. ..I- Shaen Caftle, i. 78. Shaen caftle,. O'Neilri. 216. Silver firs, i. 289c Sheep, review 6% 76*. Sea weed, i.-jjfa. Soil of Ireland, $*. ' Society, Dubiia, 95 .*. Their ridiculous conduft, 97 *. Silk, import ofy 99 *. Sterne's, means of breaking, ii. M4., .... , i... Sheep, exports from, 129*. Shannon, flfhin, ii- 238. - T. ;-' ' Tullamore, i. 71. Taghmon, i. 107 Tinnyhihch, I N D Tinnyhinch, i. 133. Turneps, i. 288. 405. ii. 31. m 47-63- Tanrego, 1. 339. Tuam, i. 368. Tallow, price of, 127 *. Townfhend, Mr. his eftablifli- ment of Englifh farmers, ii. 80, Tillage, 15*. Increafe of,'" where, 125 *. Tenantry, 17*- .Poverty of, 22*. Proper encourage-., ment fpr, 23 *. Timber, want pf, 62*. To what owing, 65 *. Means of preferving, 64*. Tythes, 79 *. Tarbat, ii. 131. Tipperary, fheep hufbandry, ii. 155. Tabinets, 166*. Taxes of Ireland compared with thofe of Britain, 1 73 *. X. u. Union, i, Si. W. Woodftock, i. 100. Whiteboys, L 102. 119. Wexford, i. 107, Warrenftown, i. 177. Weftport, i. 351. Woodlawn, i. 395. Wpol, fmuggling, i. 413. ii. 67. Wppllen manufafture, ii. 18. 34, 61. 68. -Wafte lands, 69 *. WppI, price of, 1 30 *-. In Ire land compared with Eng land, 76 *. Woollen goods, import of, 99* Woodpark, ii. 120. Woodford, ii. 130. Waterford, ii. 184. Weavers earnings, 1 56 *. Y. Yarn, export of, 1 29 *. Price of, 130*. Yelverton, his famous crop of wheat, ii. 230. FINIS. YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 9002 01498 5916