lected the opportunity afforded him by this man being in Ireland. I again met with him at Monivæ, the seat of Mr. Trench, in the county of Galway; and I found hm to be an intelligent person, who not only reclaimed waste bog, but converted it to most valuable meadow. Of course, I had a great deal of conversation with him on the subject of irrigation in Ireland. His opinion was, that there are immense tracts of country susceptible of improvement by this process, and the fact is, no doubt, incontrovertible. According to Dr. M'Parlan, a great spirit for irrigation prevails in Donegal.* Mr. Stewart, of Stranorlan, in that county, employs an irrigator from Staffordshire, who has effected much ;+ and in Tyrone Mr. M'Evoy reports a considerable progress in this highly useful branch of rural economy. It has been introduced, also, into Down ;§ and Mr. Dubourdieu gives some instances of bog having been treated in this manner with great success.|| The late intelligent Mr. Rennal, of Westmeath, had succeeded in the irrigation of bog, as appears by the following memorandum, which I wrote down on the 12th of August, 1808. The greatest of all his improvements is the draining of twenty acres of bad bog, which he has irrigated, and its produce is surprising. It would let now to the cotters in the neighbourhood for eight guineas per acre, and the afterpasture will still be of considerable value. I could not learn the precise method by which he brought it into this state; all I know is, that immediately after draining he ploughed it up; but no one could inform me what had been sown on it, or what course of crops had been adopted. I must, however, remark, that all those bogs subjected to irrigation which I saw, were small spots, none of which exceeded fifty acres. In Kilkenny "the system of watering begins to be adopted, though not extensively; above fifty years ago it was practised by the late Sir William Towns, at Woodstock, and was imitated, though on a small scale, by some of his tenants. On some of the hilly grounds in Idagh, and in other places, the farmers occasionally turn streams over the grass, either for meadows or pasture, in winter or spring, which gives them a very green appearance; but it is done slightly, and without skill or system. Several persons have tried the practice in a better manner, and all with success. Mr. C. B. Ponsonby, on his farm in Eske, has about ten acres of water meadow on a slope, to which the stream is conducted, when wanted, by a wooden trough. Mr. Shaw, of Sandpits, near Besborough, watered a field for eight years, and, without any manure, found the produce as good the last year as the first. Miss Doyle, near Graigue, has watered the same land for six years, and mows near four ton of hay an acre from light ground: the low-land meadows in the same district are less profitable; the value of one adjoining, in low ground, * Survey of Donegal, p. 61. Survey of Down, p. 187. near Ullard, was five guineas, and the grass was much later cut. Mr. P. Walsh, of Bellene, has constructed a water-course, from which he has turned the water over some of his ground, though its principal use is to serve his house; this water-course runs for a good way on the top of a bank, which is fifty feet broad at bottom, and eight at top, and seven feet in perpendicular height, and might be applied to watering more ground, by increasing yearly about sixty acres; and has done so these fifteen years. Since he observed the effect which a great flood had in a little stream that runs through the ground, and which takes its rise in a hill, the lower part of which consists of lime-stone, gravel, and marl, he takes advantage of the floods, and by an embankment turns the water into channels furnished with wooden sluices, and spreads it all over his fields. His first mode of stopping the current was, by faggots of furze laid across and pressed down, which soon became filled, and perfectly staunched with mud. He is going to construct a large wooden sluice where the rivulet enters; but the former method will answer as a temporary one in all muddy streams. He waters for meadow as soon as he can take off his stock, and calculates that it makes three guineas per acre difference; for pastures, he turns the water on in February and March, and observes that it appears to rot the soil beneath the sod, and makes the herbage soft. The grass was remarkably thick on this watered pasture, and the stock it supports in summer is surprising; nor is it injurious to sheep, though it might if watered in autumn. He has had an ewe who lived till nine years old, and died fat, having always had twins, and always fed on this ground. He observes, that when his meadows grow dirty with knap-weed, cow-parsnep, or other perennial weeds, they may be made clean for several years if eaten down very close by sheep. In some parts of England they plough the main water-course, and drag a harrow along it to carry the soil into the channel; it is well sodded and gives a good pattern for constructing water-courses where they are necessary in crossing a valley or hollow. But the hills of this country are so full of springs and streams, that it would be in general very easy to conduct them along the sides of declivities at a trifling expense, and to water most of the lands beneath. In the calcareous districts, however, where watering seems most wanted and would have the greatest effect, streams are more deficient. Mr. W. Barton is the person who has carried this improvement the farthest."* "Water-meadows in Hants, are shut up in November, watered alternately every week till March, feed with ewes for six weeks, water again, and mow twice.+" In Dorsetshire the after-grass is again watered till the beginning of September, and grazed by cows till Christmas."+ Near the city of Londonderry, the bishop of that diocese has some very fine watermeadow. In Wexford, Mr. Dawson employs irrigation, which is performed as well Survey of Kilkenny, p. 368. See Dorset Report, p. 34. SEP. 13th, 1808. LONDONDERRY.-The land adjoining the town is exceedingly good, and abounds with The water meadows held by the bishop are excellent. One of them produced lately five tons of Some let at £12, and others so low as £8. hay, per Cunningham acre. lime-stone. + See Hereford Report, p. 19. as in Wiltshire. Mr. Green of Kilkaye, in Kildare, possesses a great deal of land, improved by watering; but he remarked that his sheep rotted on them if kept beyond May, taking no harm in winter. Mr. Young says that, "there is a circumstance well known, as I suppose, for it is generally asserted, that watered meadows rotting sheep depends absolutely on the soil; the peat ones rot universally in summer and autumn.' All these facts shew that the Irish are well acquainted with the advantages of this practice, which is now fully established in various parts of the kingdom. In a country, which affords so many opportunities of applying this improvement, it may excite some surprise, that it was not adopted at an earlier period; or that it has not been conducted on a more extensive scale, so as to produce meadows equal to the long celebrated meadows of Milan in Lombardy, the existence of which may be traced back to the year 1067, as is mentioned on the authority of Count Guilini by Mr. Young, in his excellent Tour through France. When it is recollected that much of the water in Ireland passes through or over calcareous soils,+ there can be no doubt of its good quality, as seems to be fully proved by the state of those meadows which have been already subjected to its influence: another point, of no small importance, is the faci lity arising from the unevenness of the ground, by which water can be conveyed to fields lying below the different sources that supply it; at the same time covering more land, and the water always running, an attention to which is most important. There are few places where this convenience does not occur, and as the conveyance of the water is thus attended with a less expense, those who neglect to employ it in order to fertilize their grass lands are certainly without excuse: let them remember, that an increased crop of meadow affords an increase of manure for their old ploughed lands, so that the benefit is by no means confined to the increased crops gained upon the land irrigated. PARING AND BURNING.-There is an act of parliament, which imposes a fine of £10. per acre on any person who follows this process;§ but like many other laws, which attempt to regulate minute operations in themselves not morally bad, very little attention is paid to it, although I observed, in 1811, that the penalties were levied by a great land-owner in the west of Ireland. Paring and burning, I believe, are practised in every part of the county, and upon every kind of soil. In the county of * Annals of Agriculture, vol. xxiii. p. 267. + Let the reader consult a paper on the quality of water for irrigation, by Mr. Young. Annals of Agriculture, vol. xxx. p. 204. Ibid, vol. xxiii. p. 539. All persons having 100 acres in their oceupation (bog, mountain, rocky, craggy lands, meadow and parks excepted) shall plough five acres thereof; and so in proportion for a greater quantity, on pain of forty shillings per acre unploughed. The tenant is discharged of any covenant to the contrary, but shall not burn the sod without consent of the 1 Geo. II. chap. 10. Lee's Statute Law of Ireland, p. 316. owner. prac Galway, where it is very common, the celebrated Mr. Kirwan has an estate; and as he does not consider that mode of treatment injurious to the soil, he has permitted his tenants to employ it. I was shewn the estate, and at the same time told that it had been much hurt; but as I had never seen it before, I could form no opinion of its comparative state, nor was I able to give any decisive opinion in regard to this tice, as it is a part of farming in which I am totally inexperienced, never having occupied an acre which required it. It is commonly adopted in Clare,* and in Cork, as preparatory to the planting of potatoes.+ "Paring and burning, a practice of great antiquity in the south of England, is still in pretty general use, notwithstanding the penalties to which it is subject, and the usual unwillingness of landlords to permit it: considerable quantities of potatoes are raised in this manner, particularly in the coarser or less improved parts of the country, where burning is considered, and justly, as one of the most expeditious and effectual methods of reclaiming waste lands." As far as I am able to judge from my own observation in various parts of Ireland and in Lincolnshire, it appears to me to be in some cases beneficial,§ and I would in particular recommend it for all moory soils. Mr. Tighe also speaks of this custom in Kilkenny, and says: "Burning is the usual way of bringing ground into tillage; some landlords prohibit it entirely, others pay no atttention to it, but several judiciously permit it under restrictions. On Lady Ormond's estate it is allowed, upon the tenant entering into bail-bond, with a penalty to put out 100 barrels of lime per acre the second year, to take but two crops, and to lay the land down with grass-seeds. Upon Lord Bessborough's estate it is permitted to burn rough coarse ground, upon the tenants certifying that it was never tilled before, to be proved by the oath of a credible person if required he must state the exact quantity, and obtain leave before he ploughs or grafts the ground; and the quantity after burning may be ascertained by the landlord's surveyor, who is to be paid by the tenant. Skinning ground with a hoe, is a kind of trade which expert persons sometimes go about to perform, and earn thirteen pence a day and diet. When the ground is ploughed but once, and the large sods made into great heaps, it is called great beating, which ought never to be permitted, as in the burning great part of the carbon, every thing that can be volatilized, is dissipated by the fire; when the ground is cross-ploughed and harrowed, and the sods shaken with a fork, and made into small heaps, it is called small baiting: if the fire is kept close and well covered, as in making charcoal, the soil will receive rather improvement than injury; a quantity of carbon is formed as well as vegetable alkali, and little can be dissipated except water, which the land soon recovers. Burning, indeed, adds nothing new to the Survey of Clare, p. 35. + Survey of Cork, p. 196. England for Ireland. Either Mr. Townsend, or his printer, must have made a mistake, in inserting M'Evoy's Survey of Tyrone, p. 112. § Survey of Kilkenny, p. 450. ground, but it brings into use all the vegetable food it contained at once; consequently, if successive crops of corn are taken from it, it will be in a few years perfectly exhausted, and may take a great length of time to recover; but the cropping should always be limited, and other manure should be added the second year; dung, if possible. With small baiting, sea-sand, or marl, is generally added in equal quantities. When the penalty for burning was but £5. an acre, some farmers have run the risk of doing it without leave, and sometimes paid the penalty. In boggy, and heathy land, it is the best preparation for tillage, if judiciously done, and the ground put into a proper course; in adhesive and clayey soils it might be very useful; burnt patches generally remain covered with white clover, and wherever a heap of baiting has stood, the crop is always the best." MANURES. On this subject I shall confine myself to a practical account of the manures used in Ireland, rather than attempt a scientific description of them; for notwithstanding the numerous works hitherto published by different authors of great eminence, the practical application of chemistry to agriculture appears yet in its infancy. * Mr. Young considers lime as a manure that forms the food of plants in the soil, and corrects qualities injurious to vegetation:+ it is common throughout Ireland; and except in Wicklow, Wexford, and the eastern part of Waterford, as far as the Blackwater, is so easily transported, that it is certainly much more employed as a manure than any other substance; but the use of it perhaps is carried to an excess, and in those parts where it is not found, the carriage is attended with a heavy expense. It is a manure particularly adapted to black peat earth, moory, boggy mountain land, upon which the effect is wonderful. A very good idea may be formed of the quantity used from the subjoined notes which I wrote down in the course of my tour, and by the following extracts from the different County Surveys. Sir Charles Coote || finds fault with the farmers in Armagh, for putting on lea land a double quantity of lime to what they do on old ploughed lands. But, in my opinion, the Armagh farmers seem to know more on this subject than the Baronet. In old ploughed lands, the lime speedily sinks below the depth to which the plough goes; and by laying on small quantities more fréquently, I should imagine that they pursued the right method; whereas on lea, two or three years will be required before the lime can sink to the same depth; for the plough when applied brings it up to the surface, and as much time is again. * Bacon, Boyle, Priestly, Kirwan, Du Hamel, Tillet, Bergman, Lavoisier, Senebier, Ingenhouz, Arthur Young, Hassenfratz, Woodward, Davy, &c.-Kirwan has written an interesting paper on manure, which the reader will find in the Annals of Agriculture, vol. xxiii. p. 77. |