A BOARD OF AGRICULTURE FOR IRELAND WILLIAM FIELD, MP

PRESIDENT NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MEAT TRADERS OF ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, WALES AND THE ISLE OF MAN.

Without the means of well founded prosperity, there is little permanence for a Nation."

DUBLIN JAMES DUFFY AND CO. LTD. :

15 WELLINGTON QUAY

A BOARD OF AGRICULTURE FOR IRELAND

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" Peace hath her victories as well as war ! " And when the enormous sums spent in the Army and Navy are considered, it is especially desirable that an agricultural country should be properly equipped for the competitive industrial warfare which is mainly the result of foreign imports, and the absence of similar facilities for instruction, development, and progress afforded ia nearly all competing countries. Ireland is one of the most fertile countries with soil famous in olden time, and it would still preserve its reputation if the proper means were adopted to enable production to be in ratio to its capacity*

* ** Better known than* Britain by reason of its ports and harbours, which were more suitable for trade and commerce."-Tacitus.

"In this respect (ports and harbours), better provided than Britain."-Lombard,

Scotia, also called HIberaia, is happy in its soil."-. Brevarium Aberdanese.

: "Nature has bestowed on Ireland mildness of look and climate, it has a great many majestic lakes, abound in fish,- larger than there is in any otter country we have seen; this land Is specially. * favoured,"-Camb. .Disi. Cap, 1, Sept. Top.

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" Its exuberant fertility," said Mr. Curwen in 1837, " enables the husbandman to proceed In a manner: which, if pursued In England, would long ago have made there a desert of a garden." In the " Statistical Account of the British Empire," MacCulloch writes: " A large proportion of the surface of Ireland Is covered with bogs and mountains (seven-eighths reclaimahle) but notwithstanding this deduction it contains a great deal of most excellent land. The luxuriance of the pastures and the heavy crops of oats which are everywhere raised even with the most wretched cultivation, attest its extraordinary fertility." Mr. Wakefield, an English agriculturist of great experience, wrote: "A great portion of the soil of Ireland throws out luxuriant herbage, springing from, a calcareous subsoil without any considerable depth. Places exhibit the1 richest loam I ever saw turned up with a plough." Arthur

"Hibernia is distinguished by some things unknown to the ordinary course of nature, as, though, the treasury of this land seems to be of a peculiar nature, wherein she has yielded up her rare and more valuable secrets."-Ib., Cap. 2.

" Of all lands she is the most temperate, neither the burning heat of Cancer forces you to the shade, nor the piercing cold of Capricorn forcibly invites you to the fire,"-Ib., Cap. 25.

" The temperature of its air is such that neither the obstructing.. cloud, nor the pestilential breeze, nor the emaciating atmosphere is 'thiere,5'--Ib. " She has deer so remarkably fat that they are unable to run; and the smaller they are, the statelier their head and.horns."-Ib.

"It Is an island most rich in plains of undulating corn, well irrigated with fountains and rivers, its woods and meadows are enchanting, in metals abounding, of gems productive."-Bart. Angl, c. 15, p.80

"Scotia and Hibernia are the same; next to Britain it is'the. greatestisland, leas in extent, but more fertile in soil."-Isidore, c. 6, b. 14, d$ insulis,

•** Of all islands {Ireland} has the most productive glebe."-Suirus. on the Life of St. Rumold.

" If rich soil, of a yield of crops, a genial land, the 'fields. abounding in every sort of produce, its mountains covered with cattle," -Gerald| Barry's Topography of Ireland. " **An in air, sun,, and soil, salubrious for mankind, Scotia teems with milk and honey throughout its lovely plains.
-From a Life of St. Bridget in the Vatican:

declared : " It is the richest soil I ever saw and as Is applicable to every wish. It will fatten the bullock and at the same time do equally well ISr sheep, for tillage, for turnips, for wheat, for beans, ,ad In a word for every crop and . circumstance of l*p.rofitable husbandry. You must examine _ Into the soil before you can believe that a country which has so Ibeffgarly an appearance can be so rich and fertile.'5 fmther confirmation of the superior fertility of the soil may be derived from many agricultural authorities; ^/principally from Messrs. Johnston and Law's Report in * :1843, and M. Moreau de Jonnes's interesting record, in which, among other curious facts he showed by careful statistics that the mean average yield In Ireland for wheat, rye, barley, oats, etc., exceeded that of England or Scotland.

Sir Robert Kane, speaking of the uncultivated land, : " The uncultivated land includes hogs and moun- tans. It has been shown, that the area of bog is 2,833,000 acres, - of which all is capable of reclama tion of being adapted to productive husbandry, if not required as repositories of fuel. Of. the land also, comparatively little is beyond the domain of agricultural enterprise. The average of Ireland above the sea-level. Is not more 387 feet; very little ground Indeed lies above the elevation of 600 feet la fact there is no district in sufficiently elevated to thereby present impediments to cultivation, and scarcely an acre. to which the name of Incapable of cultivation can be applied."

"Much good could be effected If.through the instru- mentality of State agricultural schools or model farms, the cultivation of forestry, the more general .growth.. •of flax, the rearing of the tobacco plant, .and other pursuits were encouraged and taught the people as an alternative agricultural resource. A.development of these several industries would alone double the agri- cultural wealth of the country and almost eliminate the possibility of famine being, as it now unfortunately is,

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a sure resultant from the failure of a particular crop.* The example of Germany in forest industries is well deserving of imitation in Ireland, while as regards flax nothing in the nature of things prevents its universal cultivation in the other provinces as extensively and successfully as it is grown in the North. The vast tracts of bog now useless, might be drained and planted, utilized as compressed fuel or peat moss and litter. A judicious aid from an administrative department under the control of a responsible Minister of Agriculture would at little cost effect all those advisable changes so necessary to lift Irish farming industry.! Fruit culture? market gardening, and flower growing should be encouraged."

M. Leonce de Lavergne told us a few years ago that " 1'imaginations' eff'raie quand on essaie de mesurer ce qui manque a un pays dans cet etat," and that It would take £820,000,000 to put Irish land into the same condition as that of other civilized countries. Things have improved somewhat since; but the improvement is trivial compared with what remains to be done. What has the Legislature done for Irish agriculture ? Until lately it allowed it to languish under a system which everybody now admits to have been indefensible, and it resisted with scorn every attempt at reform. It still leaves the landless labourers in "huts of one room that an Esquimaux would despise." It leaves drainage, the great requirement of Irish soil and climate, almost undone. "And whilst millions of the public money are expended on other parts of the United Kingdom,

* " It is only necessary to mention the fight with the potato disease, experiments with new varieties of the potato, and with imported grain, to indicate this. There are reasons for believing that the contest with the potato blight is now entering upon a stage when this pest of the small farmer will be deprived of much of its power for evil. Strange it is, however, that in no country of Northern Europe Is less being done to work out the problem than in Ireland.. " We seem to think it is no affair of ours ; we almost trust to the experimental stations of France and Germany carrying it through."

-D. C. O'Donelan. t B. J, Kelly's Pamphlet, " Some of the Resources of Ireland."

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those great works which, only Government can with, such as the deepening of river-beds and the arterial drainage of large districts are deputed to local boards with limited resources." Of the_twenty millions of arable Irish acres it leaves two-thirds either half tilled or in pasture. It leaves over a million of Irish acres that are capable of cultivation without any cultivation whatever. It does not effectively provide agricultural instruction.*

The production of live stock is the most important factor in Irish, prosperity, and it must be remembered that upon the production and sale of store animals, and meat, and milk, and butter, the agricultural rates and rents mainly depend. Corn is handicapped so heavily by foreign imports that BO farmer could meet his engagements by its culture in our uncertain climate. Therefore, it is evident that animal produce must mainly pay commercial, social, and governmental charges on land. T

Under those conditions it is difficult to realize why the responsible authorities should have been so slow to understand the advantages to be derived from an educated, well-trained body of skilful veterinarians. Surely it is the business of those who assume the functions of government, which rests on the basis of general utility, to take up this portion of national interests, which has hitherto been almost allowed to be maintained by private enterprise. England, Ireland, and Scotland should have their ministers of agriculture, with subordinate officers to look after local stock affairs, and a central council with undisputed authority to enforce such regulations as ^may be wise and necessary, without unduly interfering with trade and progress.

France founded the first veterinary European college in Lyons under Bourgelat about the year 1761. The success of this institution was so marked that establishments were opened at Alfort and subsequently at Toulouse. In 1791 the first English veterinary college

* J. G. McCarthy. t See Table opposite.

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was inaugurated in London, with Charles Vial de Sainbeli as principal. Subsequently Edinburgh started a similar institution, and now that much needed educational agency, a Veterinary College for Ireland is about to be established.

• The time has come when international co-operation is also needed. Fortunately this is not a subject surrounded with political complications. It should be the interest of every nation to protect each other from disease, at the same time giving every opportunity for free trade in cheap, wholesome food supplies, which give strength to " the people, who are the State."

The scientific treatment of anthrax, pleuro-pneumonia, tuberculosis, murrain, foot and mouth and other diseases in cattle, the extirpation of scab and mange amongst sheep, and of swine fever in pigs, require systematic attention, which is now capably afforded by the experienced and efficient staff of the Veterinary Department of the Privy Council of Ireland.

But the central Government's machinery Is hardly suitable, and it wants a wider sphere of skilled local co-operation. The poor-law unions have been utilized as a kind of peg to hang on all sorts of legislative functions entirely out of accord with its original design. In Belgium the country is methodically mapped out under certain supervision and control. This could and ought to be done in Ireland, as it would be exceedingly useful in adopting measures when necessary to stamp out disease.

I .This country is justly famous, for producing horses, and the Royal Dublin Society, aided by Government grants, has done much in the direction of improvement. But the whole question of live stock sires should be looked after m every species, and no animal ought to be allowed unless up to a certain standard of excellence.*

* "Dairy farming naturally leads to the breed of cattle, and here we meet with another branch of agriculture where Government direction could be productive of much advantage, and where the present system "Iaisaez, faire" contrasts so unfavourably with the work of sonic of the foreign Agricultural Departments. In many parts of

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Foreign importing countries have improved their stock relatively much more within the past few years, owing to carelessness at home, which sometimes is financially suicidal to the owners, and at all times detrimental to the character of our stock. Poultry has improved, but the export of eggs and birds should be immensely Increased.

Without entering Into politics, it may be safely alleged that this country was systematically thinned of Its human population in its most fertile parts in order to afford greater scope for cattle raising. Now, when foreign competition is exceedingly keen, the Imperial Government and departments, having at least partial charge of ovine and bovine concerns, apparently fail to note the necessity of home progress and the urgent need of keeping in. line with the Intelligent, consistent action of food importing nations. For the most part, those imported animal products are frequently favoured with cheaper railway tariffs, quicker transit, more humane treatment by sea and land, and other advantages. This economic question affecting the payment of agricultural rent. If not approached in honest fashion and solved in a statesmanlike manner, will probably force Its consideration into the select region of finance, and the boundless prairie of politics, in a disagreeable but earnest style

Ireland the breed of cows is so wretched that feeding them involves a certain loss of land. We find, however, that in several places in Germany, where the " Kleinbetrieb " (small farming) prevails, some Government aid is given to the Communes, which are under very stringent obligation to see that bulls of approved kinds, are maintained in their districts. A. similar system here would involve a very trifling Government outlay, but would produces very rapid and satisfactory change in the breed of farm stock. Among the large farms and the dairies of the South it would be either unnecessary or could be made to pay for itself, but in the congested and semi-congested districts of the West, where the small farming prevails, an extension of the useful work done by the Congested Districts Board . in this direction is undoubtedly necessary. A few years ago the pig buyers of Limerick undertook to improve upon the breed of pigs in their district of supply by the distribution of some superior animals in Galway and Mayo. The improvement which has followed is an indication of what a small expenditure, properly directed, could bring about in the farm stock of the smaller farms."-D. C. O'Donelan.

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possibly unprofitable to receiving personages interested in land and revenue.

" What farmers most suffer from is a want of sufficient, efficient and economical means of transport for cattle and produce to a centre of trade and market. The Irish. railways, as a rule, cannot be credited with any liberal notions as to moderate rates of traffic. A general overhauling of their constitution, and an entire enforced change in their conceptions of duty to the public are certain and necessary reforms of the near future. Nothing at present hinders the natural development of agricultural industry more than the narrow-minded and foolish policy of these carriers who have monopolised the public highways. Their diverse and divergent management injures their own as well as Ireland's interests. There frequently is an absence of cordial relations between one neighbouring line and another, and the entire want of competition keeps them at a damaging level of changeless, unprogressive rest. This want of enterprise in so important a factor is against the industrial progress of a country. Under no principle of j ustice or economy should it be tolerated, and as some boards of directors show an indifference to public censure, such as it is, the only efficient way of dealing with these official anachronisms is by legislative means, compulsorily amalgamating all smaller lines under one supreme control, and appointing a body more useful and efficient than the Railway Commissioners to guide and direct the general policy, determine rates of traffic, train service, and accommodation, upon some basis in consonance with the exigent wants of the time." *

Facility of transit is equally necessary with volume of production; if Irish railway directors continue to place the individual interest above the welfare of the community, the time is ripening when tbe iron road of commerce in Ireland must become State property, instead of remaining a close corporation of monopolists chartered and protected by Government, which is sus-

R, J. Kelly's.Pamphlet, "Some of the Resources of Ireland."

9 tained by general taxation. " Now, if from causes which the power and credit of a State alone can deal with, and because of difficulties which, only an organized authority can effectually remove, the internal communications of a country are found to be defective, centres of populations isolated for all commercial or trading purposes, harbours unsafe, agriculture languishing, manufacturing industries few and. feeble, the bone and sinew of the country idle or emigrating, and. all the while the cost of Imperial and local taxation year by year mounting up, If from legislative Incumbrances no fiscal reform can be carried out, if roads and railways are unmade owing to administrative difficulties, an inept and antiquated system of Executive control, combined with the constitutional inability of a people so placed, of themselves, to remedy this disastrous condition of affairs, surely it is the necessity and duty of the Government to provide for these wants. In India the gigantic railway enterprises and Irrigation works there carried out had to be supported by the State and under State control, and what was done In any of those Eastern presidencies is required as essentially, as pressingly, and as urgently in Ireland." *

In France, Government subventions are levied and given to railway companies to decrease the cost of goods carriage, so as to enable native products to •compete with foreign imports coming by a cheaper sea route. The seas surrounding Ireland abound with fish, but until very recent times this great source of food and revenue has been very much neglected. High railway rates practically closed markets, but there is more common sense being exercised at present.

R. J. Kelly's " Some of the Resources of Ireland.'

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1. General Register Office (Statistics and General information.)

2. "Veterinary Department, Privy Council (Diseases of animals, etc.)

3. National Board of Education (Teaching at Glas-nevin, etc.)

4 Land Commission (helping Congested Districts Board and experimenting.)

5. Board of Works (Agricultural Loans.)

Besides these, there is the Royal Dublin Society doing all sorts of things in the Agricultural line.

It is obvious that a proper co-ordination of the various scattered arrangements dealing with Irish Agriculture under a well organised Department will do more to profit Ireland than any other scheme. Meantime, to educate public opinion up to that point, it is expedient to briefly summarize the reports of those Departments, and to contrast their limited sphere of operations with. the wider scope afforded in Great Britain.

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RETUENS OF LIVE STOCK. It from the following Table that between 1892 1893 there has been an increase of 8,550 In the number of horses and mules; and an increase la the number of pigs'amounting to 38,893. Cattle ex- MMt a decrease of 67,099, and sheep a decrease of Of the 16,096,685 poultry enumerated In were turkeys, 2,177,227 were geese, were ducks, and 9,978,278 were ordinary fowl

Scutching Mills -In connection with the area under Flax the number of Scutching Mills enumerated In 1893 is as follows:-In the province of Ulster, 954; Leinster, 6; Munster 10 ; and Connaught, 6; making a total of 976 f or Ireland As partially explaining the decrease in production, it is desirable to show the diminution of small holdings, of 1,427 under 5 acres which decrease continues until the area of 50 acres is reached, as per table annexed. This proves the tendency to extirpate cottier tenants and consolidate large farms, which produce less, from the absence of cultivation.

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The number of occupiers of land in 1892 was 525,275, being 1,395 less than in the previous year. Excluding those holding land " not exceeding one acre," who are to a great extent merely occupiers of small gardens, they numbered 471,820 in 18,92, or 113 less than in 1891. The decrease in occupiers holding land above 1 and not exceeding 50 acres was 485, and the number holding land exceeding that acreage increased by 372.

As a net result of the 1893 statistics, it should be noted that there is a decrease in green crops of 21,336 acres; a total decrease in land under crops of 5,580, the enormous decrease in wheat cultivation of 20?420 acres, and the alarming decrease of 16,489 acres in potato culture. Cattle less by 67,099 ; sheep less by 406,084. As a general result, this is the natural outcome of a decrease in small holdings to the number of 2,986, and a decrease in the number of occupiers by 1,395. This is a serious state of affairs, demanding a remedy from those who assume governmental responsibility. Ulster has by far the greatest number of occupiers, and consequently is the most prosperous of the provinces.

CHAPTER VI.

ALL ROUND DECREASE IN CULTIVATION OF CROPS. DIMINUTlON- IN, THE -NUMBER OF CATTLE AND SHEEP IN THE THREE KINGDOMS. - INCREASE OF POPULATION IN GREAT BRITAIN.- STEADY DEPOPU- LATION OF IRELAND

Combing al of the information furnished, the more striking alterations as to aggregate increase or decrease 35

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In comparison with the Increase of population in Great Britain it may be useful to give a return from the Emigration Statistics of Ireland for the year 1893. The total number of Emigrants - natives of Ireland - who left Irish ports from the 1st of May, 1851 (the date at which the collection of these returns commenced), to the 31st December, 1893, is 3,566,530, - 1,880,359 males and 1,686,171 females. The number for each year is given in the following Table (II.). TABLE II. - Showing the Number of Emigrants - NATIVES of IRELAND-- in each year from the 1st of May, 1851, * to the 31st of December, 1893.

The date at which the collection of these Returns commenced.

During the last year 17,620 labourers emigrated. Whilst this steady exodus of workers goes on from Ireland where land is going to waste for the want

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-of labour, It is necessary to note the Importation of food products from all countries.

The agricultural Industry Is the mainstay of Ireland, therefore, foreign competition In English Markets, frequently aided by preferential through rates, lias a most prejudicial effect on the prices of native produce, unless given fair play rates and equal conditions of skilled production. Adam Smith laid down, that native produce always enjoys a certain measure of protection by reason of freight charges. That used to be so, but now cheaply freighted exports, frequently bounty fed, are imported into the three kingdoms, where the great monopolizing carrying corporations levy commercial in excess of those in any other civilized country.

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The Board of Agriculture report notes those Imports Include 1,305,000 cwts. of margarine which were not distinguished prior to 1886, 1,197,000 cwts. of that quantity coming to us from Holland. The wide range of countries which supply us with butter, cheese, and eggs excites interest; but it may suffice to note here that Denmark with 864,000 cwts. still heads the list of the butter exporting countries with which we deal, France following next in magnitude with 543,000 cwts., and Sweden next in order with 229.000 cwts,, nearly four-fifths of the butter received in 1892 coming from the three countries named. Under the head of Cheese, out -of 2,233,000 cwts., 1,039,000 cwts. came from Canada, and 818,000 cwts. from the United States. France, Germany, Belgium, and Russia continue to be the largest exporters of Eggs to this country.

The total value of the three groups of animals, dead meat, and other animal produce imported, exceeded £57,000,000. The cereal imports of the year reached a still greater sum. The grain and, flour imported in 1892, although in value showing a lower total than In 1891-in round numbers£59,000)000 against £62,000;1000. -owed this reduction in the valuation of smaller prices,* for, measured by quantities, the imports of flour, maize, and beans were all conspicuously greater,

A larger volume of fruit imports has been shown; the quantity rising to 14,148,000 bushels against 11,816,000 bushels in 1891.

Among other items of additional information, included this year, in view of the interest felt in questions of forestry in this country, attention may be called to the details as to the quantities, values, and descriptions of foreign timber imported into the United Kingdom. in the past five years. The total value in 1892 of this group of imports, including fitted frames and joiners' work, readies little less than £18,500,000, a larger total than in 1891, but less than in 1889, when £21,000,000 worth of timber was imported. The item is, however, one that, with considerable annual fluctuations, has not,

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on the whole, If measured In value, materially Increased In recent years, the total of ten years back being over £17,609,000. The quantities received, especially of hewn and sawn fir, are, however, considerably greater now than In 1882 or 1872.

In the year 1892 the returns show an Importation of 208,532 tons of linseed cake, 90,130 tons of cotton seed cake, besides 13,210 tons of cakes of other descriptions not enumerated. This total is larger than of late.

Hay Imports have also, on the suggestion of the Board, been separately distinguished in the Annual Statement of Trade In 1892 for the first time, and the figures for that year are here given. Holland, it will be seen, supplied the largest quota of the 61?237 tons Imported, Canada being the next largest exporter to the United Kingdom. The hay imports shown for 1892 will be altogether dwarfed by the remarkable augmentation of old and opening up of new sources of supply.

As to the sources of our entire supplies of Straw in 1892, it will be seen that out of 70,000 tons of •Straw imported, France supplied three-fifths and Holland more than one-fifth of the total.

Almost everything except money Is imported by nonresidents, who neither give employment, nor pay taxes. ^Reciprocal Free Trade is a righteous, sound, economic principle, but protecting the foreigner with preferential rates and frequently governmental contracts, is hardly calculated to produce national prosperity, more especially In Ireland, which is mainly dependent on Great Britain as a market for Agricultural and Animal products.

Food production within the three kingdoms should be strenuously encouraged and developed by the State. It is a dangerous and humiliating position for a great nation to occupy, that of principally depending on foreigners (who may become enemies) for food supplies. Meantime, millions of acres of arable soil remain un-tilled, and the agricultural labourers, who were the best soldiers, are emigrating from their own land, which will not afford employment.

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CHAPTER VIII.

FORESTRY STATISTICS (IRELAND), 1891

THE following Is a summary of the acreage under each kind of tree (exclusive of detached trees) planted previous to 1791 and up to 1840:-

Acres. Oak . . . . 59,536 Ash . . . . 6,042 Elm .... 1,417 Beech . . . 3,274 Fir . 25,239 Mixed . , . 280,006 Total . . 345,604 Since 1351 (with the exception of the year 1852) the acreage under Woods and Plantations has been ascertained annually in connection with the Agricultural Statistics; but until the year 1891 the total extent was the only information sought for, no particulars as to the kind of trees having been obtained. In that year returns giving the latter information were collected and the results were published in a Table showing, by Counties, the distribution of the varions description of trees.

The following shows the acreage tinder Woods and Plantations for the last five years, showing a decrease every year but one:-

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In view of the interest attaching to this subject in later years, it was considered desirable to institute detailed inquiries into forestry operations in 1890. The subjects of investigation, were: I. Planting-The area planted during the year ended 30th June, 1890, the total number of trees planted in that period, and the number of each, description; II. Felling-The area cleared and the number of trees of each description felled; III. Ages of trees felled; IV. Disposal of Timber.

It appears that 1,111 statute acres were planted with trees in Ireland during the year ended 30fch June, 1893, In the year ended the 30th June, 1892, the total area planted was 1,198 acres. The total number of trees planted on the 1,111 acres in the year 1392-3 was 2,149,722.' Larch, Fir, and. Spruce were the trees chiefly planted.

la connection with this subject it may be here mentioned that from the passing of the Act 29 and 30 Viet., cap. 40, up to the 3lst March, 1893, 120 loans for £27,055 were sanctioned for Planting for Shelter, and of this number 5, amounting to £1,125, were sanctioned in the last year of the period.

Statistics of the number of trees felled both for clearance and for thinning plantations during the year ended '30tk June, 1893, show the total amounted to 1,190,320. The area returned as cleared is 1,552 acres. la the year ended 30th June, 1892, the total area cleared Was 1,296 acres, so that there was a greater clearance and'less planted, in 1893 than in 1892,-the same retrograde-movement as in other industrial matters.

.The total area planted in the year ended 30th June, 189% being 1,111 acres, and the area cleared 1,552 acres, there would appear to have been 441 acres less under Woods and Plantations in the middle of 1893 than, at the .corresponding period, in 1892. The total area. under Woods ..and Plantations in 1892 was 309,586 .acres, and in. 1893, 308,535 acres, showing a-decrease of 1051 acres Ireland was covered with forests, now it is almost denuded of trees except within a few

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favoured demesnes and choice spots of scenery. Other countries plant as they fell; in the United States, one day in the year Is reserved for tree planting.

Very many industries are fostered and much employment Is .given in countries where trees abound. Germany, France, the States, and most civilized communities recognise this economic fact, and have taken measures to keep abreast of the needs of the age we live in. A project for re-afforesting Ireland has long been under discussion, but remains at that, save the limited exertions recorded in. the Registrar-General's report. Thousands of acres of land, useless practically for most purposes^ would profitably grow trees suitable to the position and soil; • but a policy of waste and carelessness has in most instances accompanied the felling of timber, which has not been replaced to any extent in this neglected country.

CHAPTER IX.

FORESTS.

"Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Wurtemburgb, Baden, and Alsace-Lorraine Bave a combined population of 40,644,736 people; the labour connected with the forests of these countries has been estimated to be £9,450,000 *' these earii-iugs suffice for the maintenance of about 300,000 families, or one and a-half million people. It has further been, estimated that the prime material yielded by the forests occupies about four million people, so that forests and industries

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dependent on them to provide work for some seven million. people, or one-sixth of the total population of the above-mentioned countries."

Apart from the outlay on the draining and planting, which would form an immediate source of relief, forests supply the raw materials for various industries almost from the very first. Osier beds begin to give a return as early as the second year, thinnings for wood chemicals from the seventh, and wood for paper-making is at its best before it passes the twentieth year.

For economical results forests must be of great extent Woods planted by private individuals do not afford the steady and constant supply necessary for manufacturing centres. This is seen everywhere, and was noticed by Professor Schlich in his evidence before the Forestry Committee in 1887 : "If timber were available in sufficient quanities from English forests year after year, the public, who go in for the timber business, could rely on so much every year . . . they could make arrangements for cutting and converting the timber at a cheap rate . . . but they cannot now rely on it. In order to make these things cheap, they must be done systematically." At the Curragh Bobbin Mills, Tuam, up to 9s. a ton is paid for the mere carriage of the timber, which is collected over a wide area. " We could give better prices for the timber if the lop and branches could be used, i)ut the distances are too long, and we have not a steady supply of this sort of thing for any useful purpose."

The labour of collecting timber in trifling woods scattered over a large district, and transporting it in carts ilong country roads, absorbs all the profit, while the supply is too small to create a market either for export or manufacture. In the German forests, the out-put Deing large and constant, permanent means are taken to reduce the cost of transit to a mere trifle. The streams ire furnished with darns to keep up the depth of water lecessary to float the timber into the mills or to the Jxport centres. Far up among the mountains, where the streams or torrents are too small to be constantly

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utilised in this way, large dams or " schwellungen" are constructed, and In wet weather, by letting go the water at certain tlmes, the timber Is removed at a trifling cost.

In these forest districts the supply has created the demand, and in Gotha, in the centre of the Thuringian forest, the price of rough timber, between 1872 and 1882, averaged from 150 to 200 per cent, its price in Ireland.

For the manufacture of paper, wood is now preferred to esparto, grass, and straw. In 1886, Mr Pratt Barlow, Secretary to the Paper Makers' Society of Great Britain, was sent by his Society to Germany " to discover the cause of the foreign competition, and why the Germans were able to compete with us so successfully." He was examined by the Committee on the depression of trade in that year, and he stated (question 14,688); " They are starting mills all over the country for the manufacture of cullulose (paper pulp), (14,695). These manufactories of cullulose and mechanical wood pulp are situated in the middle of forests. We have no forests in England to compare with them, (14,697). If we started such a work we must start it in Norway and Sweden, (14,708). The cost of wages per ton of paper is much the same as onrs. Although the labour is cheaper, there are many more men about the mills than we should employ, (14,711). They are starting mills all over Germany."

Seven or eight years ago no wood pulp was imported into the British Islands. For the ten months ending October 1887, 60,000 tons had arrived. Its manufacture In the United States was estimated in 1882 at 10,000,000 dollars a year. Since then its production has enormously Increased, For his purpose and for paper making generally young wood may be employed. "In the New England States,* saplings it would not pay to cut Into firewood are worked in this way into paste-board." Among the forests in the Landes (France) the manufacture of wood chemicals became important very few years after the planting. Pyroligneous acid, charcoal

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for deodorising aad for gunpowder, wood extracts for tanning, tar, etc., are manufactured from the youngest and most worthless thinnings. " Coppice does not reach its prime until it is about 18 years old, but soaie manafactErers maintain that they can get good yields from a seven or eight years' growth."

Since the completion of the Zollverein, no country in Europe has made such rapid progress as Germany. To its great supplies of timber this progress is largely attributed, and at present one-sixth of the entire population of the German empire depend on the forest industries. What, it may be asked, would be the condition of the whole of Germany if its forests were suddenly reduced to the condition of Irish bogs ?

Baden, Wurtemburg, and Connaught are nearly equal in point of size. None of them possess any degree of mineral wealth. All three have large portions of their surfaces unsuited to agriculture. The two former are forest districts, and in them the timber industries have assumed enormous proportions. The following figures are important in estimating the result;-

Governments of Germany are among the most and practical ia Europe; 25 per cent, or 53,000' of the surface of the German Is with forest. If agriculture on bad More profitable than the production of but not the planting of these forests would be in steady operation. Instead of this, how-ever, the reamaining waste lands are. being planted, and

47

in 1885 only 6 per cent, of the surface of Germany was returned as unproductive.

" The striking contrast between the results of agricultural operations pursued singly as the main, employments of a people and those which flow from diversified industries are most conclusively arid instructively illustrated by the following parallel between a rich agricultural country like Virginia and one of poorer soil, such, as Pennsylvania, More than half the people of Virginia are farmers. Only one in five of the Pennsylvanians are engaged in agriculture . . . In Virginia'farm, lands are valued at 10 dols, 89 cents per acre, while these of Pennsylvania command 49 dols. 30 cent . . . The natural law may be formulated thus-values in agriculture are enlarged by increase of non-agricultural population."

In 1882 the Department des Forets (France) concluded Its report on the planting of the Landes of Gascony with the words:- " Where thirty years ago a few thousand poor and unhealthy shepherds were walking about on stilts to raise themselves above the unwholesome flats, watching their flocks feeding on the scant herbage found here and there, are now villages with sawmills, wood-working factories, charcoal kilns, turpentine distilleries."

Mr "Ward, British Consul at Bordeauxs says of these forests and their industries:- "The forests which cover about one-third of this department consist almost* entirely of pine-trees (the l pin maritime/) which have to a great extent been planted in recent times in the Landes district, the soil there being unadapted to any other kind of cultivation. The two chief products obtained from, these forests, viz., wood andresin5 have now become an. important and in some instances, the sole source of revenue of the inhabitants of those districts. In the parts distant from towns and other inhabited places it is the production of resin which is prominently resorted to, whilst in others which are nearer to Bordeaux or other ports of shipment or to means of transportation, the production of pit props, rail- 48

way sleepers, telegraph poles, and wood for fuel forms the chief business.

" The exportation of pit props made from the pines of the Gironde and Landes forests is an important branch of trade between Bordeaux and certain ports both of the west and east coast of England, which are situated in the neighbourhood of coal mines. About 175,000 tons of pit props are now shipped annually from hence to British ports, whilst the annual shipment ten years ago did not reach half that quantity.

" Railway sleepers and telegraph poles are likewise made in large quantities in these pine forests, but mostly for use in this country itself; a quantity of young pines also find their way to England every year in order to be converted into paper.

" Acacias likewise (those only of small size) and one kind of willow are grown largely for the purpose of being made into props for the vines, and two other kinds of willow, ' Salix viminalis' and ' Salix vitellina,' are cultivated extensively- the former to be used in basket making, and the latter for making barrel hoops. Both kinds are exported to the United Kingdom ; barrel hoops from this district especially are much in demand in Scotch ports engaged in the herring trade." Some jears ago the value of the Imports of timber Into the United Kingdom was entered at £18,000,000, while other forest products (turpentine, tar, tan extracts, etc.) together with home-produced wood (£3,000,000), brought the total consumption for that year up to £35,000,000 sterling. At the same time from the Consuls' reports and other reliable Information the source of supply in the principal forest countries of the world were rapidly on the decline. "The destruction is rapid and cannot be prevented." In twenty years the price of wood must double in the English market. But even^at present prices the State need fear no loss In undertaking the reaff cresting on a great and national scale. If the planting of all the four or five million acres of waste lands be at present impossible, much might be accomplished by afforesting a million or even half a million acres in those districts where want of employment is most severely felt. Forty years ago the Department of the Landes was more miserable even than

49

any part of Ireland is to-day. In addition to the natural sterility, the miasma emitted by the stagnant pools produced disease and death among Its Inhabitants, But the French Government have done In the Landes, what the British Government should do in Western Ireland, The Landes have been afforested, and where " there was not £40,000 a year worth of value then are forty millions worth to-day," " These large areas were firstly unhealthy ; and secondly, very unproductive; except a few sheep, there was nothing else there ; there was no agricultural produce. Then the pines grew up, and in twenty-five or thirty years they improved the land so vastly that it paid for the first time to carry on agriculture. They could get shelter for their beasts, the land was drained so far that they could get pasturage, and the malaria had disappeared; that was one result, the other was that the pines yielded a lot of tar and resin ; there were distilleries put up, those distilleries paid, and more were set up. There was wood, and while It was small it was made into small bundles and was sent to Paris for firewood, and when it was found that it paid* more came down to earn money by it; the French are very industrious in those small things. Immediately they came down there they found they could make more things oat of the wood; they made the small baskets of shavings that you buy every where in France: that industry paid, and more were made. Then at last they found they could sell the timber in England for pit props; they introduced an enormous trade in pit props, which is now carried on, but these are not exported to any extent, France alone consumes three-fourths of them ; so the committee will see the enormous number of applications of labour that there would not have been if it had remained in Les Landes."*

Ireland may not have the raw materials which will enable her to " grasp at the commerical and manufacturing sceptre of the world," but in the afforesting of the .waste lands? in the cattle trade, and In the fisheries, she * Howitz Evidences " Irish Industries."

50

has sources of wealth which can make her prosperous, and can employ all her Idle hands. The change In agriculture has deprived the Inhabitants of the congested districts of the employment upon which they principally lived; remunerative employment is that which these people particularly require. It is In the neighbourhood of the congested districts that the waste lands are generally found, and it is in such places that afforestation would produce the greatest and most rapid change. Beginning by absorbing the unemployed labour, then creating Industry after industry, until the scenes of poverty and desolation have become scenes of manufactures and of wealth-these are but the results which afforestation has already produced In other lands.

It Is Incomprehensible that while declamation on the question of congested districts has become constant, the example of the Landes and of Germany is forgotten or Ignored. Emigration and migration have been by turns suggested and cast aside, but the one expedient which cannot fail, which alone in a country of waste lands without mines of coal and iron can make the labour of the people valuable, is mentioned as a mere experiment or an idle dream. If a better means be devised let us support It, but until it has been shown to us, let us urge upon the Government the reafforesting of the waste lands which will create in Ireland the timber trades, paper manufacture, the forest Industries; those industries In fine which support a sixth of the Inhabitants of Germany In comfort, and which, within twenty-years, would fill Connemara and Donegal with factories and wealth,

DERMOT O'C. DONELAN

51

CHAPTER X. REPORT TO THE NATIONAL EDUCATION BOARD

There has been, however, a further development of Instruction in dairying through the recognition of the necessity for instruction in better systems of management of the creameries; which, during late years have increased so rapidly.

The rapid increase in the number of creameries for associated dairying in Ireland has been remarkable, and the difficulty of procuring managers and operati?es for this new industry was very considerable. Indeed IE many cases almost complete failure in the working .of the creameries resulted through this difficulty, and it mast be -taken as an omen of •• future success,; that notwithstanding much inefficient management, so .much in the way of satisfactory results was produced.

The promoters of the co-operative movement in: Ire land must get the credit of having been, the means of securing instruction in creameries for Ireland ; and through the Influence of the. leaders of this movement the desirability of appointing an instructor in dairying under the National Board was recognised. The appoint ment of this officer has now .been made by the Com;- missioners.

The duties of the instructor in dairying are- to : visit,,. : and critically examine, creameries and butter .factories; to . give instruction as to improved, methods .of 'dairyiing, and to report to the -Commissioners : from time to time, upon the condition and prospects of dairying in this country.

A-good deal has been 'written; : and- :spoken. as to the improvment that might be effected through the in-troduction of the systems of the Danish and Swedish dairies

52

It must be considered that the circumstances affecting farming in' Ireland, as compared with Denmark and Sweden, are different, and that what would be suitable for these countries might be quite out of place here,

There are districts in Ireland in which systems similar to Danish and Swedish dairying would be successful, but to prescribe for the whole of this country a universal adoption of the system of any other country would be inadvisable.

Again, the system, of winter dairying, now so largely practised in Denmark, would not be found profitable in certain dairying districts' in Ireland where a different system is now successfully practised,

There are districts In Ireland in which the starting of creameries upon the Danish system would result in failure, whilst the adoption therein of the Normandy system upon suitable bases would prove successful.

What is required for dairying in Ireland is a good knowledge of the principles that are involved in the different systems of successful dairy management^ that the people may be In a position to put into operation in the different districts of Ireland the systems respectively suited to those districts.

The improvement in Irish dairy produce is Yery marked, and I look forward to future developments very hopefully.

During. the year 1892 the chief dairymaid from the Giasnevin dairy attended the Agricultural Show of the Sligo Agricultural Society, the Ballinasloe Agricultural Society, countyGalway, and the Hpllymount Agricultural Society, county Mayo.

On these occasions large attendances of the farming classes appeared at the lectures and demonstrations, and I am confident that a considerable amount of mformation was carried away by those who attended.

The system of itinerant dairy instruction sanctioned by the commissioners has not developed satisfactorily, mainly because o the difficulty in securing the local arrangements of committees, etc., for carrying it on and for meeting incidental expenses.;- There must be more

53

local assistance if this useful work Is to be developed. The machinery that existed formerly ia local agricultural societies would have helped this movement. It Is a work eminently belonging to such, organizations The dairy schools at Glasneviii and Cork are in a satisfactory condition, and the attendance of pupils at those schools continues large.

The pupils who go forth, from these schools must have considerable influence upon the dairying systems of the country, but in order that a more general improvement may take place, it would be very desirable that information should be brought more withia the reach of-the people through local centres of instruction. The possibilities of increased income to this, country through-improvement in dairy practice are very great.

It is satisfactory to know that Irish dairy produce is taking hold of the British markets, and that other dairying countries of Europe are recognizing the improvement in Irish dairy produce.

The question of Agricultural education has latterly, engaged attention throughout the United Kingdom,; and attempts are being persistently, made to. bring, into operation a system of Technical Education in .agriculture.

At no period in .the history ;of industriaI education. has there been so much earnestness displayed as there is at present in the cause of agricultura .instruction in: the United Kingdom. Vast sums., of .money, .are; .ex-pended in Great Britain by County, Councils. The Board of Agriculture contributes liberally in. aid of local efforts, and agricultural instruction in England is well supported generally as regards; funds.

The system of agricultural instruction most largely practised is the emplxiyment,.. of:; lecturers who go from district to district .for the purpose of delivering courses of,lectures upon Agricultural Science.

*-The Agricultural Association will be able to give valuable assistance.

54

specialists, such as Veterinary surgeons, dairy experts, etc., are engaged. But it seems to be impossible to devise a course of instruction on the science of agriculture which will be of much value until

(a) Instruction is imparted in first principles ;

(b) A classification of persons is made for the purposes of teaching.

Any attempt-to bring instruction to a mixed gathering of farmers, labourers, mechanics, and schoolboys, is likely to end in failure.

The teaching of branches of Agriculture by specialists may however be looked upon with favour.

In England during the past five years the progress of improvement in dairying through the efforts of the Agricultural Societies and County Councils has been very marked. It has been found too, that lectures upon Veterinary science, and upon the connection between science and practice in dealing with the animals of the farm, have been successful. In these two branches, farmers see an immediate result following the acquisition of knowledge, and considerable improvement in farm practice will assuredly result from a continuance of such instruction.

Education has become a matter of vital importance td the farmer. It must have for an object the preparation of the minds of youths in rural districts for the business of their future lives. The farmer's life is a life of thought and struggle, and each year brings into clearer light the commercial basis of successful farming. It is a matter for serious consideration how to systematise education so that it may foster and not wither the spirit of observation which appears so natural to early childhood;

I have endeavoured to urge the prime impo rtance of instructing our youths in the ele- ments of natural Science; I have endeavoured to show that such instra\uction might, in the course of time, contribute materially to th progress of our great national industry.

I have instances before my mind where Irishmen, who

55

have had training in the that relate to agricul ture, have thereby acquired remarkable strength ia thought and-action. It is not too much to expect that what has ImproYed individuals will when extended Improve a population.

Instruction In the minor agricultural Industries would be of Immense service to Ireland.

Very little has hitherto been done in this direction, and we are altogether behind other countries in the production and marketing of articles of farm produce, usually styled minor, but which, for Ireland might well be called important industries.

All over the country a large stock of poultry is held, and amongst the poorest districts we find that poultry and eggs are produced la great abundance.

It appears to me that Improvement In the receipts from poultry in the poorer parts of the country must mainly come from, teaching the people how to pre pare their products for the market; we cannot, by any means, Instantly Improve the condition of the-"poultry keepers. The Introduction of new varieties of fowls1 from the yards of fanciers will not bring an Income to/the poultry keepers of the poor districts in Ireland. .This step might even be mischievous.

The systems of poultry keeping, and egg and poultry marketing, must be largely altered before there, can be much of an Increase to. the incomes of-small farmers.in the poorer districts of the country.

. * What is primarily required is to show the farming population how they can immediately Increase theif income by improved management, and that t;hm can :be:: done by accepting as a lesson what is done in districts of Ireland where poultry rearing is successful,. In the counties of 'Wexford, Kilkenny, and Waterford, there are districts where poultry rearing is highly profitable. This Industry has grown up, within -the past thirty years.. Many Instances have come to my knowledge where: an -income: -of- over:.-- £20- -per-.-- annum from poultry management' is. made "by small farmers in in districts where careful management is practiced. In the north of Ire-

56

land also, there are districts in which substantial Incomes are derived from poultry.

The success of poultry rearing as an Industry depends very largely upon the successful marketing of the produce. I know of no industry that could be so much improved in a short time as poultry keeping. And this can be done mainly In relation to the marketing of the poultry and eggs produced, for which instruction is required.

The Introduction of "improved" (?) breeds of poultry to districts In Ireland, unless the people are instructed in the best - methods of feeding and managing their stocks, will result in failure. The sending of the large Toulouse or Embden geese to the hills of Sligo would result In disaster so long as the people will not improve their system, of management; and improvement cannot take place until the people are taught and otherwise helped In the marketing of produce.

The subject of fruit-growing in Ireland has recently attracted considerable attention. Here, again, any attempt to Induce farmers to take up fruit growing as a profitable branch of farm industry will result In failure unless the people are instructed in the proper methods of fruit cultivation.

At one time the cultivation of apples was a profitable industry in the county Waterford. Through want of knowledge of the cultivation and management of apple trees this industry has died out. At the present time in the county Armagh apples are profitably cultivated; but it is. to be feared that good cultivation is the exception, and that the industry may after some time languish. The old idea that an orchard may be allowed to take care of itself is no longer tenable.

Normandy apple growers take considerable care of the cultivation of their orchards, and they derive good Incomes from them. The fruit growing..of Normandy is so Important that the government of the country issues special direction in case information is required by.the apple, cultivators. This year the removal of the mistletoe from the apple trees,has been , directed by the

57 French government because of injury to the trees from the growth of this parasite.

From observation made over a considerable -of country, I am of opinion that the growth of and other fruits might be profitably undertaken by Irish farmers. I have seen, ia the county Donegal, apples that for colour would compare favourably with the best American produce, whilst in flavour, as eating apples or for cooking purposes, the Irish are much "before the American fruit.

From the nursery at Glasnevia aa experiment in fruit cultivation was made at an agricultural school in the County Mayo, which may have the effect of encouraging fruit cultivation in that county.

In the neighbourhood of Swinford the Callow School has a farm whose soil appears to be well suited to growing. The Commissioners' sanctioned my the surplus apple trees from the Glasnevin nursery to this school, and about forty of. good'varieties-of. apples have been planted in a good position'upon''the... Cariow agricultural school farm.' '".This ; experiment: will be watched with interest; I am hopeful of .good' results.

The cultivation of vegetables .has been frequently: proposed as an export Industry for Ireland, and in some favoured localities the cultivation of vegetables for early marketing would be profitable for commerce, but an extension of vegetable growing over the whole of Ireland,.. with the view of supplying English,or. other.markets, is not likely as yet. to command the conditions of a successful scheme, owing to the absence in many districts •of the facilities for ready and rapid transport. In some favoured parts; of the co"ntry the cultivation of early potatoes and tie. finer .vegetables for early: marketing would be profitable. The :• small island of Jersey receives an annual income;.of :almost .half a million sterling from the growth of '.early; potatoes. , On the whole, I should feel encouraged to take up this industry, and believe that it would be profitable provided .that suitable localities were selected for the

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Industry, and that means were adopted to educate the people in the best methods of procedure.

The cultivation of early potatoes is, however, an Industry which is very liable to fluctuation. The Industry in the Channel Islands is already threatened with Injury through the competition, of other countries.

This is a list of Educational Establishments In Ireland ;

The Albert National Agricultural Institution. Munster Model Agricultural and Dairy National Schools.

Dairying and poultry management are extra branches in National Schools. They are paid for at the rate of five shillings for each satisfactory " pass."

Obviously this does not constitute an entirely satisfactory educational equipment to meet the urgent needs of an agricultural community, but it is an existing network of primary establishments, which could be easily extended and developed by a Board of Agriculture for Ireland. There are three Agricultural Schools, Dublin,, Oofk, and Fermanagh, under the exclusive management of the Board. Considering the means at their disposal,, Mr. Carroll's Report is very satisfactory.

WHEREAS it is expedient that due provision should be made whereby children In public elementary schools should obtain practical Instruction In the subjects of agriculture and horticulture, and matters pertaining thereto:

2. On and after the passing of this Act any school board, or managers of any public elementary school, may provide and maintain means and facilities for the purpose of giving instruction In any of the subjects set' out in the schedule of this Act, or in such other analo gous subjects as may be sanctioned from time .to time; by the Committee of Council on Education or by the Science and Art Department; and for these purposes'. s.chool boards and school managers shall have the power. to provide or contribute to the provision of such •.•school' gardens, allotments of land, workshops, tools,, and appur tenances as may be necessary .for carrying..out the pro visions of the Act, and the expenses of'such provision or contribution on the part of school managers shall be • deemed to be a contribution to .the. annual expenses of the school.

Provided always, that such .schools shall be. subject to the inspection of the officers of the Gommiittee of Education or of the Science and Art Department.

3. A special grant not exceeding fifty percent shall be made by the Committee of Education or Science and Art Department for the expenses of providing such allotments, school gardens, buildings, fittingst tools, and appurtenances as may be necessary to provide instruction under the provisions of this Act. Provided always, that the cost and full particulars of the same shall be submitted to, and sanctioned by, the Committee of Council or the Science and Art Department.

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4. From and after the passing of this Act It shall be lawful for a council of a county or of a county borough out of the sums received In any year under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890, and not therein appropriated to police superannuation, to make a grant or loan towards any expenses that may be incurred by a school board or managers of a public elementary school within the county in carrying out any of the purposes of this Act, and for the purpose of supplying educational collections consisting of books, specimens of animals, birds, insects, minerals^ and other objects suitable for the instruction given under this Act. Such grants or loans may be made upon such 'Conditions as the council of a county or of a county borough may think fit.

5. The Committee of Privy Council shall make such alterations in the code of regulations as will admit of special instruction in agricultural and horticultural subjects being given in public elementary schools.

6. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland,

SCHEDULE.

Packing fruit, vegetables, &c. for market. This proposed legislation ought to be extended to Scotland and Ireland, and provision made to utilize the existing local governmental machinery to carry it into execution.

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Chapter XII.

ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY. ABBREVIATED REPORT OF COUNCIL, 1893.

The ordinary income and expenditure for the five years are shown In the following Table, with, the balance for each year:-

It will thus be seen that the expenditure which has' been steadily gaining upon the Income for some years has now overtaken It.

The Science Committee, In their- report, deal with-the large expenditure on publications incurred las! year, the sum spent being more thaa double the.ex-penditure of the preceding year. Strictly speaking,. a large part of this expenditure was in connection with the Society's survey of the fishing grounds of coast. of Ireland, .and would more correctly charged to that account: had it not been already closed.

* Thes ,items are £1:29..less than the .sums given in last year's Report,.being the amount of the Anne Hall Endowment Fund, for which, a. separate account has been opened.

The increased expenditure upon Agriculture consists chiefly of the following items, viz.:-Spring Show, £792; Horse Show, £287 ; Sheep Show, £139 ; Potato •experiments, £172. The expenditure upon the Spring Show amounts to 31 per cent, of an increase upon the Show of 1892. The increase arose chiefly from the fact that, owing to the discontinuance of the Winter Show, classes for fat stock and poultry were introduced at the Spring Show.

In the account of the Government Grant for improvement of the breed of horses and cattle in Ireland a balance of £206 is brought forward from the previous year; and a balance of £604 is shown at foot of the account as remaining in Bank at the close of the past year. The greater part of the latter balance had in reality been spent in the purchase of Stallions, but the money had not been paid at the time of closing the account. On comparing this account with the corresponding account of 1892, it will be seen that a sum of nearly £2000, received from the owners of Mares in 1892, has disappeared. This apparent discrepancy is due to an alteration in the mode of administering the Grant. In 1892, the fees were paid to the Society by the farmers, and then handed over to the owners of the Stallions, whereas in the past year, the duty of collecting the fees direct from the farmers devolved upon the Stallion owners.

The proceedings of the Council in relation to the proposed new Lecture Theatre have been reported to the Society from time to time; they understood the erection of the Theatre would be commenced in the spring of 1892, and that the work would be finished farty in 1893. The Council regret to be obliged to report that their anticipations have not been realized; notwithstanding the efforts of the Council to expedite the work, no beginning has yet been made.

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Under the agreement entered Into with the Government seventeen years ago-before the passing of the Science and Art Museum Act-the Government undertook to reserve the theatre, laboratory, and adjoining offices to the Society, or to provide an equivalent. The Government hare agreed to the alternative arrangement, and decided to provide the equivalent. Mo other course is open, because the old building is in a state of dilapidation, and a portion of the Mew Museum building has been erected upon the premises allotted to the Society, and interferes most seriously with, the light of several of the offices adjoining the Theatre. It to ensure that more than an equivalent should be provided that the Society undertook to contribute £5000 towards the cost of the work. Having regard to facts the Council are of opinion that they have the Government in a most liberal and considerate manner, and they expect at least equal liberality and considera--tion on the part of tie Government.*

In their last Report the Council informed the Society of the negotiations with-the Dublin, . Wicklow, and Wexford Railway Company, in reference to ihe proposed: branch line on the Society's newly-acquired ground at Ball's Bridge. Accordingly,- on February 6th, the. work was commenced, .and on April 7th, the first, train .passed, over the line. . The construction had thus occupied just two months. The expenditure on this work, ;as shown; In the Society's accounts, was £3622..; The.exiiibit6rs.at:; both the Spring Cattle.Show and the Horse Show showed a desire to take advantage of the very great facilities the * As in most -Irish matters, the Treasury and the Government have been dilatory in tlieir dealings, with the R.D.S., which has contributed so much .private money to .work, which, under a paternal rule,: would be undertaken and liberally endowed as a State depart- ment. -Ed.

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line offers. As these facilities become better known the Council expect to see much more use made of the line, The number of exhibitors of implements and machinery who took advantage of the line was comparatively small.. A large proportion of these exhibits arrive at the North Wall, and could with the greatest ease be loaded direct into railway trucks alongside the steamers. There is through communication between the lines alongside-the steamers and the Society's line at Ball's Bridge. The Society has provided a suitable crane and a carriage dock for the unloading of heavy goods, machinery, etc., but owing to some difficulties of railway management, exhibitors cannot take advantage of these facilities. Their exhibits have to be carted by a circuitous route from the North "Wall to Ball's Bridge. It is to be hoped that the Eailway Companies will see their way to devising some means by which the existing difficulties, whatever they are, shall be overcome.*

Sums not exceeding the following amounts have been voted by the Council, viz.:-

Purchase of Books for the Library - - - £200
Promotion of Scientific Research - - - 50
Afternoon Lectures ----- 100
Juvenile Lectures (including Christmas Course) - 100
School of Art Scholarships - - - 65*
Recitals of Classical Chamber Music - - - 250
Art Industries Exhibition . . . 200

Provincial Agricultural Societies - - - 300
Dairy School, GlasnevM - - - 25
•Dairy School, Cork . , . _ - - 25
Potato Experiments - ... . . IQO
Farm Prize Competition, Province of Leinster - 200
..., Example^Holdings - - - - - 650

|As usual the Railway Companies languidly co-operate for public utility- Ed.

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(F.) The Eeport of tie Committee of Agriculture includes a Eeport by the Agricultural Superintendent on the first year's administration of the Anne Hall Scheme; proceedings ia relation to the Kerry Herd Book; list of votes in aid of Provincial Societies; Report oa Example Holdings; the report on the Improvement of Small Holdings; opinion on the Compulsory Destruction of Weeds; Beport on Experiments on Potatoes; and Reports on the Spring Cattle Show; the Horse and Sheep Show, and the Horse Breeding Scheme. The Reports on the Cultivation, Harvesting, and Marketing of Barley; on Potato Culture and Potato Disease; and on the Farm Prize Competition in Ulster, have been issued as separate pamphlets. The second Yoiume of the Society's Register of Thoroughbred Stallions under the Horse-Breeding Scheme has also been issued as a separate publication.

(G.) The Report of the Consulting Botanist.

(H.) The Report of the Consulting Entomologist. . (I.)

The Report of the Analytical Chemist.

Adopted by the Council of the Royal Dublin Society March 1st, 1894.

A deal of useful Educational work has. been accom-plished by lectures on Dairying and management of Stock.*

*Anne Hall Scheme-Report for the year, 1893. Dairy Lectures in Counties Fermanagh and Londonderry. The Anne Hall grant to the Counties Fermanagh and Londonderry, to be devoted to the purposes of education in those counties. The Commissioners of Education, under the Educational Endowments (Ireland) Act 1885 , vested the portion allotted to Agricultural Educa- tion in the above-named counties, in the hands of the Royal Dublin Society for Administration. Nearly L100, varying in a small degree

, 66 -On this subject the Agricultural Superintendent states ; -

" It Is unfortunate so many are satisfied if they realize as much for their produce as their neighbours get for theirs. This Is too frequently the height of the butter-maker's ambition. Meanwhile, Denmark and Normandy supply the best English markets, and the Antipodes have established a firm footing in them also. The Irish farmers are more favourably placed than are the farmers of any of the competing countries for the highest class English trade, and it is very regret-able that they do not occupy a more prominent position in the market, though it must be acknowledged that it is improving where pains' are taken to produce a better article. Having called attention to some of the weak points which prevented the universal response of those in the districts which were within reach of the several centre's-, it'' is pleasing to be able to state that there is no •'•doubt that considerable good has already been "

The necessity for immediate action is apparent to improve 'the existing condition of affairs.

aceording to the Income Tax, is available yearly for the purposes'of Agricultural Instruction in these counties. Special interest attaches to the Report of the first year's teaching, as it should indicate in no small degree the capacity the two eounties interested.possess, of appreciating and benefiting by Technical Edu-cation and thus reflect somewhat the possibilities of such forms of teaching in other :connties. Dairying and the :Management of Dairy Stock was the subject chosen, :and as almost all farmers keep a greater or less number of cows, it is one which should be of popular interest. Dairy In- stiruction: has on previous occasions, been imparted by means .of Travelling daires and private enterprise, but this is one of the first opportunities Irish counties have had of receiving Technical. In-struction on lines similar to those followed by County Council education committees in England.

COMPETENT authorities assert that while private efforts can effect much good, the butter Industry in Ireland can never be placed on a proper footing until an Agricultural Board? with, extensive powers and funds, is established In Dublin, with mode! farms and dairy schools la connection with It In every county In Ireland. This Is absolutely required, and has been successfully accomplished, on the Continent; for, as showing what can be done in Improving butter, " the1 station at Kiel was turned entirely on the dairying Industry with the view of applying science to this branch of agriculture and of getting the best methods Into the German, dailies. It was found that In Denmark the practice of souring the cream before churning had secared a high reputation In the English.market for Danish and Schleswig.Holstein, butter. It produced the peculiar nutty taste,, but the •process in Its original form had several disadvantages, and was very uncertain la its results.

"Lieblg and Pasteur have shown that fermentation is the. work of bacteria, and that each fermentation Is produced by its own particular ferment... Placing cream to sour is simply Inoculating. it Into the germs of the lactic fermentation which happens to be floating1 in the air. But the process is obviously uncertain, as., ferments other than those required may be the .first .to enter the cream, and flavours widely different from that desired are frequently the result. The method employed by Von Storch in. the Danish station at.. Copenhagen,, is based on the theory..that of germs,. which Inoculate cream-other things being equal - those enter Into activity first, .to which the cream is most .particularly suited. He, therefore, places a small sample from each cow to acidify, and selects that which

possesses the finest flavour. This Is then employed as a ferment for all the cream set to mature, and the desirable germs are In this way given a long start of all the others. A fresh supply of ferment must be prepared every day from the cream of the cow which, was selected in the first instance,

"In the agricultural station of Kiel, progress has been carried a step further, and apparently to complete success by the director, Dr. Weigmann, who has succeeded in separating the lactic ferment which causes the agreeable taste of the Danish butter. The bacteriological division of the Kiel station now supplies e pure cultures/ which, according to the recent Dairy Congress in Dublin, are giving the North German creameries an immense advantage over the British and Irish farmers-even in the English market. Attempts have been made, it Is said, to apply the system here, but without success. The failure has been attributed to various causes, but a stronger evidence in favour of a properly equipped station, working at scientific questions of agriculture in Ireland could not be imagined, than the failure to introduce an inexpensive process, which is giving the Germans and Danes possession of the English market. The experimental station at Kiel has placed the German farmer in a position to produce from stall-fed cows a better article than Irish farmers can with the combined grazing and stall-feeding of the country."*

* D. O'C. Donelan.

SOME five and forty years ago In the days of the Museum of Irish Industry, many problems of technical Importance were taken in charge by those two distinguished chemists, Sir Robert Kane, F.B.S., and Dr. Sullivan, the late President of Queen's College, Cork. In a great measure the work they undertook was connected with the Improvement of agriculture much In the direction of the now celebrated field experiments carried on for the last fifty years by Sir John Bennet Lawes, F.R.S., and Dr. J. H. Gilbert, P.B.S., at Rotham-stead. They tad been inspired with the spirit of scientific inquiry and experimental research in the Universities of Germany, where the fame of Liebig attracted students from all parts of Europe. Whatever good might come out of such work could only.be the result of years of continuous labour, though from time to time many, useful problems of immediate interest and importance to the country were sowed.

Such work could not continue without. funds, and supplies appear to have been discontinued by the Trea sury, so that whatever work they accomplished was sacrificed.

At the present time such, problems are still found to. require solution. They are submitted sometimes to one authority and sometimes to another, but there "is no. continuity in the work. Occasionally the professional advice sought is expected to be given gratuitously, at other times It is remunerated.

All matters connected with the. chemical analysis of fertilisers and feeding stuffs, disputed analyses .of food, and dregs,, questions xelating "to agricultural chemistry, and to sanitary matters shoulil be placed in charge of a central authority to report and advise the various Boards, such as a Board of Agriculture, the Local

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Government Board, the Board of Works, and the Board of Trade, and the Registrar-General's office. Such an office has recently been created in London, and the official Is styled Principal Chemist of the Government Laboratories.

A clause under the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act of 1893 is mandatory as to the appointment by the Lord Lieutenant of a Chief Agricultural Analyst for Ireland, with duties similar to those of the Official Analyst under the Board of Agriculture In England. No such appointment .has yet been made, notwithstand ing the urgent need of scientific direction of Investiga tions, and advice on matters relating to agriculture and sanitation. No doubt, merely analytical work is of great importance, but something more, than this Is re quired. Recent outbreaks of swine fever have been attributed to Inferior feeding stuffs, and this Is a case when a searching investigation is necessary. The Land Commission has been busy with the potato blight, and the value of the sulphate of copper treatment; this, again, is in the nature of scientific research. For years past all samples of food and drugs about which there has been any question, have been sent to Somerset House for analysis. Samples of milk arrived in a state of decomposition, and were put through the process of analysis, as if the change In the milk had not effected its chemical composition. On the result of such analysis a conviction and sentence for fraud might follow, or the fraudulent adulteration might go undetected, and the dishonest tradesman receive an official certificate of honesty.

. This defect in the administration of the Adulteration Act was brought to public notice by the Society of .Public Analysts. - The question of butter and its adulteration as affecting one of the staple trades of the country is of great importance. According to the evidence of Sir Charles Cameron, a change was noticed in the quality of the butter coming to the Dublin market, and a sample sworn swoard in Court to have been purchased. by a wholesale dealer

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from a farm and unmixed with, other materials after It was warehoused, was certified to have been adulterated with. Margarine. This certificate was upheld by the accuracy of the analysis being confirmed.

Obviously the inference is that Margarine was put In the churn, and that this is the newest method of adulteration. Until lately, Margarine was shipped to Holland to be churned up with new milk and returned to England and Ireland as butter. The adulteration of butter with water is likely to injure the Irish butter trade to a much greater extent than a simple restriction of the amount of water the butter shall contain. Many absurd statements hare been made in the recent trials in Manchester to justify the addition of water to butter to the extent of 20 per cent.

In such a momentous matter as this, an independent chemist accustomed to prosecute .Investigations, particularly in the way of testing the chemical processes, would be able to advise upon the standard to be adopted. In any such inquiry it would be necessary to confer with practical butter-makers.

All those points in direct connection with the various products and methods of production prove the necessity of a competent analytical authority in Ireland acting under a Board of Agriculture in Ireland.

The Council has also endeavoured the improvement. of culture on. small holdings, instituted, experiments' to test the relative values of some kinds of potatoes, also spraying as a preventive of potato disease. Their Shows are famous, and need not any lengthened paragraph, being so well known as probably the best managed shows in the United Kingdom, held in premises unequalled for size and convenience. The Horse Show holds, and maintains the world's. record,. The Council, matured and. marked out in 1892-3 a horse-breeding scheme and published a register of Thoroughbred ;Stallions certified to be free from here-ditary disease and suitable for improving the Breed of Horses under the Horse Breeding Scheme, 1894.

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The Council have also endeavoured to improve the breeds of all live stock and poultry. They issued reports from Consulting Botanist?and on Economic Entomology, and of the Chemical Analyst. They also instituted a Farm Prize competition.

In awarding the Prizes the Judges were Instructed to especially take into consideration the following points:-

General Management with a view to profit.
Productiveness of crops.
Quality and suitability of live stock.
Management of live stock.
State of gates, fences, roads, and general neatness.
Suitability and repair of buildings and out-offices.
Suitability and repair of farm implements.
Mode of book-keeping (if any).
Management of the dairy and dairy produce if dairying is pursued, and the rearing of calves.

It is evident that the farms we visited are in a prospering condition, consequently, It' may be considered by some unnecessary to make suggestions with regard to alteration or Improvement of systems; but It must not be forgotten that the British farmer Is being more heavily competed with every year, and It is absolutely necessary not only to be up with the times, but a little before them if possible.

It must be borne In mind that the farmers entered for competition were the best in the country. The following paragraph from report says:-

As has been Indicated before, the amount of manual labour- bestowed on the land Is not great; in fact, about as little Is done as is 'consistent with a prosperous husbandry. The ploughing Is usually well done. As there is no corn drilling, there is little need for skill in the-manipulation of other Implements used in the working of the land. We were :pleased to see that, the very clumsy; national digging tool, the loy, is, giving way on

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the farms of the more Intelligent farmers, to the more rational and convenient modern short-handled . spade. Also that the long-handled dung or . digging fork was being ousted by the short four-pronged ' fork which -every other country practising enlightened farming has .adopted. Where most of the few acts of husbandry practised are carried out with the spade or fork, there Is not" much to be said in the matter; but from long practice the men show a certain skill In the use of the spade. The stock men usually show a fair amount of •skill In their work, and take an Interest In the animals submitted to their care."

Pamphlets have been printed dealing with, the culture of potatoes^ barley, grass, etc., with useful results.

It .was some time ago reported by the late Professor Baldwin that In some parts of the country he ..had ascertained there were ten tons .of weeds growing .with. •one ton of potatoes.

In Co. Cork both oats and barley may be seen coin* pletely choked with weeds, .in. fields side by side with land carefully cleaned. There does not/appear to.be.a sufficient cultivation of grass lands in Ireland, If one. may judge, from the thick growth of thistles and rag-weed, and absence'of manure .

In England a landlord will not let a farm to a tenant who: will not clean his land or farm it properly, but in Ireland legislation has made the tenant part-owner, and

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the landlord has no power over the occupier In this respect. There is no reason to think that this view was entertained by Mr. Talbot Power, for It did not appear to receive any expression in his memorandum, the object of which was to protect a careful farmer from the effect of negligence In his neighbour.

A case has been submitted for the opinion of Counsel upon the subject of the Compulsory Destruction of Injurious Weeds. The opinion thereon, as follows, has been placed at the disposal of the Royal Dublin Society for the benefit of its members :-

"As I understand that the Royal Dublin Society are anxious to have any light which can be thrown on the subjects referred to in the above case, I have made an exhaustive search for any indications from whatever source of a recognition of such rights as I apprehend are assumed to exist.

" The principles of the English Common law governing the. legal obligations of aa occupier or owner of land towards Ms neighbours in this connection appear to be clearly settled by the judgment by which the rights of an adjoining owner are restricted to an Immunity from any detriment to the enjoyment of his property consequent on other than a natural user of the neighbouring lands. Thus" there may be no remedy, even if damage result from something having Its origin on such adjoining lands. No action is maintainable if the operation of natural laws be the sole cause. Lord Coleridge then laid down that; there can be * no duty as between adjoining occupiers to cut the thistles, which are the natural growth, of the soil.' This case Is clearly distinguishable from those of the class In which the Intentional planting of poisonous trees, which overhung the neighbouring lands, constituted the wrong. There being no legislation on this subject affecting Ireland, the above case is one by which any test case in this country would be decided, and therefore it may be taken for granted that an occupier of lands has no legal rights as against an adjoining owner in respect of loss resulting to him from the blowing of thistledown and the seeds of other weeds on to his property. Under the Roman Law a restriction upon the unlimited growth of teees was imposed with a view, no doubt, of securing aft inefficient supply of light and fresh air to agricultural

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crops, for the provisions only applied when the tilled in the hands of other owners immediately adjoined on which trees over thirty feet in height were growing, " The information at my disposal as to the in •which, this subject lias been dealt with by foreign Governments is as follows :-

"_ In France, by a law dated the 24th December., 1883, and entitled, * Law concerning the destruction of insects, crypto gams, and other vegetations injurious to agriculture,' prefects of departments are instructed to prescribe necessary to prevent or arrest the injuries caused by the insect, etc., when these injuries occur in particular districts and assume, or threaten to assume, the character of an invasion or plague. The advice of the General Council of the department must be obtained before the prefect can issue an order, except in the case of urgent or temporary measures. The order prescribes the period of application of the measures and the special method of application. It cannot, however, be executed until it has the approval of the Minister of Agriculture, Proprietors, tenant-fanners, rate-payers, usufruct uaries and commoners, (persons having a common to the use of land) are bound to carry out the measures prescribed in the prefect's order on the lands they hold and cultivate . They are also bound to permit the local officials to enter upon their lands for the purposes of inspection and destruction of insects and injurious plants. The State, communes, and public and private bodies must conform to the same obligations in re- spect to lands in their occupation. In the event of failure to execute the prescribed measures within the period fixed by the Order, the offender Is liable, upon prosecution before a Justice of the Peace, to a small 'fine for the first offence and to fine and imprisonment for subsequent

"The only known instance of an order based on that law is that issued by the prefect of the department of Eure et Loire in December, 1891, respecting, .the compulsory, de struction of the mulberry to prevent the spread of rust, or of mistletoe on fruit trees.

" By the Code- Rural of Belgium,' Article .12, sect.1, the destruction of insects, thistles, and , other plants injurious to agriculture .may be prescribed- by Royal decree. On May 2, , a Royal decree was issued,. instructing governors of provinces ;to take the necessary steps for the destruction of

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thistles and other plants Injurious to agriculture. To this end they are authorized to Issue decrees making It obligatory on all persons holding or occupying lands to destroy thistles and other injurious plants. When such persons fail to carry out the prescribed measures, the authorities are empowered to enter on the lands and do what is necessary at the cost o! the owner or occupier, who is also liable to a fine or imprisonment. The remaining provisions are almost Identical with those of the French law.

"In some States in America laws are in force for the destruction of cryptogams and other noxious growths ; e.g. a law of New Jersey of 23rd May, 1890, authorizing the officials of the State Experiment Station to enter on any land for the purpose of destroying cryptogams injurious to vines and other plants.

A course which might recommend itself to the Society would be to have an Act passed declaring the growth, to maturity (viz. to a point short of shedding seeds) of certain, noxious weeds, to be a nuisance within the provisions of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878 ; and to make use of the provisions of that Act, the machinery of which seems admirably suited to the purpose, in order to secure the abatement of such a nuisance. Sections 108 et seg_. deal with inspection, information, penalties, orders of magistrates, etc. The sub-sanitary officer is generally such a person as would be well qualified to be an equally efficient Inspector of such a-class of nuisances; and the application of the fines recovered under the Act would probably more than cover the additional expense incurred by the sanitary authorities. Possibly the programme of Government legislation for the coming session will (when declared) .be found to contain some measure to which the enactment could be attached."

It would appear that the ancient Romans were careful; and the modern French, Belgians, and Americans are bestowing greater attention as to the destruction of weeds than does the present-day British legislature.

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For the purpose of defining the Congested.Districts it is enacted In the 36th section of the Act that-

"Where at the commencement of this Act more than: twenty per cent, of the population of a County, or in the case of the County Cork of either.Biding thereof^ live in Electoral Divisions of which the total rateable.

*This Report is considreably abbreviated.

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value, when divided by the number of the population, gives a sum of less than one pound ten shillings for each individual, those Divisions Shall form a separate County (in this Act referred to as a Congested Districts County.)"

(1.) The chief item of the Board's income is the sum of £41?250 a year, being interest at 2f per cent, per annum on the sum of £1,500,000, referred to in the Act as " The Church Surplus Grant." The Board Is also empowered, subject to certain conditions, to apply part of the principal of this Grant for the purposes of the Act.

(2.) The Irish Reproductive Loan Fund, amounting to about £66,000 in securities, cash, and outstanding loans, was placed at the disposal of the Board, subject to the proviso that the moneys shall be applicable only to any county where the Fund might have been applied before the passing of the Act-that is to say? in the counties of Cork,, Gal way, Kerry, JLeitrim, Mayo, Bos-common, Sligo, Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary, In the last three counties there are not, however, any districts that are congested within the meaning of the Act.

(3.) Portion of the Sea and Coast Fisheries Fund amounting to about £18,000, has also been transferred to the. Board, and this sum is applicable to districts In the maritime counties of Donegal, Leitrira, Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, and Cork.

(4.) The Board is authorized by the Act to accept any gifts of property, real or personal. Since the passing of the Act, the Board has received as a gift the sum of £2,500, portion of the unexpended balance of the Irish Distress Fund. This gift has been appropriated by the: Board to the completion of the Beala-dangan Causeway. in Connemara.

POWERS OF "THE.-BOARD.

The Board is empowered to take such steps as it thinks

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proper for improving congested districts, In connection with the following subjects or matters, namely: -

1. Agricultural development.
2. Forestry,
3. Breeding of live stock and poultry.
4. Sale of seed potatoes and seed oats.
5. Amalgamation of small holdings.
6. Migration.
7. Emigration.
8. Fishing and matters subservient to fishing. 9. Weaving and spinning.
10. Any other suitable Industries.

In short, the Board's efforts are to be directed as regards agriculture, towards increasing the size of small holdings and towards improving live stock and methods of cultivation ; and In the second place towards aiding and developing all Industries; including fishing. Further, it is enacted that agriculture and industries in their various branches may be aided and developed by Indirect as well as by direct means.

It is impossible to mention all the various indirect methods by which agriculture and. industries, may : he assisted in poor and remote parts of the country, but, first, perhaps, In importance comes the establishment .of such means of communication (whether by railway, steamship, or otherwise) as will enable goods to be Im- . ported and exported, at rates sufficiently low to make. trade possible and profitable to producers and consumers in remote congested districts.

The house No. 23 Rutland-square, Dublin, was taken and furnished out of moneys voted by Parliament as an office for the Board, and the first formal meeting of the. Members was held on the 2nd of November, 1891. Application .was then made to the Lord Lieutenant and the treasury , with reference to the employment of officials carrying out the projects of the Board, and

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by the 1st of January, 1892, arrangements were sanctioned for the appointment of a Secretary, Assistant Secretary, and a small staff of Clerks.

_ The salaries of officials and the administrative expenses of the Board are payable out of moneys provided by Parliament, and not out of the funds allocated by the Act for the improvement of Congested Districts.

It was decided that four Committees should be appointed to make inquiries and report to the Board, from time to time, as to all applications and questions connected with the four main departmental subjects of Land, Industries, Fisheries, and Finance, or the management of the Board's receipts and expenditure, A Committee was appointed to consider and report on all contemplated Works, such as piers and roads.

The farms, or rather holdings, are small in extent, and from. 2 to 4 statute acres are planted with potatoes and oats. The rents for these plots vary from a few-shillings to £6 a year, but In, most cases rights of turbary and rough commonage grazing are appurtenant to the holding without farther charge, and frequently the right to cut or gather seaweed for manure and kelp-burning-is also enjoyed. The methods of cultivation are .usually primitive and bad, there being no rotation of crops: drainage is insufficient: there is. an inadequate supply: . of suitable manure: and the weeding of crops is ne- , glected. The breeds of. live stock are worn out and of little, value, and the kinds of: poultry too are capable of much improvement.

The disposition or inclination of the people as regards

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Industry is of vital importance to the success of our efforts. Suggestions and projects may be wise and good, but nothing can come of them except failure, unless perseverance In hearty work is shown by people who have rarely had an adequate motive for steady hard work. The income at the Board's disposal Is only at the rate of a few shillings a year for each family In the Congested Districts, so that prosperity Is not to be conferred through money payments by the Board: it must be earned by the people themselves, for the Board's Funds are only sufficient to provide instruction and •opportunities for those who are willing to struggle hard to improve their condition.

Agriculture in its various branches, Sea Fisheries, and Industries of different sorts are the occupations in eon-. nectlon with which the resources of the Inhabitants of the Congested Districts are to be aided and developed by the Board, and under these heads, and also in reference to the construction of some Works of utility.

I Agriculture, taken in Its limited sense to mean the science and practice of the cultivation of land, and a number of other kindred subjects, are dealt with by the Land Committee of the Board, namely:-

(a.) Agriculture.
(6.) Forestry.
(c.) The improvement of the breed of livestock and poultry.
(d) The supplying ofsuitable farm seeds.
(e.) The amalgamation of holdings.
(/) Migration and
(g.) Emigration

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At one of the very first meetings of the Board it was arranged with the Agricultural Department of the Irish Land Commission that, under the control of the Land Commissioner nominated on the Board to especially represent agriculture and forestry, it should carry out such agricultural and kindred operations as might from time to time be delegated to it by the Board.

Since the passing of the Act much lias been done by the Board in its agricultural department, considering the difficulty that naturally attends upon the execution of novel work by new official machinery.

For the coming year, however, arrangements are being made to try to improve the system of cultivation, which is of the most primitive kind in the districts with which the Board has to deal.

In the Union of Swinford the Royal Dublin Society has, for the last two seasons, employed an instructor, whose duty It has been to teach the people the best system of cultivating portions or plots of their holdings, and to encourage them by gifts of seed and by giving premiums to those who were most successful and.attentive in carrying out the directions of the Instructor. It has, therefore, been arranged that experiments should be made this year In at least two districts.

Various other projects for developing the practice of good agriculture have been considered, and the importance of the subject can hardly be over-estimated. We believe-we are not exaggerating the fact in saying that throughout the congested districts, as a rule, the produce of farms might be increased from'one-third to one-half... The effect of increasing the supply of home-grown food or of farm produce to this or any considerable extent,, has caused the Board to.determine to make every effort. to develop agriculture.

During the period of, distress, consequent on the partial failure of the potato ..crop in 1890, the Irish Government: were anxious to acquire land in some of

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the distressed districts partly as a means for providing relief works, and partly for the purpose of trying an experiement in Forestry under the adverse circumstances that prevail on the western seaboard. About 960 acres, at Knockboy? on the Connernara coast, in the County Gal way, were placed at the disposal of the Government, who purchased the landlord's interest, and thus became owners in fee-simple. These lands were handed over to the Agricultural Department of the Land Commission^ under whose superintendence a som of £1,970 was spent in draining, fencing, and road making, and in planting 90 acres, which gave much useful employment. On the 1st January, 1892, an assignment of the lands was made to the Board, which has, during this year, expended & further sum of £1,427 in carrying on the works. Up to last spring about fifty acres were planted as a main plantation with sycamore/ash, elm, beech, birch, poplar, alder, larch, Scotch fir, spruce, and silver fir, and about forty acres as shelter belts, with sea-buckthorn, alder, elder? Scotch fir. sycamore, poplar, and willow. All these trees have thriven remarkably well, with the exception of silver firs, and it is not intended to plant any more of this variety. At present 200 more acres are being planted, and it Is estimated that the cost of planting per acre "will amount to £4, 10s. The value of this experiment is not only that if the trees grow in this exposed situation close to the shores of the Atlantic, it will demonstrate that much of the waste lands of Ireland could be turned to profitable account, but it will also afford much useful employment in the locality during the progress of planting ; it will train up many to the knowledge of forestry, and Its uses; and it will give the Board an opportunity of distributing, either without charge or at a nominal price, such trees as are suitable for shelter planting to be carried out under the directions of a skilled forester employed by the Board. Already a beginning has been made in encouraging the planting of shelter belts of trees. Some 350 holdings In the parish of Kiltimagh, in the Union of Swinford, Co. Mayo, have been planted with small shelter plantations

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under the supervision of the Board's Assistant Forester, who states that the people seem to take great Interest in the operations. During this year about 650 hold-Ings will be provided with shelter plantations by the Board.

If at some future time successful planting could be carried out over a sufficiently large area In Ireland the establishment of the numerous profitable Industries connected with, wood might be hoped for. This possible benefit is, however, we fear, very remote, as up to the present the Board has found It almost impossible to learn of any lands In a congested district that, besides being free of grazing or other rights, are suitable as regards extent, aspect, and position.

At Knockboy It Is further proposed to plant during the coming season some ten acres of osiers, in the hope that basket and creel making may be Introduced as one of the industries of Carna.

The Board found it desirable, as soon as the service season ended, to bring the stallions from the several districts where they had been located to a central depot, By having the stallions In a central place where they can be seen, It was also thought that such an Interest would probably be created in horse-breeding in the West of Ireland that a demand for the produce of these horses might be anticipated, greatly to the benefit of the western peasants. With this object the Board have acquired a holding in the neighbourhood of Dublin, where buildings for a stud-farm are In process .-of erection.

: The effects of Introducing Improved breeds of horses and donkeys must be gradual, but the Board has: every reason to hope that within a .reasonable time the type of animals in the "West of Ireland will cease .to deteriorate,, as has. been the,case for. many ..years, and. that thence-forward a .steady Improvement will be observed..

The regulations under which Bulls are distributed

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will be continued on nearly the same principles as were adopted last season. It Is hoped that many districts will be dealt with where the people last year were backward in taking advantage of the Board's offer to sell bulls to suitable persons at about a third of their cost payable in two annual instalments.

Sheep.-It was considered wise to commence the experiment of improving the native breed. With this object, 151 Black faced Scotch rams were purchased. About half of this number have been located in a district in the County Donegal, and the remainder in a district in the County Gfalway, where they have been placed at the disposal of the people free of charge, upon the condition that the inferior rams should be got rid of, and that only the imported Blackfaced Scotch rams should be used.

The people in each of these districts have shown themselves most willing to carry out the arrangements of the Board and to take advantage of the imported rams.

A further number of twenty Cheviot rams have also been purchased for special localities in the Counties Gal way and Donegal, where that breed was considered to be the most useful.

Arrangements are now being made for selling young /boars of the large Yorkshire breed to suitable persons residing in the congested districts, for three pounds each, payable in annual instalments, on the understanding that the boar's services are to be available for a low fee, and that the boar may not be sold or removed without permission. Great care is now being exercised in the selection of boars, of which eleven have been purchased. Contracts have been entered into for the supply from the herds of well known breeders, at a future date, of suitable boars subject to rejection if disapproved by the Board's Inspector.

Poultry.-A scheme was adopted early In the year 1802 for the improvement of poultry by means of distributing, on certain conditions, pure-bred cockerels in substitution of all male birds in the possession of cottagers

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Amalgamationof Holdings._During the present month, after protracted negotiation, an agreement has been almost concluded for the purchase of portion of an estate In the interior of the County Galway for £7,500, in order that some grazing lands might be divided among the occupiers of some neighbourhooding small holdings.

In many cases negotiations for the purchase of land for Migration purposes are in progress, with more or less prospect of purchases by the Board, but unexpected iegal difficulties • have arisen in respect of which the opinion of the Irish Law Officers of the Crown has been taken, and the position of the Board is now being reconsidered.

No steps as regards Emigration have been taken, nor is any action at present contemplated.

CHAPTER XIX.

SEA FISHERIES AND INDUSTRIES.

THE sea-coast of the congested districts may, in'considering how -best the fisheries can .be developed, be divided into two divisions, in .one of which are the. counties from Donegal to Galway inclusive, along the west coast, where transit for fish and where, marketing facilities are defective, while, in the other division: comprising Kerry and Cork, transit both by rail and by steamship is far better than in the north, and therefore, a much more profitable market already exists in Kerry and Cork than in the northern .'congested districts. Speaking generally, .'the Kerry aod.Cork.fishermen need landing- accommodation for boats more than :market: facilities, .while, as regards the -.coast north of Galway the establishment of a market is the chief necessity, though at the same time; piers and boat-slips are much wanted at some places.

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It should be borne in mind that there are two distinct kinds of fish trade, that In fresh fish, and that in cured fish. The fresh fish trade requires quick and regular means of carriage to the English markets; and expensive plant-such as ice-hulks, ice, and packing boxes- is also necessary. The cured fish trade on the other 'hand involves the erection of fish-curing sheds and stores, the hiring of fish-curers, and the purchase of salt; but in the case of cured fish, there is not any necessity for rapid or regular transit to market, as a steamship or even sailing vessel can be chartered occasionally to take pickled or dried fish to market. For pickled or salted mackerel and herrings, barrels or boxes have to be used, but dried ling and cod are tied together and shipped in bundles without any covering.

A fresh fish trade on the west of Ireland is only possible where fish can be quickly despatched from a railway station at the water's edge on the west coast, and thence brought without delay to a steamer trading from an eastern Irish port to one of the English or Welsh ports. That the price, in England, of coarse fresh fish, such as cod, ling, and haddock, does not warrant an export trade from places in Ireland from which high rates of carriage are inevitable. In such localities, however, it is hoped that a cured-fish trade can be profitably established.

Unfortunately the Irish market is of little value for any large supply of fish, but upon the completion of some of the railways now in process of construction, it will, no doubt, be possible to establish with inland districts a trade of some value in fresh fish.

Having regard to what has been above stated with reference to the necessity for rapid transit hi the fresh fish trade, the Board thought that Galway Bay afforded the most suitable field for attempting, on a tolerably lacge scale, the establishment of a fresh mackerel and fresh herring trade witfi England. But while the

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transit facilities were encouraging, nothing less than the creation of the local industry was the task awaiting the Board, if any benefit were to be conferred upon the Inhabitants of the particular district, who, it must t>e remembered, were unacquainted with the management of large boats and the kinds of nets that are used. It seemed that the wisest course of procedure would be the snbsidising of trained crews from other parts of Ireland to prove to the local fishermen what earnings might be theirs, and also to instruct some of the Con- nemara and Aran people In the management of large boats and nets, for the purchase of which the Board is willing to make loans to suitable persons. Arrange ments were accordingly made with the crews of seven Arklow boats, the Board giving each crew a bounty of £40 for undertaking the risk of fishing on untried grounds far from home. An ice-hulk with a cargo of ice was moored in Killeany Bay, Aran Islands and a steamer was engaged to take boxes of iced, fish from the, ice-hoik to Galway Dock? whence a special train service to Dublin was organized by the Midland Great Western. Railway of Ireland.

• . The Board entered into an agreement to market the :, mackerel at a fixed rate of commission, it- being also .arranged that he should pay the fishermen the English' market price, less by a deduction of 7s. a box to cover; the cost of ice-packing, carriage, and English salesman's •commission. The ice-hulk and boxes were provided by. the Board, who purchased the ice, .and defrayed all the •cost of labour except the wages.of a Manager. In addition to the seven. Arklow crews, two boats were fitted out-for .training crews from the parish of Carna, in Connemara, and two. English: built boats at the Board's disposal for the benefit of crews from. Clifden parish, also, in Connemara. "hooker," or large sail-ing boat-belonging to Aran Island also joined the little fishing fleet>;which accordingly consisted of twelve boats.

The Arklow boats arrived at Aran on the 22nd of March, 1892, but owing to the low termperature of the

90 sea, no mackerel were caught until the 6th of April, OB which day, however, 6S000 mackerel were despatched to the English market. The weather during much of the season was stormy and unfavourable, but on the 18th of May, 73,350 mackerel were sent to Galway, and were forwarded thence by two special trains. During-the season of ten weeks, the Arklow boats made on an average £316 per boat, and the local inexperienced crew under the charge of trained skippers earned about £70 per boat, although they were not ready to fish at the beginning of the season. The total number of mackerel caught was 299,480.

The result of the experiment, although it was costly,. is most encouraging. The fact is proved that mackerel can be caught in Galway Bay in the spring of the year,, at a time when they fetch very high prices ; and there is reason to hope that it will be profitable to continue to send such fish to the English markets, if satisfactory arrangements can be made for the reduction of the-heavy cost of carriage.

Far more widely-spread and important results are-expected at most points on the west and north-west shores of Ireland from a trade In cured fish than In fresh, fish. Hitherto pickled mackerel for the American market were the 'only cured fish exported from the west of Ireland, and the Irish mackerel did not obtain high prices owing to the Inferior manner in which they were cured. Ling, cod, glasson or .coal-fish, and also-herrings, have always been pickled or salted for local consumption, bat too roughly and unskilfully to be marketable in England, Scotland, or abroad, Fifteen places have been selected by the Board on the west and north-west coast of Ireland as sites for fish curing-stations.

Other places along the coast have also been suggested as suitable sites for fish-curing stations, and It is pro-bable that the operations of the Board in this direction. will be extended if their present efforts are successful.

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The S.S. "Fingal" has, during the past year, been chartered for seven months,, and a fresh charter has been agreed to for a further period of twelve months, as, In the opinion of the Board, the development of the fisheries would at first be much assisted by having a steamer for Inspection duty, and also for affording occasional facilities to fish-curing stations by the carriage of salt for curing purposes or of dried fish.

Instruction in net-mending has been arranged for at the Aran Isiands? Co. Gal way ; at Tip, near Belmullet, Co. Mayo ; and at Burtonport, Co. Donegal, Boilers for " barking nets " will be available at the Aran Islands and at Inishcoo. It is intended that instruction in net- mending shall be widely diffused. At Aran the arrange ments are under the joint management of this Board and of the Board of National Education. It is also- contemplated that the Board should assist in starting a net-mounting factory for supplying nets to the fisher men of the congested districts.

. The Irish Reproductive - Loan Fund and the Sea. and Coast Fisheries Fund have not yet been placed at the actual disposal of the Board, and the delay results, from the fact that arrangements have not yet been sanctioned for the appointment of two clerks to 'discharge-:'.the. routine official duties in connection with.. the issue of loans. Since the passing of the Acton the .-5th August,'. 1891, the duties in connection with these funds have been discharged in the name of this Board by the Board, of Works and the Inspectors:.of "Irish Fisheries.To both of these departments we are very much indebted for their friendly action in continuing to .administer the funds.

To complete the general view of .the. sea fisheries of the United Kingdom, the, following particulars as to Imports and, Exports, supplementary to those given in previous years, are..subjoined: -

92 Imports.

(a.) The general result for the sea fisheries of the United Kingdom for 1893, according to these figures, and which are exclusive of some English salmon not returned, and of all Scotch and Irish salmon, would be:-

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even the wholesale market. In comparing these figures with estimates of the value of the fishing industry of the United Kingdom, in which -other Items are included, the difference of the basis should always be borne In mind. If the value of the fish were to be taken at a later stage of the industry, the annual amount, instead of being only a little over seven millions, might easily be put, with no great Inaccuracy, at double-these totals.

The aiding and developing of spinning, weaving, knitting, and other Industrial handicrafts must be re-cognisedy after even a little reflection, as being the most difficult duty that has been -entrusted to the Board, both as regards the selection of fields of work, and the carrying out of schemes for affording assistance.

One principle of a negative kind has been adopted,, namely, that the Board will not undertake the ownership or management of any industrial enterprise. . The terms and conditions upon which Industries may be assisted are numerous, varied, and altogether dependent: on the circumstances of the case, and the nature of the-co-operation that may be available.

Foxford. Spinning Factory.
Ballahadereen Knitting Factory
Foxford and .Ballaghadereen Factories
Skibbereen Dairy Co.
The Carna Industrial Fund.
Instruction In Carpentry.
Shirt and Underclothing Manufacture.
Yarn Spinning and Tweed Weaving.

Piers, Roads, Bridges, etc. Miscellaneous improvements in communications. ". Telegraphic cable to the Aran Islands

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CHAPTER XX.

BOARD OF WORKS.-DRAINAGE.-LAND COMMISSION.-

MAIN AND THOROUGH DRAINAGE.

Now it ought -to be the duty of a government to carry out arterial drainage at the National expense. It Is a matter of the first importance to Ireland,, because until a proper and efficient system is safeguarded by the State, obviously many large tracts of country will remain unproductive. IJnless the great main drains the country, rivers great and small are deepened and watched with engineering capacity, naturally the efforts of Individuals must fail.

There is an excellent model of the surface of Ireland in the National Museum in Kildare Street. The middle of the country Is depressed like the centre of a saucer. Consequently the flow of our principal rivers is sluggish over most of their courses, and their tendency is to silt up their beds. This prevents the superfluous moisture In the soil from being carried off as it would. otherwise be. A thorough dredging of the beds of the larger rivers would naturally enable them to perform their functions. of furnishing an outlet for the flow of superfluous moisture to the seas. Clearly this duty could be undertaken and performed, as It .is in other communities, by a National rate ; but the administration would need watchful care. However, the imposition of local and personal rates need some revision, as the financial pressure should be somewhat equalized. The following table shows how the matter stands:-

These Works are executed by District Boards in accordance with the Provisions of the above Acts, 'ARTERIAL DRAINAGE WOBKS in progress showing the ISSUES made to 31st March, 1893. t Not yet under charge. ./Issued out of the Church Fund. 94

Loans for Arterial Drainage, 1863 loans for Arterial Drainage were made under 5 and 6 Vie., c. 89, £2,082,052 were lent under this the greater part during and after the famine of 1849. Of this amount £1,207,582 was remitted, and £873,885 l repaid. The principal still repayable amounts to £585.

the loans for this purpose have been made under the Drainage and Improvement of Lands Act (Ireland), -20 and 27 Vic., c. 88, and amending Aets, and since that date the entire amount of loans made under 26 and 27 {3.ir88j up to March 31, 1893, Is £824,021, including £6,136 lent out of the Irish Church Fund. Of this amount, £823,081 had by that date been advanced, of which £2,500 was advanced in the year under report. N.B. it is to be observed, these are loans, not grants.

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Irish Land Commission reports, of which some three dozen were Issued In the year 1893. They dealt with accounts, judicial rents, proceedings, rules, purchase of land, return of sales, - Agricultural department, return of average prices, orders, etc. Those reports, as dealing with subjects germane to an agricultural department, are practically similar with those already supplied, - the Registrar-General's and Congested Districts reports.

Under section 31 of the above Act, which provides for loans to occupiers of land for improvements proposed by themselves, the number of loans sanctioned since our last report was 535, amounting to £47,300, the sum Issued being £42,645. This gives the total of loans sanctioned under section 31 since the commencement to 31st March, 1893, as 11,230- amount £966,237, the instalments issued amounting to £813,155.

The number of applications for loans lodged during the year 1892-1893 was 937. being an Increase of 101 over last year. Of this number 47 were received from occupying owners.

Vast tracts of country are deluged every winter season, and practically water-logged, by reason of the want of a proper system of general Arterial Drainage. If the country of the Lowlands In Holland had been under the charge of an Irish Government, It would be a filthy unwholesome marsh, Instead of a dwelling-place for an industrious people. This plain Illustration shows what may and can be accomplished by the State for its people,

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potatoes. Leguminous crops, however, not only as a rale accumulate much, more nitrogen, and contain much more in the-dry substance than the crops above named, but nitrogenous manures have comparatively little effect in increasing the produce of such crops. They are, however, improved by phosphoric acid and potash, which, as already stated, are the cheap elements of plant fertilisers. If the roots of a healthy leguminous plant be examined they are found to have small lumps or nodules, which were suspected to contain a ferment, and which It was believed supplied 'the nitrogen to the plant. In 1883' the first progress was made by Helriegle in Germany, who carried out a series of experiments with leguminous plants grown in pots of soil consisting of a small quantity of ashes of the same kind of plant and washed quartz sand. Though the conditions of growth were identical, some made but little progress, while others showed remarkable luxuriance, and it was found assimilated large quantities of nitrogen, although none was present in the soil. On them the root nodules had formed, but none were present in those of meagre growth. In the next series of experiments all infection of the soil was carefully avoided, and the growth in every case was slow and meagre. A few drops of water In which the nodules of similar leguminous plants were washed was now added to every second of the experimental vessels, and there was In them at once a rapid development. The growth continued to the end, a large amount of nitrogen was taken up and assimilated, and on examination of the roots it was found that only in these cases had the root nodules been formed. Other experiments served to establish what had become apparent, that the nodules on the roots were the work of microbes received from outside, and that the microbes or ferments had procured the nitrogen which was taken up by the plant. It has also been ascertained that the microbes of the several leguminous plants are not all identical. Thus inoculation of the soil with the mircrobes of the pea and vetch had little or no effect on the lupin and saradella. . Further it was

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found that when a crop "of one kind of the leguminous family begins to languish In any soil, another kind will grow there. luxuriantly, which after some time will begin to indicate a falling off in vigour. This is explained that the microbe of the plant has exhausted the soil of some particular element which is necessary for its growth. Another theory which is strengthened by Winogradsky's experiments on the nitrogen which is formed in the soil in the case of sideration (fallowing)is that other microbes, injurious to the first, make their appearance after some time.

About 1886 the German experimental stations took up Helriegle's investigations on the fixation of nitrogen with the view of finding the exact quantity which might be collected by the several members of the leguminous family, and how far this .might be utilised in actual farming. Lupins contain 21 stones of nitrogen to the Irish acre, which is equivalent to about 28 tons of stable manure; lucerne, 11 stone; esparcettej 10 stone; sandvetch, 24; red clover, 9*6; white clover, 4*5. A number of experimental farms have been in operation for the last four years, the reports from which indicate that another important advance in farming is being worked out by them, and by the application of science to agriculture. The botanists of the Russian, Austrian, and American agricultural stations are searching the plant life of their various countries for new members of the leguminous family. Some kinds of wild vetch are said to be giving good results^ and Bamm mentions 23 different plants of the leguminosse, with which very complete experiments have been carried out. Professor -Wagner gives an account in an article entitled " Wie ist der stlckstoff am biligster zt beschaffen," (How is nitrogen to be procured in the cheapest-manner,) of • the Weilerhof farm, which is one of those employed in the solution of the nitrogen question. "Other than a few draught horses, there are no farm animals,. Cattle food is .not produced, and. the stable.manure is a.mere trifle. . Nitrogen necessary, for the. grain crops, turnips, and potatoes is provided by .the new process, with crops

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of various kinds of vetches and peas, which are sown in the corn stubble, and manured with potash and basic slag, I hare witnessed In the, harvest of 1890 five tons of organicai dry substance, containing not less than 23 stones of nitrogen to the Irish acre, more nitrogen, be It remarked, than was necessary to produce a crop of turnips or of corn. Luxuriant oats and barley was grown on the land the following summer." In other places a three and four course rotation Is being tried-the first year or two years, leguminous crops, next rape, turnips, or potatoes, last year corn, A small addition of Chill saltpetre has been found necessary for potatoes, but in several of the experimental farms the simple method of a leguminous crop alternating with corn has given remarkable returns even on lands of secondary quality. Generally the process, it Is believed, will lead to a large development of stall-feeding and dairying, and, taken In connection with the results of the bacteriological section at Kiel, may increase to a serious extent the German competition with the Irish and British farmer.

We have not now the space to follow Winogradsky's experiments on the nitrates developed In the soil by the microbes of sideration (fallowing) and the possibility of these ferments being made a source of nitrogen for the growth of farm crops. We shall only pause to express the wonder which we feel that in a country absolutely dependent on agriculture, not a shilling of public money is being expended on agricultural investigation.*

* D. O'C. Donelan.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE AMERICAN IDEA AND SYSTEM.

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