"There is nation it has received to vegetate, during the process of steeping. I mention these observations, because I have seen many crops lost by steeping in a dry season. I saw mildewed wheat in Fermanagh, but it was not a general complaint, as it frequently is in many districts of England. A worm, which I never heard of before, is mentioned by Mr. Tighe, who speaks of it in the following manner : another evil to which wheat is often exposed in this county, called the red or yellow worms, which generally attack it in a dry season. The first step towards curing a disorder, is to trace it to its source, and this has been done with regard to these worms in a most diligent and satisfactory manner, in the Linnæan Transactions. As wheat in a dry season is better in quality, and more abundant in produce, upon the whole, this evil is not so generally felt, and farmers, on seeing these worms in summer, sometimes say "it is a good sign." Their depredations are often partial; in the year 1800, they caused great damage in this district, though it was not universal; many farmers, when they came to thresh their corn, found the quantity in a moderate stack to fall below their calculation; the grain, indeed, which remained, was of a superior quality, but one third of it had been probably destroyed. Having observed these insects with attention, I found that nothing could be more accurate than the representation and account given in the Linnæan Transactions by Mr. Marsham and Mr. Kirby:+ the worms are the larvæ of a small fly, tipula tritici, who lays her eggs within the flower during the month of June: wheat sown early seemed to escape better: a variety, therefore, that flowered early, would have an advantage in this case: the small fly, during the day, attaches itself to the stem, and comes out in the evening about sun-set. Wet seasons, though otherwise injurious, diminish greatly the number of flies and prevent most of the survivors from laying their eggs; the worms, therefore, are never numerous but when fine weather attends the florescence of the wheat; and the evil is less regarded, as it is counterbalanced by many advantages. The larvæ have providentially a mortal enemy, the ichneumon tipula, who pierces the worm and lays her eggs within the body, which becomes the nidus of a new benefactor, instead of a tipula, so noxious to mankind. I have often seen the ichneumons busily piercing the worms, nor will they quit the ear if pulled and brought into a house, but suffer the operation to be closely examined; so intent are they on the great object of their life, the care of their offspring. The larva which escape, as well as those of the ichneumon, do not become flies until the succeeding spring. They are generally called yellow worms in the younger, and red worms in a more advanced state; from three or four to twenty or thirty of these little animals may be seen in one flower; they are usually in the upper part of the ear, sometimes but one grain, sometimes but three or four are Survey of Kilkenny, p. 188. + See vol. iii. p. 242, vol. iv. p. 224, and vol. v. p. 96. injured by them, sometimes a third part, or even half the ear; their heads are always near the germ, and it is upon that they seem to prey and not upon the pollen; the germ injured by them does not grow; though when only one or two appear in the flower, the seed will grow partially, one lobe being of the usual size, while the other is very small, and the skin often blackened at top; by opening the vessels that supply the seed with nourishment, they probably exhaust the juices that would have fed the germ, without devouring the germ itself; as the wound once opened, and kept in that state, continues to afford them the juices of the plant. It is remarkable that the stamina remain much longer in such flowers than in others where they shrink and fall off as soon as they have discharged their pollen; here they remain, though somewhat shrivelled, and seem to retain their pollen; probably, the insects who deprive the interior parts of the flower of nourishment, by opening the vessels destined to convey it, at the foot of the germ, deprive them at the same time of their stimulus to action. In some grains appeared a mouldy substance amongst which the worms lay. Wheat suffers most from them when easterly winds prevail in May and June. The cause of the disorder being known, intelligent farmers, when they are sensible of the evil, will probably find a remedy.-Early sowing may be a preventative to this as well as other evils. But if wheat suffers in dry seasons, wet ones are still more injurious, washing the pollen from the anthers, and preventing it from exploding, causing the growth of uredo frumenti, or blight, of the red gum, and other parasitic plants." For the time of harvest, and the quantity produced, I must once more refer to the tables. I never in Ireland heard of " flagging wheat in the spring," which is a technical term used to express shearing the flag off this plant with a sickle, previously to the ear arising. This is a proof that the crops are never abundant,* as the above practice has been taught by necessity in various parts of England.+ Markets. The general market for wheat, except at Drogheda, is some neighbour ing mill. I scarcely know an open market where a farmer can meet with a competition of buyers, and in many of the out-ports the merchants purchase at their own prices. A remark of Mr. Connolly on this subject I have subjoined in a note, although it is not new. Flour cannot be imported into Ireland, though it may into • Mr. Townsend remarks, that in Cork the acreable produce is not great, a heavy crop being seldom seen. Survey of Cork, p. 243. + Young's Survey of Essex, p. 326. ‡ Dublin, May 17th, 1809. Mr. Connolly says, "the importation of flour from America ought to be stopped, and the Irish miller would then have that trade. Many mills were erected in Ireland in consequence of inland bounty, or bounty paid by the mill, and mills were built also in distant parts, in order to obtain the greatest bounty; but all these mills are half idle, although the quantity of flour consumed in the country has increased in an extraordinary degree. England. I am well aware that Mr. Charles Callis Western, the member for Maldon, had it once in contemplation to moot the question in the House of Commons for the benefit of the English as well as the Irish millers. BARLEY is by no means a plant of general cultivation in Ireland. This is to be ascribed to its produce not forming a part of the food of the people, and to the land being better adapted for oats. I have seen a great deal of land which, though in high condition, would not yield barley either in quantity or of a good quality, and yet was capable of producing most luxuriant crops of oats. I have observed, also, on the other hand, light soils, that never seemed to become exhausted by barley, which they threw out in heavy crops, of an excellent sample. This is a fact well known to every English farmer of the least experience, but it was difficult to establish it before the committee of the house of commons, who recommended the prohibition of this grain in distilleries. It has often appeared to me extraordinary, that men of the greatest talents will sometimes suffer themselves to be led away by erroneous opinions, even when very strong proofs are laid before them that they are wrong. Some gentlemen proposed the raising of oats, instead of barley, on the fine light lands of England; others recommended spring-wheat; but the most ridiculous opinion offered to the committee was by a gentleman, for whom, when living, I entertained the highest respect, and in whose talents, on many subjects, I always placed the utmost confidence. I allude to the late Mr. Fordyce, the Surveyor General of CrownLands, who conceived that the land which produced barley for the distilleries might be employed to raise hemp for the use of the navy. I should as soon expect that it would bear rice or cotton. This absurd proposal, however, has little to do with the present subject: Mr. Fordyce's paper is printed in the Appendix to the Report of the West India Committee, of the Session 1807-1808, and to it I refer such of my readers as may wish for more minute information respecting it. The quality of the Irish barley is an object of importance, and, on that account, deserves some farther consideration. Mr. Connolly, an eminent brewer of Dublin, and a gentleman of great intelligence, who malts his own barley, assured me, that when made into malt, it does not yield within twenty per cent. of the saccharine principle which is found in the English malt. As hogs are fattened with potatoes, inferior barley is never used for that purpose; the distillery, therefore, seems to be the great market for the consumption of this species of grain, and so completely established is the illicit distillation of whisky, that it is converted chiefly to that purpose. As to the course in which it is cultivated, a reference to the tables will shew that it generally follows potatoes; and, in my opinion, this system is good. In England, barley is always sown after a turnip fallow, and the spade culture, in taking up potatoes, goes a great way towards assimilating the process; shovelling, or throwing up the earth from the trenches, while it covers the seed, contributes to consolidate the soil. 1 Accidents to which it is liable.-The wire-worm is an enemy to barley in Ireland as well as in England; but in the former it is called the "cut-worm;" and the wetness of the climate after the middle of July, cannot fail to injure the sample in harvesting, which will, perhaps, account for Mr. Connolly's remark. All the barley, however, which I saw, was a thick-skinned, dull-coloured grain. The extract I have already given from Dr. M'Parlan's Survey of Donegal* will shew how much barley is introduced in the course of cropping on the sea coast of that county. The Reverend Mr. Sampson speaks of barley in Derry;+ but still it is on the sea-coast; and I have observed that the growth of it in Antrim is confined to the same part; for in the interior of these counties 'I never saw or heard of it. Mr. Dubourdieu mentions it as generally cultivated in Down; and he advises "steeping" the seed in dry weather, a practice, he says, recommended " in a letter to the Bath Society." A letter of this kind ought not to have been published, unless supported by the name of some established cultivator of barley. I have in the course of several years past been in the habit of seeing the best barley countries in England, and until I came to the above passage of Mr. Dubourdieu's work, I never knew an instance of this process being recommended. While Mr. Dubourdieu relates facts, his work is most valuable; but when he speaks in favour of practices not confirmed by experience, I do not consider it as entitled to the same commendation. In Louth barley is seldom sown, and Mr. Archer says, that the case is the same in the county of Dublin.§ In Kilkenny, Mr. Tighe mentions it as a crop following wheat; || but Mr. Rawson, in the Survey of Kildare, does not so much as name it; and I may add, that it is not known on the western side of Wicklow. Some barley is produced on the eastern coast, which exhibits the best corn samples of any part of Ireland. The county of Wexford, and particularly the baronies of Bargie and Forth, produce barley in abundance. The town of Wexford is celebrated for the number of its malting-houses; but when I was there none of them were at work, in consequence of the distilleries having been prohibited from using corn. In the south of Ireland "barley is cultivated nearly in the same proportion as wheat, each occupying the land occasionally, according as the quantum of price influences the views of the farmer. The greatest part of the barley is bought upon commission for the Cork market; the rest goes to Bandon and Cloghnikilty, in which towns there are now extensive breweries."¶ In Connaught little barley is cultivated, except on the northern coast of Sligo, and * P. 32. + Survey of Derry, p. 129. Survey of Down, p. 58. § Survey of Dublin, p. 12. in a few baronies of Mayo. "In the barony of Costello, the greater part of the land is employed for potatoes and oats; formerly, this was a great barley county, but the prohibition against malting which prevented the gentlemen from taking barley from their tenants in payment of rent, has completely stopped the culture of that article, and materially hurt the tillage of this barony, as before that act the tillage was double as much as now. BARONY OF TYRAWLEY." On the sea coast potatoes and barley are the common succession; sometimes, but rarely, one crop of oats succeeds the barley. In the interior of the barony two crops of oats succeed the potatoes, or else 1st potatoes, 2d flax, 3d oats."+ BARONY OF MURRISK.-" Round the sea coast, 1st potatoes, 2d oats, 3d flax, and then left to retrieve by time." CARLOW. Of all the interior counties is the only one which produces this kind of grain. The whole of the preceding account proves, therefore, that the raising of barley is regulated rather by the markets open for it, than by the quantity of soil adapted to it. The breweries,§ and large licensed distilleries of Cork, form one grand market, and the malting-houses in Wexford create a demand in that county. The canal from Carlow conveys it to Dublin, and in the north it is consumed by the illicit distilleries. According to Mr. Dutton, what is produced in Clare is used chiefly in the private stills which abound in every part of the county. The water in the marsh-lands of Norfolk does not, as I have been informed, answer to wet barley intended for malt; and I mention this circumstance, as some part of the defect in the Irish malt may be owing to the water which has been used.** BERE. I observed this grain in Kildare, Meath, Westmeath, and Longford, also in the north on cut out bogs; but it is a species of corn which is by no means generally cultivated. Its ripening at an early season must no doubt be its chief recommendation. RYE.-I never saw a crop of this grain in any part of Ireland. * Survey of Mayo, p. 30. Survey of Mayo, p. 31. Townsend's Survey of Cork, p. 409. "But the farmers of this county are remarkably fond of barley crops, as they are always a ready money article, indeed they are often bought up by the private distillers several months before they are reaped; this temptation frequently supersedes every other solid advantage." Survey of Tyrone, p. 32. Survey of Clare, p. 35. ** Nov. 3d, 1808. Cork. A quarter of barley, in England weighing about 50lbs. per bushel, or 4 cwt. sells, according to the last-mentioned returns, for forty-eight shillings. In Ireland it is sold by the barrel, which weighs 36 stone of 14lbs. each, or 504lbs, now forty-one shillings, screening and drying add 10 per cent. still it is a great deal cheaper, but on weighing a bushel it contained 48lbs. At Beamish and Crawford's brewery, it is found that Irish barley does not make so good malt as English. Mr. Connolly malts all his own barley; in Carlow, milling requires a double operation, as it is necessary that all corn should be kiln-dried and dressed. |