•I « A TOUR I N IRELAND: WITH GENERAL OBSERVATIONS O N T H E PRESENT STATE OF THAT KINGDOM. MADE IN THE YEARS 1776, 1777, and 1778, AND BROUGHT DOWN TO THE END OF 1770,. BY ARTHUR YOUNG, Efqs F. R. S. Honorary Member of the Societies of DUBLIN, YORK and MAN- CHESTER; the Oeconomical Society of BERNE; the Palatine Academy of Agriculture, at MANHEIM, and the • Phyfical Society at ZURICH* VOL. II. DUBLIN: PRINTED BY JAMES WILLIAMS, Foi. MESSRS. WHITESTONE, SLEATER, SHEPPARD, WILLIAMS, BURNET, WILSON, JENKIN, WOGAN, VALLANCE, WHITE, BEATTY, BYRN, AND BURTON, M,DCC,LXXX, " TOUR, &c. SEPTEMBER the 8th, left Drummoland, Sir Jj Lucius rode with me through Cionmelly, to the hill above Bunratty Caftle, for a view of the Shannon. Cionmelly is a divifion of Drum- line parifh, 900 acres of Corkafs land in one lot, which is cheap, at 303. an acre. I went into fome of the paftures, which were flocked with very fine bullocks, at the rate of one to every acre. In this neighbourhood, Mr. Hickman has a clofe of 20 acres, which, when in his own hands, fattened him 2 cows per acre, and in winter fed him 100 wethers, to the improvement of Os. each. The profit by the cows was 4!. and by the fheep il los. per acre : in all 5!. 55. I had this fact from his own mouth. The richnefs of thefe corcafTes, which are flat lands on the river fide, that have been gained at different times from the fait water, is very great. When in tillage, they fometimes yield extraordinary crops ; 50 ftat barrels an acre of bere have been known, fix- teen of barley, and from 20 to 24 of oats are VOL. IL A common 2061229 2 LIMERICK. common crops. From Clonmelly Hill, the profpe6t is very noble. There is a view of the Shannon from Limerick to Foynes liland, which is 30 miles, with all its bays, bends, iflands, and fertile ihores. It is from one to three miles broad, a moft noble river, deferving regal na- vies for its ornament, or what are better, fleets of merchantmen, the chearful figns of far ex- tended commerce, inftead of a few miferable fifhing -boats, the only canvafs that fwelled up- on the fcene : but the want of commerce in her ports is the misfortune, not the fault of Ireland. Thanks for the deficiency to that illi- beral fpirit of trading jealoufy, which has at times actuated and difgraced fo many nations. The profpecl has a noble outline in the bold mountains of Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, and Kerry. The whole view magnificent. . At the foot of this hill is the caftle of Bun- ratty, a very large edifice, the feat of the O'Brien's, princes of Thomond ; it (lands on the bank of a river, which falls into the Shan- non near it. About this caftle, and that of Rofmanagher, the land is the beft in the coun- ty of Clare 5 it is worth il. 135. an acre, and fats a bullock per acre in fummer, befides winter feed. To Limerick, through a chearful country, on the banks of the river, in a vale furround- ed by diftant mountains. That city is very finely fituated, partly on an ifland formed by the Shannon. The -new part, called Newtown Pery, LIMERICK. 3 Pery, from Mr. Pery, the fpeaker, who owns a confiderable part of the city, and reprefents it in parliament, is well built. The houfes are new ones, of brick, large and in right lines. There is a communication with the reft of the town by a handfome bridge of three large arches, erected at Mr. Pery's expenfe. Here are docks, quays, and a cuftom-houfe, which is a good building, faces the river, and on the oppofite banks is a large quadrangular one, thehoufe of induftry. This part of Li- merick is very chearful and agreeable, and carries all the marks of a flourifhing place. The exports of this port are beef, pork, butter, hides, and rape-feed. The imports are rum, fugar, timber, tobacco, wines, coals, bark, fait, &c. The cuftoms and excife, about 1 6 years ago, amounted to 16,000!. at prefent 32,000!. and rather more four or five years ago. Whole revenue 1751 £.16,000 1775 51,000 ] Revenue of the port of Limerick, year ending March 25 1759 j£-2cM94 1760 29,197 1761 20,727 1762 - - 20,650 1763 20,525 1764 - 32,635 1765 3I>°99 Com. Jour. vj!. 14.^. 71. A 2 Account 6 LIMERICK. Account of duties paid on goods imported and ex- ported in Limerick. Years. Imports. Exports* 1764 £•19,869 15 9 £•2195 6 7 1765 21,332 4 8 1964 5 2 1766 16,729 8 2 1815 ir 8 1767 16,316 10 O 2365 4 4 1768 16,571 12 8 2229 17 2 1769 20,237 12 7 1855 o S 1770 22,138 0 4 1941 3 8 1771 20,213 12 6 ^455 2 2 1772 22,003 2 6 3046 II 16 *?73 20,606 15 7 2282 I 7 1774 57,317 0 9- 2150 13 9 1775 16,979 IO 6 2647 5 9 Salted, laft year, 43,700 pigs; average nib. Horned cattle (of which many were cows) 12,200. The number of bullocks killed here in a year amounts to 13,0005 increafed pretty confiderably in twenty years. They have been faking pigs all fummer. Pork now 295. 3di per cwt. was only I2S. feven years ago. The value of bullocks hides are on an average 355. Cows 245. per cwt. Butter exported in cafks, from two to three cwt. each, now 443. a cwt. 6 years ago only 255. The fhipping belonging to the town, i of 120 tons* i 150 3 , 150 to 250 i 140 96 * 50 but LIMERICK. 5 but not increafed. A good deal of rape feed fhipped off for Holland, and one hundred tons of rape cakes to Wells and Lynn in Norfolk, at 405. a ton. Till this laft year at 255. a ton. Many thoufand loads of dung thrown into the Shannon, both in the tov/n and many places along the river. Within five or fix years they have taken fome away, but not much. Town parks let at 4!, 45. to 5!. for ten miles every way the rent is 255, to 30$. Much flour goes to Dublin from this county and Tipperary on the land-carriage bounty. There is a great increafe of tillage : thrice the corn grown that there was formerly : There has been much pafturage broken up on this account; fome bullock land, and fome fhcep land. Great quantities of butter made within a few miles of Limerick. Scarce any fpinning here, or in the neighbourhood, either of wool or flax. The poor live upon potatoes and milk, gene- rally fpeaking, with fome oatmeal. They do not all keep cows j thofe who do not, buy, and pay id. for three quarts of fkim milk. The rent of their cabbins and one-fourth of arx acre 155. to 2os. build them themfelves. They are in a better fituation in moil refpefts than twenty years ago. Pigs are much increafed, chiefly or entirely bred by the cottars, and the high price has been of prodigious confequence to them. They are much better clad than they were. Date their increafe of this from the open cattle trade to England. Population has much increafed within twenty years, and the cjty alfo? but was more populous fix years ago than, 6 LIMERICK. than at prefent. Emigrations were known from hence; two fhips went commonly till the war. Between 1740 and 1750, there were only four carriages in and about Limerick, the Bifhop's, the Dean's, and one other Clergy- man's, and one neighbouring Gentleman's. Four years ago there were above feventy coaches and poft-chaifes in Limerick, and one mile round it. In Limerick diftri6t} now 183 four wheeled carriages ; 115 two wheeled ditto. Price of Provijions. Wheat, is. id. aftone/. Wild ducks, 2©d. to 2s. a Barley and oats, fd^, to 6d. couple Scotch coals, 1 8s. White- Plover, 6d. a couple. haven, 2?s. Widgeon, rod. ditto. A boat load of turf, 20 tons, Hares, is. each, commonly 455. fold all the year round Salmon, three halfpence Woodcocks, 2od. to is. 2d, Trout, 2d. very fine, per Ib. a brace Eels, 2d. a pound Oyfters, 4d? to is. a ico Rabbits, 8d. a pound Lobfters, is. to is, 6d, if Teal, lod, a couple, good.. Land fells at twenty years purchafe. Rents were at thehigheft in 1765, fell fince, but in four years have fallen 8s. to los. an acre about Limerick. They are at a {land at prefent, owing to the high price of provifions from pafture. The number of people in Limerick, are computed at 32,000, it is exceeding popu- lous for the fize ; the chief ftreet quite crowd- ed ; many fedan chairs in town, and fome hackney chaifes. ArTemblies the year round, LIMERICK. 7 in a new aflembly-houfe, built for the pur- pofe; and plays and conceits common. Upon the whole, Limerick muft be a very gay place, but when the ufual number of troops are in town, much more fo. To fhew the general expenfes of living, I was told of a perfon's keeping a carriage, four horfes, three men, three maids, a good table, a wife, three children, and a nurfe, and all for 500!. a year. 1. s. d. 1. s. d. A footman, — — 440 to 660 A profefled woman cook — 660 A houfe-maiu — 300 A kitchen maid — — 2 © o A butler — — 10 o o to 12 o o A .barrel of beef or pork, 200 Ib. weight. Veflels of 400 tons can come up with fpring tides, which rife 14 feet. September Qth, to Cattle Oliver; various country, not fo rich to appearance as the cor- cafles, being fed bare : much hilly fheep-walk, and for a confiderable way, a full third of it potatoes and corn : no fign of depopulation. Juft before I got to the hills, a field of rag- wort (fenefio jacobcea) buried the cows. The firft view of Cattle Oliver interefting. After rifmg a mountain fo high that no one could think of any houfe, you come in view of a vale, quite filled with fine woods, fields mar- gined with trees, and hedge plantations climb- ing 8 ANNSGROVE. ing up the mountains. Having engaged my- felf to Mr. Oliver, to return from Killarney by his houfe, as he was confined to Limerick by the aflizes, I fhall omit laying any thing of it at prefent. September loth, reached Annfgrove, the feat of Richard Aid worth, Efq; to whom I am obliged for the following particulars. Farms about Annfgrove, in the parifh of Caftle Town Roche, rife from 50 acres to 200, a few fmaller. It abounds exceedingly with land job- bers, who have hired large tracts, and re-let them to tenants, and thole to under ones, but gentlemen are getting out of this fyftem now. No graziers here ; the rents are made by til- lage and fheep, and a few dairies ; the foil is all lime-ftone, much fine hazel loam, from 4 to 1 8 inches deep. A hill runs through this country, which is wet woodcock clay. It lets in general from 75. to 2 as. plantation acre, average 155. The barony of Orrery in this county (Cork) is as rich as Limerick ; lets from 255. to 35S. an acre. The next in Fer- moy 1.35. Duhallow has much mountains and unimproved; vaft tracts of it heath, but rears at prefent great numbers of young cattle, and many dairies, average rent 73. Condons and Clangibon 155. Imokilly, a very fine corn country. Barrymore, rough, 75. Barrets mountains^ with bog, 45. Mulberry, rough and uncultivated, 45. Kinalea yields more corn than any of them j lets at 143. the Englifh acre. The baronies of Kerrycurihy and Courcy's upon the coall are all high tet, from fituation, los, the ANNSGROVE, 9 jos the Engliih acre. In Carbery, there are great quantities of wild country, and much uncultivated ; provifions are extravagantly cheap, from want of communications. The whole county, upon an average, 73. The courfe of crops about Annfgrove : i. Potatoes, 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Oats, r. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Leave it for three years. i. Potatoes. 2. Bere. 3. Oats. 4. Oats, 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Leave it for three or four years. Flax fowri in patches upon lay, and fome- times after potatoes. Potatoes they plant in a mod flovenly manner, leaving the iinali ones in the ground of the firft crop, in order to be feed for the fecond, by which means they are not fliced: fometimes a (harp froit catches them, and deftroys all thefe roots. They plant many on grafs without dung, on the rich land, and pay 255. to 508. an acre for liberty to do it. Of wheat they fow 20 flone per acre, and get on an average 7 barrels. They feldom ibw it till February ; they think the tirft dark nights in that month the bed feed time in the year. But it is in facl: owing to their taking their potatoes up fo late, which they do not begin till near Chriflmas. Some, however, are earlier, and get their wheat in in November and December. They fow, of oats, a kilder- {dn, or 4 bulhels of 32 gallons. Neither peafe, beans, nor rape in the country, but tur- nips and clover are creeping in among gentle- men. jo ANNSGROVE. men. Flax is fown by every body for their own ufe, which they fpin, and get woven into linen for themfelves, and what they have to fpare, fell in yarn. There are very few of thefe weavers. Lime is the great manure; they lay 100 common barrels to the acre, lafts feven or eight good crops, and leaves the ground the better for it ; but their principle is to exhauft as faft as poffible in confequence of liming. It cofts them 8d. a barrel roach. Burn with culm from the coal pits in the barony of Duhallow. This coal is only ufed for drying malt, fmiths forges, &c. but not for common fuel. They have alfo a very rich manure, which is rotten lime-ftone, as they call it. It is a rock, and rifes very hard, "like a lime ftone quarry, but when expofed to the air, falls into fand ; it has a ilrong fermentation with acids, and gives great crops : they do not, however, carry it above a mile and half. Paring and burning they are very fond of for potatoes, and fome- times for bere, but the landlords prevent the practice. They get very great crops by it, and do it to chufe on wafte lands; pare with an inftrument they call a graffane, and the huf- bandry they callgraffaning and burning. It is a very ftrong hoe with which they cut up trie turf, rolling it up with their foot as they do it, and leaving it to dry in order to burn. They do it in March or April for their potatoe plant- ing; and though it makes them very late, yet the crops never fail, Soot is thrown away, and A N N S G R O V E. it in general malt duft, as they do not fcreen their malt. The fences of common farmers are making banks, and fowing furze feed. Grafs lands are applied to feeding fheep and cows. Their fheep fyftem is that of breeding. They keep their lambs till they are two year old we- thers, and then fell them to thofe who fatten near the coaft. Thefe they fell at i is. to i8s. each ; and they cull fome ewes every year, which the butchers buy at 145. or 155. They fheer generally on an average 4lb. wool, which fells 135. to 195. 6d a flone, at which amazing price fome was fold this year. The cottars have all Iheep, which they milk for their families. The poor people reckon their cattle by collops, that is proportions. The heavieft collop is fix (beep, the next is a horfe, the next two heifers, and laftly the cow. Flocks rife to 500 fheep; no folding. Dairies are eon- fiderable. They rife from 20 to 50 cows, are employed in making butter only; in fome parts of the county they make very good cheefe. An acre and a quarter maintains a cow in fummer and winter grafs and hay. The far- mer generally lets them out to dairymen, at 2!. a cow, and a guinea for horn money ; the 405. is for the butter, and the guinea for the other produce, four milk, pigs, and calf. But fome- times the rent is in butter a hundred weight per cow delivered in Cork, and the guinea is in cadi. The produce is not much more than this cwt. of butter; for the dairyman's profit lies principally in having the gnafs of a cow, an acre of ground, and a cabbin and garden, and they j* A N N S G R O V E. they are generally very poor. They rear many pigs on account of the dairies, about a pig to every cow, and a calf to every two cows, which they feed on four milk, giving them no new milk. They are attentive to have their cows calve in May. The tillage of the farmers is all done by horfes ; that of the gentlemen by oxen. Four horfes and three men to every plough, one to drive, one to hold, and another with a pole, bearing on the beam to keep it in the ground ; but they do an acre a day, by means of leaving a great fpace untouched in the middle of each land, where they begin by lapping the fods to meet. To joo acres of tillage they keep about fix horfes ; they make up their teams, borrowing of one another. The chaff is thrown away as every where elfe. Hire of a car an4 horfe, and driver, is. 6d. a day*. Price of carriage a id. per cwt. a mile. In hiring farms, they will manage to take 100 acres without 100. pence. They will doit with- out teams or cattle, or any thing ; by re-letting the land for potatoes, grafs for cows, &c. and if a fellow gets 5!. by a 100 acres, he is very well fatisfied. Land fells at 20 years purchafe. Rents, at prefent, at a (land ; rather upon the rife, owing to the price of butter ; they fell 33. od. in the pound in 1772 and 3. Tythes are Compounded. Wheat pays 8s. the Englifh. cere : fome 6s. Barley and Bere 6s. Potatoes 6s. Mowing ground 2s. Sheep 3d. Lambs 2d. Cows 2d. Leafes are generally 31 years, or three lives, or for ever. The poor people in general occupy from i a to 15 acres -, but the moll common way is hiring ANN S' GROVE. ij hiring in partnership in rundale ; and they have changedale alfo. Moft of them have only a cabbin and a cabbage garden, and the fize is nfually enough for 100 plants j and their rent for it 2os : in this cafe they pay their neigh- bour for the grafs of their cow • but I was ibrry to find that fome of them have no cows. They live the year through upon potatoes, and for half the year have nothing but water with them. They have all a pig, and fome of them feveral, but kill one for themfelves at Chrift- tnas. Their circumflances are very generally better than twenty years ago, efpecially in cloathing, but in food no great difference. Spinning is the general bufmefs of the women : they fpin infinitely more wool than flax. AH the poor keep a collop of fheep ; as foon as the lamb is fit to kill, they fell it, except enough to keep up the ftock, in order to have the milk. In the little towns of Donneraile, Mitchelftown, Mallow, Kilworth, Kanturk, and Newmarket, are clothiers, who buy up the wool, employ combers in their houfes, who make confidera- ble wages, and when combed, they have a day fixed for the poor to come and take it, in order to fpin it into worded, and pay them by the ball, by which they earn one penny three farthings to two-pence a day. The clothier exports this worfled from Cork to Briftol and Norwich. Of late they have worked a good deal of it into ferges, which are fent to Dublin by land-carriage, and from thence to the North, from whence it is fmuggled into England by way of Scotland. The poor people's wool is worked i4 ANNSGROVE. worked into frizes for the ufe of the men. The weavers who work thefe frizes and ferges live about the country in the cabbins. Immenfe quantities of raw wool are fent to Cork from all parts j 500 cars have been feen in a line; and it is fuppofed to be fent in large quanti- ties to France. No emigrations. All the poor people are Roman Catholics, and among them are the defendants of the old families who once pofTefTed the country, of which they flill pre- ferve the full memory, infomuch, that a gen- tleman's labourer will regularly leave to his fon, by will, his matter's eftate, Ireland has very few fuch farmers as Mr. Aldwprth ; for above 600 acres in tillage is fuch a bufmefs as I have no where met with. In his improvements, turnips formed a confider- able article j in the year 1772 he began with them, one acre: in 1774 he had two acres: in 1775, five acres: and this year, eight. He has always hoed them, but not yet in any perfec- tion, though improving. He fed them on the land with fheep hurdles; they were chiefly fat wethers, and the benefit he found very great; being able, by no other means, to keep them fat, which the turnips did in great perfection. He alfocarted fome off for ftall- feeding bullocks and cows, which anfvvered perfectly well. A very great advantage he found from turnips in the barley which fucceeded, being incomparably better than after any other preparation. Mr. Aldworth is, upon the whole, fo well perfuaded of the advantage of the culture, that he is de- termined A N N S G R O V E. 15 termined to increafe the quantity every year, till he gets a fourth part of his farm under them. The effect of lime was never difplayed in a clearer manner than upon Mr. Aldworth'sfarm. The foil, I fhould obferve, is a loam and brick clay, on a rock of lime-ftone, from nine inches to three feet deep on it; but what is remark- able, all the loofe furface ftones are grit, and all the quarries lime-ftone. Upon this foil he has found the benefit (urprifingly great: where he limes he gets very good crops; and where he does not he can get no crops at all. In my life I never faw this clearer difplayed than in two of his fields this year, one wheat and the other barley ; in each there was about an acre not limed, but all the reft had 100 barrels an acre ; the parts limed had a very fine crop, but thofe two (pots a wretched one ; literally (peak- ing, not worth mowing; and another fmaller patch in the barley field the fame ; the crop ex- cellent to an inch where the lime was laid, and immediately adjoining nothing but weeds. Ano- ther experiment, (hewing the great efficacy of it, was a comparifon he made of it with the (heep fold; he folded part without liming in a field, the reft of which was limed, and the fu- periority of the latter part was very great. Mr. Aldworth fpreads it on his fallows for wheat, and on his potatoe-land for barley. It is to be noted that this land was never limed before. Upon another part of his farm which had been, limed, he does not find the benefit to be equal. He burns his lime in both running and ftand- ing kilns ; in the former with culm, and the expenle *6 ANNSGROVE. expenfe to him is 8d. a barrel roach. In the1 {landing kilns he burns without breaking the ftones, 1 500 barrels at a time with faggots, and in this way it is 6d. a barrel. Thefe kilns, he remark s, (hould be built with very great ftrength, or the extreme heat of the fire burfts the ma- fonry. His liming has been upon fo extenfwe a fcale, that laft year he had feven kilns burn- ing, two of them (landing ones, and burned in all above 10,000 barrels, and as much this year, all for manuring his own farm. Mr. Aldworth has creeled a bolting-mill which will grind 5000 barrels of wheat, and it is curious to obferve the effeclt of it as a newly-eftablifhed market : the firft year he ground 1 100 barrels, being all he could get ; the next year, the prefent, it will be 5000. He has alfo taken pains to improve the breed of fheep, by buying Englifh ewes. The fame attention he has given to fwine and various other articles. Reynold's turnip-cab- bage he has planted two years for late feeding of iheep in the fpring : he finds them of excel- lent ufe, and is determined never to be without them. He began to plant hops in 1772 upon half an acre of land, a fine rich red loam a yard deep; they fucceeded perfectly well; and the fecond year yielded 8 cwt. the half acre of as good hops as ever he met. In 1773 he added two acres : in 1775 he planted another acre: laft year the crop failed, not getting above 3 or 4 cwt. This year he has a very good appear- ance. Has not found the climate at all againft them ; and is clear that it may be a very advan- tageous branch of culture. He, however, re- 2 marked. ANNSGROVE. 17 marked, that they are not fo ftrong as Englifh hops, owing, perhaps, to want of experience in drying, &c. He manures them every third year. Mr. Aid worth is the only perfon in this country that folds his fheep j he finds the prac- tice very ufeful, but not equal, as obfcrved before, to lime. September nth, accompanied Mr. Aid worth and family to his neighbour Mr. Hyde's, on the banks of the Black Water, which are very chearful, and many of the views fine, particu- larly from the yard, of a new church on the river : pafs many large woods in fight. Mr. Hyde's is a place entirely of his own forming. The lawn before the houfe has a very pleafing inequality of furface, and the whole fcenery well improved and cheerful. It was with regret I left fo agreeable and li- beral a family as that of Annfgrove, nor fhould I forget to mention that every thing about the place had a much nearer refemblance to an Englifh than an Irifh refidence, where fo many jine places want neatnefi, and where, after great expenfe, fo little is found complete. Mrs. Aid- worth has ornamented a beautiful glen, which winds behind the houfe, in a manner that does honour to her tafte j me has traced her paths fo as to command all the beauties of rock, wood, and a fweet river which glides beneath both : it is a moil agreeable fcenery. VOL, II. B September iS DONERAILE. September i2th, to Doneraile, with Mr. Aid- worth. In our way called on a woollen manu- faclurer, Mr. Hannam, at Kilbrack, who gave me the following particulars of the trade. It coniifts in buying the wool about the country, and combing it upon their own account. The combers earn ics. a week, or 40 balls at 3d. The fleeces he buys weighs jib. on an average. To every 22 ftone of rough fleece there are 3 (lone of fhort, coarfe, and waftej 2 ftone of the 3 are worth los. a ftone, for coarfe works, frizes, &c. the third ftone 135. 4d. The re- maining 19 ftone of combing wool give 8 balls each of 24 ounces. To each ftone there is one pound and three quarters of pinions of fliort wool that comes out in the combing. Thefe balls are given to women to fpin, and 9d. a ball is paid them for it j a woman can fpin the balls in two days and a half if fhe fticks to it all day; in three days and do trifles befides. Then the worfted, in fkains twelve to the ball, is fent to Corke or Limerick for exportation. Not above one-fixth part, to his knowledge, is woven at home. Employs feven weavers making ferges. Forty-four beer ferges fell at is. 2d. a yard; is 29 inches broad, and the pieces 136 yards long. Pays tvvc-pence halfpenny a yard for weaving, and a man weaves eight in a day j he weaves a piece in three weeks, and lofes one day in that time in preparing his loom. The Con- naught wool he prefers j it is of a middling length, and a fine ftaple: finds that the fliort wool is the fineft. At Charleville there are thirty looms in it. The ferges are all fent to Dublin D O N E R A I L E. 19 Dublin to a factor, who fells them at 5!. per cent, commiffion. Are in general fent to Scot- land. The demand for them is better than it was : it has been improving for three years. But the prices of both ferges and worfted have not rifen proportionally to that of wool. An eftlmate of the cloathing trade. 2o combers would comb in a year 5000 ftone of wool ati6s. perftone - - 4000 o o The faid combers would comb 8:0 balls a week, at 3d. per ball, comes to lol. in the year ... 520 o • 300 women and girls tofpinthe above, and which would be the advantage of the clothier, to form into three houfes or factories of i oo each ; their hire, at pd. a ball, comes to - - - 1560 o o 60 weavers would weave up the faid worfted, at 8d. each a day, 24!. a week, the year 1248 o « 50 little boys and girls employed in faid weav- ing, at 3d. a day each, comes to 3!. 156. per week, in the year - - - 195 O o 43£ Oil and foap would coft in the year - 368 o o Carriage of wool, woollen goods, &c. - 100 o o Sorting wool, washing it, &c. - 80 o o 8071 O o The year's profit I fuppofc to be - 350 Q o The yearly fum brought into the country where fuch trade is carried on - -£-8421 o o B 2 Aver? 20 'D O N E R A I L E. A very important information is to be drawn from this eftimate, which is the proportion of labour to the wool in this manufactory. Wool, at 1 6s. - 4000 1 Combing - - 520 Spinning - - 1560 Weaving - I443 Sorting and carriage - - 180 Labour - 37°3 Oilandfoap - - 368 £8071 Hence therefore it appears that wool at i6s. labour and drugs equal it, and that labour alone is as nine one-fourth to ten. Let me not forget here to remark, that the country, within two or three miles of Done- raile, ranks among the beft I have feen in Ire- land ; it is varied, much improved, well wood- ed, and very chearful. To Lord Doneraile's, to whom I am indebt- ed for a variety of ufeful intelligence j the fitu- ation of his houfe is on a beautiful rifing ground, which dopes down to a winding vale, in which is a fmall river, accompanied by wood; from this river, on the other fide, the grounds (all lawn) rife very boldly, and are entirely margined with wood : from the higher grounds the DONERAILE. 21 the view of the houfe and park is fine, efpeci- ally at the gate which opens to Kilbrack, there the houfe is feen furrouncled by very noble woods and a great variety of cultivated in- clofures intermixed with fields and thickly- planted hedges: the whole fcene fo pleafing, that it appeared to full advantage, though I had rode to it through a beautiful and even-, drefTed country in part of the way from Annf- grove. Near the houfe is a fhrubbery, through which there are paths that lead to different parts of the farm, through new plantations, and in particular to a cottage, from whence there is a fine wooded fcene, with the park lawn rifing above it, fcattered with fingle trees, and bound- ed by a margin of wood ; the whole backed by diftant mountains. The plantations and im- provements which lead to and furrotmd this cottage are the work of Lady Doneraile, and- do credit to her tafte. Reflecting his Lordfhip's hufbandry the fol- lowing particulars deferve the attention of the reader. Three years ago he procured ewes from Leiceiterftiire, in order to improve the breed. The fheep which were here before took three1 to a ftone of wool, but now only two, and the wool is to the full as good as ever j and he finds that they are much more thriving and advan- tageous to keep, and eafier fed than the (beep of the country: fheep, his Lordfhip finds the moft advantageous flock of all others : he keeps fix to the acre winter and fummer. This he finds much more profitable than keeping cows 22 DONERAILE, cgws or fat cattle. Has tried many breeds of cattle, and finds that the long-horned Englifli cow is the beft for fattening. The Holdernefs for giving much thin poor milk, but are too heavy for winter feeding. The Kerry cow is much the beft for milking in quantity of good milk. Hogs he has alfo tried of all forts, and finds that nothing is fo profitable as the black Indian breed with Ihort legs, round carcafes, and fnub nofes. For working, he finds the fmall mongrel Kerry beaft works the beft, and moves the fafteft. He works them all by the horns, in the manner pra6tifed in the fouth of France, four in a plough at the firft plough- ing. He changed the manner in which Lord Shannon brought it over, from the yoke which couples them , to going fingle with double traces ; this he finds much the moft beneficial manner; they move quicker and with greater power, from being free and working not in couples j befides being applicable to all forts of work which requires their going fingle. Englifh waggons LordDoneraile has tried and laid afide, from finding, on experience, that they are very much inferior to the common Irifh car in hay harveft, dung, lime, &c. but he ufes one-horfe carts for many forts of wprk. Turnips he has cultivated for fome years, hoes them, and gets good crops, but beft in the drill way, the rows two fee.t afunder : he ufes them in feeding fheep, and alfo fattening beafts. He finds that they are not of any cqnfiderable ufe in this country, compared to others where there is not an equal plenty of grafs, which fprings all winter j and that D O N E R A I L E. 23 that they will fatten a beaft better. When moft wanted, which is in April and the beginning of May, they are gone. Cabbages he has tried upon a large fcale three years ; laft year and the year before, he had 8 or 9 acres, and ufed them in feeding and fattening cattle and fheep ; has found them preferable to turnips far, in all nfes in feeding cattle j but an acre of the latter will produce much more. Fern he finds is beft de- flroyed by mowing it twice a year in June, and the beginning of September. He makes his tillage exceedingly profitable by the ufe of lime. His courfe of crops, i. Wheat, yielding 10 barrels per acre, and has meafured 15 barrels, 15 ftone per acre. 2. Barley, the produce 14, 15 barrels, and of fmall barley, 6 rowed 20. 3. Oats 20 barrels. 4. Clover laid down to grafs, or for one year, and ploughed it up as foon as cleared of ths hay. Lime he fpreads on all lands for wheat or barley, &c. 80 barrels of roach an acre cofts 6d. a barrel burning. The effect is amazingly great, infomuch that it is the difference between a great and a bad crop. In general there is no ground worth 2os. an acre, that if you lime it 80 barrels, and take wheat, barley, and oats, it will then be worth 305. This' is certainly a marvellous improvement ! Lord Doneraile knows, from an experiment of his brother's, that it is equally well adapted to boggy bottoms ; he had five acres, 'which he fet for los, 6d, the whole. 24 D O N E R A I L E. whole, and was fo hard a bargain to the poor men, that an allowance was made for it. His brother took it, and limed it, and then mowed five tons of bay per Engtijh acre, one of the ftrongeft proofs of the benefit of lime that can be given. In his Lordfhip's park he has a wheel for raifmg water, an improvement on the Per- fian, which raifes a regular ftream 28 feet; the flream which turns it is confined by a double wall to the exacl dimenfion of the boxes, which take in the water, and it works conftantly and regularly without trouble or expenfe. Lord Doneraile has creeled a granary upon a new conftruclion, that of a flue in the walls for a fire to air the whole building, and dry any damp corn that may happen to be in k. He dried the walls after building with it perfectly in a. fhort time. This granary is fo completely built, that not a moufe can poffibly g.et in it: he has a thorough air, with lattice windows of wire. By the way, thefe flues are a proof, if one was wanting, how much moifter the climate of Ire- land is than that of England. He has planted the clufler potatoes, called here bulls and bucks, fo much as 6 or 7 acres ; gave them to horfes, cows, and fheep : the horfes that would eat them did well, and in a little time believes would all come very well to them. Fat cows and bullocks did exceedingly well: fat fheep were put to them; but feveral dying both years, made him leave the practice off. Of other forts of potatoes, he finds the London lady and the cpple to be the beft forts. The London lady is particularly valuable for one circumftance, which DONERAILE. 2< xvhich is the ftalks withering, and the crop being ready to take up, from a month to fix weeks before any other fort; confequently, the beft fort to plant as a preparative to wheat. Hops he has planted two years ago, in order to fee how far they will anfwer; and expects to be able to get not only good hops, but a great crop. One mode of managing them he has in medita- tion, which is a good thought, and that is to train them horizontally inftead of perpendicu- larly, like efpalier, on account of the ftorms and blights which hops, in the common way, are fubjecl: to from the height. Has compared the rotton lime-ftone and lime in a 20 acred field for wheat, 10 of the one and 10 of the other, and found the wheat equal : both very good. Has obferved the common farmers, af- ter manuring with it, to take 12 and 14 crops of white corn running and then leaving it for grafs, which not coming, they complain that it is not good for grafs, but burns it up. But Lord Doneraile advifed a friend to lay down, after two or three crops, which being done, the grafs that followed was perfectly fine. Lord Doneraile's lime- kiln is one of the com- pleateft I have any where ieen ; it is at bottom 16 inches diameter, leads up to 12 feet wide in the buldge, and 20 feet high from the bottom to the baldge, 7 feet from the buldge up, and at the top 9 feet diameter. Over the top, a roof and a porch to it, and it draws 44 barrels of roach lime a day, which takes 6 of culm ; turns for 5^ a barrel. The culm 2s. 5d. a barrel 26 MALLOW. barrel at the kiln. Labour 45. Culm a day. September I3th, left Doneraile, and went to Colonel Jephfon's at Mallow. He was at that time confined with the gout ; but his fon, Denham Jephfon, Efqj (member for Mallow) took every means for my information, in the circumftances I enquired after. About that place : i. Potatoes on ftubbles, or grafs dunged 2. Potatoes. 3. Wheat or Bere. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6. Oats, i. Fallow. 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6. Oats. The meafure the Eng- lifh acre. Of potatoes they plant 6 common barrels, and get 42 in the crop : fometimes take three or four iucceffive ones. Of wheat they fow 3 pecks and a half each, 3 cluggets, each clugget 1 1 quarts, and get 8 barrels. The crop of bere is 12. Of oats 12. Rents of town parks 2!. 2S. to 3!. other lands IDS. to 305. average 123. There are many dairies, up to 60 cows, which are all fet to dairymen, at 505. to 3!. IDS. of good land it will take one acre and a half to feed a cow. They make both butter and cheefe, and where the latter is made, no butter, felling the cheefe at 4d. a pound. A cow makes one cwt. of butter in the feafon. When cows are let, none are taken that do not give 2 gallons of MALLOW. 27 of milk j good cows give 4 gallons. Colonel Jephfon had a cow half bred, between the Englifh long horned and HoldernefTe, that was forced to be milked three times a day and gave 12 gallons a day, many times in the prefence of various perfons. Every dairyman is allow- ed a houfe, a garden of one acre and a half, and grafs for a horfe, a cow, and fome a col- lop of ftieep. Great quantities of lime are nfed : they lay joo barrels an acre, at is, id. They plough with horfes, four or fix to a plough. The poor pay ros. rent for a cabin, and 205. for one acre for potatoes ; 2!. 2s. for grafs for a cow, and los. for the winter's hay. They live upon potatoes generally the year through ; all of them keep cows and pigs, which latter they feed on fmall potatoes. Their circum- flances are not better than 20 years ago ; for though they have now 6d. and then had but 5d. yet the rife is not proportioned to that of rents. Villages of cottars will take farms in partnerfhip in the manner I have often defcrib- cd. The foil of the country is in general lime- ilone; but from Knockerera mountain, near Mallow to Corke, there is no lime-done. Leafes are thirty-one years, or three lives, and fome for three lives and thirty-one year's after; and many farms let to middle-men, who occupy no part of the land themfelves, but re-let it. Above one-third of (the county is wafte land. There are collieries about ten miles off, near Kantark, from which coal is fold at 33. a bar- i rd, 28 MALLOW. rel j it is large and hard. Upon the river Blackwater, there are trails of flat land in fome places one quarter of a mile broad ; the grafs every where remarkably fine, and lets at 305. It is the fineft fandy land 1 have any where feen, of a reddifh brown colour, would yield the greateit arable crops in the world, if in tillage; it is five feet deep, and has fuch a principle of adhefion, that it burns into good brick, yet it is a perfect fand. In floods much of it is overflown. The banks of this river, from its fource to the fea, are equally remark- able for beauty of profpect, and fertility of foil. There is but little manufacturing in Mal- low ; even fpinning is not general. Mr. Jeph- fon manures his lands very highly with all forts of dung and fullage of the ftreets of Mal- low, which is conflantly bringing away ; by means of this regular attention, united with the goodnefs of the foil, he has brought it into that high degree of heart, indicated by the rent, at which it would let. The whole is divided into fields, of a moderate fize, with double quick hedges, well planted with trees, and kept in the mod perfect degree of neatnefs ; between the hedges are gravel walks, fo that there is a planted communication about all the fields ; the gates are neat and light, and every attention preferved to give the whole the ap- pearance of a ferme erne. The quantity of til- lage is not confiderable, but his crops very great, barley up to twenty barrels per acre. Mules he finds more uicful and hardy, than horfesj NEWGROVE. 29 horfes ; has fome very fine ones. Mr. Jephfon has weighed to the dragoons, at the barracks, from twenty-eight acres of grafs, three and a quarter tons of hay, perEnglifh acre. He has kept a particular account of his domain, and has kept his deer, horfes, cows, houfe, &c. and fold to the amount of 553. an acre befides. I walked to the fpring in the town to drink the water, to which fo many people have long reforted ; it refembles that of Briftol, prefcrib- ed for the fame cafes, and with great fuccefs. In the feafon there are two affemblies a week. Lodgings are five (hillings a week each room, and thofe feemed to be miferably bad. Board thirteen (hillings a week. Thefe prices, in fo cheap a country, amazed me, and would, I fhould fear, prevent Mallow from being fo confiderable as more reafonable rates might make it, unlefs accommodations pro- portionable were provided. There is a fmall canal, with walks on each fide, lead- ing to the fpring, under cover of fome very noble poplars. If a double row of good lodg- ings were erec~led here, with public rooms, in an elegant ftyle, Mallo would probably become a place for amufement, as well as health. September i4th, to New Grove, the feat of Robert Gordon, Efq; in whom I met with the greateft zeal for giving rne a correct informati- on. Faffing, at fome diftance, a very large houfe building, to the right of the road, in a good fituation, by Sir Robert Dean. New Grove is an entire new improvement of Mr. Gordon's, 30 NEWGROVE. Gordon's, the whole place, fome years ago, being a wafte moor, or mountain, as it is called in Ireland. Mr. Gordon took it for improvement ; the foil and bog five to nine fpits deep, and under it a black earth, or a reddifh fand, and in fome a whitifh clayey fubftance, but not marie ; many fprings in it, which were carried off by drains ; and then the whole furface of turf cut out, and carried to Cork: cutting, &c. 303. a 100, and fold there at 5!. this was done in order to get lime, which is not upon the land, and by this means the line came to feven-pence halfpenny a barrel ; found many ftones and great roots, and timbers, which were all clear- ed away, and the land ploughed with oxen, before winter ; then left the winter three ploughings given in the fpring, and fifty bar- rels of lime, fpread and fown with oats and clover; the crop very great; could be fold however, for 4!. an acre ; the clover fine. This was cut for hay, and the fecond weighed 23 lib. per Englifh perch fquare, and a horfe that was flarved nine hours, eat in twenty-four hours I07lb. And after thefe two cuttings, there was a third for foiling with in Oftober ; it was then fowed with a fecond crop of oats, and that with clover which was left, and has been mown every year for eleven years fmce ; this was one field in particular, but all in the fame manner, and would let for one pound an acre readily ; all expences of the 3 crops, including the lime, coft. 61. 73. 90. an acre, fo that the mere NEW GROVE. 3f mere improvement was profitable, befides the increafe of rent alfo improved. At Carrick- duff, 650 acres of heath, &c.the black foil thin, and the heath low, and under it a brown loam, with whitifh gravel, mixed. Fallowed it with ftrong ploughs, fourteen inches deep for a year; then limed it, 50 barrels an acre, at feven pence three farthings on the land, burnt on the fpot, and upon this fowed oats and clover for a meadow, the oats great, and the grafs part of it actually let at il. is. and all would let fo. Has profecuted this improvement with fuch fpirit, that laft year he laid on 10,000 barrels of lime, and has 73 acres oats, 34 wheat, 12 potatoes, and 100 laid to grafs, and all this in two years. Has there built a farm-office, 1 54 feet long, a barn, flails for thirty bullocks, two ftables, and a room for the fteward ; and has made 1750 perch of ditches, planted with quicks. Thefe Mr. Gordon does in two years, half the ditch in one to leave it to fink, and the other half the year after. Turnips he has had, and got very fine crops of 61b. the average tur- nip; they thin them by hand, which he thinks upon this land is preferable to hoeing ; ufed the crop in ftall-feeding 30 bullocks, which had, befides the turnips, half a hundredweight of hay to fix each day, and found that they throve exceedingly well on fuch turnips as were not above three to fix pounds weight, but upon the large ones they did not thrive. In November he cleared the field of all, ftacked them, and found them keep perfe&ly till April. Found that the flieep, fed at New Grove, would not take to turnips till flarved to them. Imported $2 NEWGROVE. Imported a man from Norfolk, whom he gave forty guineas a year with board, who brought ploughs, hoes, &c. with him ; gave him a gui- nea for every boy he taught to plough, and every boy who could fairly plough, had a (hil- ling a day wages. By this means he has col- lected a fet of excellent ploughmen, who have been of infinite ufe, fo that he has to this day ploughed with Norfolk and Suffolk ploughs, worked with a pair of horfes, and no driver except the firft and fecond ploughing of frefh land, which, and dragging, he does with great drags of 1 8 cwt. and drawn by bullocks. This improvement is of particular confequence, as there are here twelve miles fquare of rich land, taken almoft in a fquare between Mallow and Corke, one way, and the Bagra mountains and Nagles the other ; upon all which there is not a ftone to interrupt the plough, ibmetimes not a ftone to an acre. He is convinced, from experience, that the woi ft of this vaft tract may be drained, inclofed, limed with fifty barrels, and tilled with a crop of oats on it, for 5!. an acre. In the neigh- bourhood, a great improvement of 1200 acres, without lime or gravel, and badly done yet, at j 2S. an acre, fix-7ths of the county of Corke at as. an acre, one- /th, los. of Kerry, nine-ioths3 at is. andone-ioth at los. Six years ago, Mr. Gordon eftablifhed a linen manufactory, and bleach mill, upon the completeft BLARNEY CASTLE. 33 completed fcale ; a factory of eleven looms for damafk, bleacher's houfe and other buildings, with a refervoir of water for turning the wheel ; the whole well-built, well-contrived, and at the expence of 1200!. Kept thefe looms conftant- ly at work, and at the fame time bleached many-pieces for the country people. Trulted to a manager for the conduct of the works, who broke, which put a flop to them, other- wife there would have been a flourishing ma- nufactory eftablifhed. Spinning flax coming in, but the woollen through the country j and from hence to the north-weft Duhallow Barony is the great country for fpinning cotton. September i £th, to Blarney Cattle, S. J, Jef- ferys, Efq; of whofe great works in building a town at Blarney, I cannot give fo particular an account as I wifb to do ; for I got there juft as he and his family were on the point of fetting out for France. I did not however let (lip the time I had for making fome enquiries, and found that in 1765, when Mr. Jefferys began to build this town, it confifted only of two or three mud cabins ; there are now 90 houfes* He firft ef- tablifhed the linen manufactory, building a bleach-mill, and houfes for weavers, &c. and letting them to manufacturers from Corke, who have been fo fuccefsful in their works, as to find it necefTary to have larger and more nu- merous edifices, llich as a large (tamping mill for printing linens vand cottons, to which is annexed another bleach-mill, and fince there has been a third erected j the work carried on is that of buying yarn> and weaving it into li- VOL. II. C nens. 34 BLARNEY CASTLE, ,nens, ten pence to thirty pence white -, alfo dia- pers, fheeting, ticking, and linens and cot- tons of all forts printed here, for common ufe .and furniture. Thefe feveral branches of the linen, employ 130 looms, and above 300 hands. Another of Mr. JefFerys objects has been the flocking manufacture,which employs 20 frames, and 30 hands, in buildings creeled by him ; the manager employing, by covenant, a certain number of apprentices, in order by their being -inftructed, to diffufe the manufactory* Like- wife a woollen manufactory, a mill for milling, tucking, &c. broad cloths ; a gigg mill for glofi- ing, fmoothing, and laying the grain; and a mill for knapping, which will dreis above 500" pieces a year, but will be more, when fome al- terations now making are finifhed. A leather mill for drefling fhamoy, buck, or fkins, fully •employed. A large bolting mill, juft finifhed, and let for 132!. a year. A mill, annexed to the fame, juit finilhing, for plating; and a blade mill for grinding edged tools. A large paper mill, which will be finifhed this year. He has been able to erect this multiplicity of mills, thirteen in all, by an uncommon command of water. The town is built in a fquare, compofed of a large handfome inn, and manufacturers houfes, all built of excellent ftone, lime, and flate. A church, by the firft fruits, and liberal addition of above 300). from Mr. JefFerys. A market- houfe, in which are fold a hundred pounds worth of knit (lockings per week. Four bridges, which BLARNEY C A S T L g. 35 which he obtained front the county, and ano- ther (the flat arch) to which he contributed a confiderable fum. Much has been done, yet is not the defign near finifhed. To fhew the magnitude of thefe works, and the degree of public good refulting from them, 1 {hall mention the expence at which they have been executed. Refpecting the principal bleach mill, Meffrs. Foreft and Donnoghue, under the linen aft, took 15 acres, at a guinea an acre, upon which they have expended 5000!. in erect- ing a linen mill and bleach green, twenty-five houfes for twenty-five weavers families, four looms in each houfe, a large dwelling-houfe for themfelves or their director ; in each houfe,a man, his wife, three apprentices, two girls and two boys, befides young infants. In a fhort time the farm was increafed, and land, which before had only brought half a guinea, then let for a guinea. The linen board advanced 500!. to this work, and Mr. Jefferys repaid them 1400!. of the 5000!. The old rent of the premifes was 40!. a year, the new rent 71!. Another bleach mill, which coft Mr. Jefferys 300!. to which the board added 300!. and the perfon to whom it is let, 6ool. 40 acres of land, formerly let at iol. a year, go with them. The whole rent now 8ol. To this mill is fince added an oat- mill, which coft 300!. two tuck-mills, 200!. a leather mill and kilns, 150!. two dwelling- -houfes, 300!. A ftamping-mill, which coft Mr. Jefferys 2,300!. to which the board added 300!. promifing loool. more when the works ihould be finifhed, which they have been thefe C 2 V-vo 36 B L A R N E Y C A S T L E. two years. Twelve printing tables are kept go- ing, and fi-xty-five hands employed. Twelve printers. Twelve tire boys. Three print cut- ters. Eighteen bleachmen. Six pencillers. Two tubmen. One clerk. One callender. One manager. Two draughtsmen. Four copper- men. Three carters. Befides the above lums, the manufacturer has laid out 500!. The quantity of land occupied is 25 acres : old rent,. 61. i os. new, 113.1. i^s, A ftockirig factory, for which Mr. Jef- ferys lent 200!. The man laid out 300!. him- felf ; he occupies 50 acres, before Jet at 20! . a year ; now at 76!. us. A gigg-mill, for which Mr. Jefferys lent 300!. till repaid by the Dub- lin Society, who granted 300!. towards it, and the tenant laid out 200!. the quantity of land he has is eleven acres-, let at 5!. los. now at 36!. Amanufaclor^oftapeijTeftablifhed, by which means 6 acres of land are advanced, from 2!. 8s. to 9!. They have three looms going, which makes 102 pieces a day of 36 yards each. The Dublin Society gave 20! . to it. A paper mill, which has coft Mr. Jefferys- uool. and is not yet let. A bolting mill on which he has expended 1 1 col. the tenant 500!. on adding an iron mill. Twenty acres of land,, rent before 9!. los. rent of the whole now 132!. 135* The church has coft Mr. Jefferys 500!. and- the fkft fruits 500!. more. The" new inn, 250!. and the tenant 300!. more. Seventy acres of land, before at 20!. a year, now at 83!. 95. A dwelling-houfe, 250!. tcr which the tenant added 500!. Ninety acres BLARNEY CASTLE. 37 acres of land, before let at 54!. the new rent is 74!. Twelve cottages, and a lime-kiln, which coft 280!. Two dwelling-houfes and a forge, which coft him 150!. and to which parliament granted 250!. more. Upon the whole, there- fore, Mr. JefFerys has expended 7,630!. in thefe eftablifhments. Of public money there has been added 2,170!. and the tenants themfelves laid out 9,050!. in all, expended here 18,850!. befides what Mr. JefFerys laid out on bridges, &c. in the whole, very near, if not full, 2D,oool. upon matters of a public nature. In all thefe eftablifhments, he has avoided under- taking or carrying on any of the manufac- tures upon his own account, from a conviclion that a gentleman can never do it without fuffer- ing very confiderabiy. His obje£i: was to form a town, to give employment to the people, and to improve the value of his eftate by fo doing; in all which views it muft be admitted, that the near neighbourhood of fo confiderable a place as Corke very much contributed : the fame means which he has purfued would, in all fitu- ations, be probably the rnoft advifeable, though the returns made might be lefs advantageous. Too much can fcarcely be faid in praife of the fpirit with which a private gentleman has ex- ecuted thefe works, which would undoubtedly do honour to the greater! fortune. To animate others to tread in fuch laudable fteps, I may remark, that even the profit of thefe undertakings is too much to be entirely forgotten; the expences are by no means bar- ren ones; 327 acres let before thefe works at 167!. 38 DUNKETTLE, 167!. i8s. let afterwards at 682!. 8s. Profit 508!. i os. without reckoning any thing for two dwelling-hpufes, a forge, twelve cottages, and a lime-kiln, which may moderately be reck- oned at 25!. a year, and yet let at rents of fa- vour, in all 533!. ios. which from 7630!. 137 per cent. There, however, is no agriculture improvement that would not, with much greater certainty of continuance, pay 17. At the fame time, however, there is a greater reverfionary advantage in the benefit refulting from the in- creafing of the rents at the expiration of the leafes, upon undertaking thele works, the longeft of which is for no more than three lives. Another advanrage which is felt already, is, the rife in the prices of produces at Blarney, which is a direct premium to agriculture, to the farmer, and to the landlord. Dairy cows, on all the adjacent farms, arofe in two years from 3l.to 4l.a cow,as the weavers were happy to get milk and butter at the tame price they fold for in Corke. The fame rife took place on corn, potatoes, &c. Mr. JefFerys, befides the above eflablifhments, has very much improved Blar- ney Caflle and its environs ; he has formed an extenfive ornamented ground, which is laid out with confiderable taftej an extenfive plantati- on furrounds a large piece of water, and walks lead through the whole ; there are feveral very pretty fequeftered fpots where covered benches are placed. Accompanied Mr. Jefferys, &c. to Dun- kettie, the feat of Dominick Trent, Efq; who with a liberality of fentiment which renders him D U N K E T T L E. 39 him defervedly efreemed, took every meafure I could vvifli for my information. The road leads very beautifully on the fide of the har- bour under a fhoreof boldhills, on Which 'are many villas and forne plantations, for the following particulars concerning the neigh- bourhood, I am indebted to Mr. Trent, On the fouth fide of the river, &c. the foil is a fine lime-ftone '; the country level for a mile or two, then fvvelling into very gentle hills. On the north fide, which is much better planted, particularly at Lota, Dunkettle,&c. the ground rifes in bold aicents, adorned with many bean- tifully-fituated country-houfes. Here the ftra- turn is brown, or rather red {tone, and the fur- face (hallow ; in fome places a burning gravel. There is a good deal of arable land on the fides of the hills. The courfe of crops : I. Potatoes. 2. Wheat. 3. Barley or oats. 4. Lay down with feeds. Potatoes yield per acre from lol, to 20!. Average quantity fifty barrels, at eighteen flone each. Land manured and let to labourers for planting, at four or five guineas an acre. Wheat from feven to ten barrels of twenty ftone, at 2os. a barrel ; average price from 198. to 243. per barrel. The manures are Corke dung of the richeilkind, efpecially in the flaughtering fea- fon ; fea fand for tillage, and bank fand from the river for grafs grounds. There is water- carriage to the eadward for many miles : feve- ral good quays for landing manure, particular. 40 D U N K E T T L E. ly one atGlanmire, near Dunkettle, from which the inland inhabitants draw the manure four or five miles in one-horfe carts. Lime is alfo much ufed at a fhilling a barrel. The mea- dows in this country yield from H to 3 tons of hay per acre, at 403. to 455. per ton on an average. Dairies are let to dairymen at 4 to 5 guineas a cow. Many fheep are kept on the hills, but none folded. The diet of the poor is potatoes and milk, with fome fiih in the her- ring and fprat feafon. Labourers houfes from 258. to 405. a year. Fuel a very little coal, the reft fupplied by bufhes, ftolen faggots, &c. as there is no turf in this part of the country. Price of labour 6d. per day through the year, on a pinch in harveft 8d. fometimes more, but within the liberties of the city generally 8d. Women jd. and 4d. a day in reeking corn : children from id. to 3d. in picking ftones, &c. Moft employed in country bufmefs ; a few at fome bolting iron and paper-mills in the neigh- bourhood. From fourteen acres of orchard Mr. Trent makes fixty hogfheads a year of cy- der ; a clear acre of good trees about feven hogfheads. His hogs he feeds on the bull po- tatoes, whjch yield great crops without dung, and for two or three years fucceffively. September i6th, to Cove by water, from Mr. Trent's quay. The view of Lota is charming ; a fine rifing lawn from the water, with noble fpreading woods reaching on each fide ; the houfe a very pleafing front, with lawn Ihoot- ing into the woods. The river forms a creek between D U N K E T T L E. 41 between two hills, one Lota, the other opening to another hill of inclofures well wooded. As the boat leaves the fliore nothing can be finer than the view behind us j the back woods of Lota, the houfe and lawn, and the high bold inclofures towards Corke, form the fineft fhore imaginable, leading to Corke the city appearing in full view, Dunkettle wooded inclofures, a fine fweep of hill, joining Mr. Hoare's at Faclory- hill, whofe woods have a beautiful effect. Dun- kettle houfe almoft loft in a wood. As we ad- vance, the woods of Lota and Dunkettle unite in one fine mafs. The fheet of water, the rif- ing lawns, the houfe in the moft beautiful fitu- ation imaginable, with more woods above it than lawns below it, the weft fhore of Loch Mahon, a very fine rifmg hill cut into inclo- fures, but without wood, landlocked on every fide with high lands, fcattered with inclofures, woods, feats, &c. with every chearful circum- ftance of lively commerce, has all together a great effect. Advancing to Paflage the fhores are various, and the fcenery enlivened by four- fcore fail of large fhips ; the little port of Paf- fage at the water's edge, with the hills rifing boldly above it. The channel narrows be- tween the great ifland and the hills of PafTage. The fhores bold, and the fhips fcattered about them, with the inclofures hanging behind the mafts and yards, picturefque. Palling the ftreights a new bafon of the harbour opens, furrounded with high lands. Mor.k's-town- caftle on the hill to the right, and the grounds of Bally bricken, a beautiful intermixed fcene of wood 42 DUNKETTLfc. wood and lawn. The high fhore of the har- bour's mouth opens gradually. The. whole fcene is landlocked. The firft view of Hawl- bowling-ifland and Spike-ifland, high rocky lands, with the channel opening to Cove., where are a fleet of (hips at anchor, and Roftellan, Lord Inchiquin's houfe, backed with hills, a fcenery that wants nothing but the accompany- ment of wood. The view of Baliybricken changes; it now appears to be unfortunately cut into right lines. Arrived at the (hip at Cove ; in the evening returned, leaving Mr. Jefferys and family on board for a voyage to Havre, in their way to Paris. Dunkettle is one of the moil beautiful places I have feen in Ireland. It is a hill of fome hundred acres broken into a great variety of ground, by gentle declivities, with every where an undulating outline, and the whole varied by a confiderable quantity of wood, which in fome places is thick enough to take the appearance of elofe groves, in others fpreads into fcattered thickets and a variety of fingle groups. This hill, or rather clutter of hills, isfurrounded on one fide by a reach of Corkeharbour,over which it looks in themoft advantageous manner j and on the other by an irignous vale, through which flows the river Qlanmire: the oppofite fhore of that river has every variety than can •unite to form pleafing landfcapes for the views from Dunkettle grounds -, in fome places nar- row glens, the bottoms of which are quite filled with water, and the fteep banks covered with DUN" KETTLE, 43 r with thick woods that fpread a deep fhade ; in. others the vale opens to form the fite of a pretty chearful village, over hung by hill and wood : here the fhore rifes gradually into large inclofures, which fpread over the hills, ftretch-r ing beyond each other ; and there the vale melts again into a milder variety of fields. A hill thus fituated, and confiding in itfelf of fo much variety of furface, muft necefiarily command many pleafing views ; to enjoy thefe to the bet- ter advantage, Mr. Trent (than whom no one has a better tafte both to difcover and defcribe the beauties of natural fcenes) is making a walk around the whole, which is to bend to the inequalities of the ground, fo as to take the principal points in view. The whole is fo beautiful, that if I was to make the regular de- tour, the defcription might be too minute : but there are fome points which gave me fo much pleafure, that I know not how to avoid recom- mending to others that travel this way to tafte the fame fatisfaclion : from the upper part of the orchard you look down a part of the river, where it opens into a regular bafon, one corner jlretching up to Cork, loft behind the hill of Lota, the lawn of which breaks on the fwelling hills among the woods 5 the houfe obfcured, and therefore feeming a part of your home fcenej the lofing the river behind the beautiful projection of Lota, is more pleafing than can be exprefled. The other reach, leading to the the harbour's mouth, is half hidden by the trees which margin the foot of the hill on which you ftand : in front a noble range of cultivated hills, 44 DUNKETTLE. hills, the inclofures broken by flight fpots of wood, and prettily varied with houfes, without being fo crowded as to take off the rural efFec~l. The fcene is not only beautiful in thofe common circumftances which form a landfcape, but is alive with the chearfulnefs of fhips and boats perpetually moving. Upon the whole, it is gne of the moft luxuriant profpec~ls I have any where feen. Leaving the orchard pafs on the brow of a hill which forms the bank of the river of Glanmire, commanding the oppofite woods of Lota in all their beauty. Rife to the top of the high hill whichjoins the deer-park, and exhibits a fcene equally extenfive and beautiful ; you look down on a vale which winds almoft around at your feet, finifliing to the left in Corke river, which here takes the appearance of a lake, bounded by wood and hills, and funk in the bottom of a vale, in a flyle which painting cannot imitate ; the oppo- fite hills of Lota, wood, and lawn, feem form- ed as objecls for this point of view : at your feet a hill rifes out of the vale, with higher ones around it, the margins fcattered wood; to the right, towards Riverftown, a vale ; the whole backed by cultivated hills to Kallahan's field. Milder fcenes follow -, a bird's-eye view of a fmall vale funk at your feet, through which the river flows ; a bridge of feveral arches unites two parts of a beautiful village, the meadow grounds of which rife gently, a varied furface of wood and lawn, to the hills of Riverftovvn, the whole furrounded by delicious iweeps of cultivated hills. To the left, a wooded glen rifing DUNKETTLE. 45 rifing from the vale to the horizon, the fcenery lequeftered, but pleafing; the oak wood which hangs on the deer-park hill, an addition. Down, to the brow of the hill, where it hangs over the river, a picturefque interefting fpot. The in- cloiures on the oppofite bank hang beautifully to the eye, and the wooded glen winds up the hill. Returning to the houfe I was conducted to the hill, where the grounds flope off to the river of Corke, which opens to view in noble reaches of a magnitude that fills the eye and the imagination : a whole country of a character truly magnificent, and behind the winding vale which leads between a feries of hills to Glan- mire. Pictures at Dunkettle. A St. Michael, &c. the fubjecl: confufed, by Michael Angelo. A St. Francis on wood, a large original of Guido. A St. Cecilia, original of Romanelli. An aifumption of the virgin, by L. Carracci. A quaker's meeting, of above fifty figures, by Egbert Hemikerk. A fea view and rock piece, by Vernet. A fmall flagella- tion, by Sebaftian del Piombo. A madonna and child, fmall, by Rubens. The crucifixion, many figures in miniature, excellent, tho' the mailer is unknown. An excellent copy of the famous Danae of Titian, at Monte Cavallo, near Na- ples, by Cioffi of Naples. Another of the Venus of Titian, at the tribuna in Florence. Another of Venus blinding Cupid, by Titian, at the Pa- lazzo Borghefe in Rome. Another of great merit 46 CASTLE MARTYR. merit of the madonna Delia Sedia of Raphael, at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, by Stirn, a German, lately at Rome. Another of an holy family, from Raphael, of which there are faid to be three originals, one at the king's palace in Naples, one in the palais royal in Paris, and the third in the collection of Lord Exeter, lately purchafed at Rome. A portrait of Sir Patrick Trent, by Sir P. Lely. An excellent portrait of a perfon unknown, by Dahl. September i/th, toCaftlemartyr, the feat of the earl of Shannon, one of the moft diftin- guifhed improvers in Ireland, in whom I found the moft earneft defire to give me every fpecies of information, with a knowledge and ability which enabled him to do it moft effectually. PafTed through Middleton, a well built place, which belongs to the noble lord to whom it gives title. Caftiemartyr is an o-ld houfe, but much added to by the prefent earl; he has built, befides other rooms, a dining one 32 feet long by 22 broad, and a drawing one, the beft rooms I have feen in Ireland, a double cube of 25 feet, being 50 long, 25 broad, and 25 high* The grounds about the houfe are very well laid out} much wood well grown, confiderable lawns, a river made to wind through them in a beautiful manner, an old caftle fo perfectly covered with ivy as to be a picturefque object. A winding walk leads for a confiderable diftance along the banks of this river, and prefents fe- veral pleafing landfcapes. But let me haften to objects of more importance: Lord Shannon's huibandry C A STLEMA RT YR. 47 hufbandry confifls of many circumftances. I fhall begin with TURNIP S, Which Lord Shannon has cultivated upon a very large fcale, as will appear from the fol- lowing particulars. His father began the cul- ture many years ago, which he continued till 1770, and then went largely into it. He had every year, from 1770 to 1774 both inclufive, lixteen acres, and in 1775, twenty-four. Has cultivated them in both broad caft and the drill method the rows at three feet j but finding that the roots became too large, altered his method to eighteen inches, in order to have more of them j the lize will be feen by the fol- lowing account. Caftkmart} V, December 2 1 ft, 1771. I this day meafured a fquare perch of tur- nips, i64- feet, drilled in rows three feet apart* there were 84 turnips on this perch, they weigh- ed 7 cwt. 2 qrs. which I compute to be 60 tuns to the Engliih acre ; and there were vacant fpa- ces in the rows within this perch where the turnips had failed, that would have held at leaft ten large turnips more. I then pulled 84 tur- nips, the largeft I could fee, within about fif- teen yards of the above perch, and they weighed 15 cwt. i5qrs. i7lb. which is about 125 ton, 29 cwt. 2olb. I weighed two of the above turnips feparately, one of them a white tan- kard, they each weighed 32lb. The white Nor- 48 CASTLEMARTYR. Norfolk was three feet eight inches in circum- ference. N. B. I neither manured nor burned the ground; it was naturally goodj I tilled it well, and hoed the crop, carefully. SHANNON. One of the above turnips Lord Shannon took with him to the Dublin Society, where it was feen by the whole city; but from my tour through the kingdom, I am afraid it did not animate fo many as it ought. Thefe large turnips were not raifed in any peculiar fpot, but were part of a field of eight or ten acres. The application of the crop has been generally by drawing and giving them to fheep on dry paftures; all forts of fheep, but particularly fat ewes, they fattened admirably. Finds that the great benefit of the culture is having them near a very dry field, in order to manage them as above-mentioned. He has found that they will do exceedingly well without manuring, efpeci- ally if the land is an old rough pafture, or which wants to be broken up ; fallowed well and tho- roughly ploughed, produces great crops. Sea- weed his lordfhip has tried for them, fpread about the thicknefs of dung, and it gave pro- digious produces. Upon the whole, he is clear- ly of opinion, that nothing can be more bene- ficial to the agriculture of Ireland than intro- ducing this culture, and fo well convinced of this, that he has always fhewn his crops to far- mers, weighed them before them, fhewed the cattle CASTLEMARTYR. 49 cattle fed, and took every pains to make them come into the culture, but in vain. As a pre- paration of corn they are incomparable; he has had very great crops of barley after them, fuch as were laid with every heavy rain from luxu- riance. Wheat alfo he has fown after them, and got eight barrels an acre from feven (lone of feed. CABBAGES Lord Shannon cultivated alfo : generally had five or fix acres for four or five years j the fort the flat Dutch, and got very fine crops. Gave them to cattle of all forts, who eat them very greedily and did better upon them than upon turnips, but would not laft longer than Chriflmas, otherwife would have preferred them. The crops of corn after them neither better nor worfe than after turnips. Tried alfo the Scotch and other forts, but preferred the flat Dutch to any other. One great objection to both cab- bages and turnips is the raildnefs of the feafon in Ireland, which is fo great as to burft the cabbages, and make the turnips run to feed be- fore their time. As to the grafs fpringing fo faft in -winter, as to prevent the neceflity of the culture, he does not rind it. Cabbages mud be well manured for. POTATOES. Lord Shannon planted eighteen acres of po- tatoes with the plough, manuring only the fur- VOL. II. D rows ; 50 CASTLEMARTYR. rows i horfe and hand-hoed them perfectly, to keep them free from weeds ; did it twice, and purpofed oftener, but the growth of the crop was fo luxuriant that neither the horfe nor hoe could get through them. Took them up with the plough, and the crop proved exceedingly good, far better than they would have been in the common method. DRILL HUSBANDRY. Lord Shannon's expreflion of this mode to me was excellent, Ireadmyfelfintoit, and work- ed my f elf out of it. He tried it with wheat, horfe and hand-hoeing it perfectly, and got a very fine crop; an unexceptionable one for the mode, but the produce was not equal to the common way, while the expenfe, trouble, and attention, were endlefs, fo that he was convinced, even by his fuccefs, that it could not be a beneficial mode of culture. For turnips alfo he prefers very much the broad-caft mode, and never be- gan the drill method but as an eafe of hoeing. SOILING. Soiling horfes, &c. in fummer, with grafs mown every day, Lord Shannon has praclifed greatly, and finds it highly beneficial, and particularly for raifmg great quantities of dung. SEA- C AS TLE M A RT YR, 51 SEA-SAND AND LIME. The manures which Lord Shannon ufes are fea-fand and lime. He prefers the latter for brown flaty ftone land, and fand for lime- ftone land : has ufed great quantities of it, though four to fix miles from the fea. In one month he has brought 6719 barrels of it, at 5d. a barrel, or 139!. 195. gi-d. for 67 acres, at 100 barrels an acre, and afterwards 50 more for a fecond drefting : the effect of it is very great, particularly in bringing daifies (bellis) on very poor land, and white clover when laid on good grafs lands. If a bag breaks, and Tome accidentally falls on a wafte, the man gathers it up as clear as he can, yet it is lure to bring a patch of white clover. .Lime his lordfhip burns in a long-necked kiln, which he finds to anfwer-fo well, that one barrel of culm burns ten of lime. He lets the kiln, and buys the lime at is. 4cl. a barrel. Draws 26 bar- rels a day. The culm 43. a barrel. The la- bourers hire id. a barrel, for quarrying, break- ing, and burning. BOUNTIES. Lord Shannon's bounties to labourers a- mount to 50!. a year. He gives them. by vv.iy of encouragement; but only to fuch as can fpeak Englilh, and do fomething more than n'J a cart. D 2 DITpHES. •' 52 CASTLEMARTYR. DITCHES. His Lordfhip has made fome ditches "of an extraordinary dimenfionj the following feg- ment : 6f. 4f.6i. 13 f. 6i. 10 f. The center of 1 3. feet 6 inches, is a terrafs be- tween two ditches, broad enough to plant a hedge on each fide of it, and have a riding be-4 tween them : it is moft completely done, and will anfwer the double purpofe perfectly. He is alfo doing a good deal in the following dimenftons : CO 8 feet 6 i. CO / ^ which cofts a (hilling a perch, a double row of quick, and a walk or ride between. LINEN CASTLEMARTYR. 53 LINEN MANUFACTORY. Lord Shannon eftablifhed a factory atClogh- nickelty, in the year 1769, a bleach yard of feventeen acres of land, with mills, &c. for bleaching the pieces that are wove in the neigh- bourhood. There are 94 looms at work in the town, lool. a week laid out in yarn, and at three fairs, iSool. the amount of which is 7000!. a year ; the cloth chiefly coarfe: and this eftablifhment has had great effect in in- creafing the manufactures in the neighbour- hood. COMPOSTS. He is exceedingly attentive in forming com- pofts. A river runs through Caftlemartyr, part of which is often full of fand and mud ; this he empties periodically and mixes it with lime. In one field I faw larger compoft heaps of thefe materials, than I remember any where elfe to have obferved; one of thefe was 105 yards long, nine broad, and four feet high, containing cubical yards 1260 Another, 78 and 8 broad, and 4 feet high 832 Another, 155 by 5, and 4 feet high - 1033 Another, 76 by 5, and 4 feet high - - 506 Total 3631 Among thefe hills were 2000 barrels, or Scoo bufhels of lime mixed : after this it is need- 2 lefs 54 CASTLEMARTYR. lefs to fay, that he manures his land with un- common fpirit. WASTE LAND. His Lordfhip has reclaimed 109 acres of furze land, which he has eradicated, and brought to a very profitable foil. WALLING. Lord Shannon has inclofed 380 acres with a molt excellent wall, eight feet and a halfhigh under the coping, and 8 inches above it. The wall is two feet thick at bottom, and 18 inches at top, and cofts 45. per perch, or il. i6s. running meafure. - BARN. The beft built barn I have feen in Ireland, is at Caftle Martyr. The bays and threfhing floor are fourteen feet high, and over them are two ftories for granaries, the firft eight feet two inches high, and the upper one eight feet nine inches, befides the roof, with a door in the cen- ter of the floors, and a wheel for winding facks up. It is built in fuch a manner, the doors, &cc. fo plated every where at the edges with iron, that it is impoffible a moufe fhould -get in or out ; or that a rat fhould any where gnaw his way in. Upon clearing it laft year, about twenty mice were found, that had been carried in in the fhcafs, a little ftraw was laid for CASTLEMARTYR. 55 for them in a corner, and the barn (hut for a fortnight, at the end of which time they were found alive, and killed, not one being able to efcape. I have feen very fine barns built in England, on capt ftones, into which no vermin could get, unlefs carried in, but when they were carried in they had a million of ways to get out. BULLOCKS DRAWN BY THE HORNS. Lord Shannon upon going into tillage, found that the expenfe of horfes was fo great, that it eat up all the profit of the farm; which made him determine to ufe bullocks ; he did it in the common method of yokes and bows, but they performed fo indifferently, and with fuch manifeft uneafmefs, that he imported the French method of drawing by the horns ; and in order to do this effectually, he wrote to a perfon at Bourdeaux to hire him a man who was practi- fed in that method. Upon the correfpondent being applied to, he reprefented difficulties at- tending it, the man who was fpoken to having been in Germany for the fame purpofe. Upon which Lord Shannon gave directions that every thing fhould be bought and fent over which the labourer wifhed to bring with him. Accord- ingly, a bullock of the bed fort, that had been worked three years, was purchafed; alfo a hay- cart, a plough, harrows, and all the tackle for harnefling them by the horns, which, with the man, were fent over. His falary was to be 400 livers a year, with board, &c. The bul- lock 56 CASTLEMARTYR. lock, 218 livres; tackle for two bullocks, 36. Two carts, 314. A plough and harrow, 123, which, with other expenfes, carne to 45!. 175. and freight i61. i6s. Upon the whole, the experiment coft, from firft to laft, to bring it thoroughly to bear, about an hundred pounds. His Lordmip is perfuaded, that the firft year of his introducing it at large on his farm, faved him the whole. He has purfued the me- thod ever fince, and with the greateft fuccefs. fie finds the bullocks fo perfectly at their eafe, that it is a pieafure to fee them 5 for firft break- ing up lays, and for crofs ploughing, he ufes four, but in all fucceeding earths, only two; nor more for the firft ploughing of ftubbles : I faw fix ploughs doing this in a wheat ftubble, and they did it five or fix inches deep with great eafe. Upon firft introducing it, there was a combination among all his men againft the practice, but Lord Shannon was determin- ed to carry his point; in this matter, he followed a courfe that had all imaginable fuccefs : one lively fenfible boy took to the oxen, and worked them readily. His Lordfhip at once advanced this boy to eight pence a day : this did the bufinefs at once ; others followed the example, and fince that he has had numbers who could manage them, and plough as well as the Frenchman. They plough an acre a day with eafe; and carry very great loads of corn and hay, coals, 6cc. Four bullocks in the French cart brought twelve barrels of coals, {hip meafure, each 5 cwt. or three 'tons, but the tackle of the fore C A S T L E M A R T Y R. 57 fore couple breaking, the other two drew the load above a mile to a forge. Two of them drew 35 cwt. of flag ftonc, three miles with eafe ; but Lord Shannon does not in common work them in this manner, three tons he thinks a proper load for four bullocks. Upon the bai- liff, Mr. Berc, mentioning loads drawn bythefe oxen, that appeared tome moft extraordinarily great, I exprefled many doubts; his Lordfhip immediately ordered the French harveft cart to be loaded half a mile from the reeks : it was done 3 1020 iheafs of wheat were laid' on it, and two oxen drew it without difficulty; we then weighed forty fheafs, the weight 25ilb. at which rate the 1020 came to 6375 Ib. or above three tons, which is a vaft weight for two oxen to draw ; I am very much in doubt whether in yoaks they would have ftirred the cart fo loaded. Lord Shannon has an excellent way of ma- naging all his cattle in one circumftance, which is to mark them on the horn with numbers, and keeps a book ruled in columns, and en- graved, by which means, on turning to the number, he fees every particular of the bead, which are inferted in the columns. He trains them for work at three to four years old, gent- ly breaking them in at once, without any dif- ficulty. The common hufbandry about Caftle Mar- tyr, will be feen from the following account, for which particulars I am obliged to the atten- tion 58 C A S T L E M A R T Y R. tion of this patriotic nobleman, who took every method to have me well informed. Farms rife from one hundred to three hundred acres, but fome to one thoufand, of which (ize Lord Middleton has one. Farms not taken in part- nerihip fo much as in other parts ; two or three will take a farm of thirty or forty acres, but It is not general. The foil is various ; the vale, from Carricktowel to Killay, of ten or twelve miles long, and four over, is of lime-ftone ; the hills, are brown ftone ; the loam upon it is from three inches to eight feet, ftrong, rich and dry in winter, and good turnip land. "hefe iime-ftone rocks are full of cavities, and fubterraneous paflages, fo that if you cut a drain to carry water off, and touch upon a lime ftone rock, probably all will find its way. Rent of the barony of Imokilly, on an average, twelve (hillings an acre ; Kilnatalton, eight (hillings. A third part of the county is wade land, the price of which is rifen extremely in a few years; rent, one fhilling ; the reft of the county, eight (hillings. The courfe of crops ; 1. Potatoes, upon clay ground, dunged and ploughed at 3!. plant fix barrels at two and a half cwt. produce 50 to i oo barrels j potatoes fell 2s. to 45. a barrel. 2. Wheat, fow twelve ftone, produce five barrels, 3. Oats, on one ploughing, fow a barrel of fourteen ftone, crop eight barrels. Some poor CASTLEMARTYR. 59 poor people take one or two more crops of oats. 4. Lay out for grafs from two to twelve years. They fometimes burn for potatoes, efpecially on the abfentee eftates, and get as good crops, as in the other way. Expence of an acre of potatoes. Rent 300 Seed — o 1 8 o Planting and trenching, forty days of a man i o o Taking up and carrying home, &c. — I o o Tythe — — — 060 £•6- PRODUCE. Seventy barrels at 35. — 10 10 o Expences — — — 640 Profit — — — £.4 A difpute arifing upon the produce of po- tatoes, Lord Shannon ordered fome fpades fquare (each 54. feet) to be taken up, and weigh- ed them ; the weight, on an average, 1 903. per fpade, or 108 barrels per acre, each 252 ib. that is, 12 weights to the barrel, each 2ilb. Thefe were his own potatoes, and not an extra crop at all, Barley is fometimes put in in ft ead of oats, and 60 CASTLEMARTYR. and here inftead of wheat. A crop of bere produces 10 barrels ; barley yields 8. No tur- nips or rape. A few of the better farmers fo\v ciover, but the number very inconfiderable. Flax is ibwn by few of the common people in patches. Paring and burning is called graf- ting and burning is practifed by the common farmers, upon fuch eftates as their landlords will permit. They manure with fea fand for corn, and fea weed for potatoes ; they will car- ry them three miles from the fea: all make com- pofts of fand and earth. Dairies are numerous, from twenty to fifty cows fet at 3!. a COY/. The dairyman has his privilege, which is an acre of land for every ten cows, a good houfe and dairy j a collop for every 10 cows, and will keep 8 or 10 pigs. If not paid in money, it is onecwt. of butter and i as. in money. A cow that gives two gallons a day the dairyman can- not reject : it will take three acres- to a cow, but privilege and all is four acres. Very few flocks in this country ; Mr. Robert Fitz- gerald has 1000 to 1500 : but the number too few to be worth mentioning. The poor peo- ple all keep a collop or two of fheep, with which they clothe themlelves. They plough gene- rally with four horfes, fow with two, and ufe ploughs of fo bad a conitru(5tion, that a man attends them with a ftrongftick leaning on the beam to keep it in the ground. Land fells at twenty-five years purchafe. Rents have not fallen ; for very little of it is let at more than its value. Tythes are every where C AS T L EM A RT Y R. 61 where valued by the proclor by the acre. No emigrations from the county of Corke. The religion is almoft univerfally catholic. Build- ing a common cabbin 5!. two of ftone, &c. for 31!. jos. They carry half a barrel of fea fand on horfeback, fourteen miles from Corke to the mountains of Barrymore, and to Mr. Cop- pinger's, twenty-four miles, and it improves much for tillage : bat it is carried when not to mountains in cars : it is not found to be ib good as lime. There is a woollen trade at Caftle Martyr : Mr. James Pratt in particular buys wool in Tipperary and at Ballynafloe. The beft is the Connaught ; it is the fineft, and is fhort ; the longeft is in the county of Carlovv and Tip- perary. In Carlovv they keep the fheep fatten- ing a year longer, after buying in Tipperary. Tippefary wool 5lb. Carlow 61b. Connaught 4-^lb. In Ibrting, the fine belly wool is fepa- rated, thefinerwill make cloth of los. or 123. a yard. The back and fides are laid by for combing, the other is carded ; about four fifths of the fleece is combed. Combs in his own houfe, employing 16 to 20 hands; pays them by the ball, 3d. each of 24 oz. and they earn 8 s. a week ; thefe balls are given out to the poor people to fpin, employing above a thoufand fpinners. They fpin a ball from n to 13 fkain in four days, attending their fa- mily befides. The value is 2s. 8d. per ball : are paid 9d. a ball. In this way of doing it there are not many tricks, being in general very 62 C A STL EM ART YR. very honeft. For u fkains, 8d. — 12 — ad. 13 — lod. — 14 — i id. They are forted and packed in packs of 180 balls, which fell at 30!. a pack. It was never known to be higher than lall year: twenty years ago it was 25!. a pack, about a fourth of what is fpun in this part of the kingdom, is worked up at home. The trade has been a rifing one for two years. Edward Roche, Efq; of Kildining, gave me, at Caftle Martyr, the following account of fome improvements he has made. Has done 250 acres of mountain, and began upon 50 of bog ; the former with paring and burning with ploughs, at 75. and cutting and burning, 53. 6d. in June and July. Limes with the afhes, 50 bar- rels per acre, at 47 gallons, or 75, at 5d. Spread and plough in April or May ; then fet to poor people, at 303. an acre. They trench in po- tatoes in the common way, get on an average fixty barrels, then trench in rye or black oats, fix men to an acre ; crops fix barrels of rye, 20 ftone per barrel, at 7$. or 8s. and black oats, 10 kilderkins, at 1 1 ftone ; then white oats, 8 barrels, fowgrafs feeds one barrel, with them, and 81b. white clover, and 2lb. rib-grafs. The land before not 6d. an acre, could let it now at 78. Ploughs with fix bullocks firft, and four afterwards. Potatoe ftalks he carries to his pound, but in general are left in heaps in the field, and are a nuifance to ploughing. In Wicklow, they bleed their horfes and cows, and mix the blood with meal for food. From C A 8 T L E M A R Y. 6} From Caftle Martyr, September 20, to Caftle Mary, the feat of Longfield, Efq; who keeps a great quantity of land in his hands. Has cultivated the potatoes, called here bulls, that is, the Englifh cliifter, very much for cat- tle, but nobody will eat them ; he has from fix to eleven acres yearly : plants them in the common manner, and gets 120 barrels an acre, of 20 ftone each. I faw a fpade of five feet and a half fquare, dug the produce 23lb. on very poor land. On fand and fea weed the fame fpace of London ladies, weighed 27 Ib. Ma- nures for them with fea fand and weed, bat not with dung ; gives them to his horfes and. bullocks : and when he gives his horfes pota- toes, they have no oats. It is furprifing to fee how fond horfes are of them ; they do very well on them raw, but the beft way is to boil them, as they will then fatten the horfes. The bul- locks are equally fond of them, and will follow him to eat them out of his hand. Sheep are the fame, and will get into the fields to fcrape them up : upon the whole, Mr. Longfield is per- fuaded that no root or crop in the world is more beneficial to a farmer than this potatoe, fo that he fhould have continued in turnips, which he has cultivated largely but has found this root fo perfectly ufeful, that he has ex- perienced the abfolute dependence which may be placed on them for winter provifion of ail forts. And what is of infinite confequence, the culture may be extended to what quantity you pleafe, without the afliflance of dung, with- out which other potatoes cannot be managed. Mr. 64 R O S T E L L A N. Mr. Longfield eftablimed the linen manu- facture here three years ago, by building a bleach mill and bleach green ; he has 14 looms conftantly at work upon his own account, who are paid for what they manufacture by the yard. The fort generally made is from goo to 1400, and makes 650 pieces of 25 yards length, annually ; fells, at prefent, from 233. to 305. a piece. The factory employs 50 hands ; bleaches great quantities for the poor people. A great many weavers are fcattered about the country, who bring their webs, &c. to be bleached here. The flax is raifed, and the yarn fpun at Clanikilty and Rofs, &c. in the weft of the county. No woollen manufacture is carried on in this country. Mr. Longfield has always ploughed with oxen, which he has found far more advantageous than horfes. Clover he has cultivated long with very great fuccefs, and finds it highly beneficial. The county of Corke two-thirds wafte, at a very low or no rate, the other third at 153* September 2 1 ft to Roftellan, the feat of Lord Inchiquin, commanding a beautiful view of Corke harbour, the (hips at Cove, the great ifland, and the two others which guard the opening of the harbour. It appears here a noble bafon of feveral miles extent, furrounded with high grounds, which want no other ad- dition but woods. This view is. feen in great perfection from the windows of two very good rooms, 25 by 35, which his Lordfhip has built in addition to the old caftle. From C O R K E. 65 From Roftellan to Lota, the feat of Frederick Rogers, Efq; I had before feen it in the high- efl perfection from the water going from Dun- kettle to Cove, and from the grounds of Dun- kettle. Mrs. Rogers was fo obliging as to fhew me the back grounds, which are admirably wooded, and of a fine varied furface. Got to Corke in the evening, and waited on the Dean, who received me with the moft flat- tering attention. Corke is one of the moft po- pulous places I have ever been in ; it was market- day, and I could fcarce drive through the ftreets, they were fo amazingly thronged : on the other days, the number is very great. I fhould fnp- pofe it mufl refemble a Dutch town, for there are many canals in the ftreets, with quays be- fore the houfes. The beft built part is Morri- fon's Iflan'd, which promifes well ; the old part of the town is very clofe and dirty. As to its commerce, the following particulars I owe to Robert Gordon, Efq; the furveyor general. Average of nineteen years export,, ending March 24, 1773. Hides, at il. each — 64,000 Bay and woollen yarn 294^000 Gutter, at 305 per cwt. from 565. to 725. — i8-:,ooo feeef, at 2os. a barrel — Camblets, ferges, &c. — Candles Carried over £.904,190 Soap VOL. II. E 66 C O R K E. Brought over - • Q^?1^ Soap — — — 20,000 Tallow 2?»ooo Herrings, 1810 35,000!.- all their own — 21, coo Glue, 20 to 25,000 22,000 Pork - - 64,000 Wool to England — — 14,000 Small exports, Gottenburgh herrings, horns, hoofs, &c. feather-beds, palliafles, feathers, &c. 35,000 jf. 1,100,190 Average prices of the 19. years on the cuftom books. All exports on thofe books are rated at the value of the reign of Charles the Se- cond ; but the imports have always 10 per cent, on the flvorn price added to them. Se- venty to eighty fail of fhips belong to Corke. Average of (hips that entered that port in thofe 19 years, 872 per annum. The number of people at Corke muttered by the clergy, by hearth-money, and by the number of houfes, payments to niinifter, average of the three, 67,000 fouls, if taken before the ifl of Sep- tember, after that 20,000 increafed. There are 700 coopers in the town. Barrels, all of oak or beech, all from America : the latter for herrings, now from Gottenburgh and Norway. The excife of Corke now no more than in Charles the Second's reign. Ridi- culous ! Cork old duties, in 1751 > produced £.62,000 Now the fame 14.0,000 Bullocks C O R K E. 67 Bullocks 16,000 head, 32,000 barrels ; 41,000 hogs, 20,000 barrels. Butter 22,000. Firkins of half a hundred weight each, both increafe this year, the whole being 240,000 firkins of butter 120,000 barrels of beef. Export of woollen yarn from Corke, 300,000!. a year in the Irifh market. No wool fmug- gled, or at lead very little. The wool comes to Corke, &c. and is delivered out to combers, who make it into balls. Thefe balls^are bought up by the French agents at a vaft price, and exported ; but even this does not amount to 40,000 1. a year. PRICES. Beef, 21 s. per cwt. never fo high by 2S. 6d. Pork, 308. never higher than 18 s. 6d. owing to the army demand. Slaughter dung, 8d. for a horfe-load. Country labourer 6d. about town 10 d. Milk 7 pints a penny. Coals 3 s. 8 d. to 53. a barrel, 6 of which make a ton. Eggs 4 a penny. Corke labourers. Cellar ones 20,000 ; have is. i d. a day, and as much bread, beef and beer, as they can eat and drink, and 7lb. of offals a week for their families. Rent for their houfe, 40 s. Mafon and Carpenters labourers iod. a day. Sailors, now, 3!. a month and provifions : before the American war, 28s. E 2 Porters 68 COR K E. Porters and coal-heavers paid by the great. State of the poor people in general incompa- rably better off than they were 20 years ago. There are imported 18,000 barrels annually of Scotch herrings, at iSs. a barrel. The fait for the beef trade comes from Lifbon, St. Ube's, &c. The fait for the fiffi trade from Rochelle -y for butter Englifh and Irifh. Particulars of the woollen fabricks of the county of Corke received from a manufac- turer.. The woollen trade, ferges and camb- lets, ratteens, frizes, druggets, and narrow cloths, the 'laft they make to i-o s. and 12 s. a yard; if they might export to 8s. they are very clear that they could get a great trade for the woollen manufactures of Corke ; the- wool comes from Gal way and Rofcommon, combed here by combers, who earn 8s. to 10 s. a week into balls of 24 ounces, which is fptm kito woriteds, of twelve ikains to the- ball, and exported to Yarmouth for Nor- wich > the export price, 30!. a pack, to 33!* never before fo high ; average of them 26!. to 30 f. Some they work up at home into ferges, (tuffs,. and camblets ; the ferges at i2d. a yard, 34 inches wide; the fluffs lixteen inches, at iSd. the camblets at nine-pence halfpenny to thirteen pence ; the fpinners at nine-pence a ball, one in a week ; or a ball and half twelve- pence a week, and attend the family befides ; this is done mod in Water ford and Kerry, particularly near Killarney ; the weavers earn i s. a day on an average. Full three-fourths of C O R K E. 69 of the wool is exported in yarn, and only one- fourth worth worked up.. Half the wool of Ireland is combed in the county ofCorke. A very great manufacture of ratreens at Carric-on-fure, the bay worded is for ferges, (balloons, &c. Woollen yarn for coarfe cloths, which latter have been loft for ibme years, owing to the high price of wool. The bay export has declined fmce 1770, which declen- fion is owing to the high price of wool. No wool fmuggled, not even from Kerry/ not a (loop's cargo in twenty years, the price too high ; the declenfion has been confider- able. For every 86 packs that are exported, a licence from the Lord Lieutenant, for which 20 1. is paid. From the acT: of the laft feffions of Great Britain for exporting woollen goods for the troops in the pay of Ireland, Mr. Abraham Lane, of Corke, eftablifhed a new manufac- ture of army cloathing for that purpofe, which is the firfl at Corke, .and pays 40!. a week in labour only. Upon the whole there has been no increafe of woollen manufacture within 20 years. Is clearly of opinion that many fabricks might be worked up here much cheaper than in France, of cloths that the French have beat the Engliih out of; thefe are, particularly, broad-cloths of one yard and half-yard wide, from 35. to. 6s. 6d. a yard for 70 C O R K E. for the Levant trade. Frizes which is now fupplied from Carcaftbne in Languedoc. Frizes of 24 to 27 inches, at lod. to i3d. a yard. Flannels, 27 to 36, from 7d. to i4d. Serges of 27 to 36 inches, at 7d. to i2d. a yard ; thefe would work up the coarfe wool. At Bally nafloe fair, in July, 200,000!. a year bought in wool. There is a manufa6lory of knit-flocking by the common women about Corke, for eight or ten miles around $ the yarn from i2d.to iSd.a pair, and the worfted, from i6d. to 2od. and earn from I2d. to i8d. a week. Befides their own confumption, great quantities are fent to the north of Ireland. All the weavers in the country are con- fined to towns, have no land, but fmall gar- dens. Bandle or narrow linen, for home confumption, is made in the weftern part of the county. Generally fpeaking, the circum^ ftances of all the manufacturing poor are bet- ter than they were twenty years ago. The manufactures have not declined, though the exportation has, owing to the increafed home confumptions. Bandon was once the feat of the ftufF, camblet, and fhag manufacture, but has in feven years declined above three- fourths. Have changed it for the manufac- ture of coarfe green linens, for the London market, from 6d. to pd. a yard, 27 inches wide ; but the number of manufacturers in general much leflened. September. COOLMORE. 71 September 22d, left Corke, and proceeded to Coolmore, the feat of the Rev. Archdeacon Oliver, who is the capital farmer of all this neighbourhood ; no perfon could be more defirous of procuring me the information I wifhed, nor any more able to give it me. Mr. Oliver began the culture of turnips four years ago, and found them fo profitable that he has every year had a field of them in the broad-carl: method, and well hoed. This year they are exceedingly fine, clean, and well hoed, fo that they would be no difgrace to a Norfolk farmer. This is the great objecl: wanting in Irifh tillage ; a gentleman, there- fore, who makes fo confiderable a progrefs in it, ac~ls in a manner the moil deferving praife that the whole circle of his hufbandry will admit. Mr. Oliver has ufually drawn his crops for fheep and black cattle; for the former he has fpread them upon grafs fields to their very great improvement ; and the cattle have had them given in flails. All. forts have done perfectly well on them, infomuch that he is fully convinced of their great importance: he has found that they fupport the cattle much better than any thing elfe, to fuch a degree of fuperiority, he is deter- mined never to be without a crop. He has always dunged for them, except when he has ploughed up a grafs lay, and then he has found it not necefTary. In 72 COOLMQRE. In bringing in furzy wafte land he has improved very extenfively. One inftance in particular I fhall mention, becaufe it, is thp beft preparation for laying land to grafs that I have met with in Ireland : he firft dug it and put in potatoes, no manure, the crop middling j and after that cleared it of (tones, which were in great numbers, and fowed tur- nips, of which crop the following are thp particulars. " In November 1771, the Rev. Archdeacon John Oliver (at his refidence in the county of Corke) began to cultivate a field for turnips and cabbages ; the field contained about 40 Englifh acres, but was fo full of rocks that only about ten or eleven plantation acres could be tilled, the remainder being a lime- ftone quarry j the furface in the part tilled, in general, not above four inches deep, and in the deepeft part not above twelve inches over the lime- (lone quarry ; this ground was planted with potatoes the fpring preceding, without any manure, and all done yvith the fpade, and in many parts there was not fufHcient covering for them. The plough- ing for turnips and cabbages was finifhed the latter end of December ; it remained in that flate till the month of March following (1772,) when a large quantity of ftones were taken out with crows and fpades; it was then ploughed a fecond time, then har- rowed with very ftrong harrows made on purpofe ; about the latter end of May it was rolle^ .G O O L M O R E. 73 rolled with a wooden roller; on the nth, i ath, and i3th of June, it was fowed with about one pound and a quarter of feeds to the Englifh acre. When the turnips were in four leaves there appeared more fern and potatoes than turnips, which were weeded out by hand, at a great expenfe; and in about three weeks after, when the turnips began to bottom, they got a fecond weeding as before, after which they were again thinned by hand; thefe differ rent operations were continued till the turnips were about a pound weight, and then they were thinned again, and weeded as often as there was occafion, and now it is imagined they are as great a crop as any in the kingdom, fome thoufands weighing fourteen pounds per turnip. Part of the fame field is fowed in. drills, thinned and weeded as the other, but they are not equal to the broad caft, but are a very good crop. Another part of the fame, field is planted with 20,300 cabbages of diffe- rent kinds, namely, the flat Dutch, borecole, large late Dutch cabbage, turnip-cabbage, and large Scotch cabbage, at three feet between each drill, and two feet in the rows, which is at lead one foot too near in the drills, and half a foot in the rows, as they now touch one another this 1 3th of October. All the faid cabbages and turnips were cultivated with the plough, and the cabbages hoed with the garden hoes, and manured moftly with rotten dung; part with horfe-dung, not half rotten, from the liable; part with cow-dung, not rotten; part with fea-flob and lime mixed; all which ma- nures 74 C O O L M O R E. nures anfwer very well. One fmall part of the field where the cabbages were planted, was broke from the lay laft March, got fix plough- ings and five harrowings; another part four ploughings and three harrowings. The quantity of ground under turnips is 8 a. ir. 10 p. Under cabbages 2 a. i r. 10 p. The turnip ground got no manure of any kind, nor was it burned. The foregoing improvements were conduct- ed under the immediate care and manage- ment of MAURICE MURRAY." After thefe turnips he fowed barley, and with the barley, grafs feeds ; before this improve- ment the land was worth los. an acre, but after it would let for 255. the grafs having fucceed- ed perfectly. Cabbages Mr. Oliver has alfo cultivated thefe four years, and with fuccefs, but does not find, upon the whole, they fuc- ceed fo well as turnips, except Reynolds' tur- nip-rooted cabbage, which is of very great ufe late in the fpring, after other forts are gone. Beans Mr. Oliver has alfo tried in fmall quan- tities, and feem to do pretty well ; I faw his crop this year drilled and well managed, and a good produce, enough to give him the expecta- tion of their being an advantageous article. Lucerne he has alfo tried, but found the trouble of keeping it clean too great to anfwer the cul- tivation. COOLMORE. 75 tivation. Upon manures he has tried an ex- periment, which promifes to be of confider- able confequence j upon fome land he took in from a creek or Corke harbour, un- der the flob or fea ooze he dug fome very fine blue marie ; this he tried for potatoes againft dung ; the crops to appearance very equal, but upon meafuring zfpade of each, the part marled yielded 14-lb. but that dunged only 71113. but the dunging was not a confiderable one. It is an object of prodigious confequence to be able to get potatoes at all with marie. In the cul- tivation of this root Mr. Oliver has introduced the mode of planting them in drills, two feet and a half afunder, with the plough, and found that the faving of labour is exceedingly great, but that the difference of crop is rather in fa- vour of the common method : an acre which yielded 1005 weights, the drilled 822, but fav- ing in the feed of the drilled 60 weights, each weight 2 lib. Mr. Oliver has jufl taken a farm of 400 acres of land, wafte or exhaufted by the preceding tenant by inceffant crops of corn ; this land was rented as is. 6d. an acre, but Mr. Oliver has tried it at 1 55. and is at prefent engaged in making very great improvements on it 5 drain- ing the wet parts, grubbing furze, fallowing, liming, inclofing, and building offices, doing the whole in the moft perfect manner, and will foon make the farm carry an appearance very different from what it ever did before. His fallows for wheat had been well and often ploughed, j6 COOLM'ORE. ploughed, and of a countenance very different from any lands in the neighbourhood. A year after the date of this journey, having the pleafure of being again with this excellent improver, I had a farther opportunity of be- coming better acquainted with his manage- ment. I had alfo gone over an improvement of his at Duntreleague, near Mitchelftown, where he advanced 300 acres of mountain from 50!. pr 6ol. a year to 300!. a year, having hired it pn a leafe for ever; he divided the whole in fields of a proper fize by well-made ditches, doubly planted with quick and rows of trees $ the lands were improved with lime, laid down to grafs, and let to tenants who pay their rents, well ; but Mr. Oliver refiding at a diftance, the trees were very much damaged and hurt by the tenants cattle. To all appearance this im- provement was as completely finifhed as any in Ireland, and the great profit arifing from the undertaking induced the archdeacon to at- tempt his new one I mentioned above. In that I found a very great progrefs made : befides an excellent barn of ftone and flate, there was a fteward's houfe, (tables, &c. and a good farm- yard, walled in ; and it was with particular pleafure I faw (it was in winter) a large num- ber of cows and young cattle very well littered in it with ftraw, and feeding on turnips a thick layer of fea-fand having been fpread all over it. The improvement and cultivation of the farm went on apace, efpecially the liming ; the kiln had been burning a twelvemonth, in which time the fxpenfe had been as follows : 364 barrels COOLMORE. 77 364. barrels of culm, at 45. 7300 The quarry is i £ mileEnglifh from the kiln ; two horfes and two men drawing ftone, at i8s. a week - - - 46 16 o Two men quarrying, 55. a week to one, and 35. a week to the other 20 16 o Breaking and burning, 8s. a week - - 20 16 o Gunpowder, is. a month - - o 12 o 24 waggon-load of coal cinders, bought at Corke, at i os. 12 o o One horfe and man carries out 24 barrels a day, at is. 6d. 242 days - 18 i o Total The quantity of lime drawn from February i777toFeb. 1778 was 5824barrels, theexpenfe therefore jufc 8d. a barrel. One Corke barrelsof culm, at 45. ufed every day, and half a barrel of am.es : the kiln draws 18 barrels a day, 16 for i of culm, and i o for i including cinders. This barrel of culm is 6 bufhels heaped. Mr. Oli- ver had an old memorandum, that the price of fuel was three-pence farthing per barrel of lime. Twelve tons of lime-ftone produces 50 barrels of roach lime. Nor does the arch- deacon trufl to lime alone; he buys great quan- tities of dung and foap afhes in Corke. At the fame time I viewed his turnip crops on his home farm, and found them excellent, and many oxen tied in flails fattening on them, a practice he finds exceedingly profitable j when other 78 COOLMORE. other graziers fell their bullocks with difficulty, he puts his to turnips, and doubles and trebles their value. In 1777 he had 23 acres of tur- nips. Before I conclude this account of his fpirited exertions, I muft add, that if a very few improvers in Ireland have gone through more extenfive operations, I have not found one more attentive or more practical, and, upon the whole, fcarcely any that come near to him. Land about Cool more Jets from 8s. to 2os. The foil lime-ftone. Farms rife from 50!. to 300!. The courfes are, i. Potatoes, yield "50 barrels. 2. Wheat, 3 barrels: add fometimes, 3. Oats. 4. Lay out for grafs. The poor people have monYof them land with their cabbins, from four to fix acres, which they fow with potatoes and wheat. Not many of them keep cows, but a few forry fheep for milk ; they generally have milk, either of their own, or bought, in fummer,,andin winter they have herrings ; but live, upon the whole, worfe than in many other parts of the kingdom. The price of labour 6d. a day the year round ; in harveft 8d. Rent of a cabbin 2os. Many dairies here, which are generally fet at four pound a cow, fome four guineas, and near Corke, five pounds. x. The C O O L M O R E. 79 The manures are lime, at is. 4<I. a barrel roach; if burnt by themfelves, 8d. to lod. lay thirty to fifty barrels. Sea fand is ufed, fixty to eighty bags, each five pecks, to the acre. Corke dung cofts 6d. to is. a car load ; it is all bought up very carefully; lol. a year is paid for the cleaning of one ftreet ; this argues a very fpirited hufbandry. Rode to the mouth of Corke harbour; the grounds about it are all fine, bold, and varied, but fo bare of trees, that there is not a fingle view but what pains one in the want of wood. Rents of the tract fouth of the river Carago- line, from 53. to 305. average, IDS. Not one man in five has a cow, but generally from one to four acres, upon which they have potatoes, and five or fix fheep, which they milk, and fpin their wool. Labour jd. in winter, 6d. infum- mer; many of them for three months in the year live on potatoes and water, the reft of it they have a good deal of fifh. But it is remark- ed, at Kinfale, that when iprats are moft plen- tiful, difeafes are moft common. Rent for a mere cabbin, IDS. Much paring and burning; paring twenty-eight men a day, fow wheat on it and then potatoes ; get great crops. The foil a fharp ftoney land; no iime-ftone fouth of the above river. Manure for potatoes, with fea weed for 263. which gives good crops, but lafts only one year. Sea fand much uied, no (hells in it. Farms rife to two or three hun- dred acres, but are hired in partnership. Before So C O O L M O R E. Before I quit the environs of Corke, I muff femark, that the country on the harbour, I think preferable, in many refpects for a refi- clence, to any thing I have feen in Ireland. Firft, It is the moft foutherly part of the kingdom. Second, there are very great beauties of profpecl. Third, by much the moft animated, bufy fcene of (hipping in all Ireland, and confequently, Fourth, a ready price for every product. Fifth, great plenty of excellent fifti and wild fowl. Sixth, the neighbourhood of a great city for objects of convenience.- September 24th, took my leave of Mr. Oliver; I purpofed going from hence to Bandon, in the way to Carbury, and fo to Killarney, by Bantry and Nedeen, and with this view had got letters of recommendation to feveral gentle- men in that country; but hearing that the Priefls Leap between Bantry and Nedeen was utterly impaffable, the road not being fmifhed, which is making by lubfcription. I changed my route, and took the Macroon road. Dined with Co- lonel Ayres, who informed me that the agri- culture of that neighbourhood was very indif- ferent, and little worth noting, except the ufe of lime as a manure, which is praclifed with great fuccefs. From his houfe I took the Nedeen road. PalFed Brockham, the place where Cornelius Townlhend, Efq; eight years ago fixed two SufTex farmers, to improve aftoney mountain. I faw the land, and fome of the buildings, and having COOLMORE. 81 having heard feveral accounts of the tranfac- tion from friends to the farmers, which ac- counts had been received from them ; I wifhed to have Mr. Townfhend's, and with that view called at his houfe, bat unfortunately he was not at home 5 as I miffed him, I (hall only, mention the affair in the light it appeared to me from the particulars I received from differ- ent hands. Mr. Townfhend wifhing to improve his ef- tate, a confiderable part of which confided of mountain, but furprizingly full of rocks and flonesj he engaged two Suilex farmers, (Meffrs. Crampe, and Johnfon) to come over to Ire- land, to view the lands in queftion : they both came over, examined the land, and hired a tracl: for fome time at no rent, or a very fmall one, and after that at a rent -named and agreed to. The men returned, fettled their affairs in England, bought very fine horfes, and em- barked all their flock, implements, &c* and came over, under circumftances of great, but ufelefs expence. When they got to the land, houfes and offices were built for them, in a moft complete ftile, and among others, a barn 100 feet long, and 37 broad ; an exceedingly ill- judged expence, the refult of bringing merely Englifh (perhaps miftaken in ideas) into the climate of Ireland. Thefe buildings being executing at the land- lord's expence, but the tenants drawing the materials, they began the improvement ; and VOL. II. F found 8z B R O K H A M. found the land fo exceffively ftoney, that the expence of clearing was too great to be within a poffibility of anfwering. One field of eight acres coft lool. in clearing: walls were built jo feet thick, with ffones that arofe in clear- ing the land. The undertaking went on for 4 years, but was then concluded in the way one might have expected. The men were ruin- ed, and Mr. Town-fhend fufFered confiderably by the expences of the undertaking, rifing in- finitely beyond what he had ever thought they could amount to. Had Mr. Townfhend met with farmers of fufficient knowledge in their profeffion, they would' not probably have fixed on this fpot at all ; certainly when they found to what excefs it abounded with ftones, they would have per- fuaded him either to give them other land, or have hired a more favourable foil of fome other landlord : at aft events to perfift in improving a fpot, the improvement of which could never be repaid, whether it was upon their own, or their landlord's account, was equally inexcufa- ble in point of prudence, and the lure way to bring difcredit on the undertaking, and ridi- cule on what falfely acquired the name of Eng- lifi hiijlandry. Planting is the only proper im- provement for land abounding to iuch excefs with recks. From hence I reached Sir John Coulthurft's atKnightibridge, who has a very extenfive ef- tate here, 7000 acres of which are mountain and N E D E E N. 83 and bog. I was unfortunate in not having feen Sir John's feat, near Corke, for there he is at work upon 1000 acres of mountain, and making very great improvements, in whi'ch, among other circumflances, he works his bul- locks by the horns. September 25th, took the road to Nedeen, through the wildeft region of mountains that I remember to have feen j it is a dreary, but an interefling road. The various horrid, gro- tefque and unufual forms in which the moun- tains rife, and the rocks bulge ; the immenfe height of fome diftant heads, which rear above all the nearer fcenes, the torrents roaring in the vales, and breaking down the mountain fides, with here and there a wretched cabbin, and a fpot of culture yielding furprife to find human beings the inhabitants of fuch a fcene of wildnefs, altogether keep the traveller's mind in an agitation and fufpence. Thefe rocks and mountains are many of them no otherwife im- provable than by planting, for which, howe- ver, they are exceedingly well adapted. Sir John was fo obliging as to fend half a dozen labourers with me, to help my chaife up a mountain fide, of which he gave a formi- dable account : in truth it deferved it. The road leads directly againft a mountain rklge, and thofe who made it were fo incredibly flu- pid, that they kept the (trait line up the hill, inftead of turning aficle to the right, to wind around a projection of it. The path of the F 2 road 84 N E D E E N. road is worn by torrents into a channel, which is blocked up in places by huge fragments, fo that it would be a horrid road on a level; but on a hill fo fteep, that the beft path would be difficult to afcend, it may be fuppofed terrible : the labourers, two pafllng Grangers, and my fervant, could with difficulty get the chaife up. It is much to be regretted that the direction of the road is not changed, as all the reft from Corke to Ne'deen is good enough. For a few miles towards the latter place the country is flat on the river Kenmare, much of it good, and under grafs or corn. Faffed Mr. Orpine's at Ardtilly, and another of the fame name at Killowen. Nedeen is a little town, very well fituated, on the noble river Kenmare, where fhips of 156 tons may come up : there are but three or four good houfes. Lord Shelburne, to whom fhe place belongs, has built one for his agent. There is a vale of good land, which is here from a mile and a half to a mile broad; and to the north and fouth, great ridges of mountains faid to be full of mines. At Nedeen, Lord Shelburne had taken care to have me well informed by his people in that country, which belongs for the greateft part to himfelf, he has above i5o,ooolrifh acres in Kerry; the greateft part of the barony of Glan- rought belongs to him, moft of Dunkerron and Iveragh. The country is all a region of moun- tains, inclofed by a vale of flat land on the ri- ver j N E D E E N. 85 verj the mountains to the fouth come to the water's edge, with but few variations, the principal of which is Ardee, a farm of Lord Shelburne's : to the north of the river, the flat land is one-half to three quarters of a mile Abroad. The mountains to the fouth reach to Bear-haven, and thofe to the north to Dingle- bay ; the foil is extremely various j to the fouth of the river all are fand ftones, and the hills ioam, ftone, gravel, and bog. To the north there is a flip of lime-ftone land, from Kilgarvon to Cabbina-cuih, that is fix miles eaft of Nedeen, and three to the weft, but is not more than a quarter of a mile broad, the reft including the mountains all fand ftone, As to its rents, it is very difficult to tell what they are ; for land is let by the plough land and gineve, 12 gineves to the plough land j but the latter denomination is not of any par- ticular quantity : for no 2 plough lands are the fame. The fize of farms is various, from 40 acres to 1000, lefs quantities go with cab- bins, and fome farms are taken by labourers in partnermip. Their tillage confifts of poT tatoes meafured by the peck of 8Alb. manure for them with fea weed, three boat loads to an acre, each at i6s. %d. the poor people' ufe no- thing elfe : but thofe who can afford it, lay dung with it. Thefe potatoes are the rirft crop. Thirty pecks plant an acre, and it takes from twenty to thirty men to fet an acre in a day. j. Potatoes, 86 N E D E E N. i. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Oats, or bar- ley, good crops. 4. Lay it out for what comes, and in the fir.il feafon the fined graffes appear. Some wheat is fown, but not generally by the poor people. Oats are the common crop. This is the fhort hiftory of their arable ma- nagement. There are fome dairies ; from 12 to 24 cows in each, and are fet at 503. or one cwt. of butter and ias. horn money, the dairy- men's privilege is two col lops to 20 cows ; a cabbin, and three acres of land. The butter is all carried to Corke on horfes backs. Three years ago 40 s. a cow was the higheft, The common ftock of the mountains are young cattle, bred by the poor people ; but the large farmers go generally to Limerick for year- lings, turn them on the mountains, where they are kept till three years old, when they fell them at Nedeen or Killarney, engaging them to be with calf. Buy at 40 s. this year, but ufed to be from 20 s. to 305. formerly fold at £os. now at 3!. The poor people's heifers fell at three years old, at 305. their breed is the little mountain, or Kerry cow, which upon good land gives a great deal of milk. I have remarked, as I travelled through the country, much of the Alderney breed in fome of them. The winter food, which the farmers provide, is to keep bottom lands through the fummer, which they call a nurfery, to which they bring their cattle down from the mountains when the weather becomes fevere. There are great numbers N E D E E N. 87 numbers of fwine, and many reared on the mountains by the Tormentile root, which abounds there, and from which they will come down good pork. There are few fheep kept, not fufficient to cloath the poor people, who, however, work up what there is into frize. Lambs fell from 2S. 2d. to 35. at four months old. Three year old wethers, fat, from 55. to 8s. weight about 9lb. a quarter, and are admirable mutton. A ewe's flee.ce, one pound and a half to two pound and a half. A lamb's, one pound. A three year old wether, two pound and a half. They have fome cows, which are fattened in the vales ; and alfo fome on the mountains, weighing 2 cwt. and two and a quarter. Many goats are kept on the mountains, efpecially by the poor people, to whom they are a very great fupport ; for upon the mountains the milk of a goat is equal to that of a cow -t and fome of the kids are killed for meat. Upon afking whether they ploughed with horfes or oxen, I was told there was not a plough in the whole pariih of Tooavifla, which is 12 miles long by 7 broad. All the tillage is by the Iriih loy ; ten men dig an acre a day that has been ftirred before. It will take forty men to put in an acre of pota- toes in a day. Rents have fallen greatly in mofl parts of Kerry. Tythes in 1770 and in 1771 were taken in kind, owing to their having been pu (bed up to, too great a height j fmce 1771 they have been lowered -, the proc- tor 88 N E D E E N. tor every year values the tythe of the whole farm. Leafes are, fome for ever, others 31 years, and fome 2 1 . The rent of a cabbin, without land, 6s. with an acre of land, il. 2s. pd. The grafs for a cow is 405. on the mountains from is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. a quarter. They have generally about five acres. They all keep a cow or two. All on the mountains have goats. Swine alfo are imi- verfal among them. The labour of the farms are generally carried on by cottars, to whom the farmer affigns a cabbin, and a garden, and the running of two collops on the moun- tain, for which he pays a rent ; he is bound to work with his matter for 3d. a day and two meals. Their food in fummer potatoes and mills j bi# in fpring they have only po- tatoes and water. Sometimes they have her- rings and fprats. They never eat falmon, The religion is in general Roman catholic. Lime, is. a barrel, but may be burnt for 8d. Fuel, all turf, J3d. a flane, each flane four feet long, by two feet broad. Price of builcl- ing a cabbin, with ftone and flate in {ime mortar 20!. There has been a confiderable fifhery upon the coaft of Kerry, particularly in the Ken- mare, at Ballenfkillings in Iveragh, in the ri- ver Valentia, in Bear Haven, in Caftlemain bay, in Dingle bay, &c. Laft year, that in the Kenmare river was the moft confiderable : it employed twelve boats. This year none at all ; the chief in Ballenlkerrings and river Valentia. N E D E E N. 89 Valentia. None in Kenmare for fe'/eral years before : but great abundance of fprats for three years. Salmon is conftant ; they ex- port about five tons, falted. The herrings chiefly for home confumption, falted and frefh. The herring boats are of two tons, 34 foot keel, coft building 3!. 35. five men go in each : they are built here of bog deal. A firing of three nets coft 3!. the poor go (hares in the fifhery j build or hire the boat, and join for the nets, which are made of hemp, bought at Corke, and fpun and made here : they tan them with bark. There are many more men would go out if they had boats, but it is a very uncertain fifhe- ry. Many perfons have put themfelves to considerable expence about it, but without fuccefs, except thirty-three years ago, when the pilchards came in, and .have never been here fince, Killarney is the principal market for wheat, which is twelve miles diftant. A floop con- ftantly employed upon the river Kenmare, in bringing fait and carrying lime-flone, or whatever was wanted, would be a great im- provement. Lord Shelburne has a plan for improving Nedeen, to which he has given the name of Kenmare, from his friend the nobleman, with that title, which, when executed, muft be of confiderable importance. It is to build ten cabbins, and annex ten acres to each cabbin, rent 90 KILLARNEY. rent free for twenty-one years ; alfo to form twenty-acred allotments for the parks to the town of Nedeen, with defign to encourage fettlements in it, for which 330 acres are kept in hand. The fituation is advantageous, and {hips of IQO tons can come up to it, with a very good landing-place. He has alfo fixed fome Englifh farmers. Relative to the improvement of the wild regions within fight of the houfe I was in, I afked, Suppofe Jive acres ofthofe mountains to be cleared of Jlones^ a ftone cabbin built., at j\. ex- pence, and a wall raifed round the whole , and to be let at a reafonable rent, 'would a tenant be found'? " That moment" Suppofe fix of them, or twelve ? " Tou would have tenants for all, if there were an hundred" In the pariih of Tooavifter, they have a way of taking land by the ounce, in the arable part, which joins the fea. An ounce is the fixteenth of a gineve, and is fufficient for a potatoe garden, and they pay a guinea for it. The climate in thefe parts of Kerry is fo mild, that potatoes are left by the poor peo- ple in the ground the whole winter through ; but laft winter almoit ruined them, their crop being deftroyed. September 26th, left Nedeen, and rifing the mountainous region, towards Killarney, came to a tract of mountain-bog, one of the moft improvable KILLARNEY. 91 improvable I have any where feen. It hangs to the fouth, and might be drained with the utmoft eafe. It yields a coarfe grafs, and has nothing in it to flop a plough. Lord SheL- burne's agent, Mr. Wray, told me, that there are vaft tracts of fuch in the barony of Iveragh. There is common gravel on the fpot, and lime- ftone in plenty, within half a mile of Nedeen. Soon entered the wildeft and moft romantic country I had any where feen ; a region of {leep rocks and mountains, which continued for nine or ten miles, till I came in view of Mucrufs. There is fomething magnificently wild in this ftupendous fcenery, formed to im- prefs the mind with a certain fpecies of terror. All this tract has a rude and favage air, but parts of it are ftrikingly interesting; the moun- tains are bare and rocky, and of a great mag- nitude; the vales are rocky glens, where a mountain-ftream tumbles along the roughed bed imaginable, and receives many torrents, pouring from clefts, half overhung with fhrub- by wood; fome of the fe dreams are feen, and the roar of others heard, but hid by vaft mafies of rock. Immenfe fragments, torn from the precipices by ftorms and torrents, are, tumbled about in the wilder! confufion, and feem to hang rather than reft upon projecting precipi- ces. Upon fome of thefe fragments of rock, perfectly detached from the foil, except by the fide on which they lie, are beds of black turf, with luxuriant crops of heath, 6cc. which ap- peared very curious to me, having no where feen 92 KILLARNEY. feen the like ; and I obferved very high in the mountains, much higher than any cultivation, is at prefent, on the right hand, flat and clear- ed fpaces of good grafs among the ridges of rock, which had probably been cultivated, and proved that thefe mountains were not inca- pable from climate of being applied to ufeful purpofes, From one of thefe heights, I looked forward to the lake of Killarney at a confiderable di- ftance, and backward to the river Kenmare ; came in view of a fmall part of the upper lake, fpotted with feveral iflands, and furrpunded by the moft tremendous mountains that can be imagined of an afpecl: favage and dreadful. From this fcene of wild magnificence, I broke at once upon all the glories of Killarney; from an elevated point of view I looked down on a confiderable part of the lake, which gave me a f^ecimen of what I might expect. The wa- ter yen command (which, however, is only a part of the lake) appears a bafon of two or three miles, round; to the left it is inclofed by the mountains you have pafTed particularly by the Turk, whofe outline is uncommonly noble, and joins a range of others, that form the moft magnificent fliore in the world: on the other fide is a rifing fcenery of cultivated hills, and Lord Kenmare's park and woods ; the end of the lake at your feet is formed by the root of Mangerton, on whofe fide the road leads. From hence I looked down on a pretty range of K I L L A R N E Y. .93 of inclofures on the lake, and the woods and lawns ofMucrufs, forming a large promontory of thick wood, (hooting far into the lake. The mod active fancy can iketch nothing in addi- tion. Iflands of wood beyond feem to join it, and reaches of the lake, breaking partly be- tween, give the mod lively intermixture of water : fix or feven ifles and iflets form an ac- companyment, fome are rocky, but with a flight vegetation, others contain groups of trees, and the whole thrown into forms, which would furnifh new ideas to a painter. Farther is a chain of wooded iflands, which alfo appear to join the main land, with an offspring of lefler ones fcattered around. Arrived at Mr. Herbert's at Mucrufs, to whole friendly attention I owed my fucceed- ing pleafure. There have been fo many de- fcriptions of Killarney written by gentlemen who have refided fome time there, and feen it at every feafon, that for a paffing traveller to attempt the like, would be in vain ; for this reafon I (hall give the mere journal of the re- marks I made on the fpot, in the order I view- ed the lake. September ayth, walked into Mr. Herbert's beautiful grounds, to Oroch's hill, in the lawn that he has cleared from that profufion of llones which lie under the wall; the fcene which this point commands is truly delicious ; the houis is on the edge of the lawn, by a wood which covers the whole peninfula, fringes the Hope at your 94 KILLARNEY. your feet, and forms a beautiful fhore to the lake. Tomis and Glena are vaft mountainous malfes of incredible magnificence, the out- line foft and eafy in its fwells, whereas thofe above the eagle's neft are of fo broken and abrupt an outline, that nothing can be imagin- ed more favage, an afpect horrid and fublime, that gives all the impreflions to be wifhed to aftoniih, rather than pleafe the mind. The Turk exhibits noble features, and Mangerton's huge body rifes above the whole. The culti- vated traces towards Killarney, form a fhore in contrail to the terrific fcenes I have juft men- tioned j the diflant boundary of the lake, a vaft ridge of diftant blue mountains towards Dingle. From hence entered the garden, and viewed Mucrufs abbey, one of the moft inter- efting fcenes I ever faw ; it is the ruin of a con- fiderable abbey, built in Henry the Vlth's time, and fo entire, that if it were more fo, though the building would be more perfect, the ruin would be lefs pleafing ; it is half obfcured in the fhade of fome venerable afh trees ; ivy has given the pi6lurefque circumftance, which that plant alone can confer, while the broken walls and ruined turrets throw over it The loft mournful graces of dec ay ^ heaps of fculls and bones fcattered about, with nettles, briars and weeds fprouting in tufts from the loole ftones, all unite to raife thofe melancholy impreflions, which are the merit of fuch fcenes, and which can fcarcely any where 2 be KILLARNEY. 95 be felt more completely. The cloifters form a difmal area, in the center of which grows the moft prodigious yew tree I ever beheld, in one great ftem, two feet diameter, and fourteen feet high, from whence a vaft head of branches fpreads on every fide, fo as to form a per feel: canopy to the whole fpace ; I looked for its fit inhabitant — it is a fpot where 'The moping owl doth to the moon complain. This ruin is in the true ftile in which all fuch buildings fliould appear 5 there is not an in- truding circumftance — the hand of drefs has not touched it — melancholy is the impreflion which fuch fcenes fhould kindle, and it is here raifed moft powerfully. From the abbey we pafled to the ter- rafs, a natural one of grafs, on the very fhore of the lake -, it is irregular and wind- ing ; a wall of rocks broken into fantaftic forms by the waves : on the other fide, a wood, confiding of all forts of plants, which the cli- mate can protect,- and through which a variety of walks are traced. The view from this ter- rafs confifts of many parts of various charac- ters, but in their different ftiles complete ; the lake opens a fpreading iheet of water, fpotted by rocks and iflands, all but one or two wood- ed, the outlines of them are fharp anddiftinct; nothing can be more milling than this fcene, foft and mild, a perfect contraft of beauty to the fublimity of the mountains which form the fhore : 96 K I L L A R N E Y. fhore : thefe rife in an outline, fo varied, and at the fame time fo magnificent, that nothing greater can be imagined ; Tomys and Glena ex- hibit an immenfity in point of magnitude, but from a large hanging wood on the flope, and from the fmoothnefs of the general furface, it has nothing favage, whereas the mountains above and near the Eagle's-neft are of the moft broken outlines ; the declivities are bulging rocks, of immenfe fize, which feem to impend in horrid forms over the lake, and where an opening among them is caught, others of the fame rude character, rear their threatening heads. From different parts of the terrafs thefe fcenes are viewed in numberlefs va- rieties. Returned to breakfaft, and purfued Mr. Herbert's new road, which he has traced thro* the peninfula to Dynis ifland, three miles in length ; and it is carried in fo judicious a manner through a great variety of ground, rocky woods, lawns, &c. that nothing can be more pleafing; it paries through a remarkable fcene of rocks, which are covered with woods; from thence to the marble quarry, which Mr. Herbert is working ; and where he gains va- riety of marbles, green, red, white, and brown, prettily veined; the quarry is a fhore of rocks, which furround a bay of the lake, and forms a fcene, confiding of but few parts, but thofe jftronglv marked ; the rocks are bold, and broken into flight caverns; they are fringed with fcattered trees, and from many parts of 3 them KILLARNEY. 97 them wood fhoots in that romantic manner, fo common at Killarney. Full in front Turk mountain rifes with the proudeft outline, in that abrupt magnificence which fills up the whole fpace before one, and clofes the fcene. The road leads by a place where copper- mines were worked ; many fhafts appear j as much ore was raifed as fold for twenty-five thoufand pounds, but the works were laid afide, more from ignorance in the workmen, than any defects in the mine. Came to an opening on the Great Lake, which appears to advantage here, the town of Killarney on the north-eaft (bore. Look full on the mountain Glena, which rifes in a very bold manner, the hanging woods fpread half way, and are of great extent, and uncommonly beautiful. Two very pleafing fcenes fucceed, that to the left is a fmall bay, hemmed in by a neck of land in front j the immediate fhore rocks, which are in a picturefque frile, and crowned entirely with arbutus, and other wood, a pretty retired fcene, where a variety of ob- jects give no fatigue to the eye. The other is an admirable mixture of the beautiful and fub- lime : a bare rock, of an aimofl regular figure, projects from a headland into the lake, which with much wood and high land, forms one fide of the fcene, the other is wood from a rifing ground only ; the lake open between, in a Iheet of no great extent, but in front is the VOL. II. G hanging 98 KILLARNEY. hanging wood of Glena, which appears in full glory. Mr. Herbert has built a handfome Gothic bridge, to unite the peninfula to the ifland of Brickeen, through the arch of which the waters of the north and fouth lake flow. It is a ipan of twenty-feven feet, and leventeen high, and over it the road leads to that illand. From thence to Brickeen nearly finifhed, and it is to be thrown acrofs a bottom into Dynifs. Returned by the northern path through a thick wood for fome diftance, and caught a very agreeable view of Afh Illand, feen through an opening, inclofed on both fides with wood. Purfued the way from thefe grounds to Keelbeg, and viewed the bay of the Devil's Ifland, which, is a beautiful one, inclofed by a fhore, to the riglyt of very noble rocks, in ledges and other forms, crowned in a ftriking manner with wood j a little rocky iflet rifes in front ; to the left the water opens, and Turk mountain rifes with that proud fuperiority which attends him in all thefe fceaes. The view of the promontory of Dindog, near this place, clofes this part of the lake, and is indeed fingularly beautiful. It is a large rock, which ihoots far into the water, of a neigut fuflicient to be interefling, in full relief, fringed with a icanty vegetation ; the fhore on which you (land bending to the right, as if to me-.t *liat rock, prefcnts a circular lhade of dark wood r KILLARNEY. 99 wood : Turk ftill the back ground, in a cha- racler of great fublimity, and Mangerton's loftier fummit, but lefs interefting outline, a. part of the fcenery. Thefe views, with others of lefs moment, are connected by a fucceffion, of lawns breaking among the wood, pleafing the eye with lively verdure, and relieving it from the fatigue of the ftupendous mountain fcenes. September 28th, took boat on the lake, from the promontory of Dindog before mentioned. I had been under a million of apprehenlions that I fhould fee no more of Kiliarney ; for it blew a furious ftorm all night, and in the morning the bofom of the lake heaved with agitation, exhibiting few marks but thofe of anger. After breakfaft, it cleared up, the clouds difperfed by degrees^ the waves fubfided, the fun (hone out in all its fplendor ; every fcene was gay, and no ideas but pleafure pof- fefled the bread. With thefe emotions Tallied forth, nor did they difappoint us. Rowed under the rocky fhore of Dindog, which is romantic to a great degree. The bafe, by the beating of the waves, is worn into ca- verns, fo that the heads of the rocks project considerably beyond the bafe, and hang over in a manner which makes every part of it inter^ efting. Following the coaft, open marble quarry bay, the (ho re great fragments of rock tumbled about; in the wild eft manner. G 2 The joo K I L L A R N E Y. The ifland of rocks againft the copper-mine fnore, a remarkable group. The fhore near Cafemilan is of a different nature j it is wood in fome places, in unbroken mafles down to the water's edge, in others divided from it by fmaller tracts of rock. Corrie to a beautiful land-locked bay, furrounded by a woody fhore, which opening in places, (hews other woods more retired. Tomys is here viewed in a unity of form, which gives it an air of great magni- ficence. Turk was obfcured by the fun (hilling immediately above him, and cafting a dream of burning light on the water, difplayed an effect, to defcribe which the pencil of a Claude alone would be equal. Turn out of the bay, and gain a full view of the Eagle's Ned, the moun- tains above it, and Glena, they form a perfect contraft, the firft are rugged, but Glena mild. Here the fliore is a continued wood. Pafs the bridge, and crofs to Dynifs, an if- land Mr. Herbert has improved in the mod agreeable manner, by cutting walks through it, that command a variety of views. One of thefe paths on the banks of the channel to the upper lake, is fketched with great tade ; it is x>n one fide walled with natural rocks, from the clefts of which (hoot a thouland fine arbu- - .tus's, that hang in a rich foliage of flowers and icarlet berries -, a turf bench in a delicious fpot ; the fcene clofe and fequedered, jud enough to give every pleafing idea annexed to retirement. Faffing the bridge, by a rapid dream, came . prefently to the Eagle's Ned: having viewed this K I L L A R N E Y. 101 this rock from places where it appears only a part of an objecl: much greater than itfelf, I had conceived an idea that it did not deferve the applaufe given it, but upon coming near, I was much furprized ; the approach is won- derfully fine, the river leads directly to its foot, and does not give the turn till immediately un- der, by which means the view is much more grand than it could otherwife be ; it is nearly perpendicular, and rifes in fuch full majefty, with fo bold an outline, and fuch projecling maffes in its center, that the magnificence of the objecl: is complete. The lower part is co- vered with wood, and fcattered trees climb al- moft to the top, which (if trees can be amifs in Ireland) rather weaken the impreflion rail- ed by this noble rock ; this part is a hanging wood, or an objecl: whofe character is perfect beauty ; but the upper fcene, the broken out- line, rugged fides, and bulging mafTes, are all fublime, and fo powerful, that fublimity is the general impreflion of the whole, by overpow- ering the idea of beauty raifed by the wood. The immenfe height of the mountains of Kil- larney may be eftimated by this rock, from any diftant 'place that commands it, it appears the loweft crag of a vaft chain, and of no account ; but on a cloie approach it is found to com- mand a very different refpecl:. Pafs between the mountains called the Great Range, towards the upper lake. Here Turk, which has fo long appeared, with a figure per- fectly intereiiing, is become, from a different pofition, 102 K I L L A R N E V. pofition, an unmeaning lump. The reft of the mountains, as you pafs, aflame a varied ap- pearance, and are of a prodigious magnitude. The fcenery in this channel is great and wild in al1 its features ; wood is very fcarce; vafi rocks leem toiled in confufion through the nar- row vale, which is opened among the moun- tains for the river to pafs. Its banks are rocks in a hundred forms ; the mountain fides are every where fcattered with them. There is not a circumftance but is in unifon with the wild grandeur of the fcene. Coleman's Eye, a narrow pafs, opens a dif- ferent fcenery. Came to a region in which the beautiful and the great are mixed without of- fence. The iflands are mod of them thickly wooded ; Oak ifle in particular rifes on a pretty bafe, and is a moft beautiful object : Mac Gilly Cuddy's reeks, with their broken points ; Baum, with his perfect cone; the Purple mountain, with his broad and more regular head; and Turk, having aiFumed a new and more inter- efting afpecl, unite with the oppofue hills, part of which have fome wood left on them, to form a fcene uncommonly finking. Here you look back on a very peculiar fpot ; it is a parcel of rocks which crofs the lake, and form a gap that opens to diftant water, the whole backed by Turk, iu a ftile of the higheft grandeur. Come to Derry Currily, which is a great fweep of mountain, covered partly with wood, hanging KILLARNEY. 103 hanging in a very noble manner, but part cut down, much of it 'mangled, and the reft inha- bited by coopers, boat-builders, carpenters, and turners, a facrilegious tribe, who have turned the Dryades from their ancient habita- tions. The cafcade here is a fine one, bu£ pafled quickly from hence to fcenes unmixed with pain. Row to the clutter of the Seven Iflands, a little archipelago ; they rife very boldly from the water upon rocky bafes, and are crowned in the moft beautiful manner with wood, among which are a number of arbutus j the channels among them opening to new fcenes, and the great amphitheatre of rock and mountain that furround them, unite to form a noble view. Into the river, at the very end of the lake, which winds towards Mac Gilly Cuddy's Reeks in fanciful meanders. Returned by a courfe fomewhat different, through the Seven Iflands, and back to the Eagle's Neft, viewing the fcenes already men- tioned in new pofitions. At that noble rock fired three cannon for the echo, which indeed *s prodigious j the report does not confift of direcl: reverberations from one rock to another with a paufe between, but has an exact re* femblance to a peal of thunder rattling be^ hind the rock, as if travelling the whole fcene- ry we had viewed and loft in th<* immenfity of Mac Gilly Cuddy's Reeks, i Returning ic>4 K I L L "A R N E Y. Returning through the bridge, turn to the left round Dynifs ifland, under the woods of Glena ; open on the cultivated country beyond the town of Killarney, and come gradually in fight of Innisfallen and Rofs Ifland. Pafs near to the wood of Glena, which here takes the appearance of one immenfe fweep hanging in the moft beautiful manner imaginable, on the fide of a vaft mountain to a point, (hooting into the great lake. A more glorious fcene is not to be imagined, It is one deep mafs of wood, compofed of the richeft ihades perfectly dipping in the water, without rock or ftrand appearing, not a break in the whole. The eye pairing upon the fheet of liquid filver fome diftance, to meet fo intire a fweep of every tint that can compofe one vaft mafs of green, hanging to fuch an extent as to fill not only the eye, but the imar gination unites in the whole to form the moft noble fcene that is any where to be beheld. Turn under the North fhore of Mucrufs ; the lake here is one great expanfe of water, bounded by the woods defcribed, the iflands of Jnnisfallen, Rofs, &c. and the peninfula. The fhore of Mucrufs has a great variety j it is irt iome places rocky, huge mafles tumbled from their bafe lie beneath, as in a chaos of ruin. Great caverns worn under them in a variety of ftrange forms ; or elfe covered with woods of a variety of {hades. Meet the point of Ard- ., (in Englifh where the water dailies on K I L L A R N E Y. 105 on the rocks) and come under Ornefcope, a rocky headland of a rnofl bold projection hanging many yards over its bafe, with an old weather-beaten yew, growing from a little bracket of rock, from which the fpot is called Ornefcope, or yew broom. Mucrufs gardens prefently open among the woods, and relieve the eye, almoft fatigued with the immenfe objects upon which it has fo long gazed ; thefe fofter fcenes of lawn gently fwelling among the fhrubs and trees, finiihed the fecond day. September 29th, rode, after breakfaft, to Mangerton Cafcade and Drumarourk Hill, from which the view of Mucrufs is uncom- monly pleading. Pafs the other hill, the view of which I defcribed the 27th, and went to Colonel Huffy 's monument, from whence the fcene is different from the reft ; the fore ground is a gentle hill, interfered by hedges, forming fe- veral fmall lawns. There are lome fcattered trees and houfes, with Mucrufs Abbey, half obfcurtd by wood, the whole chearful, and backed by Turk. The lake is of a triangular form, Rofs iiland and Innisfallen its limits, the woods of Mucrufs and the iflands take a new pofition. Returning, took boat again towards Rofs ifle, and as Mucrufs retires from us, nothing can be more beautiful than the fpots of lawn in io6 K I L L A R N E Y. in the terrace opening in the wood ; above it, the green hills with clumps, and the whole fmifhing in the noble group of wood about the abbey, which here appears a deep {hade, and fo fine a finiming one, that not a tree ihould be touched. Rowed to the eafl point of Rofs, which is well wooded, turn to the fouth coaft. Doubling the point, the mod beautiful fhore of that ifland appears ; it is the well wooded environs of a bay, except a fmall opening to the caftle ; the woods are in deep fhades, and rife on the regular Hopes of a high range of rocky coaft. The part in front of Filekilly point rifes in the middle, and finks towards each end. The woods of Tomys here appeal- uncommonly fine. Open Innisfailen, which is compofed at this diftance of the mofl various fhades, within a broken outline, entirely dif- ferent from the other iflands, groups of dif- ferent mafles rifing in irregular tufts, and joined by lower trees. No pencil could mix a happier aflemblage, Land near a miferable room, where travellers dine Of the ifle of Innisfailen, it is paying no great compliment to fay, it is the mod beautiful in the king's dominions, and perhaps in Europe. It con- tains twenty acres of land, and has every va- riety that the range of beauty, unmixed with the fublime, can give. The general feature is that of wood j the furface undulates into iwelling hills, and finks into little vales; the Hopes are in every direction, the declivities die gently away, forming thofe flight inequalities which are the greateft beauty of drefled grounds. The little vallies let in views of the fur- K I L L A R N E Y. IQ? furrounding lake between the hills, while the fwells break the regular outline of the water, and give to the whole an agreeable confufion. The wood has all the variety into which na- ture has thrown the furface ; in fome parts it is fo thick as to appear impenetrable, and fecludes all farther view ; in others, it breaks into tufts of tall timber, under which cattle feed. Here they open, as if to offer to the fpeclator the view of the naked lawn j in others clofe, as if purpofely to forbid a more prying examination. Trees of large fize, and commanding figure, form in fome places na- tural arches ; the ivy mixing with the branch- es, and hanging acrofs in feftoons of foliage, while on one fide the lake glitters among the trees, and on the other a thick gloom dwells in the receffes of the wood. The figure of the ifland renders, one part a beautiful objecl to another ; for the coaft being broken and in- dented, forms bays furrounded either by rock or wood : flight promontories fhoot into the lake, whofe rocky edges are crowned with wood. Thefe are the great features of Innis- fallen ; the (lighter touches are full of beau- ties eafily imagined by the reader. Every cir- cumftance of the wood, the water, the rocks and lawn are charadteriftic, and have a beauty in the afiemblage from mere difpofition. I muft, however, obferve, that this delicious re- treat is not kept as one could wi(h. Scenes, that are great and commanding from magnitude or wildnefs, ihould never be dreffed; io8 K I L L A R N E Y. drefled ; the rugged and even the horrible, may add to the effect upon the mind : but in fuch as Innisfallen, a degree of drefs, that is clean- linefs, is even neceflary to beauty. I have fpoken of lawn, but I mould obferve, that ex- preflion indicates what it ought to be, rather than what it is. It is very rich grafs, poached by oxen and cows, the only inhabitants of the ifland. No fpectator of tafte but will regret the open grounds not being drained with hollow cuts ; the ruggednefs of the furface levelled, and the grafs kept clofe (haven by many fheep inftead of hearts. The bullies and briars where they have encroached on what ought to be lawn, cleared away; fome parts of the ifle more opened : in a word, no orna- ments given, for the fcene wants them not, but obstructions cleared, ruggednefs fmoothed, and the whole cleaned. This is what ought to be done ; as to what might be made of the ifland, if its noble proprietor (Lord Ken- mare) had an inclination, it admits of being converted into a terreftial paradife, lawning with the intermixture of other fhrubs and wood, and a little drefs, would make it an ex- ample of what ornamented grounds might be, but which not one in a thoufand is. Take the illand, however, as it is, with its few imper- fections, and where are we to rind fuch another? What a delicious retreat ! An emperor could not beftow fuch an one as Innisfallen ; with a cottage, a few cows, and a fwarm of poultry, is it po'lible that happinefs fhould refufe to be a gueit here r Raw K I L L A R N E Y. 109 Row to Rofs Caftle, in order to coaft that ifland; there is nothing peculiarly (hiking in it; return the fame way around Innisfallen ; in this little voyage the fhore of Rofs is one of the moft beautiful of the wooded ones in the lake; it feems to unite with Innisfallen, and projects into the water in thick woods one beyond another. In the middle of the channel a large rock, and from the other fhore a little pro- montory of a few fcattered trees ; the whole fcene pleafing. The fhore of Innisfallen has much variety, but in general it is woody, and of the beauti- ful character which predominates in that ifland; one bay, at taking leave of it, is exceedingly pretty, it is a femicircular one, and in the cen- ter there is a projecting knole of wood within a bay; this is uncommon, and has an agree- able effeflr. The near approach to Tomys exhibits a fweep of wood, fo great in extent, and fo rich in foli- age, that no perfon can fee without admiring it. The mountainous part above is foon ex- cluded by the approach; wood alone is feen, and that in fuch a noble range, as to be greatly ftriking; it juft hollows into a bay, and in the center of it is a chafm in the wood; this is the bed of a confiderable ftream, which forms O'Sullivan's cafcade, to which all ftrangers are conducted, as one of the principal beauties of Killarney. Landed to the right of it, and walk- ed under the thick fhade of the wood, over a rocky no K I L L A R N E Y. rocky declivity ; clofe to the torrent ftream, which breaks impetuoufly from rock to rock, with a roar that kindles expectation. The pic- ture in your fancy will not exceed the reality ; a great ftream burfts from the deep bofom of a wooded glen, hollowed into a retired recefs of rocks and trees, itfelf a moft pleafing and ro- mantic fpot, were there not a drop of water ; the firft fall is many feet perpendicularly over a rock, to the eye it immediately makes another, the bafon into which it pours being concealed j from this bafon it forces itfelf impetuoufly be- tween two rocks; this fecond fall is alfo of a confiderable height, but the lower one, the third, is the, moft confiderable, it iffues in the fame manner from a bafon hid from the point of view. Thefe bafons being large, there ap- pears a fpace of feveral yards between each fall, which adds much to the pifturefque fcenery> the whole is within an arch of wood, that hangs over it ; the quantity of water is fo con- fiderable as to make an almoft deafening noile, and uniting with the torrent below, where the fragments of rock are large and numerous, throw an air of grandeur over the whole. It is about feventy feet high. Coaft from hence the woody ihores of Tomys and Glena, they are upon the whole much the moft beautiful onesl have any where feenj Glena woods hav- ing more oak, and fome arbutus's, are the finer and deeper ihades; Tomys has a great quantity of birch, whole foliage is not fo lux- uriant. The reader may figure to himfeif what thefe woods are, when he is informed that they fill K I L L A R N E Y. in fill an unbroken extent of fix miles in length, and from half a mile to a mile and a half in breadth, all hanging on the fides of two vaft mountains, and coming down with a full robe of rich luxuriance to the very water's edge. The acclivity of thefe hills is fuch, that every tree ap- pears full to the eye. The variety of the ground is great ; in fome places great fwells in the moun- tain fide, with correfponding hollows, prefent concave and convex maffes ; in others, confi- derable ridges of land and rock rife from the fweep, and offer to the aftonifhed eye yet other varieties of fhade. Smaller mountains rife' re- gularly from the immenfe bofom of the larger, and hold forth their fylvan heads, backed by yet higher woods. To give all the varieties of this immenfe fcenery of foreft is impoflible. Above the whole is a prodigious mafs of moun- tain, of a gently fweliing outline and foft ap- pearance, varying as the fun or clouds change their pofition, but never becoming rugged, or threatening to the eye. The variations are beft feen by rowing near the fhore, when £very ftroke of the oar gives a new outline, and frefh tints to pleafe the eye : but for one great impreffion, row about two miles from the fhore of Glena; at that diftance the inequalities in the furface are no longer feen, but the eye is filled with fo immenfe a range of wood, crowned with a mountain in perfect unifon with itfelf, that objects, whofe character is that of beauty, are here, from their magnitude, truly magnificent, and attended with ii2 K I L L A R N E Y. with a moft forcible impreflion. — Returned to Mucrufs. September 3 oth, this morning I had dedicat- ed to the afcent of Mangerton, but his head was fo enihrouded in clouds, and the weather fo bad, that 1 was forced to give up the fcheme*: Mr. Herbert has meafured him with very ac- curate inftruments, of which he has a great collection, and found his height 835 yards a- bove the level of the fea. The Devil's punch bowl, from the defcription I had of it, muft be the crater of an exhaufted volcano : there are many ligns of them about Killarney, par- ticulary vaft rocks on the fides of mountains, in ftreams, as if they had rolled from the top in one direction. Brown ftone rocks are alfo fometimes found on lime quarries, toffed thi- ther, perhaps in fome vaft eruption. In my way from Killarney to Caftle Ifland, rode into Lord Kenmare's park, from whence there is another beautiful view of the lake, dif- ferent from many of the preceding ; there is a broad margin of cultivated country at your feet, to lead the eye gradually in the lake, which exhibits her iflands to this point more diftinftly than to any other, and the back grounds of the mountains of Glena and Tomys give a bold relief. Upon the whole, Killarney, among the lakes that I have feen, can fcarcely be faid to have a rival. The extent of water in Loch Earne is much fclLLARNEY. 113 inuch greater ; the iflands more numerous, and fome fcenes near Caftie Caldwell, of perhaps as great magnificence. The rocks at Kefwick are more fublime, and other lakes may have circumftances in which they are fuperior ; but when we conflder the prodigious woods of Kil- larney; the immenfity of the mountains; the uncommon beauty of the promontory of Mu- crufs, and the ifle of Innisfalkn 5 the character of the iflands ; the fingular circumftance of the arbutus, and the uncommon echoes, it will appear, upon the whole, to be in reality fupe- rior to all companion. « Before I quit it, I have one other obfer- vation to make, which is relative to the want of accommodations and extravagant cxpence of ftrangers refiding at Killarney. I fpeak it not at all feelingly, thanks to Mr. Herbert's hofpitaiity, but from the accounts given me : the inns are miferable, and the lodgings little better, I am furprifed ibmebody with a good capital does not procure a large well built inn* to be erected on the immediate fhore of the lake, in an agreeable iituation, at a diftance from the town: 'there are very few places where fuch an one would anfwer betier, there ought to be numerous and good apartments. A large rendezvous- room for billiards, cards, dancing, mufic, &c. to which the com- pany might refort when they chofe it: an ordinary for thofe that liked dining in public; boats of all forts, nets for fifhing, and as great a variety of amufements as could be col- VOL. II, H lefted, ii4 K I L L A R N E Y. lected, efpecially withindoors : for the climate being very rainy, travellers wait with great impatience in a dirty common inn, which they would not do if they were in the midft of fach accommodations as they meet with at an Englith fpaw. But above all, the prices or" every thing, from a room and a dinner, to a barge and a band of mufic, to be reafon- able, and hung up in every part of the houfe : the refort of Grangers to Kiilarney would then be much increafed, and their (lay would be greatly prolonged; they would not view it poft-hafle, and fly away the firft moment to avoid dirt and impofition. A man, with a good capital and fome ingenuity, would, I think, make a fortune by fixing here upon fuch principles. In the line of agriculture, Mr. Herbert has carried on fome important experiments, which muft deferve attention. Of 360 acres he has reclaimed 140, which, before he began, were covered with great rocks, ftones, brambles, (rubus frujliccfus) and furze, (eulex europaus.) His firft operation was to cut down and grub up the fpontaneous growth that was the ftrongeft : but the reft he fet fire to, in order to plough them up with bullocks. Then he attacked the ftones, fome of which were five or fix feet fquare ; the large ones were burft in pieces by kindling fires upon them, being the brown land- (tone. But this operation will have no effe6t on lime-ftone j others not fo large were drawn off the land by bullocks, to feme- KILLARNEY. 115 fome of which 30 were harnefled : but all ftones that could be got at were by fome means or other carried off. This work of breaking the ftones by fire is very curious, and exceedingly ufeful t Mr* Herbert appeared to have attended very clofely to the operation. He informed me that they firft light a good fire, which in about a quarter of an hour enables them to beat off the outward fkin of the ftone with a iledge hammer, and they then immediately light a fecond fire, which foon makes the flone crack. The men obferve to keep it a lively brifk fire, free from afhes j when the flone cracks, they aflifl it with a flrong blow of the hammer, which then burfls it afunder, and is at once broken in pieces without difficulty. In ploughing the land, as foon as this work was done, the remaining roots of furze, &c. were fo large, that he was forced to fatten two ploughs together with chains, and then, with a great force of bullocks, tore up the roots, the ploughs and tackle being remarkably flrong* The afhes of the wood, &c« being fpread with thole of the rubbifh, numerous ploughings were given. The foil a thin gra- vel, of a whitifh hungry appearance, but lime changed it at once to a rich brown colour* The lafl ploughing turned in the lime i upon which, Mr. Herbert, frefh from Tuli and Randal determined to become a driller, drilled it with wheat, the cleared proof in the world how completely the ground had been reclaim- H 2 ed. u6 K I L L A R N E Y. ed. This crop he hoiTe hoed, following the directions of Tulland Duhamel ; the produce was trifling, and the practice found very ex- penfive, and the crops unprofitable : were, however, very beautiful and elegant to look at. He tried it for wheat, lucerne, fainfoine, red clover, beans, peafe, and in a word, every plant recommended by the drill writers, and continued it for four years. Having afcer- tained this thorough experience, that the drili hufbandry was exceedingly difadvantageousr he gave it up, and laid down with white clover and hay feeds : and could be let at 2os. an acre. Mr. Herbert, however, going to England, they were not taken fuch care of as they ought, never being manured. Some were Jaid down with burnet, which took very well in the land, but was foon overcome and choaked with natural grafs. Bird grafs he tried, got the feed from Rocque, but finds it a very coarfe poor plant of no value. Lu- cerne he had upon a very extenfive fcale ; hav- ing fix acres of it, found it a very good grafs, fed all forts of cattle with fuccefs, particularly in fattening bullocks, the fat of them being marbled in the fined manner imaginable. He had it in broad caft, and ufed Rocques har- row ; but upon his foil the harrow tore up the lucerne as well as the weeds, yet the natural grafs got much a head. The drill method is the beft; but fuch is the lux- uriant growth of the common grafles in Ire- land, that there was the greateft difficulty in keeping it clean. Sainfoine alfo did very well, but KILLARNEY. but the grafs had with that the fame effect as the lucerne. Mr. Herbert has cultivated potatoes in the common lazy-bed method, upon an extenfive fcale, and he is convinced, from repeated ex- perience, that there is no way in the world of managing that root that equals it, efpecially for bringing in wafte lands. It has been with the greateft furprife that he has read this mode condemned by feveral Engliih writers j when properly executed, it mixes the land and the manure, and by taking two crops fucceffively, and digging them out, if all the land is ftirred, it leaves it in admirable order for a fucceffive crop of any kind. Folding iheep Mr. Herbert praftifes by- means of a contrivance of his own ; inftead of hurdles, a pole 12 feet long, and 5 inch diameter, ftruck through with perpendiculars, and having at each end two longer pieces to reft on, in form of a crofs : thofe are moveable, and eafily fet in rows. He pens the fheep on his grafs lands, and finds the effecl wonderful, nothing equalling them for manuring the land, and at a very fmall expence. Is clearly of opinion, that nothing would be a greater im- provement to Ireland than introducing the practice generally. An obfervation which Mr. Herbert has made on mowing land is highly deferving attention : it is, that land ought always to be mowed, though the iiS M U C R U S S. the value of the hay will not pay the expence, It is common in Ireland to mow parts of fields that are good, and leave the reft; but he al- ways cuts the whole, and finds the practice very advantageous to the land. Some bog this gentleman has improved merely by draining, and then fpreading mold upon it, without tilling or burning, brings it to a meadow as foon as poflible : and this is the method he would, in all cafes, recommend for their improvement, as there is never any ne- cefiity of tillage in order to bring them to grafs. Relative to the common hufbandry of this neighbourhood, I found that the foil is divid- ed, between lime-flone and brown-done. The peninfula of Mucrufs is half the one and half the other, the one ending fuddenly where the other begins : the vale alfo to Killarney and beyond is limeftone for the extent of many miles, and in general the mountains are all brown ftone, and the vales lime-ftone. Rents here are about 8s. an acre on an average, in- cluding much indifferent land, but not the mountains. About three-fifths of the county of Kerry is wafle land, not rifing to above 3d. an acre, and the other fifths on an average at 73. an acre. Farms are from 20!. a year to 130!. the large ones include confiderable mountain tracts. The tillage of the country is trifling. The courfe is, i. Potatoes, M U C R U S S. 119 i. Potatoes, fow eight pecks, at 70! b. and get 8olb. at 7!. an acre. 2. Wheat, 61. 3. Oats. 4. Oats. (Poor crops not above 3!. jos, an acre.) 5. Lay it out to weeds, Sec. Lime the manure, from 60 to 80 barrels an acre, which cofts 6d. to 8d. a barrel burning, Mr. Herbert can burn it for 4d. five miles off. Pafturage is applied chiefly to dairies ; the com- mon ones about 40 or 50 cows. They are all let at 405. to 503. a cow. Three acres allow- ed to a cow; fome paid in butter. The dairy- man has his privilege, which is a cabbin, pota- toe garden, liberty to cut turf, and a quantity of land proportioned to the number of cows. The butter is all fent to Corke on hoifes backs in truckles, and in that way the poor horfes of the country will carry 8 cwt. thediftance 37 miles. They go in two days, and generally home in a week. Bring back rum, groceries", &c. they are paid pd. for carrying a firkin of butter of 561b. and for the back carriage is. 8d, a cwt. Very few fheep kept ; no flocks, except Mr. Herbert's. It is remarkable, that no fheep in the country are better fattened than many upon Mac Gilly Cuddy's Reeks, which are the wildeft and moft defolate region of all Kerry. Great herds of goats are kept on all the moun- tains of this country, and prove of infinite ufe to the poor people. The inhabitants are not in general well off; fome of them have neither cows nor goats, living entirely upon potatoes, yet are they better than twenty years ago, par- ticularly in cloathing. Price of proviiion the fame J2o M U C R U S S. fame as at Nedeen, but pork not common. Turkies, at pd. Salmon, at id. Trout and perch plentiful. No pike in Kerry. Lamprey s and eels, but. nobody eats the former. All the poor people, both men and women, learn to dance, and are exceedingly fond of the amufe- ment. A ragged lad, without fhoes or ftockings, has been iben in a mud barn, leading up a girl in the fame trim for a minuet : the love of danc- ing and mqfic are almoft univerfal amongft them. The Rev. Mr. Bland, of Wood Park, near Killarney, at whofe houfe I had the pleafure to dine with Mr. Herbert, has improved a great deal of boggy land; the tqrf fix inches deep, burnt, but would not give afhes; under it a brown gravel ; reclaimed it by marking ami trenching in May, lime eighty barrels per acre; fpread with green fern, then leave it until Spring following, when dunged and planted, po- tatoes ; the crop equal to the beft : dig the po- tatoes, and plant a fecond crop, which will be a greater produce, but the roots not fo large -t took care in the digging them to bring up the fod and manure; in the fpring dig again for turnips, or oats, the turnips will be very good, but has generally fown oats ; the crop tolera- ble, great draw, but muft be iown very thin, or they will lodge; leave the oat llubble and it becomes in one year grafs to mow. Has tried turnips, and found them to anfwer per- fectly, in fattening fheep infinitely better than any winter or fpring grafs. September ARBELLA. 121 September 30th, took my leave of Mucrufs, and pafling through Killarney, went to Caftle Ifland. In my way to Arbella, crofTed a hilly bog of vaft extent, from one to fix or fevcn feet deep, as improvable as ever I faw, covered with bog myrtle (myricagale) and coarfe grafs : it might be drained at very little expenle, being- almoft dry at • prefent. It amazed me to fee fuch vaft trails in a ftate of nature, with a fine road pairing through them. To Mr. BlennerhafTet, member for the coun- ty, I am indebted for every attention to -.\ards my information. About Caftle liland the land is very good, ranking among the beft in Kerry. From that place to Arbella, the land is as good as the management bad, every field over- run with all kinds of rubhifh, the fences in ruins, and no appearance but of defolation : they were mowing fqme fine crops of hay, which I fuppofe will be made in the fnow. The fol- lowing is the ftate of hufbandry about Arbella. The foil, from Caftle Iftand to Tralee, is from a guinea to a guinea and a half; it is all a rich lime-done land : forne about Tralee at 3!. los. 104!. 43. About Arbella I went over ipme exceeding fine reddifh fandy and gravelly loam, a prodigioufly fine foil : fern (ptcris aqui- lina) the fpontaneous growth, which I remark- ed in Ireland to be a fure iign of excellent land. Two thirds of the county is mountain, which runs at no great rent, being thrown into the bargain. Six parts in ieven of the whole mountain 122 A R B E L L A. mountain and bog. The remainder at los. an acre. j. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Wheat, or Barley. 4. Oats. 5. Ditto. 6. Ditto. 7. Ditto. 8. Lay it out, and not a blade of grafs comes for three or four years. The beft part of the country is under dairies. Great farmers hire vaft quantities of land, in order to flock with cows, and let them to dairymen 5 one farmer, who died lately, paid 1400!. a y ear for this purpofe; but 300!. or 400!. common. The number of cows let to one man, ge- nerally from twenty to forty. Let at one cwt. and 1 6s. per cow, or one-half cwt. of but- ter, and 1 6s. each, forae one cwt. I2S. and a hog, befides one fourth part of all the calves a year old. In the mountains, half cwt. and 55. Others with all the calves to the dairy- men. The dairyman's privilege, from two to four collops kept for them, and one or two acres, with a cabbin ; thefe dairymen live very indifferently, their privilege being all their pro- fit, and fometimes not that. The farmer who lets the cows, muft keep the number to fuch as give two pottles of milk. All the dairies in this county, as in others, in the bonny clobber method, that is, letting the milk ftand feveral days, till the cream comes off, by tak- ing hold of it between the fingers, like a fkin of leather, and fome till it is moldy, the re- mainder A R B E L L A. 123 mainder bonny clobber. Forty acres will carry twenty cows through the year. The cows are in general of the fmall breed, but not the true Kerry, for many have been brought from other countries. A cow fells at a guinea* a pcttie for the milk, above two or three pottles, that is 4!. 48. four pottles, 5!. 5$. for five pottles, given at one meal. A little fattening of cows and fmali bullocks, but the number not great. No fheep kept. As to manure none is ufed in the vale, ex- cept their dung for potatoes, but upon the mountains they lime a little. There is a colony of Palatines, that have been fixed here above thirty years ; there are now fifteen or fixteen families ; Colonel Halfet brought them from the county of Limerick, and fixed them here as little farmers, and thefe few people coft him above 500!. fettling. He gave each a cow, a horfe, and every thing they wanted for a year, and let the land to them for half its value. Their improvements have been firft, by ploughing with a wheel plough, which with two hories works eafily without a driver. They brought in cars with wheels, there were only fliding ones before. They alfo fow all their potatoes in drills with the plough, and alfo plough them out, and this with great fuccefs, but nobody follows them. Years purchafe of land fixteen to eighteen. Rents three years ago fallen exceedingly, from having 124 A R B E L L A. having been too high let, but of late they have rifen again. The rife in the price of labour from three-pence and four-pence in twenty years, to five-pence and fix-pence. Oyfters, two-pence to three-pence per hundred ; near Tralee there is a flrand fix miles long, which is on a bed of oyfters, and is a curious object. LoMiers, twelve years ago, one penny each, now two-pence to four-pence. Salmon three halfpence. Woodcocks, ten-pence a couple. Partridges, ten-pence a couple. A groufe, one fhilling. Whitings, one penny each. Her- rings, three a penny. Plaice, turbots, mul- lets, and fome foles. Potatoes, is. 6d. per cwt. the cheapefl, medium, 2S. 6d. Cabbins of {tone, mortar and flate, 25!. Many or- chards in this county, give, upon an average, ten hogmeads of cyder per acre, fome 1 5 ; they reckon young trees the beft, from iz to 20. years old. The ftate of the poor in the whole county of Kerry reprefented as exceedingly miferable, and, owing to the conduct of men of proper- ty, who are apt to lay the blame on what they call land pirates, or men who offer the higheft rent, and who, in order to pay this rent, muft, and do re-let all the cabbin lands at an ex- travagant rife, which is affigning over all the cabbins to be devoured by one farmer. The cottars on a farm cannot go from one to ano- ther, in order to find a good mafter as in Eng- land : for all the country is in the fame fyftem, and no redrefs to be found. Such being the 3 A R B E L L A. cafe, the farmers are enabled to charge the price of labour as loiv as they pleafe, and rate the land as high as they like. This is an evil which opprefles them cruelly, and certainly has its origin in its landlords, when they fet their farms, fetting all thecabbins with them inftead of keeping them tenants to themfelves. The oppreilion is, the farmer valuing the labour of the poor at 4d. or 5d. a day, and paying that in land rated much above its value. Owing to this, the poor are deprefled ; they live upon potatoes and four milk, and the pooreft of them only fait and water to them, with now and then a herring. Their milk is bought ; for very few keep cows, fcarce any pigs, but a few poultry. Their circomftances are incompara- bly worfe than they were 20 years ago ; for they had all cows, but then tfyey wore no linen : all now have a little flax. To thde evils have been owing emigrations, which have been confiderable, October ift, rode over the mountain im- provements which William Blennerhaflet, Efq; of Elm Grove, has made. I viewed it with very great attention; for it projects far into a mountain of heath, that lets only at is. an acre. I faw the progrefs of the improvement in different itages. He has done 250 Irifh acres, and inclofed 300 more, and has been of- fered 2os. an acre for them, but the farm- houfes were not built; at prefent he has four, to which he purpofes to throw the whole. . The 126 A R B E L L A. The method he purfued has been firft to en- clofe with double ditches, four feet deep and five broad, and the earth out of both thrown on to a parapet, ten feet broad, and fome more, planted with rows of trees, and of ofiers, the expence in labour, 2s. a perch. While this work is doing, he ploughs nine or ten inches deep, and as foon as the weather will admit, burns ; then he tills it again once or twice, and burns again ; and before the laft plough- ing, limes 100 barrels an acre, which coils him (burning it himfelf) fixpence a barrel, including carriage and fpreading : upon this he fows corn, has tried wheat, rye, and oats, but oats anfwer the beft ; has tried potatoes, and they did pretty well, followed them with corn, and then laying it out, that is, leaving it to grafs itfelf. The other is to fow corn as long as it will yield any, when it is exhaufted, to lay it out two or three years, and then plough and lime : take two crops of corn, and lay it out again ; and this way he thinks is the beft, from the experience of forty years, for fo long the improvement has been making. Trees of all forts have grown perfectly well, but the afh has done beft. A ploughing cofts 6s. an acre. Graffaning and burning, al. an acre. Mr. Haflet's ftock at prefent on this farm, 30 horfes, mares and foals, joocows, ico fheep, j oo young cattle, 8 plough bullocks: this is a moft noble ftock of cattle for a fpot which was all heath. Mr. BlennerhafTet has alfo tried lime-ftone fand, over one part of a field, and lime upon the MAHAGREE ISLANDS. 127 the reft, fpread but lately, yet the appearance is much in favour of the fand. October ad, to Ardfert by Tralee, through a continuation of excellent land, and execra- ble management. Mr. Bateman tried rock fait on grafs land for a manure, half a ton to the Englifh acre, but found not the leaft bene- fit from it. But of lime he has ufed large quantities, and with great fuccefs; burning it for 6d. a barrel, in a (landing kiln with turf, four eyes or fires to each ; lays on 50 barrels to an acre, and has advanced fome land, by draining and liming, from 5, to 2os. an acre, the foil a cold ftiff clayey gravel. To the weft of Tralee are the Mahagree If- lands, famous for their corn produces; they are rock and fand, ftocked with rabbits ; near them a fandy tract, 12 miles long, and one mile broad, to the north, with the mountains to the fouth, famous for the beft wheat in Ker- ry. All under the plough. Their courfe. i. Buck potatoes. 2. Barley. 3. Wheat. Alfo corn on fome land, without any interme- diate crop. Manure for every crop, if pota- toes with fea weed, great crops j they get 20 for one of wheat and barley. All grain is re- markably early j they have fown Englifh bar- ley, and made bread of the crop in fix weeks ; thefe lands let at 143. or 153. an acre, but fome much higher. Farms- are large, one, two, or three hundred acres, but fome are taken in partnerfhip. 128 A R D F E R T. I was allured, that in thefe if* lands, they have known two crops of barley gained from the fame land in one year, and the fecond better than the firft. They fowed the tirft of April, and reaped the middle of May, and immediately fowed a fecond, which they reaped the end of Auguft. This was done! by John Macdonald, of Maharaghbeg. Arriving at Ardfert, Lord Croiby, whofe politenefs 1 have every reafon to remember, was ib obliging as to carry me by one of the fineft ftrands I ever rode upon, to view the mouth of the Shannon at Bailengary, the fite of an old fort : it is a vaft rock feparated from the country by a chafm of a prodigious depth, through which the waves drive. The rocks of the coaft here are in the boldeft ftile, and hol- lowed by the furious Atlantic waves into ca- verns in which they roar. It was a dead calm, yet the f well was fo heavy, that the great waves rolled in and broke upon the rocks with fiich violence as to raifean immenfe foam, and give one an idea of what a (torm would be, but fan- cy rarely falls fliort in her pictures. The view of the Shannon is exceedingly noble ; it is tight miles over, the mouth formed by two headlands of very high and bold clifts, and the reach of the river in view very extenfive : it is an immenfe fcenery. Perhaps the nobleft mouth of a river in Europe. CrofTed in the way a large bog, highly im- provable, faw fome little fpots taken in with .heaps of fea fand for carrying it on. Lord A R D F E R T. 129 Lord Glandore manures his ground with lime, fea fand, and fea weed, the laft is the worft, the fand beft. Land lets at 125. or 135. an acre on an average; it rifes from los. to 20$. Ardfert is very near the fea, fd near it, that lingle trees or rows are cut in pieces with the wind, yet about Lord Glandofe's houfe there are extenfive plantations exceedingly flourifh- ing, many fine afri and beech 5 about a beauti- ful ciflertian abbey, and a filver fir of 48 years growth, of an immenfe height and fize. October 3d, left Ardfert, accompanying Lord Crofby to Liftowel. Called in the way to view Lixnaw, the ancient feat of the earls of Kerry, but deferted for ten years pad, and now pre- fents fo melancholy a fcene of defolation, that it ihocked me to fee it. Every thing around lies in ruin, and the houfe itfelf is going faft orf by thieving depredations of the neighbourhood. I was told a curious anecdote of this eflate, which (hews wonderfully the improvement of Ireland: The prefent Earl of Kerry's grand- father, Thomas, agreed to leafe the whole eftate for 1500!. a year, to a Mr. Coin's, for ever; but the bargain went off upon a difpute, whether the money fhould be paid at Corke or Dublin. Thofe very lands are now let at 20,000!. a year. There is yet a good deal of wood, particularly a fine aih grove, planted by the prefent Earl of Shelburne's father. Vot. II. Jt Proceeded 130 W O O D F O R D. Proceeded to Wood ford, Robert Fitzgerald's, Efq; pafTing Liftowel bridge, the vale leading to it is very fine, the river is broad, the lands high, and one fide a very extenfive hanging wood, opening on thofe of Woodford in a pleafmg ftile. Woodford is an agreeable fcene ; clofe to the houfe is a fine winding river under a bank of thick wood, with the view of an old caftle hanging over it. Mr. Fitzgerald is making a considerable progrefs in rural improvements ; he is taking in mountain ground, fencing and draining very completely, and introducing a new hulbandry. He keeps 30 pigs, which flock he feeds on potatoes, and has built a piggery for them. Turnips he cultivates for fheep, and finds them to anfwer perfectly. Not being able to get men who underftand hoeing, he thins them by hand. He has five acres of po- tatoes put in drills with the plough, and de- figns ploughing them out : they look perfectly well, and promife to be as good a crop as any in the trench way. The common courfe in this neighbourhood is, i. Potatoes, a. Potatoes. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. 5. Lay it out. Farms are very much in partnerfhip, and improvements exceedingly backward on that account. The poor live on potatoes and milk all the year round, but are rather better off than they were twenty years ago. The labour of T A R B A T. 131 of the country is generally done for land in the manner I have fo often defcribed, rated at an exorbitant price, 4d. winter; 5d. fummer ; fome 6d. round. Three- fourths of Kerry mountain and bog, at is. 6d. the reftat 155. In 1765, Mr. Fitzgerald was travelling from Constantinople to Warfaw, and a waggon with his baggage, heavily laden, overfet ; the coun- try people harnefled to buffaloes by the horns, in order to draw it over, which they did with eafe. In fome very inftructive converfation I had with this gentleman, on the fubjecl: of his travels, this circumflance particularly ftruck me. October 4th, from Woodford to Tarbat, the feat of Edward Lefle, Efq; through a country, rather dreary, till it came upon Tarbat,* which is fo much the contrary, that it appeared to the higheft advantage; the houfe is on the edge of a beautiful lawn, with a thick margin of full-grown wood, hanging on a fleep bank to the Shannon, fo that the river is feen from the houfe over the tops of this wood, which being of a broken irregular outline, has an effect very ftriking and uncommon ; the river is two or three miles broad here, and the op- pofite coaft forms a promontory, which has from Tarbat exactly the appearance of a large iilancl. To the eaft, the river fwells into a tri- angular lake, with a reach opening at the dif- tant corner of it to Limerick: the union of wood, water, and lawn, forms upon the whole I 2 a very i3 2 T A R B A T, a very fine fcenej the river is very magnificent. From the hill, on the coaft above the ifland, the lawn and wood appear alfo to great advan- tage. But the fined point of view is from the higher hill on the other fide of the houfe, which looking down on all thefe fcenes, they appear as a beautiful ornament to the Shan- non, which fpreads forth its proud courfe, from two to nine miles wide, furrounded by high- lands : a fcenery truly magnificent. I am in- debted to Mr. Leflie's good offices for the fol- lowing- particulars. Arable land about Tarbat lets at 145. on art average ; Mr, Leflie, in 1771, let feveral farms at 178. but the fall of that period reduced the rents 33. Farms are from 50 acres to 3 or 400 : it is common to have the poor people hire them in partnerfhip, but only the fmall ones? the large are all ftock farms. The til- lage courfe ; i.- Potatoes, produce 28 barrels, at 16 pecks each, and the peck 6olb. or 26,88olb. in all. 2. Potatoes. 3. Oats. 4. Lay out for feveral years. The fecond crop of potatoes more nu- merous, but not fo large; they manure for them only with dung. The oats yield fix bar- rels, each 26 ftone, being double ones. Very little wheat fown but by gentlemen OF large farmers, who burn the land ; plough it, and burn the fod, which they call beating, and ma- nure with lime or fea-fand; 40 barrels of time at is. The (lone is brought from an ifland T A R B A T. 133 iiland towards Limerick. They get fand at the fame place. Lime does beft for tillage, and fand for grafs. The (lock farms are either under dairies, or in the fucceffion fyftem, of buying in year olds from the county of Clare, and keeping them till three or four years old, the heifers till they calve; buy at a guinea to 305. fell from 3!. 55. to 4!. jos. at four year old. There are alfo fome cows fattened : bought in in general at 3!, or 3!. los. fell in October at 4!. los. to 5!. The dairies are let to dairymen, the price is one cwt. of butter, and i os. to 155. horn money; the dairyman has all the calves, and mud fell off at Michael- mas. His privilege is a houfe and potatoe gar- den, and grafs for a cow for every ten. A collop here, is one cow, one hprfe, two year- lings, fix fheep ; two acres to feed a collop, and fome two and a half. Every cabbin has a bit of flax, which they fpin and manufacture for their own ufe, there being fome weavers difperfed about the country. A little pound yarn is fold befides to Limerick, but not much. A little wool is fpun for their own u'fe, and wove into frize. The ftate of the poor is Something better than it was twenty years ago, particularly their cloathing, cattle, and cabbins. They live upon potatoes and milk; all have cows ; and when they dry them, buy others. They alfo have butter, and mod of them keep pigs, killing them for their own ufe. They have alfo her- rings. They are in general in the cottar fyf- tern , j34 T A R B A T. tern, of paying for labour by afligning fome land to each cabbin. The country is greatly more populous than twenty years ago, and is now increafing; and if ever fo many cabbins were built by a gradual increale, tenants would be found for them. A cabbin, and five acres of land, will let for 4!. a year. The induftri- ous cottar, with two, three, or four acres, would be exceedingly glad to have4 his time td himfelf, and have fuch an annual addition of land as he was able to manage, paying 3 fair rent for it; none would decline it but the idle and worthlefs. Tythes are all annually valued by the proc-r tors, and charged very high. There are on the Shannon about 100 boats employed in bringing turf to Limerick from the coail of Kerry and Clare, arid in fifhing, the former carry from 20 to 25 tons, the latter from five to ten, and are navigated each by two men and a boy. October jth, pafled through a very unenterr taining country (except for a few miles on the bank of the Shannon) to Altavilla, but Mr. Baternan being from home, I was difappoint- ed in getting an account of the Palatines fet- tled in his neighbourhood. Kept the road to Adair, where Mrs. Quin, with a ppliteneis equalled only by her underflanding, procure^ me every intelligence J wilhed for. Land A D A I R. 135 Land lets about Adair from los. to 405. an acre, average 2os. the richeft in the country is the Corcaffes on the Maag, which lets at 305. to 363. a tract of five miles Jong, and two broad, down to the Shannon, which are better than thofe on that river ; the foil is a kind of yellow and blue clay, of which they make bricks; but there is a furface of blue mould. The grafs of them is applied to fattening bullocks, from 7 to 8 cwt. each, and an acre fats one, and gives fome winter and fpring food for fheep. When they break this land up, they fow firft oats, and get 20 barrels an acre, or 40 common barrels, and do not reckon that an extra crop j they take ten or twelve in fucceflion, upon one ploughing, till the crops grow poor, and then they fow one of horle beans, which refremes the land enough to take ten crops of oats more ; the beans are very good. Wheat fometimes fown, and the crops very great. Were fuch barbarians ever heard of? In the common courfe of lands about Adair, the courfe of crops is, i. Potatoes. 2. Ditto. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6. Oats* 7. kay out. i. Potatoes. 2. Ditto. 3. Wheat. 4. Wheat. 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Oats. 8. Lay out. i. Potatoes. 2. Ditto, 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. 5. Lay out. Potatoes 136 A D A I R. Potatoes they plant on grafs without dung, a gogd crop, 60 barrels to an acre, at 8s. a barrel average. When they hire it they pay fix guineas an acre; they dung tillage land and poor lays for them. Of wheat they fow a barrel an acre, and the crop in general eight to ten of thofe barrels. Oats they fow two to an acre, and get twelve to fixteen. The low bottoms of moory and rufliy kind they plough, and burn the furrows ; upon that burning they plough in the afhes and harrow in rape feed, a pottle, or three qiiarts to an acre ; ne- ver feed, but keep it for feed, and get eight Briftol barrels a.n acre ; it fells ufually at 143. to i8s. a barrel; they fow here afterwards, the produce ten barrels an acre ; then a crop of pats, twelve to fixteen barrels, and then leave it to lay. No grafs feecls fown, Farms rife from 40 acres to 2000!. a year ; fome few of the little ones are taken by cot- tars, in partnerfhip, but not common ; tr>e large farms are all flock ones. Turnips have been fown many years, but by few ; a little on pared and burnt land in the bottoms, in- ftead of rape ;' the crops very large; they give them all to. fat fheep, in order to keep their fleiri for a better market after Chriftmas ; it is found to be a very advantageous practice, but not increafmg. No hoeing. Hemp is fown a little by the Palatines, but by few others. Flax, by every cabbin, in order for a little fpinning for their own ufe. The A D A I R. 137 The fyftem of the flock farmers is in gene- ral dairying, but upon the beft lands they fat- ten bullocks, cows being only kept on lands which they think will not do for bullocks. The cows are all let, and paid for principally by butter, one cwt. to a cow, and 255. horn money. The dairyman's privilege is a cabbin, a garden of an acre, and the grafs of a cow or horfe to every twenty cows, and may rear half the calves, and keep them to November or Chriflmas. To 60 acres, 24 cows, i horfe, 30 (beep ; this is jufl two acres a head, and it is about the average of the country. The dairymen are not in good circumftances, mak- ing a mere living. The fwine here are of a large white fort, and rife to two cwt. they arp moftly fattened on potatoes, but have ibme oats at laft to harden the fat. A good many fheep ; the fyftem is to keep the lambs till three year old wethers, and fell them fat at 2os. each -, the fleeces yjb. Tythes, wheat 6s. barley 55. Oats 45. Rape np tythe. Po- tatoes 8d. to iqd. mowing ground is. to 3^. fheep 2d. each. The poor people do not all keep cows, but all have milk ; all have pigs and poultry ; are pot better off than twenty years ago. Have a potatoe garden, of which one-half to three- fourths of an acre carries a family through the year ; they live entirely upon them, felling their pigs. They pay a guinea for a cabbin, and 10 perch ; if half an acre, 2!. 2S. A whole acre, and a cabbin 011 poor ground, 3'- 138 A D A I R. 3!. 35. But not fo cheap if near a village. Labour paid in land in general. Grafs of a collop 2!. 2S. if a cow hayed, 505. Palatines were fettled here by the late Lord Southwell, about feventy years ago. They have in general leafes for three lives, or 31 years, and are not cottars to any farmer, but if they work for them, are paid in mo- ney. The quantities of land are fmall, and fome of them have their feeding land in com- mon by agreement. They are different from the Irifh in feveral particulars ; they put their potatoes in with the plough, in drills, horfe- hoe them while growing, and plough them out. One third of the dung does in this me- thod, for they put it only in the furrows, but the crops are not fo large as in the com- mon method. They plough without a dri- ver j a boy of twelve has been known to plough and drive four horfes, and fome of them have a hopper in the body of their ploughs, which fows the land at the fame time it is ploughed. Their courfe of crops is, i, Potatoes, 2. Wheat. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. i. Potatoes. 2. Barley. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. In whicii management they keep their land many years, never laying it out as their neigh- bours do. They preferve fome of their Ger- man cuftoms : fleep between two beds. They appoint i A D A I R. 139 appoint a burgomafter, to whom they appeal in cafe of all difputes ; and they yet preferve their language, but that is declining. They are very induftrious, and in confequence are much happier and better fed, cloathed, and lodged, than the Irifh peafants. We muft not, however, conclude from hence that all is ow- ing to thisj their being independent of farmers, and having leafes, are circumftances which will create mduftry. Their crops are much better than thofe of their neighbours. There are three villages of them, about feventy fa- milies in all. For fome time after they fettled they fed upon four crout, but by degrees left it off, and took to potatoes: but now fubfift. upon them and butter and milk, but with a great deal of oat bread, and fome of wheat, fome meat and fowls, of which they raifc many. They have all offices to their houfes, that is, ftables and cow houfes, and a lodge for their ploughs, &c. They keep their cows in the houfe in winter, feeding them upon hay and oat ftraw. They are remarkable for the goodnefs and cleanlinefs of their houfes. The vvomen are very induftrious, reap the corn, plough the ground fometimes, and do whatever work may be going on j they alfofpin, and make their children do the fame. Their wheat is much better than any in the country, infomuch that they get a better price than any body elfe. Their induftry goes fo far, that jocular reports of its excefs are fpread : in a very pinching feafon, one of them yoked his wife againft a horfe, and went in that 140 A D A I R. that manner to work, and finiflied a journey at plough. The induftry of the women is a perfect contrail to the Irifb ladies in the cab- bins, who cannot be perfnaded, on any con- fideration, even to make hay ; it not being the cuftom of the country; yet they bind corn, and do other works more laborious. Mrs. Quin, who is ever attentive to introduce whatever can contribute to their welfare and happinefs, offered many premiums to induce them to make hay, of hats, cloaks, {lockings, fee. &c. but all would hot do. Few places havefo much wood about them as Adair: Mr. Quin has above 1000 acres in his hands, in which a large proportion is under wood. The deer park of 400 acres is almoft full of old oak and very fine thorns, of a great fize ; and about thehoufe, the plan- tations are very extenfive, of elm and other wood, but that thrives better than any other fort. I have no where feen finer than vaft numbers here. There is a fine river runs under the houfe, and within view are no lefs than three ruins of francifcan friaries, two of them remarkably beautiful, and one has mod of the parts perfect except the roof. In Mr. Quin's houfe, there are fomc very good pictures, particularly an annunciation, by Dominicino, which is a beautiful piece. It was brought lately from Italy by Mr. Quin, junior. The colours are rich and mellow, and the airs of the heads inimitably pleafing ; the group CASTLE OLIVER. 141 group of angels at the top, to the left of the piece, are very natural. It is a piece of great merit. The companion is a magdalen j the exprefllon of melancholy, or rather mifery, remarkably ftrong. There is a gloom in the" whole in full unifon with the fubject. There are, befides thefe, fome others inferior, yet of merit, and two very good portraits of Lord Dartry, (Mrs. Quin's brother) and of Mr. Quin, junior, by Pompeio Battoni. A piece in an uncommon ftile, done on oak, of Efther and Ahafuerus : the colours tawdry, but the grouping attitudes an effect pleafing. October 7th, to Cattle Oliver, by Bruff, paffing through a very fine tract of rich recfdifh loam. The Right Hon. Mr. Oliver was afli- duous to the laft degree to have me completely informed. About his feat, the foil is brown ftone on indifferent flate ilrata, mountainous ; the mountain tops are thrown into the bar- gain ; mountain farms, tops, bottoms and iides, is. an acre ; furze land reclaimed, and fome from 153. to aos. Farms of all fizes, but the occupying tenants have from 15 to 100 acres, fome 300. The courfe of crops : i. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Potatoes. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Lay out : fome- times only two of potatoes. They manure for potatoes with all the dung they can get. Very little under tillage, and the grafs applied chiefly to dairies. In Gne particular i42 (TASTLE OLIVER. particular they are very attentive ; to conduct the mountain dreams into their grafs lands ; cutting little channels, to introduce the water as much as poffible over the whole j and though it comes from a poor mountain of brown (tone, or turf, yet the benefit they find to be very great. This is a general cuftom among all the little occupiers ; and they are frequently com- ing to Mr. Oliver, with complaints of each other for diverting or flealing one another's ftreams. This is an inftance of excellent huf- bandry, which I do not recollect meeting with before in Ireland. They always mow it the year they water it, and their crops of hay 2 ton, or 24. an acre. They do not reclaim any mountain, but fometimes a little furze land for potatoes. They have fome lime-ftone fand ; but being at a diftance, they life it in fmall quantities, a few barrels an acre fown for po- tatoes, which is effectual in preventing them from being wet or rotting. The ftate of the poor people better in thefe mountainous tracts than upon the rich flats of Limerick, both from there being more employment and greater plenty of land for them. Some few farms taken in partnerfhip. The cattle fyftem is ge- nerally dairying cows, which are all fet to dai- rymen. There has been a fall in rents • fince 1771-2, of 25.33. or 45. an acre, but it is not falling at prefent. Building a cabbin 4!. to 5!. Ditto flone, (late, &c. 25!. Relative to the rich lands of this country, they are principally found, firfl in the barony of LIMERICK GRAZING. 143 of Small County, which is rich ; Coonagh has much ; Coftilea a great deal, and much moun- tain; Clanwilliam, a good fhare. The rich land reaches from Charleville, at the foot of the mountains, to Tipperary, by Kilfenning, a line of twenty-five miles, and acrofs from Ard- patric to within four miles of Limerick, 16 miles. Bruff, Kilmallock, and Hofpital have very good land about them ; the quantity in the whole conjectured to be 100,000 acres. It is in general under bullocks, but there is fome tillage fcattered about, to the amount probably of a fifteenth of the whole; the rents are from. 255. to 40$. but average 305. an acre. The county of Limerick, befides the rich grazing, has a light lime-ft one -land for fheep and cows, at 155. to 205. There are alfo yel- low clays, from IDS. to 2os. alfo middling land of furze and fern, from IDS. 6d. to il. is. Some mountain is. likewife fifteen miles of corcafles on the Shannon, two to three miles broad. Average of the whole county, aos. The county of Tipperary, i8s. - As to the foil I am able to fpeak of it parti- cularly, for Mr. Oliver was fo kind as to ride through a great variety of it, a man with a fpade following to dig ; the fined foil in the country is upon the roots of mountains ; it is a rich, mellow, crumbling, putrid, fandy loam, eighteen inches to three feet deep, the colour a reddifh brown. It is dry found land, and would do for turneps exceedingly well, for carrots, 144 LIMERICK GRAZING?. carrots, for cabbages, and in a word for every thing. I think upon the whole, it is the rich- eft foil I ever faw, and fuch as is applicable to every purpofe you can wifli : it will fat the largeft bullock, and at the fame time do equal- ly well for iheep, for tillage, for turneps, for wheat, for beans, and in a word, for every trop and circumftance of profitable huf- bandry. The lower lands are wetter, and under them a yellow clay, whereas in the upper, it is fandy loam to a confiderable depth. The rent in England would be confiderably higher than this of the bullock land in Ireland. The farms are of all fares. The bullock farm rife to 600 acres, which quantity is a large farm ; but there are many fmall ones under cottars and dairymen : the general run in flocking is a bullock of four and a half to fe- ven cwt. average five hundred and a half to the acre, and quarter for the fummer's grafs • but their not generally having a bullock to an acre, is owing to their keeping fheep and calves fo late, in which they do even to June. The winter's hay amounts to about a rood, befides the acre for the fummer food. Thefe beafts are bought in at autumn, at three or four years old, average price, 5!. they are fed regu- larly through the winter with hay everyday in the fields where they are to be fattened vn fum- mer ; they chufe the dry fields for it, but ftill mifchief is done by it. All the hay is flacked 2 in LIMERICK GRAZING. 145 in the fields for this purpofe. The time of felling autumn. The profit they make per bullock on an average, about three guineas. The principal winter fyflem is buying calves, at il. is. to 2\. 2s. keeping them till May, and then felling them at 2os. to 308. profit, but give them a bellyful of their beft hay. A great many fheep are alfo fent to be wintered from Tipperary, which is extraordinary, as their own lands are much drier than thefe of Lime- rick : they do this by hiring farms for the pur-* pofe This is one of the mod profitable arti- cles ; they bring the fpring lambs in O6tober, and keep them till May, and then fend them back to Tipperary, and they are much better than thofe they left there. The graziers are many of them rich, but generally fpeaking, not fo much from the im- mediate profit, as from advantageous leafes. I wanted much to be informed of their profit, but it is exceedingly difficult to come near it, for not a grazier in the country but denies his making any thing confiderable : this is fup- pofed to be a great piece of art, but I am very apt to think the truth not fo far from the de- claration, at leaft as well as I am able to judge from the information I have received. Rent of an acre and a half for a bullock £ 1 2 6 County cefs, at 6d. * o o t? Mowing and making one-third of an acre hay 030 VOL. II. I46 CASTLE OLIVER. Brought over A bullock 5!. intereft at 6 per cent. Labour i s. 6d. an acre Profit on a bullock Winter food,, two fheep at 55. Expenses Profit From this is to be deduced the whole of chances, the lofs of cattle, &c. and from what I was able to pick up, I have reafon to believe that it does not exceed los. an acre at mofl. The fum neceffary to ftock 61. an acre. I muft obferve that the profit is very low for land to yield, which is of fuch extraordinary fertility j it is of that foil which would do very well for tillage, for though it is not dry, yet it has not the wetnefs of our Englifh clays, and would in a eourfe of good tillage, pay infinitely bet- ter as every perfon muft admit who are at all acquainted with the wet lands of Norfolk, Suffolk, Eflex, &c. I am however very far from recommending it, for if the Irifh tillage fhould be introduced, the very contrary would be the ca(e, and the landlord iuffer exceedingly from his eftate being exhaufted. In no part of Ireland have I feen more carelefs manage- ment CASTLE OLIVER. 147 ment than in thefe rich lands. The face of the country is that of defolation ; the grounds are over-run with thirties, (carduus) ragwort, (fe- necio jacobtea) &c. to excefs ; the fences are mounds of earth, full of gaps ; there is no wood, and the general countenance is fuch, that you muft examine into the foil before you will believe that a country, which has fo beg- garly an appearance, can he fo rich and fertile. To (hew the rife of land, Sir Harry Harp- fon has a farm of 400 acres, which his grand- father let in 1676, at 45. 6d. an acre, and thought fo dear that an offer of a fcore of fheep and two goats were offered to be off; it would let now at 305. I had this fact from himfelf. The breed of cattle here is all long horned. There are fome cows fattened alib, but not near fo many as oxen. Likewife fome dairies, which are fet, one cwt. butter, and 2os. horn money. The dairyman's privilege is two or three cows, a cabbin and a garden. The num- ber of cows feldom above a fcore : but they are found fo troublefome and impofing, that they have taken a different method, and employed dairywomen on their own account. Great quantities of flax fown by all the poor and little farn.ers, which is fpun in the coun- try, and a good deal of handle cloth made of it. This and pigs are two great articles of profit here ; they keep great numbers, yet the poor in this richtracl: of country are very badly K 2 off, 148 CASTLE OLIVER. off. Land is fo valuable, that all along as I came from Bruff, their cabbins are generally in the road ditch, and numbers of them with- out the leaft garden ; the potatoe land being affigned them upon the farm where it fuits the mailer beft. The price they pay is very great, from 4!. to 5!. an acre, with a eabbin j and for the grafs of a cow, 405. to 453. They are, if any thing, worfe off than they were twenty years ago. A eabbin, an acre of land, at 405. and the grafs of two cows, the recompenfe of the year's labour : but are paid in different places by an acre of grafs for potatoes at 5!. Thofe who do not get milk to their potatoes, eat muftard with them, railing the feed for the purpofe. The population of the country in- creafes exceedingly, but moft in the higher lands ; new cabbins are building every where. The tillage in thefe rich lands confifts in, i. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Barley. 4. Wheat. 5. Oats. 6. Oats, i. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes, (on fpots 4. or I acre flax after the 2d Potatoes.) 3. Wheat. 4. Barley. 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Oats. 8. Oats. 9. Lay it out. Mr. Oliver has known 150 Briftol barrels, each four bufhels heaped of potatoes, which make fix bufhels, or 900 from an acre. The weight, ftrike meafure, 15 ftone. The com- mon crop, 1 50 heaped barrels, at 43. average price. Opinions differ much, whether the fe- cond CASTLE OLIVER. 149 cond crop is better or worfe, but from one practice they have, I am dear which it muft be; for they truft to the fmail potatoes left in the ground as feed, which are neceflarily irregular : and I have found, by various trials, that a flice of a middling potatoe is far better than a whole foiall one. POTATOES. Rent 5 '3 8 Seed, fixteen barrels and a half, at los. 2 15 0 Cutting feed o 5 6 Digging Q ftj. 0 Carrying out ... P 2 6 Trenching and fowing * 5 0 Weeding - . JO 10 o Digging out - I 10 0 Gathering - O JO P Carrying home o 9 6 Houfing - o 6 0 Picking - - - O JO o Tythe 0 12 0 £-*S 3 2 CROP. One hundred an4 fifty barrels, at 43. each 30 o o Ejcpences • 15 3 2 Profit 150 C A STLE OLIVER. One hundred barrels, at 45. each - 20 o o Expences - - 15 3 2 Profit - /. 4 16 10 The Briftol barrel, which is here charged at 45. is heaped, and weighs 22 ftone. The qua- lity of the corn raifed on thefe rich lands is much better than any other in the country j the quantity of barley per acre, 12 Briftol barrels. Mr. Ryves, a gentleman of the neighbour- hood I had the pleafure of meeting at Cafjle Oliver ; on 31 acres fowed nine b'ufhels of bere, from which 1 1 1 Briftol barrels, ftriked mea- fure. Of wheat, the crops fluctuating, but a middling one 12 barrels. Mr. Ryves has had 20 of oats, generally 15. All thefe crops are with good tillage : there are many who do not get near fo much. There is a bolting mill at Limerick, at Annf- grove, at Marlefield, at Clonmell, at Caftle Hyde, at Newport : hence therefore there is no want of a market in this country for corn. I was furprized to find that land, in this rich country, fells at as many years purchafe as in mountain tracts. Limerick is famous for cy- der ] the fineft cakaggee is at Mr. Waller's, Mr. Mafiey's, Mr. Weftrope's, Mr. Monfon's, &c,. The foil of the orchard's thin, on lime- ftone. Mr. Oli- CASTLE OLIVER. 151 Mr. Oliver has pra6Kfed hufbandry on a pret- ty extenfive fcale. A confiderable part of his land is improved mountain, which he grubbed and cleared of fpontaneous rubbifh, and ma- nured with lime-ftone fand j and then culti- vated fome for corn, and fome for turnips : where the land is boggy, he burns, in order to get rid of that foil which he confiders as worth but little. Whatever he fows, the land runs at once immediately to thick fine grafs, even on the mountain top ; fo that a ftubble will, in the firft year, yield a great crop of hay. A ftrong proof how adapted this country is to paflurage. In the breed of cattle he has been very attentive, purchafing bulls and cows, at the expence of twenty guineas each, of the long-horned Lancafhire breed, and from them has bred others, I faw two exceeding well- made bulls of a year old of his breeding, which would have made a confiderable figure in Lei- cefterfhire. Turnips he has cultivated for ma- ny years, applying them chiefly to feeding deer, but^ he has fattened fome fheep on them with good fuccefs. Hollow draining he has practiced upon an extenfive fcale, and laid a large tract of wet land dry by it. Mr. Oliver planted a colony of Palatines 15 years ago, from about Rathkeal, 66 families in one year, which made 700 proteftants, on his own eftate. Fixed them upon fpots, of from thirteen to thirty acres each, charging thCm only two thirds of the rent, which he could get of others ; built houfes for them at the 152 CASTLE OLIVER. the expence of above 500!. gave them leafes for three lives. The benefit of them has been in- troducing much tillage ; to the proportion of their little farms, they till much more than the Irifh. They drill their potatoes, and on ftub- ble land worn out. Houfe their cattle, feeding them with hay, and raifing thereby dung. They are cleaner and neater, and live much better: are better cloathed, and all of them have neat little kitchen gardens. Many of them labour for nobody but themfelves, and none of them conftantly for others, being employed principally on their own little farms. They live partly on four crout. Caftle Oliver is a place almoft entirely of Mr. Oliver's creation; from a houfe, furrounded with cabbins and rubbifti, he has fixed it in a fine lawn, furrounded by good wood. The park he has very much improved on an excellent plan; by means of feven feet hurdles, he fences of! part of it that wants to be cleaned or im- proved, thefe he cultivates, and leaves for grafs, and then takes another fpot, which is by much the befl way of doing it. In the park is a glen, an Englifh mile long, winding in a plea- ling manner, with much wood hanging on the bank. Mr. Oliver has conducted a ftream through this vale, and formed many little wa- ter-falls in an exceeding good tafte, chiefly over- hung with wood, but in fome places open with feveral little rills, trickling over ftones down the flopes. A path winds through a large wood and along the brow of the glen; this path CASTLE OLIVER. 153 path leads to an hermitage, a cave of rock, in a good tafte, and to fome benches, from which the views of the water and wood are in the fe- queftered ftile they ought to be. One of thefe little views, which catches feveral falls under the arch of the bridge, is one of the prettieft touches of the kind I have feen. The vale be- neath the houfe, when viewed from the higher grounds, is pleafing; it is very well wooded, there being many inclofures, furrounded by pine trees, and a thick fine mafs of wood rifes from them up the mountain fide, makes a very good figure, and would be better, had not Mr. Oliver's father cut it into viftos for (hooting. Upon the whole, the place is highly improved, and when the mountains are planted, in which Mr. Oliver is making a considerable progrefs, it will be magnificent, In the houfe are feveral fine pictures, partU cularly five pieces by Seb. Ricci, Venus and ./Eneas ; Apollo and Pan, Venus and Achilles $ and Pyrrhus. and Andromache, by Lazzerini; and the rape of the Lapithi, by the centaurs i the laft is by much the fineft, and is a very ca- pital piece j the expreflion is ftrong, the figures are in bold relief, and the colouring good. Venus and Achilles is a pleafing picture j the continence of Scipio is well grouped, but Sci- pio, as in evcAy picture I ever faw of him, has no expreflion. Indeed, chaftity is in the coun- tenance fo pa/jive a virtue as not to be at all fuited to the genius of painting; the idea is rather {hat of infipidity, and accordingly Sci- pio's 154 T I P PER A R Y. pio's expreflion is generally infipid enough. Two fine pieces, by Lucca Jordano, Hercules and Antetis; Sampfon killing the lion: both dark and horrid, but they are highly finifhed* and ftriking. Six heads of old men, by Nogari, excellent; and four young women, in the cha- racter of the feafons. Oftober 9th, left Caftle Oliver. Had I fol- lowed my inclination, my itay would have been much longer, for I found it equally the refi- dence of entertainment and inftruclion. Faffed through Kilfennan and Duntreleague, in my way to Tipperary. The road leads every where on the fides of the hills, fo as to give a very dif- tinft view of the lower grounds ; the foil all the way is the fame fort of fandy reddifh loam 1 have already defcribed, incomparable land for tillage : as I advanced, it grew fomething lighter, and in many places free from gravel. Bullocks the (lock all the way. Towards Tip- perary I faw vaft numbers of fheep, and many bullocks. All this line of country is part of the famous golden vale. To Thomas-Town, where I was fo unfortunate as not to find Mr. Mathew at home; the domain is ^ooEnglifh acres, fo well planted, that I could hardly be- lieve myfelf in Ireland. There is a hill in the park, from which the view of it, the country and the Galties, are ftriking. ( To the Earl of Clanwilliara's, where I was particularly fortunate in meeting MerTrs. Ma- . earthy and Keating, fons to two of the greateft farmers T I P P E R A R Y 155 farmers that ever were in Ireland. The coun- try is all under fheep, and the foil dry fandy loam. The Iheep fyflem of Tipperary is to breed and keep the lambs till three-year old wethers, fat, and fell them at 26s. at an aver- age; keep the ewe lambs, and cull the old flock, felling an equal number of fat ewes at three to four years old, the average price 2os. in Oclober, the wool of all the flock in general amounts to three fleeces, per flone, of i61b. or 6s. a head. From hence to Clonmell, there are many fheep; to Cullen in Kilkenny, three or four miles beyond Thurles, within two miles of Cullen, three or four and twenty miles N. to S. and from Cullen to within three miles of Cullen, which is 30 : generally fpeaking, this is all fheep, but there are many fpots in it where bullocks are fed. The flock mixed with fheep are ufually calves, bought in at fix to eight months, 305. to 403. average 323. and when they are three year old, fend them to the richer lands in the county of Limerick, (where every Tipperary grazier has a farm) to fat. When, they have not enough of their own rearing, they buy three-year okls at Ballynafloe, and fatten them in Limerick. In general, this land will carry three to five fheep to the acre, and bear fome calves befides. One acre and three quarters a bullock the year through, one half for hay. Arrangement i J56 TIPPERARY. 'Arrangement of a flock of2)$oojheep. 5-0 ewes 500 lambs 500 hoggarts 500 two-year olds 250 fat wethers 250 fat wethers 250 ewes, added to dock, inftead of 250 older enes fole off 2500 at 5 to an acre 500 acres 250 fat wethers, at 265. - - 324 18 o 250 culled ewes, at 205. - - 150 o o 2000 fleeces, at 6s, - - 600 o o jC.i'74 18 o A part of the flock of fat wethers is kept over from October to the fpring, for the Dub- lin market, not merely for the high price, but becaufe underlings, and not fat in autumn, and fell for lefs than the reft, feldom more than 195. or 2os. To 3000 fheep a grazier in this neighbourhood has 30 acres of turnips, in or- der to feed this part of his wether ftock with. Mr. Macarthy with 8000 fheep, has feldom more than 30 acres. This fyftem will be fur- ther explained by Mr. Allen's ftock. 1,200 acres — 2,000 fheep, befides lambs — Sells 200 four year-old wethers, at 263. — 200 three T I P P E R A R Y. 457 three year-olds, at 263. — -200 barren ewes, at 1 85*— 2,000 fleeces, at 55, — 400 two-year olds —400 year olds — 500 Brood ewes — 500 lambs — Land to feed this flock, 1000 acres. Alfo 1 20 bullocks— 40 cows and fpayed heifers and working bullocks for work, and milk breed- ing.— 30 horfes, mares, &c. — 30 labourers, 5 fhepherds — 20 acres of wheat — 10 barley — 10 oats — 10 turnips — 8 potatoes — 60 mowing ground — Rent of this large tract of fheep-land from 20 to 255. an acre. Farms are generally large, commonly 3 or 4000 acres, and rife up to 10,000, of which quan- tity there is one farm, this is Mr. Macarthy's, of Spring Houfe, nearTipperary, and is I fup- pofe the mofl confiderable one in the world. Here are fome of the particulars of it : 9,000 acres in all — io,oool. rent — 8,000 fheep 2,000 lambs — 550 bullocks — 80 fat cows — 20,000!. value of flock — 200 year- lings— 200 two-year olds — 200 three-year olds —80 plough bullocks— 1 80 horfes, mares and foals-— 15010 200 labourers-*- 200 acres tillage. Mr. Richard Dogherty, of Locklogher, 76 bags of wool at 5oolb. to 6oolb. this year. Lofs of fheep and cattle one-half per cent. No folding. For hiring and flocking, 5!. an acre. A fhepherd is allowed four cows, a horfe, a cabbin, and three acres of garden, and as much hay as they like for their cattle. Slaughter 158 T I P P E R A R r* Slaughter at Corke of cows and bullocks undoubtedly much leflened. The increafe of tillage is in Tipperary owing to bolting mills. The quantity of tillage in this country trifling, but the crops are large ; there are fe- veral courfes. The turnip hufbandry often upon burnt land, fome on lime and fallow, and fome on fallow alone. i. Turnips. 2. Fallow. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6. Oats. 7. Oats. 8. Oats. 9. Oats. jo. Lay it out. i. Turnips. 2. Fallow. 3. Potatoes. 4. Bere. 5. Wheat. 6. Oats. 7. Oats. 8. Oats. 9. Oats. i. Burn for rape feed. 2. Potatoes. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. Lay out. And iometimes they take two crops of wheat. They never hoe turnips. Mr. Dexter of Cullen, had a ram, half a guinea a leap, and great numbers of ewes were fent to him, the breed much improving. Potatoes, average produce, 80 to 100 Briftol barrels, at 53. average price, and the poor people pay 5 to 6 guineas for land. They often take two crops with adding fome feed, pay the fame price for the fecond j they pay this price for turnip land burnt ; grafs potatoes not generally known. The quantity of T I P P E R A R Y. 159 of wheat 10 barrels to 15. — Bere 15 to 18. — Barley 12 to 18. — Oats 12 to 15. Their tur- nips they feldom fow before the i2th of July. Their manures are lime and lime-ftone gravel, the gravel for crops, and lime for grafs ; they ufe it on lime-ftone land, and with great fuccefs. The foil a mellow, dry fandy, or gravelly loam, on lime-ftone or lime- ftone gravel. Much bog in this country, that of Allen comes in a line through the Queen's County to within three miles of Cafhel. One- fifth of Tipperary, mountain, the reft 20$. an acre. Land fells at 20 years purchafe. Rents have fallen four or five fhillings an acre fince 1771 and 1772. Price of Cattle. Yearling bullock, 3!. to 3!. los. Store bul- lock, 61. to 7!. Fat ditto, lol. to 12!. Profit on a bullock, 4!. to 4!. los. A bullock fat of ten guineas, weighs 6 cwt. Newtown, 250 acres, a farm of Mr. Dogherty's, under bullocks from May to No- vember, and 1 1 oo lambs all winter through. I had heard much of the late Mr. Keating's farm, of Garranlad, as the largeft that ever was j his fon gave me the following particu- lars of it: io,oool. a year rent. 13,800 Irifh acres. 3,000 head of black cattle. 16,300 fheep. 300 horfes. 500 couple -of ducks. 300 turkies. 160 T I P P E R A R Y. turkies. 90 hogfheads of cyder a year. He had moft of the ground from Golding to Clonmell. Collops here in order are, i horfe. 6 fheep. i cow. i fat bullock* 2 yearlings. 3 calves. To Cullen* Newtown, Palace, Carrick on Lifh, rents 30 s. an acre. Refpecling the ftate of the poor in this country they are paid by a cabbin, and one acre and a half of land, for which they are reckoned 4!, and for grafs of a cow 2!. 2s. They live upon potatoes and milk j generally have cows, but not all, and thofe who have not, buy, but very many of them have for the half year* only potatoes and fait* They all keep pigs. They are juft as they were 20 years ago. Prices, wheat is. id. per flone. Englifh barley, lod. Oats, 6d, Bere, 7d. Hay iL 2s. 9d.aton. Rape is very commonly fown upon burnt land ; they never feed it, but let it ftand for feed, of which they get 12 to 15 barrels, and it fells at 1 6s. a barrel. Burning I Ihould ex- plain, is only the remaining turf after two ploughings, the firft in November, and after Chriftmas a crofs ploughing ; harrow in March, and burn in May, Accompanied Lady Clanwilliam in a drive through her plantations ; fhe has planted a broad margin for feveral miles round a do- main, (which his Lordfliip walled in with in- tention of building) and done it with equal tatfe D U N D R U M. 161 tafte and fuccefs. The attention (he has given to this rational amufement, and the fenfible and agreeable manner in which fhe renders every tree intereiling by her defcriptions and remarks, are formed to fet off a female charac- ter in a light at leaft as refpectable and as amia- ble as the moft brilliant exhibition that a capital can witnefs. The twig which fhe plants with her hand, and nourifhes by her care, will not difappoint her in the pleafure fhe expefts j it will thrive with her attention, and greet her with its friendly fhade : when will Dublin prove as grateful ? October 12th, to Lord de Montalt's at Dun- drum, a place which his Lordfhip has orna- mented in the modern ftile of improvement: the houfe was fituated in the midlt of all the regular exertions of the laft age. Parterres, pa- rapets of earth, ftraight walks, knots and dipt hedges, all which he has thrown down, with an infinite number of hedges and ditches, rilled up ponds, &c. and opened one very no- ble lawn around him, fcattered negligently over with trees, and cleared the courfe of a choaked up river, fo that it flows at prefent in a winding courfe through the grounds. He continues this work of drefling the fields con- tiguous to him, to give them a neat appearance, and advances in it every year, even his tillage lands are all kept in the fame neat manner, with fences new done, and the whole carrying the moft cultivated appearance. VOL. II. L His 162 D U N D R U M. His Lordfhip's fyftem of hufbandry is an ad- mirable one ; it is in the great outline to take farms into his own hands, as the leafes expire, to keep them for improvement, and when done to relet them. This is the true agricul- ture for profit for a landlord j he has upon this fyftem improved near 2000 acres. Throw- ing down the old miferable fences which fplit the farms into little fcraps of fields, and made new ditches for drains and water-courfes, dif- pofed the new fields to the befl advantage, drained them with ftone drains where wet, broke up fuch of the grafs as was bad, culti- vated it enough to bring it into proper order, and laid it down again to meadow ; there can- not be a better fyftem, or more calculated at the fame time to ornament a country, and im- prove his own eftate. HisLordfhip has alfo followed feveral prac- tices in farming, which have proved of great fervice; among others, keeping hogs upon clover. He had a mind to mew the country- man that they might keep many hogs (a very advantageous ftock to them) by means of clo- ver ; he kept four fows and twenty-four pigs the fu, T.mer through on one acre, by which he made lol. produce. A clear proof that the hufbandry would be highly advantageous with this view. Turnips he cultivates upon a very large fcale j xvas the firft who had them here on Bubbles ; he has thirty or forty acres, and 3 every D U N D R U M. 163 every year has a large quantity ; drills them with a very cheap limple drill, his own in- vention, and thins them out by hand, or hoes them. I viewed his crop, and found them very regular, and of a good fize; with the leaves of the whole of a remarkable deep green, without any yellow ones r. more fo, I think, than is common in England, and I obferved the fame circumflance with the other crops I faw. He ufes them for feeding and fattening fheep, giving them on dry grafs land; alfo for flail-feeding bullocks, and finds the advantage of both ufes fo great, that he does not know what he fhould do without them. In the winter management of his cattle, he proceeds on very different principles from what is common in Ireland ; inftead of feeding them abroad, and for that purpofe flacking the hay about the fields, he ties them up in flails, of which he has many, and is erecting more : he ties up above 100 head, in which he fihds the greatefl advantage, both in the cattle, faving food, and yielding dung. The breed of Iheep he has begun to change, from the long-legged Tipperary to the fhortlegs of Leiceflerfhire; has feveral tups of that breed, and finds that the change is of the higheflconfequence. Folding he has practiced with the greatefl fuccefs. The breed of hogs he has alfo changed to the Berkfhire, and has one of the finefl boars of that breed I have feen. L 2 Cabbages 164 D U N D R U M. Cabbages he cultivated for feveral years, but finds them burft too foon to be of confiderable ufe; turnips much better: but Reynolds' tur- nip-cabbage he finds excellent for late fpring food; has eight acres of very fine ones this year, which coft him juft 20-!. labour of ma- nuring included. Lord de Montalt keeps 2000 acres in his hands, 1500 iheep, 40 plough bullocks, 12 cows, &c. His Lordfhip, for the purpofe of draining his clay lands, ploughs and fho- vels them up into broad highlands, fo as to form regular fegments of circles,, in the manner pra6tifed in fome counties in Eng- land ; he does this that the furrows may be drains to the land, for French drains will not run, owing to the ftiffnefs of the clay. He has not much of this land, however; for in general his foil is the rich reddifh fandy loam of the golden vale. He does much of his ploughing with the plough of Warwick and Shropshire, and finds it an- fvvers very well. The mountain knds of Tipperary one- Icventh of the county, the reft lets at 2.0-5. an acre on an average. There is fome woollen manufactory fcattcred through it, efpecially at Thurles, Tipperary, Clonmell, &c. Mr. John Penning, near Colchin, em- ploys 30 combers. The year's purchafe of land 20, was 25 foms years ago. The fall owing. C A S H E L. 165 owing partly to the expectation, of #n ab- fentee land-tax. O&ober 13th, leaving Dundruo, pafTed through Caihel, where is a j-ock and mi* on it, called the rock of Cafhel, fuppofed to be of the remoter! antiquity. Towards Clonmeil, the whole way through the fame rich vein of red fandy loam I have fo often .mentioned: I examined it in feveral fields, and found it to be of an extraordinary fer- tility, and as fine turnip land as ever I faw. It is much under fheep; but towards Clonmeil there is a great deal of tillage. The firft view of that town backed by a high ridge of mountains, with a beautiful fpace near it, of inclofures, fringed with a Scattering of trees, was very pleaiing. It is the beft fituated place in the county of Tipperary, on the Sure, which brings up boats of ten tons burthen. It appears to be a bufy populous place, yet I was told that the manufacture of woollens is not con- fiderable. It is noted far being the birth- place of the inimitable Sterne. Within two miles of it is Marletield, the feat of Stephen Moore, Efq; celebrated in Ireland for his uncommon exertions in every branch of agriculture. It was not without the great- eft concern that I found him abfent. See- ing this Gentleman however in London af- terwaixlo, he was kind enough to favour me with the following particulars : His r66 CLONMELL. His mill was built feven years ago, and coft 15,000!. the wages of the millers, includ- ing candles, coals, foap, tallow, &c. 7 or 8ool. a year: it contains 9 ftoned for wheat, and 4 for oatmeal : it has a very complete apparatus for fifting, cleaning, &c. and gra- naries of uncommon magnitude, holding 10,000 barrels : began to be worked with only 3,000 barrels of wheat in a year, which has rifen gradually to 20,000 barrels in 1776, a very ftrong proof of the great increaie of tillage in the neighbourhood. Very much of it is between Clonmell and Ca(hel, in which tracl: there was formerly more iheep in one parifh, than now in three ; alfo much in the Corke road to Cloheen, but no moun-. tain heath ground improved. The change has been from fheep and bullocks. He has a profpect of doing yet more, and at the fame time that other mills have been erected that grind much, perhaps the whole is not fhort of 40,000 barrels.- The farmers do not bring their wheat from a greater diftance than 16 miles. Mr. Moore finds it neceffary to kiln dry all. I menti- oned to him the bad colour of all the wheat in his own, and every other mill in Ireland, he attributed it only to wet harvefts. He fends his flour to Dublin, on the bounty, which rather more than pays the expence of carriage 6d. per cwt. Never exports on his own account, but fends a little to Waterford. It goes to Dublin in cars, which takes each eight to ten cwt. that is from four to five bags. C L O N M E L L. 167 bags. He ufed to pay 35. a cwt. in winter, and 35. 6d. in fummer for 84 miles, but now the price is 2s 6d. in fummer, and 35. in winter. Mr. Moore tried Englifh broad- wheeled waggons, with high priced ftrong horfes, but they did not anfwer at all : he has found the cars to carry much greater loads. He has not found that the premium has over flocked the Dublin market, which he attributes to there being an export from Dublin, notwithftanding fuch exported corn receives no bounty. The bran Mr. Moore applies to breeding and fattening hogs, con- trary to the practice of moil: other mills, who having tried it, have given that practice up. He has thirty breeding fows and fix hundred pigs, which are fed and fattened entirely on it, and the fat is firm and good. The price of bran is is. id. the fix ftone, and the hogs anfwer fo well, that he would contract for other bran to be delivered him at that price, in order to ufe it in this man- ner. He does not depend entirely on breed- ing his own, but buys many ftores. He is entirely in the Berkfhire breed, which he finds much fuperior to the Irifh/ I obferved his hogs, and thought them very fine ones. His fows bring three litters each, feven pigs on an average, in a year and a quarter j fells them at half a year to two years old, putting them to fat as foon as they have done grow- ing ; but when there is a great demand, fats them young. The average fat pig, two cwt. at i68 M A R L E F I E L D. at from 2os. to 305. a cwt. medium 253. The dang is a confiderable profit ; he finds it be- yond any other. He has given bran alfo to fatting ftore cattle, having built flails for that purpofe ; gives them hay till when near fat, then leaves off the hay. His working horfes are fed on bran entirely, no oats. Mr. Moore contracts for bifcuit, which he bakes in large quantities, and bread for the whole town of Clonmell. He has eight ovens going for bifcuit. Starch he alfo makes large quantities of. Adjoining his flour mill, he has erected a rape mill, for making, oil ; the feed is all raifed in the neighbourhood. The cake fells at 485. a ton, and is exported, fome to Holland, but moft to England for manure. He has tried feeding beafts with it, but it will not do at all : they would have died. This fact has long been known in England. It is the cake of lint feed that fattens. We have, however, very florid writers of this age, who fpeak of oxen fattening on rape cake as a com- mon thing. Mr. Moore's hufbandry is alfo worthy of confiderable notice. His principal attention has been given to cattle; feventeen years ago he imported Leicefterfhire rams, Northampton ftallions, and a Craven bull from England, and has at different times fince had bulls from Bakewell and others, and has himfelf fold yearling bull calves, from lol. to 30!. a piece, and rams from jol. to 40!. Long ex- perience M A R L E F I E L D. 169 perience has told him that the long horned Craven breed of cattle is preferable to any other. I enquired particularly into the quantity of milk, becaufe the common objection is their not giving much. Sir William Ofborne, as well as Mr. Moore, allured me that he had feen one of them milked, and the milk mea- fured feventeen quarts at one meal ; but the average fix to ten quarts at a meal, which is neither better nor worfe than the common cows of the country : but the milk is much better and thicker, and yields more butter than that of the HoldernefTe. I examined his bulls, cows, and oxen, with attention ; he has a bull which deferves every commendation for fliape ; and three or four out of fix or feven prime cows I faw, were very beautiful ones. Of fheep he keeps jooo, that is 200 ewes, 200 year-olds ; 200 two-year olds ; 200 barren ewes, and 200 lambs. He fells every year 200 two-year old fat wethers, and 100 barren ewes ; the wethers in Oftober, at 28s. and the ewes in the fpring, at 255. His fleeces are jib. each on an average, at is, per Ib. Turnips he has cultivated for fome years, up to 30 acres in a year, broad caft, has not hoed, from finding them very good without. He both draws and feeds on the land. He has had cabbages alfo, but never more than two acres, finds them more expenfive, but do not go fo far as turnips. Te 170 MOUNTAIN IMPROVEMENT. To Sir William Ofborne's, three miles the other fide Clonmell. From a character fo re- markable for intelligence and precifion. I could not fail of meeting information of the moft valuable kind. This gentleman has made a mountain improvement which demands par- ticular attention, being upon a principle very different from common ones. Twelve years ago he met with a hearty look- ing fellow of forty, followed by a wife and fix children in rags, who begged. Sir William queftioned him upon the fcandal of a man in full health and vigour, fupporting himfelf in fuch a manner : the man faid he could get no work : Come along with °me, I ivillfoew you afpot of land upon which I will build a cabbinfor you, and if you like it you ftallfix there. The fellow followed Sir William, who was as good as his word : he built him a cabbin, gave him five acres of a heathy mountain, lent him four pounds to ftock with, and gave him, when he had prepared his ground, as much lime as he would come for. *The fellow flourifhed j he went on gradually ; repaid the four pounds, and prefently became a happy little cottar : he has at prefent twelve acres under cultivation, and a itock in trade worth at leail Sol. his name is John Conory. The fuccefs which attended this man in two or three years, brought others, who applied for land, and Sir William gave them as they applied. The mountain was under leafe to a tenant, MOUNTAIN IMPROVEMENT. 171 tenant, who valued it fo little, that upon be- ing reproached with not cultivating, or doing fomething with it, he allured Sir William, that it was utterly impracticable to do any thing with it, and offered it to him without any deduction of rent. Upon this mountain he fixed them ; gave them terms as they came determinate with the leafe of the farm, fo that every one that came in fucceflion had fhorter and fhorter tenures ; yet are they fo defirous of fettling, that they come at prefent, though on- ly two years remain for a term. In this manner Sir William has fixed twen- ty-two families, who are all upon the improv- ing hand, the meaneft growing richer; and find themfelves fo well off, that no confidera- tion will induce them to work for others, not even in harveft : their mduftry has no bounds ; nor is the day long enough for the revolution of their inceflant labour. Some of them bring turf to Clonmell, and Sir William has feen Conory returning loaded with foap afties. He found it difficult to perfuade them to make a road to their village, but when they had once done it, he found none in getting crofs roads to it, they found fuch benefit in the firfl. Sir William has continued to give them whatever lime they come for ; and they havedefired 1000 barrels among them for the year 1766, which their landlord has according- ly contracted for with his lime-burner, at 1 1 d. a barrel. Their houfes have all been built at his 172 \YATERFORD. his expence, and done by contract at 61. each, after which they raife what little offices they want for themfeives. Sir William being prejudiced againft the cuftom of burning land, infifted that they ihould not do it, which impeded them for fome time; but upon being convinced that they could not go on well without it, he relaxed, and fince that they have improved rapidly. He has informed them, that upon the expiration of the leafe, they will be charged fomething for the land, and has defired that they will mark out each man what he wifhes to have ; they have accordingly run divifions, and fome of them have taken pieces of 30 or 40 acres : a ftrong proof that they find their husbandry beneficial and profitable. He has great reafon to believe that nine-tenths of them were white boys, but are now of principles and practice exceedingly different from the mifcreants that bear that name. The lime Sir William gives them for the firft breaking up, and the quantity they chufe is 40 barrels an acre, fo that all the expenfe is 61. for the houfe, and il. 2 6s. Sd. an acre for the land they improve. He has little doubt but they will take the whole moun- tain among them, which confifts of 900 acres. Their courfe of tillage is, i . Potatoes on the burning, generally Turks , (cindered) and great crops. 2. Rye. 3. Oats, and then leave it out ; the grafs is, Their W A T E R F O R D. 173 Their cattle are feeding on the mountain in the day, but of nights they houfe them in little miferable ftables. All their children are em- ployed regularly in their hufbandry, picking ilones, weeding, &c. which fhows their induf- try flronglyj for in general they are idle about all the country. The women fpin. Too much cannot be faid in praife of this undertaking. It fhows that a reflecting pene- trating landlord can fcarcely move without the power of creating opportunities to do himfelf and his country fervice. It mows that the vil- kiny of the greateft mifcreants, is all fituation and circumftance: EMPLOY, don't bang them. Let it not be in theilavery of the cottar fyftem, in which induJftry never meets its reward, but by giving property, teach the value of it -, by giving them the fruit of their labour, teach them to be laborious. All this Sir William Ofborne has done, and done it with effec"l, and there probably is not an honefter fet of families in the county than thofe which he has formed from the refufe of the white boys. Suppofe he builds a houfe to every twenty acres, and limes that quantity of land, the ex- penfe would be a few Shillings over 40!. or 405. an acre. If they pay him 2s. 4d. an acre for the land, he will make j aft 61. per cent, for his money : a mpft finking proof of the immenfe profit which attends mountain improvements of every kind, becaufe inftead of as. 4d. they would confider 6s. or 73. as a rent of favour'. 43. N E W T O W N. 45. 8d. is 12 percent, for his money; 75. is 18 per cent. Yet in fpite of fuch facts do the lazy, trifling, inattentive, negligent, Jlobberingy pro- fligate owners of Irifh mountains leave them, as they received them, from the hands of their anceltors, in the pofleffion of groufe and foxes. Shame to fuch afpiritlefs conduct ! • One- third of Waterford mountain at 6d. an acre, and two-thirds at 73. Twenty miles on the coaft in length, and eight or ten in breadth, is under dairies, of which the rent per acre is little known, farms being paid for by the cows they will maintain, at 503. each. Thefe dairies rife to 50 and even 100 cows. They all keep great numbers of hogs, which increafe every day from the high price. The ftate of the poor people much better than formerly •> they ufed to have one acre of potatoes, and the grafs of one cow for their year's labour, and no more, and were much greater flaves than at prefent. . Tillage does not thrive in the county ; it has, however, increafed pretty much about Dun- garvon, from whence there has been a toler- able export of corn ; not only from its neigh- bourhood, but alib from a diftance, owing to the mobs of Clonmell and Carrick flopping corn going to Waterford, which has injured the latter town. October 1 5th, left New Town, and keeping on the banks of the Sure, pafled through Car- rick to Curraghmore, the feat of the Earl of Tyrone. N E W T O W N. 175 Tyrone. This line of country, in point of foil, inferior to what I have of late gone through : fo that I confider the rich country to end at Clonmell. For the following account of the hufbandry of the county of Waterford I am obliged to the attention of Lord Tyrone, who omitted no means or' informing me accurately. That county is divided into very large farms, and the renters of them keep cows generally, which they let to dairymen. One farmer, Mr. Peor, has 2000 cows, and pays 2000! . a year, but they rarely let more to one man than 50 cows, ufually about 20; many of thefe men pay weekly, and others quarterly : the rent from 503. to 3!. 55. no fuch thing as horn- money. The dairyman's privilege is a houfe and two or three acres of land, or a horfe and two cows in twenty. They make nothing but butter, and all keep hogs; but do not feed them with milk, felling it all; 1,300 to 1,500 churns full of milk, each eight gallons, goes into Waterford every day in the year, and a prodigious quantity to Carrick. The county is by far the greatefl dairying one in Ireland. The breed is the common mountain cow, poor to look .at, but great milkers, five or fix pot- tles at a meal common. Price of them cl, at an average. Average rent of all the land un- der cows, i os. One-third of the county moun- tain, at 6d. the other two-thirds, at IDS. Along the Blackwater, good land, and four miles round Waterford, 2os. or 253. The quantity for 176 CURRAGHMOOR. for a cow from two to four acres. They ge- nerally breed their own by rearing a few calves every year ; the young flock are kept on the mountains in fummer, and in the worft of the low land in winter. They never feed their cows with any hay, except in very fevere wea- ther. No other flock but cows. The foils are various at this end of the coun- ty, clay and fhingly flate, with a reddifh mold upon it and gravelly loams. At the other end, they have lime-flone lands. They have, how- ever, about Curraghmoor lime-flone gravel of a fliff nature. Lime at the kiln gd. a bar- rel; Lord Tyrone pays is. for the flone, and 2s. 8d. a barrel for the culm, and pays ad. a barrel for breaking and burning, all which make qd. Every barrel of culm gives feven of lime 3 a ton of flone produces four barrels of lime: the barrel of lime four cubical feet. Not a thirtieth part of the country under the plough. The tillage confifls only of a little . patches broken up by the cabbins ; it has been increafing thefe 15 years: but the principal increafe has been within thefe ten years. The courfe of crops : i. Potatoes. 2. potatoes. 3. Barley, or oats. 4. Oats. 5. Oats : continued while the land yields. Wheat is coming in. Some who till large fields, and do not take fo many crops. About Dungarvon, there are many potatoes planted, which are fent to Dublin in boats, with loads of birch brooms, and they are faid to CURRAGHMOOR. 177 to be loaded with f rut f and timber. But in no part of the county do they plant grafs pota- toes : they plant many of the bull or turk fort for their pigs, but they are reckoned an un- wholcfome fort for the people to feed on. Par- ing and burning land was common before the law pafled againfl it, but of late very little. Upon the coafl there is a great deal of fea- weed and fea-fand, efpecially beyond Dungar- von and Waterford. Flax is fcarcely any where fown. The poor people feed on potatoes and milk ; mofl of them have cows ; many of them for a part of the year only fait : but they have oat bread when potatoes are not in feafon. They all keep pigs, but never eat them. Their circumflances are in general greatly better than they were twenty years ago, both in food and cloathing; they have now all flioes and (lock- ings, and are decently drefTed every Sunday. No hats among the women, and it is the fame in other parts. Their labour is valued, and they are paid the amount in land. The religion of the lower claries is the Roman catholic. Emigrations from this part of Ireland prin- cipally to Newfoundland, for a feafon ; they have i81. or 20!. for their pay, and are main- tained, but they do not bring home more than 7!. to nl. Some of them flay and fettle; three years ago there was an emigration of in- dented fervants to North Carolina, of 300, but they were flopped by contrary winds, 6cc. There had been fomething of this conflantly, VOL. II. M but 178 C U R R A G H M O O R. but not to that amount. The opprefilon which the poor people have moft to complain of, is the not having any tenures in their lands, by which means they are entirely fubjecl: to their employers. Manufactures here are only woollens. Car- rick is one of the greateft manufacturing towns in Ireland. Principally for ratteens, but of late they have got into broadcloths, all for home confumption j the manufacture in- creafes, and is very flourifhing. There are between three and four hundred people em- ployed by it, in Carrick and its neighbour- hood. Lord Tyrone is clear that if his eftate in Londonderry was in Waterford, or that all the inhabitants of it were to emigrate from it, fo as to leave him to new model it, he would be able to get full one-third more for it than he can do at prefent ; rents in the north depend- ing not on quality, but on price of linen. The rife in the profperity of Ireland, about the year 1749, owing to the higher price of provifions, which raifed rents and enforced induftry. Butter now 9d. a Ib. thirty years ago 2jd. Tythes are ufually compounded for by the year through this county. Wheat pays jos. Barley, ics. Oats, 55. Mowing ground, 45. 'Sheep,' id. each. Milk fells in fummer for a halfpenny C U R R A G H IVI O O R. 179 halfpenny a quart ; five quarts of butter-milk in fummer for a halfpenny. Lord Tyrone has improved 127 acres of hill, the foil reddifh dry loam, on a flaty bottom, over-run with French and Irifh furze, and briars and builies^he firft grubbed them up at a guinea an acre : then he levelled an in- finite number of old ditches and mounds, at 50!. expenfe, ploughed in winter, and fecond ploughed in Mayj and 200 barrels of roach lime per acre, fpread, at is. a barrel. Upon this ploughed twice more; and fowed, part with wheat at Michaelmas, and part, with bar- ley in fpring. The crops exceedingly good ; 8 barrels an acre of wheat, and 1 8 of barley. After the wheat, barley and grafs feeds were fown ; the barley as good as the other j and upon the barley, part oats were fown, the crop 15 barrels, and white clover and hay feeds. Before the improvement, it let at los. an acre ; after the improvement it would let rea- dily at 25$. The grubbing the furze was not effectual, for 50!. has been iince expended in grubbing up Icattered ones. They are now completely deftroyed, is a very beautiful well- laid lawn, and fo good land, that the wool of the fheep alone that were kept there lafl year, without other food, and through the year paid 2os. an acre for the whole. It would now feed 600 fheep through the year. Over 90 acres limed, with 250 barrels an acre, and fal- lowed, had 17 barrels an acre of wheat. Eight years ago, his Lordfhip (lopped their burning M 2 180 CURRAGHMOOR: land ; but upon receiving many complaints at it, he fold them lime at gd. a barrel, which coft him is, in order to make up the imaginary lofc. I had the pleafure of meeting, at Lord Ty- rone's, William Shanly, Efq; of Willyfield, in Lcitrim, who informed me that he had twelve hundred per acre from a bad red bog, ftone of potatoes four feet deep, drained to the clay at bottom i lime-ftone fand at 3], labour, be- fides horfes ; diinged it a common covering, and immediately planted the potatoes, dug them, and fowed barley, 1 5 barrels an acre. Barley again 1 2 barrels ; barley again 8 barrels, grew too rank, laid with grafs feeds, could let at 405. an acre: anfwers fo well, that he would have done any quantity of it ; did 20 acres. He planted with a plough 29! flone of pota- toes in rows, four feet afunder > the produce was 1,440 (tone, the quantity of land about three rood. In the county Leitrim, four-fifths of mountain, at 2d. or not fo much} the re- maining fifth, 6s. the mountains in Leitrim all wet, a boggy furface. Curraghmoor is one of the finefr. places in Ireland, or indeed that I have any where feen. The houfe, which is large, is fituated upon a riling ground, in a vale furrounded by very bold hills, which rife in a variety of forms, and offer to the eye, in riding through the grounds, very noble and finking fcenes. Thefe hills are exceedingly varied, fo that the detour of CURRAGHMOOR. 181 of the place is very pleafmg. In order to fee it to advantage, I would advife a traveller to take the ride which Lord Tyrone carried me. Faffed through the deer park wood of old oaks, fpread over the fide of a bold hill, and of fuch an extent, that the fcene is a truly foreft one, without any other boundary in view than what the {terns of trees offer from mere extent, re- tiring one behind another till they thicken fo much to the eye, under the fliade of their fpreading tops, as to form a djftant wall of wood. This is a fort of fcene not common in Ireland, it is a great extent alone that will give it. Frpm -this Ijill enter an evergreen planta- tion,' a fcene which winds up the Deer-park hijl, ancj opens on to the brow of it,' which commands a moft noble view indeed. The lawns around the houfe appear at one's feet, at the bottom of a great declivity of wood, al- moft every where furrounded by plantations. The hills on the oppoiite fide of the vale againft the houfe^ confift of a large lawn in {he center of the two woods, that to the right of an immenfe extent, which waves over a mountain fide, in the fineft manner imaginable, and lead the eye to the fcenery on the left, which is a beauti- ful vale of rich inclofures, of feveral miles extent, with the Sure making one great reacli through it^ "and a bold bend juft before it en- ters a gap in the hills towards Waterford, and winds behind them ; to the right you loolc over a large plain, backed by the great Cum- meragh mountains. For a diftinc~l extent of yiew, the parts of which are all of a com- manding 182 C U R R A G II M C O R. manding magnitude, and a variety equal to the number, very few profpecls are finer thai* this. From henceihe boundary plantation extends fome miles to the weft and north-weft of the domain, forming a margin to the whole of different growths, having been planted, by de- grees, from three to iixteen years. It is in general well grown, and the trees thriven ex- ceedingly, particularly the oak, beech, larch, and firs. It is very well Sketched, with much variety given to it. Pafs by the garden acrofs the river, which murmurs over a rocky bed, and follow the rid^ ing up a fteep hill, covered with wood from fome breaks, in which the houfe appears per- fedlly buried in a deep wood, and come out, after a confiderable extent of ride, into the higher lawn, which commands a view of the fcenery about the houfe j and from the brow of the hill the water, which is made to imitate a river, has a good effect, and throws a great air of chearfulnefs over the fcene, for from hence the declivity below it is hid; but the view, which is the moft pleafing from hence, the fineft at Curraghmoor, and indeed one of the moft ftriking that is any where to be feen, is that of the hanging wood to the right of the houle, rifing in fo noble a fweepas perfectly to fill the eye, and Jeave the fancy fcarce any thing to wiJli : at the bottom is a fmall femicircular lawn around, which flows the river, under the immediate CURRAGHMOOR. 183 immediate fhade of very noble oaks ; the whole wood rifes boldly from the bottom, tree above tree, to a vaft height, of large oak, the maffes of fhade are but tints of one colour, it is not chequered with a variety, there is a majeftic fimplicity, a unity in ihe whole, which is at- tended with an uncommon impreflion, and fuch as none but the moft magnificent fcenes can raife, Defcending from hence through the roads, the riding crofles the river, pafTes through the meadow, which has fuch an effect in the preceding fcene, from which alfo the view is very fine, and leads home through a continu- ed and an extenfive range of fine oak, partly on a declivity, at the bottom of which the river murmurs its broken courfe. Befides this noble riding, there is a very agreeable walk runs immediately on the banks of the river, which is perfect in its ftile; it is a fequeftered line of wood, fo high on the de- clivities in fome places, and fo thick to the ve- ry edge in others, overfpreading the river,' that the character of the fcene is gloom and melancholy, heightened by the noife of the water falling from flone to ftone ; there is a confiderable variety in the banks of it, and in the figures and growth of the wood, but none that hurts the impreflion, which is well pre- ferved throughout. Oclober 184 W A T E R F O R D. October lyth. accompanied Lord Tyrone to Waterford ; made fome enquiries into the flate of their trade, but found it difficult, from the method in which the Cuflom-houfe books are kept, to get the details I wiihed ; but in the year following, having the pleafure of a long vifit at Baliycanvan, the feat of Cornelius Bolton, Efq; his fon, the member for the city, procured me every information I could wifh, and that in fo liberal and polite a manner, that it would not be eafy to exprefs the obli- gations I am under to both. In general I was informed that the trade of the place had in- creafed cpnfiderably in ten years, both the ex- ports and imports. The exports of the pro- duels of pafturage, full ope-third in twelve years. That the ftaple trade of the place is the Newfoundland trade ; this is very much increafed, there is more of it here than any where,. The number of people who go paf- fengers in the Newfoundland (hips is amaz- ing; from fixty t6 eighty fbips, and from, three thouland to five thqufand annually. They come from moft parts of Ireland, from Corke, Kerry, 6cc. Experienced men will get 1 8 to 25!. for the fealbn, from March to No- vember j a man who never went will have five to feven pounds, and his pafTage, and others rife to 20!. the paflage out they get, but pay home two pounds. An induftrious man in a year will bring home twelve to fixteen pounds with him, arid fome more. A great point for them is to be 'able to carry out all their (lops, for every thing there is exceedingly dear, one ;t or W A T E R F O R D. 185 or two hundred per cent, dearer than they can get them at home. They are not allowed to take out any woollen goods but for their own ufe. The fnips go loaded with pork, beef, butter, and fome fait : and bring home pafTenr- gers, or get freights where they can ; fome- times rum. The Waterford pork comes prin- cipally from the barony of Iverk in Kilkenny, where they fatten great numbers of large hogs ; for many weeks together they kill here three to four thoufand a week, the price 505. to 4!. each; goes chiefly to Newfoundland. One was killed in Mr. Penrofe's cellar, that weighed five cwt. and a quarter, and meafured from the nofe to the end of the tail, nine feet four inches. There is a foundery at Waterford for pots, kettles, weights, and all common utenfils ; and a manufactory by meflieurs King and Tegent, of anvils to anchors, 20 cwt. &c. which em- ploys 40 hands. Smiths earn from 6s. to 243. a week. Nailors, from los. to las. And another lefs considerable. There are two fu- gar-houfes, and many falt-houfes. The fait is boiled over lime -kilns. There is a fifhery upon the coaft of Water- ford, for a great variety of fifh, herrings par- ticularly in the mouth of Waterford harbour, and two years ago in fuch quantities there, that the tides left the ditches full of them. There are fome premium boats both here and at 186 W A T E R F O R D. at Dungarvon, but the quantity of herrings barrelled is not confiderable. The butter trade of Waterford has increaf- ed greatly for 7 years paftj it comes from Waterford principally, but much from Car- low j for it conies from 20 miles beyond Gar- low, for 6d. per cwt. From the firft of Janu- ary, 1774, to the firft of January, 1775, there were exported 59,856 calks of butter each on an average, one hundred weight at the mean price of 503. Revenue of Waterford, 3751, 17,000!. — 1776, 52,000!. The {laugh- ter trade has increased, but not fo much as the butter. Price of butter now at Water- ford, 585. twenty years average, 42$. Beef now to 255. average, twenty years, los. to i8s. Pork now 305. average, twenty years, 165. to 22S. Eighty fail of ihips now belonging to the port, twenty years ago not 30. They pay to the captains of fhips of 200 tons, 5!. a month ; the mate 3!. los. Ten 'men, at 408. five years ago only 273. Building (hips, jol. a ton* Wear and tear of fuch a fhip, 20!. a month. Ship provifions, 2os. a month. The hew church in this city is a very beau- tiful one ; the body of it is in the fame itile exactly as that of Belfaft already defcribed : the total length 170 feet, the breadth 58. The length of the body of the church 92, the height 40 ; breadth between the pillars 26. The ifle (which I do not remember at Belfaft) is 58 by 45. A room on one fide the fteeple, fpace W A T E R F O R D. 187 ipace for the bifhop's court, 24 by 18 -, on the other fide, a room of the fame fize for the veftry ; and 28 feet fquare left for a deeple when their funds will permit. The whole is light and beautiful : it was built by fubfcripti- on, and there is a fine organ befpoke at Lon- don. But the fined object in this city is the quay, which is unrivalled by any I have ieen ; it is an Englifh mile long ; tbe buildings on it are only common houfes, but the river is near a mile over, flows up to .the town in one noble reach, and the oppofite fhore a bold hill, which rifes immediately from the water to a height that renders the whole magnifi- cent. This is fcattered with fome wood, and divided into paftures of a beautiful verdure, by hedges. I crofTed the water, in order to walk up the rocks on the top of this hill; in one place, over againft Bilberry quarry, you look immediately down on the river, which flows in noble reaches from Granny cadle on the right pad Cromwell's rock, the fhores on both fides, quite deep, efpecially the rock of Bilberry. You look over the whole town, which here appears in a triangular form ; be- fides the city, the Cummeragh mountains, Slein-a-man, &c. come in view. Kilmacow river falls into the Sure, after flowing through a large extent of well planted country ; this is the fined view about the city. From Waterford to Paflage, and got my chaife and horfes on board the Countefs of Ty- rone pacquet, in full expectation of failing immediately x88 B A L L Y C A N V A N. immediately, as the wind was fair, but I foon found the difference of thefe private veflels and the pod office pacquets at Holyhead and Dublin. When the wind was fair the tide was foul : and when the tide was with them, the wind would not dp; in Englifh there was not a complement of pafTengers, and fo I had the agreeablenefs of xvaiting with my horfes in the hold, by way of reft, after a journey of above 1560 miles. October iSth. after a beaftly night pafled on fhip board, and finding no figns of depar- ture, walked to Bally'canvan, the feat of Cor- nelius Bolton, Efq; rode with Mr. Bolton, jiin. to Faithleghill, which commands one of the fineft views I have feen in Ireland. There is a rock on the top of a hill, which has a ve- ry bold vievy on every fide down on a great extent of country, much of which is grafs in- clofures of a good verdure. This hill is the center of a circle of about ten miles diameter, beyond which higher lands rife, which after Jp reading' to a great extent, have on every fide a back ground of mountain : in a norther- ly direction, mount Leinfter, between Wex- ford and Wieklow, twenty- fix miles off, rifes in feveral heads, far above the clouds. A lit- tle to the right of this, Sliakeiltha f z. e. the woody mountain) at a lefs diftance, is a fine objecl:. To the left, Tory hill, only five miles, in a regular form varies the out-line. To the eaft, there is the long mountain, eigh- teen miles diftant, and feveral lefier Wexford hills. B A L L Y C A N V A N. 189 hills. To the fouth-eaft, the Saltees. To the fouth the ocean, and the colines about the bay of Tramore. To the weft, Monavollagh rifes 2160 feet above the level of the fea, eighteen miles off, being part of the great range of the Cummaragh mountains ; and to the north-weft Slinaman, at the diftance of twenty-ibur miles j fo that the out-line is every where bold and diftinCt, though diftant. Thefe circumftances would alone form a great view, but the water part of it, which fills up the canvafs, is in a much fuperior ftile. The great river Sure takes a winding courfe from the city of Waterford, through a rich coun- try, hanging on the fides of hills to its banks, and dividing into a double channel, forms the letter ifland, both of which courfes you com- mand diftinftly ; united, it makes a bold reach under the hill on which you ftand, and there receive the noble tribute of the united waters of the barrow and the Nore, in two great channels, which form the larger ifland ; en- larged by fuch an acceffion of water, it winds round the hill in a bending courfe, of the freeft and moft graceful outline, every where from one to three miles acrofs, with bold ftiores, that give a fharp outline to its courfe to the ocean ; twenty fail of fhips at PafTage, gave animation to the fcene ; upon the whole, the boldnefs of the mountain outline ; the va- riety of the grounds; the vaft extent of river, with the declivity to it from the point of view, altogether form fo unrivalled a fcenery — every objecl BALLYCANVAN. object fo commanding, that the general want of wood is almoft forotten. Two years after this account was written I again vifited this enchanting hill, and walked to it, day after day, from Ballycanvan, and with increafing pleafure. Mr. Bolton, jun. has fince I was there before, inclofed forty acres on the top and fteep Hope 'to the water, and began to plant them. This will be a prodigious addition ; for the Hope forming the bold fhore for a confiderable fpace, and having projections from which the wood will all be leen in the gentle hollows of the hill, the effect: will be amazingly fine. Walks r.nd a riding are tracing out, which will com- mand frefh beauties at every ftep j the fpots from which a variety of beautiful views are feen are numerous. All the way from Bally- canvan to Faithleg, the whole to the amount of 1200 acres, is the property of Mr. Bolton. Farms about Ballycanvan, Waterford, &c. are generally fmall, from twenty and thirty to five hundred acres, generally about two hundred and fifty, all above two hundred acres are in general dairies ; fome of the dai- ry ones rife very high. The foil is a reddifh ftony, or flaty gravel, dry, except low lands, which are clay or turf. Rents vary much about the town very high, from 5!. 55. to 9!. but at the diftance of a few miles towards PafTage, &c. they are from 205. to 408. and fome higher, but the country in general does i not B A L L Y CAN V A N. 191 not life fo high, ufually los.to aos. for dairy- ing land. The courfe of crops is, i. Potatoes ; the produce 40 to 80 barrels, 20 ftones each. 2. Wheat j the crop 8 barrels, each 20 ftones. 3. Oats ; the produce from jo to 14 barrels. 4. Barley; the crop 12 to 15 barrels, 16 ftone each. 5. Lay it out; the better fort clover with the barley, and leave it for meadow. i i. Oats. 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Barley. One preparation is a flight burning of the fur- rows for wheat, after that wheat, they will fow barley, and then feveral crops of oats. Alfo. i. Potatoes. 2. Wheat. 3. Wheat. 4. Barley. 5. Lay out. i. Potatoes. 2. Potatoes. 3. Wheat. 4. Oats. 5. Barley. 6. Lay out. The fecond crop 10 barrels. Every houfe has a little patch of flax for making a little handle cloth, but the quantity is not confiderable. The principal manure is a fane/ marie they raife in boats on the banks in the har- bour at low water ; it is of a blueifh colour, very foapy, and ferments ftrongly with acids : a. boat load is 18 tons, and cofts 6 to 8s. a load. Moft of it has (hells. They lay it on for barley particularly, and get great crops, can in all fee to an inch where fpread. Some- times 192 BALLYCANVA N. times it is laid on grafs, and the effect uncom- monly great, bringing up a perfect carpeting of white clover wherever laid. They lay five or fix loads an acre, and the land is for ever the better. They repeat it on the fame tend, and with great effect. They make compofts of it with lime, and alfo hedge earth with good fuccefs. Lime they ufe alfo ; lay from 100 to 150 bar- rels roach to an acre> which has a very great effect. On the ftiffer yellow clays it does bet- ter than fand, but laid on all forts, and alfo on grafs land with good effect. Sea fand they ufe for potatoes, but it does not laft more than for that crop. Waterford dung, and ftreet ful- lage, 423. the boat load of 18 tons. Clover has been introduced thefe 12 years; Mr. Bolton has fown it for many years with very good effect, fo that he never lays down land without it. The dairies are generally fet at 2!. 55. The dairyman's privilege to 40 cows is a cow and horfe, and 2 acres and a cabbin, and he is al- lowed to rear one calf in ten ; 100 acres to 40 cows ; they do not keep any hogs on account of cows. Price of cows, average 4!. to 5!. They are engaged to give two pottles each on an average, putting all the milk together. Meadows let at 3!. to 4!. an acre for the hay. There are few fheep kept, no great flocks. The poor people plough with four horfes, fometimes fix : gentlemen generally with fpayed heiffers or oxen. Land fells at 19 and 20 years B A L L Y C A N V A N. 193 30 years purchafe; it did fell at 23, and the fall has been owing to the failure of credit in 1771 and 1772. Tythes, Potatoes, Wheat, Barley, and Oats, 55. to 6s. Cows, ad. Sheep, 6d. The poor people fpin their own flax, 'but not more, and a few of them wool for them- felves. Their food is potatoes and milk; but they have a confiderable afliftance from fifh, particularly herrings j part of the year they have alfo barley, oaten, and rye bread. They are incomparably better off" in every re- fpe£t than twenty years ago. Their increafe about Ballycanvan is very great, and tillage all over this neighbourhood is increafed. The rent of a cabbin jos. an acre with it 2os. The grafs of a cow a few years ago, 208. now 253. or 305. An exceeding good practice here in making their fences 'is, they plant the quick on the fide of the bank in the common manner, and then, inftead of the dead hedge we ufe in England on the top of the bank, they plant a row of old thorns, two or three feet high, which readjly grow, and form at once a moft excellent fence. Their way alfo of taking in fand banks from the river deferves notice : they flake down a row of furzes at low water, laying flones on them to the height of one or two feet; thefe retain the mud, which every tide brings in, fo as to fill ur> all within VOL. II. N the 194 BALLY CANVAN, the furze as high as their tops. I remarked on the ft rand, that a few boat loads of flones laid carelefly, had had this effect, for within them I meafured 12 inches deep of rich blue- mud left behind them, the fame as they ufein manuring, full of Ihells and effervefced ftrong- ly with vinegar. Among: the poor people, the fifhermen are in much the beft circumstances ; the fifhery is confiderable ; Waterford and its harbour have 50 boats each, from 8 to 12 tons, fix men on an average to each, but to one of fix ton, five men go. A boat of eight tons cofts 40!. one of twelve 6ol. To each boat there is a train of nets of fix pair, which cofts from 4!. 48. to 61. 6s. tan them with bark. Their only net fifhery is that of herrings, which is common- ly carried on by fhares. The divifion of the fiih is, firft, one fourth for the boat ; and then the men and nets divide the reft, the lat- ter reckoned as three men. They reckon 10 maze of herrings an indifferent night's work ; when there is a good take 40 maze have been taken, 20 a good night j the price per maze, from is. to 75. average 55. Their take, in 1775, the greateft they have known, when they had more than they could difpofe of, and the whole town and country ftunk of them, they retailed them 32 for id. 1773 and 1774 good years. They barrelled many j but in ge- neral there is an import of Swedifh. Befides the common articles I have regiftered, the fol- lowing are, Pigeons, is. a couple. A hare, is. Par- BALLYCANVAN. 195 Partridges, 90!. Turbets, fine ones, 43. to i os. Soals, a pair, large, is. 6d. to is. Lobfters, 3d. each. Oyfters, 6s. per hundred. Rabbits, is. to is. 4d. a couple. Cod, is. each, large Salmon, lid. to 2d. A very extraordinary circumftance I was told, that within five or fix years there has been much hay carried from Waterford to Norway, in the Norway (hips that bring deals ; as hay is dear here, it proves a moft backward flate of huibandry in that northerly region, fince the neighbourhood of fea-ports to which this hay can alone go, is generally the befl im- proved in all countries. Mr. Bolton has improved a great deal of wade land, that was under furze, heath, and . wood. He firft grubs it, which coils for the woody part, 3!. or 3!. 33. and for the furze, 2os. Then levels all holes, &c. and clears it of rocks, at the expence of aos. an acre. Up- on this he dungs and plants potatoes in the trenching way upon a part, and upon the reft fallows and limes it, and fows wheat, 100 to 1 50 barrels an acre, produce feven to ten bar- rels an acre. Then land it for oats or barley, 1 5 barrels of barley, and 1 2 of oats. In this way he has done 300 acres, which was not worth more than 53, an acre : now lets at 305. In making this very noble improvement, he divided the land into well proportioned fields, and furrounded them with very noble fences > double ditches, with a parapet bank between, N 2 planted 196 B A L L Y C A N V A N. planted on both fides with quick, and on the top with a double row of oak, elm, afli, or fir , many of thefe were planted 36 years ago j they are now in very great perfection, fo thick and fully grown as to be impervious to the fight, and to take, when viewed at a diftance, the appearance of fpreading woods. Nothing could be done in a completer manner, and the quantity over more than 300 acres, uniting with many orchards planted at the fame time, give his domain and its environs a richnefs of landfcape not common in Ireland. I could not help much admiring it when on the water, from fome parts of the river the effect is very beautiful. Mr. Bolton cannot be too much commend- ed for the humane attention with which he encourages his poor cottar tenantry ; he gives them all leafes, whatever their religion, of 2 1 or 31 years, or lives: even the occupier of two acres has a leafe. It is inconceivable what an effect this has had ; this is the way to give the catholics right ideas. I was for three weeks a vvitnefs of a moft fpirited induftry among them -, every fcrap of rough rocky land, not before improved, they were at work up- on, and overcoming fuch difficulties as are rarely to be found on common waites : many fpots, not worth 53. an acre, they were reclaim- ing to be well worth 255. and 305. The im- provement of this part of Mr. Bolton's eftate may be guetfkl at when I mention, that on 500 acres of it, there have been built, in fix B A L L Y C A N V A N. 197 fix years, 40 new houfes, many of them hand- fome ones of flone and (late. For cabbins, barns, 6cc. he gives timber for the roofs. In 1751, Mr. Bolton being in England, where observing the cultivation of turnips for fheep, he introduced them on his eftate on his return, and had hurdles made for penning fheep on them, and did it with much fuccefs ; after the fame journey alfo, he introduced horfe- beans for feeding his horfes, mixed with oats : he did it for twenty years together, and with the greateft fuccefs. Turnip cabbage he has tried alfo for fheep, and found them to do exceedingly well. One turnip cabbage fown the beginning of April, and not tranfplanted, weighed i3lb. top and bottom. An experi- ment on carrots I viewed, of which Mr. BoL- ton, junior, has fmce favoured me with the following account. <c When you were here, 1 (hewed you a few beds of carrots, which were pulled the begin- ning of this month j I meafured the ground, and when the carrots were cleaned and topped, I faw them weighed. The ground meafureci fifteen perches, plantation meafure, which produced 36 hundred and fix ftone of carrots, befides allowing 4lb. to every hundred for dirt, though they were very clean and dry. The produce is 156 barrels, and 16 ftones to an acre, (20 flones to the barrel) and beyond any thing 1 could have imagined j and I am cer- tain, had the carrots been hoed and thinned as 198 BALLY CANVAN. as they ought, the product would have been much greater. The tops were given to pigs ; they feemed to like them better than any thing elfe. Thefe fifteen perches are part of a field, which, in 1774, had been highly manured with dung for potatoes. In 1775, the roots of the weeds (of which there were a great quan- tity, particularly couch grafs and crow-foot) were burnt, and the afhes and fome blue fand fpread, and it was fown with turnips. The latter end of March, thefe fifteen perches were dug, and about the i6th of April fown with a pound of carrot-feed ; they were twice hoed, to deftroy the weeds which came up very thick." In the winter of 1775, Mr. Bolton fed 10 working horfes on bull potatoes, twice a day on oats, and once on potatoes ; the potatoes given always at night ; the quantity to each horfe I.*. peck of fmail ones ; and at the other two feedings, half a peck each of oats. He found that they fattened trje horfes very much, and did exceedingly well on them. Va- lue of the potatoes, 3$. a barrel. The cul- ture of rape and turnips has been tried in this neighbourhood alio by Mr. James' Wife, mer- chant, of Waterford. In the beginning of June, 1 774, Mr. ploughed lightly with a winged plough, and burned the furface of near four acres of land, which had not been tilled for many years. He fpread the afhes3 and manured tlie ground with 3 12 boat BALLYCANVAN. 199 12 boat loads of the blue fand, which is taken from the banks of the river at low water, each boat load containing 20 tons. Then ploughed and harrowed it once j and fuch of the clods as were not thoroughly burnt and pulverized after harrowing, he turned with the grafly fide down to hinder their growing. About the middle of Auguft he fowed with rape ; a lit- tle more than half a bufhel to an acre. It was cut the latter end of June, 1775, and produc- ed 48 barrels, of fixteen ftones to the barrel, which fold for 1 6s. per barrel, and the ft raw to a tallow-chandler to burn for afhes, for 485. The ftraw, or haulm of rape, is fold for twelve-pence for each barrel of feed it pro- duced. The beginning of July, 1775, Mr. Wyfe ploughed and harrowed the ground; about the aoth of July fowed it with turnips, which on their coming up, were immediate- ly deftroyed by the fly. About the middle of Auguft harrowed the ground, and fowed tur- nips again, which were alib deftroyed by the fly. Mr. Wyfe imagines the great number of flies were occafioned by the oilinefs and rich- nefs of the ground, (caufed by the putrefacti- on of the leaves and bloflbms of the rape) and the moifture and warmth of the weather. About the middle of Oftober, the grafs came up fo rich and luxuriant, (though not fown with grafs feed) that Mr. Wyfe would not fufFer it to be ploughed for tillage, as he had intended. The latter end of June, 1776, mowed it, and it produced three tons of hay per acre -, fold for 345. per ton. The fand and 200 BALLYCANVAN. and carnage of it coft about thirty {hillings per boat load j ploughing, burning, harrow- ing, lowing, cutting, &c. about four guineas per acre. Rent of the land thirty (hillings an acre. In 1775 Mr. Wyfe ploughed feven acres, which he prepared in the fame manner (except fanding) and fovved it with rape ; it grew very well till the great froft and fnow fell, which, was remarkably fevere, and which injured it very much, together with the moif- ture of the ground, occafioned by fprings in the land, and heavy rains, which fucceeded the froft and fnow j the produce per acre, about half the quantity of the former year -, fold at the fame price. Mr. Wyfe recom- mends narrow ridges for low moid ground. He thinks a large quantity of afhes to be a chief means of enfuring a plentiful crop. The land does not require manure after rape for wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, &c. but will not anfwer for a fecond crop of rape. Mr. Bolton, junior, having mentioned a neighbour of his, who had drawn up a me- moir upon making cyder, from confiderable experience, at my requeft wrote ;to him for a copy of it, which I have fince received, with his permiflion to infert it in this work. The following is an abridgment of the .account. " Let apples of every fpecies hang till they are ripe, and begin to drop $ let them be ga- thered BALLYCANVAN. 201 thered perfectly dry, and if convenient in the heat of the day, when warmed in the fun ; when gathered let them lie in heaps for one, • two, three, or four weeks, according to their degrees of firmnefs, fo as to undergo a mo- derate fermentation ; let the moifture be care- fully wiped off, and each fpecies feparated (if the quantity of fruit in your orchard be fuf- ficient to admit it) and then ground in a mill, or pounded in troughs ; but the firft the beft method, becaufe lels of the pulp is broke, and the liquor will flow clearer from the bags ; by preHIng the fruit of each diftinct fpecies fo fe- parated, the cyder will undergo one uniform fermentation. " When the fruit are fufficiently broke for prefling, let them lie forty-eight hours before they be prefled ; this will add to that deep richnefs of colour, which to the eye is pleafing in cyder; then let the fruit fo broke, having flood forty-eight hours, be prefled in hair cloth bags ; as the juice is thus prefled out, let it be poured into large vefTels, ufually called keeves, to undergo the fermentation ; three of thefe veiTels are neceflary in every orchard, one to contain the liquor in its ftate or courfe of fermentation, while a fecond is rilling from the prefs, and the third to contain the pum- mage before it be prefled ; three keeves, con- taining five or fix hogfheads each, will ferve for an orchard that yields fixty or feventy hogfheads of cyder. The expence of thefe veflels made of double boards, hooped with iron, 202 BALLYCANVAN. iron, or flrorig afh hoopjs, will not be very considerable 5 if the weather fhould prove' cold the fermenting keeves fhould be covered with bags, £cc in order to quicken the fer- mentation, which will be compleated in fix or feven days if the weather be temperate, pro- vided no new or unfermented cyder be put into the keeye, which above all things fhould be carefully avoided ; when the fermentation is over, the liquor will be fine, and fhould then be racked off into very clean hogfheads, fmoaked with brimftone matches ; the hogf- heads fhould not be bunged or itopt clofe till all fymptoms of fermentation ceafe ; and in three weeks or a month it fhould be a fecond time racked, ftjll obfervjng to fmoak the hogf- heads with brimftone, then the hogfheads fhould with the greateft care be very clofely flopped 5 the keeves muft be entirely emptied before the new preJTed cyder is poured into them. The great fecret in making good cyder, 5s to prevent or mitigate its fermentations, the firft excepted ; and nothing will fo ef- fectually do this, as repeated racking from the foul lee. <l Do not prefs wildings till Candlemas, or until they begin to rot ; and when the juice is prdfed oot, let it be boiled in a furnace for one hour, before it be fuffered to work or ferment, and that will greatly foften the acrimony of its juice." Mr. PASSAGE TO MILFORD HAVEN 203 Mr. William Atkinfon, of Mount Wilkin- fon, near Ballycanvan, feems to be very at- tentive to the orchard hufbandry $ from two acres he had twenty-one hogfheads of cyder, and the fame year reaped twenty barrels of wheat under the trees, a produce little fhort of 50!. or 25!. an acre j three and an half barrels of his aples (each 6 bufhels) made a hogfhead of cyder. A common practice here in planting orchards, is to fet cuttings, three or four feet long, half way in the ground, of the cackagee, jergonelle, or any fet that grows rough and knotty in the wood ; they call them pitchers, they rarely fail, and yield well and fopn. Mr. Bolton carried me to the houfes of fome fifhermen,on the harbour, one of 'whom }iad planted around his cabbin for fhelter, three years ago, fome willow cuttings, the growth of which amazed me -3 I meafured Them 21 feet high, and not crooked or bend- ing like common forts, but ft rait as a fir, I took half a dozen cuttings with me to Eng- land to compare it with the forts common with us. Oftober iQth, the wind being fair, took my leave of Mr. Bolton, and went back to the (hip ; met -with" a frefh fcene of provoking delays, fo that it was the next morning, Octo- ber aoth, at eight o'clock, before we failed, and then it was not wind, but a cargo of paf- fengers that fpread our fails. v Twelve or fourteen hours are not an uncommon paflage, - " bat 204 PASSAGE TO MILFORD HAVEN. but fuch was our luck, that after being in fight of the lights on the fmalls, we were by contrary winds blown oppofite to Arklow lands ; a violent gale arofe which prefently blew a ftorm, that lafted thirty-fix hours, in which, under a reefed mainfail, the fliip drifted up and down wearing, in order to keep clear of the coafts. No wonder this appeared to me, a frefh- water failor, as a fiorm, when the oldefl men on board reckoned it a violent one ; the wind blew in furious gufts ; the waves ran very high j the cabbin windows burit open, and the lea pouring in fet every thing afloat, and among the reft a poor lady, who had fpread her bed on the floor. We had however the fatisfa6tion to find, by trying the pumps every watch, that the (hip made little water. I had more time to attend thefe circumflances than the reft of the paflengers, being the only one in feven who efcaped with- out being fick. It pleafed God to preferve us, but we did not caft anchor in Milford Haven, till Tuefday morning the 2 ad, at one o'clock. It is much to be wifhed, that there were fome means of being fecure of packets fail- ing regularly, inftead of waiting till there is fuch a number of paifengers, as fatisfies the owner, and captain j with the pod-office pac- kets there is this fat isf action, and a great one it is; the contrary conduct is fo perfectly deteftablc, I PASSAGE TO Mft-FORD HAVEN. 205 deteftable, that I fhould fappofe the fcheme of Waterford ones can never fucceed. . Two years after, having been allured this conveyance was put on a new footing, I ven- tured to try it again ; but was mortified to find that the Tyrone, the only one that could take a chaife or horfes, (the Countefs being laid up) was repairing, but would fail in five days ; I waited, and received affurance after afTu- rancethat fhe would be ready on fuch a day, and then on another ; in a word, I waited twenty- four days before I failed ; moderately fpeaking, I could, by Dublin, have reached Turin or Mi- lan as foon as I did Milford in this conveyance. Ail this time the papers had conftant adver- tifements of the Tyrone failing regularly, in- ftead of letting the public know that Die was under a repair. Her owner feems to be a fair and worthy man, he will therefore probably give up the fcheme entirely, unlefs affifted by the corporation, with at leaft four fhips more, to (ail regularly ivifbor WITHOUT paUengers ; at prefent it is a general difap- pointment ; I was fortunate in Mr. Bolton's acquaintance, pafling my time very agreeably at his hofpitable manfion ; but thofe who, in fuch a cafe, fliould find a Waterford inn their refource, would curfe the Tyrone, and fet oft" for Dublin. The expencss of this paiTage are higher than thole from Dublin to Holy head : I paid, A four- 206 F U R N E S S. A four- wheel chaife - 3 3 Q Three horfes - 33° Self - * * . I i d Two fervants - - i I o Cuftom-houfe at Waterford, hay, oats, &c. 2 i 7 Ditto at Pembroke and Hubberfton 300 Sailors, boats, and fundry fmall charges - i 15 5 50 1777. Upon a fecond journey to Ireland this year, I took the opportunity of going from Dublin to Mitchelftown, by a route through the central part of the kingdom which I had not before Sufficiently viewed. Left Dublin the 24th of September, and taking the road to Naas, I was again ftruck with the great population of the country, the cabbins being ib much poorer in the vicinity of the capital than in the more diftant parts of the kingdom. Mr. Nevill, at Furnefs, had, in a very obliging manner, given directions for my being well informed of the ftateof that neighbourhood. He is a landlord remarkably attentive to the encouragement of his tenantry. He allows half the expenfe of building houfes on his eftate, which has raifed feven of flone and flate, and nine good cabbins, 35 by 16, at 27!. each. He gives annually three pre- miums of 7!. 5!. and 3!. for the greateft num- ber F U R N E S S. 207 ber of trees, planted in proportion to the number of their acres, and pays the hearth money of all who plant trees. He alfo allows his tenants 403. an acre for all the parts of their farm that want gravelling, and does the boun- dary fence for them, but he is paid in his rent very well for this. The following particulars I owe to him. The foil in general, for fome miles every way, is a lime-ftone gravel, which does very well for wheat; lets at an average at 2os. that is, from los. to 405. There are fome trails of green ftone land, and a little clay. Rents rofe till 1772, but have fmce rather fallen: the the whole county through may be 143. or 153. If all now was to be let, it would be 2os. Farms rife from 15 acres to 500 : a middling iize is 250. They are now fmaller than for- merly, being divided as faft as leafes fall. There are houfes in general to all, the land lets the better for them, owing to its being a tillage country. Mr. Nevill encourages his te- nantry to build, by being at half the expenfe. A common farmer requires one 50 feet long, 1 6 wide, two ftories high ; a barn, 40 by 16; a ftable, 40 by 16; a cow-houfe, 50 by 14 -r a pig-ftye, fcen-houfe, &c. all which would coft about 300!. of ftone, the houfe flated, and would be fufficient for 250 acres of land. The courfes of crops are 5 j . Fallow 2o8 F U R N E S S. i. Fallow. 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Wheat. 5. Clover. 6. Clover. i. Potatoes. 2. Barley. 3. Fallow. 4. Wheat. 5. Clover. 6. Clover. They fometimes fow wheat after potatoes ; the crops are as great as after fallow j but the quality of the grain is not equal. Their fal- low they plough firft in winter; harrow in May, crofs plough in ditto and in June j flretch it (that is, form the ridges) in Auguft, making them of two bouts j harrow, and the feed fur- row, in September j and reckon the beft feed time the middle of that month. No dung in general ufed for it, but fometimes gravel. One barrel of feed to the acre; never weed the crop 3 the produce from five to twelve barrels, me- dium feven. Price of late years, 2os. a barrel. They threfh upon floors formed of lime, fand, and coal afhes, and are of opinion that they do not hurt the colour of the grain. At harveli they do not reap till it is quite ripe, bind di- rectly, and form it into ftacks in the field,, which they leave out a fortnight. Plough the potatoe land once or twice for barley, fow a barrel an acre of ;6 ftone in April ; medium price of late years from 7 to ir.c. average jos. Of clover they fow 2ilb. per acre, generally half clover and half trefoil j do not fow it till the barley is up, bnfh harrowing it ; and on wheat bull harrow it, that is, with harrows without teeth. Never mow it. For oats they plough twice if able, few two barrels per acre in F U R N E S S. 209 in March ; the produce fix to twelve barrels, and fometimes fixteen. Medium price for a few years paft 6s. 6d. Upon fome grounds that are light, are fubftituted peafe inftead of oats after wheat. Plough but once, fow 20 Hone on an acre under furrow, never weed them 5 the produce fix barrels per acre, and the price los. No flax fown. Potatoes generally on a wheat flubble, al- ways well dunged ; the ridge feven feet, and the trench three feet wide, and to one perch in length of it, four loads of dung. Ten facks, at twenty ftone, plant an acre. March the bed feafon; weed them, and get 100 facks, at the medium price of 53. the white Englifh and apple forts the beft. It is common for the poor to hire grafs land to plant them on, at 61. to 61, 6s. an acre or for flubble land dung- ed. Account of an acre. Planting - -200 Seed - - 2 10 o Weeding - o 10 o Digging out - - -300 Rent - - -600 £.14. o o VOL. II. O PRODUCE. 210 F U R N E S S. P R O D U C E. One hundred facks, at 55. •- - 2500 Expenses - - 14 o o Clear profit £. n o o One hundred facks coding 14!. gives the prime cofl of 2S. 9d. a fack. They are often fold as they grow, for i6L or i81. an acre. No turnips. Lime not generally ufed, Mr. Nevil has a kiln that draws 16 barrels a day. Burns with culm, at as. 8d. a barrel. Pays for quarrying, 2d. and burning, id. The lime cofts him, at the kiln, icd. a barrel* Lime-flone gravel more ufed, which lafts feven years, and on. ibme foils longer : twelve loads on a fquare perch may be done for 3!. an acre. Tillage is done with both horfes and oxen, and which is extraordinary, the latter are ufed by common farmers as well as gentlemen. Six oxen, or fix horfes in fummer to a plough, or four in win- ter, do about half an acre a day. In the crofs ploughing, which is the fecond, they go nine inches deep, at other times (hallower, price per acre, with harrowing, ics. 6d. They do not begin to mow their hay till July, get it into the large field cock in about a fortnight, which they leave out three or four weeks longer ; a medium crop 12 loads an acre, at the average price of 55. 6d. i It F U R N E S S. 211 It is generally a corn country, yet are there fome graziers that buy in bullocks^ but more cows. Alfo fome dairies that fatten veal for Dublin, by which they make 3!. or 4!. a cow ; feeding them in winter when dry on ftraw, fome on hay. They are let out to dairymen at 4!. a cow. The price of milch cows, in May, 5!. to 7!. One acre and a half will fummer feed one, and half an acre of hay for winter. The fheep kept are generally ewe flocks for fattening, for Dublin market. Buy in at Bal- linafloe, at los. to 155. Sell the lamb in June or July, at 8s. to 145. and the ewe in Novem- ber, at the fame price they gave, keep them chiefly on clover. No folding. Medium price of wool, for 10 years paft, i6s. clip three to a {tone. They are not at all fubjecl to the rot. A great many hogs bred; keep them for fattening on potatoes ; fome are finifh- ed with offal corn and peafe; in fummer they feed them on clover. Mark this ! one would think from more than one circum- flance, that a good farmer in England was fpeaking. In hiring and flocking a farm of 200 acres. a man ought to employ 500!. but fome of them will do it with 200!. Stock for 200 acres to have 100 acres corn, and fallow every year. O 2 Twenty 212 F U R N E S S. Twenty horfes, at 61. and ten bullocks, at 5!. 170 o o Six cows, at 5!. — — — 30 o o Two fows — — — 2 10 o Six ploughs, at 135. — — 3 18 o Three fets of geers — 300 Six Cars, ai 255. — — 712 Sundry tools, &c. — — — 10 o o Seed 40 acres wheat — 40 o o 20 oats — — 13 o o 4 barley — — 200 i potatoes — — 2 10 o 10 clover • 500 62 10 • For labour he will have three cottars for plough- ing, &c. paid by land ; for other work allow 40 0 o County cefs, 4d. an acre 3 10 e Tythe, 40 wheat, 6s. — 12 o o 20 oats 45. 400 4 barley 6s. — — 140 10 hay 45. — — 200 19 4 o £-352 2 o In refpect of labour, every farmer has as many cottars as ploughs, whom they pay with a cabbin, and one acre of potatoes, reckoned at 303. and a cow kept thro' the year, 303. more. Every cabbin has one or more cows, a pig, and fome poultry. Their circum fiances juft the fame as 20 years ago. Their food pota- toes and milk for 9 months of the year ; the other three wheaten bread, and as much but- ter as the cow gives. They like the potatoe fare F U R N E S S. 213 fare beft. Some have herrings j and others 6s. to i os. worth of beef at Chriftmas. Sell their poultry, but many of them eat their pig. The fale of the fowls buys a few pounds of flax for fpinning, mofl of them having fome of that employment. They are not much given to thieving, ex- cept bufhes and furze, which is all they have for fuel, there being no bog nearer than that of Allen. They bring turf eight and ten miles, the price 8d. a kifh of three feet and a half, by three and five long, and is. 2d. more carriage. A kifh will laft one common fire five days. Expence of building a cab bin, Mud walls — — — 200 Roof, 3 pair principals — — • 090 4 dozen of rubberies, at 48. — 0160 Labour — — — 040 Wattles 060 Eight load of draw, 55. — — 200 Thatching 080 Two doors — — 080 Mafon's perch of a wall — *- 030 Women are paid 5d. a day, earn by fpin- ning, 3d. A farming-man, 5!. los. a year. A lad, il. IDS. A maid, 2!. to 2!. los. Reap- 3 ing 2J4 CURRAGH OF KILDARE. ing, 6s. 6d. Mowing grafs, 2s. 6d. to 35. Pigeons, 3d. each. Rabbits, 8d. a couple. To Kildare, eroding the Curragh, fo fa- mous for its turf. It is a fheep walk of above 4000 Englifh acres, forming a more beautiful lawn than the hand of art ever made. Nothing can exceed the extreme foftnefs of the turf, which is of a verdure that charms the eye, and highly fet off by the gentle inequality of furface. The foil is a fine dry loam on a ftony bottom $ it is fed by many large flocks, turned on it by the occupiers of the adjacent farms, who alone have the right, and pay very great rents on that account. It is the only confiderable common in the kingdom. The fheep yield very little wool, not more than 3lb. per fleece, but of a very fine quality. From Furnefs to Shaen Caftle, in the Queen's County, Dean Coote's ; but as the huibandry, &c. of this neighbourhood is al- ready regiilerec} , I have only to obferve, that Mr. Coote was fo kind as to fhew me the im- proved grounds of Dawfon's Court, the feat of Lord Carlow, which I had not feen before. The principal beauties of the place are the well grown and extenfive plantations, which form a fhade not often met with in Ireland. There is in the back grounds a lake well accompanied with wood, broken by feveral iflands that are co- vered with underwood and an ornamented walk paffing on the banks, which leads from the houfe. This lake is in the feafon perfectly alive with wild G L O S T E R. 215 wild fowl 3 near it is a very beautiful fpot, which commands a view of both woods and water, a fituation either for a houfe or a tem- ple. Mr. Dawfon is adding to the plantations, an employment of all others the moft merito- rious in Ireland. Another work fcarcely lefs fo, was the ere&ing a large handfome inn, wherein the fame gentleman intends eftablifh- ing a perfon who mall be able to fupply tra- vellers, poft, with either chaifes or horfes. From Shaen Caftle to Glofter, in the King's County, the feat of John Lloyd, Efq; member for that county, to whofe attention I owe the following particulars, in which he took every means to have me well and accurately inform- ed. But firft let me obferve, that I was much pleafed to remark, all the way from Naas quite to RofTcrea, that the country was amongft the fined I had feen in Ireland, and confequently that 1 was fortunate in having an opportunity of feeing it after the involuntary omifllon of laft year. The cabbins, though many of them are very bad, yet are better than in fome other counties, and chimnies generally a part of them. The people too have no very miferable appear- ance ; the breed of cattle and (Keep good, and the hogs much the befl I have any where feen in Ireland. Turf is every where at hand, and in plenty ; yet are the bogs not fo general as to affecl: the beauty of the country, which is very great in many tradls, with a fcat- ttring of wood, which makes it pleafing. Shaen. 2i6 G L O S T E R. Shaen Caftle ftands in the midft of a very fine tract. From Mountrath to Glofter, Mr. Lloyd's, I could have imagined myfelf in a very pleafing part of England ; the country breaks into a variety of inequalities of hill and dale ; it is all well inclofed, with fine hedges ; there is a plen- ty of wood, not fo monopolifed as in many parts of the kingdom by here and there a foli- tary feat, but fpread over the whole face of the profpect : look which way you will, it is culti- vated and chearful. The King's county contains the following baronies, and annexed to their names is the value per acre of each : Clonlifk - - - p 15 o Baljibrit o 15 o Eglifh - - / "Ti^ o 13 o Balliboy o 10 a Garrycaftle - - o 13 o Gafhill ..._.-, - p 12 o Cooleftown •,--A<' " i o o Warrenftown - 150 Ballicowcn - . p n o Kilcourfy - 0160 Upper and Lower Philip's town £. o 15 o In Gafhill are 13000 acres belonging to Lord Digby ; and in Warrenftown is Croghen hill, famous for the great fleeces the fheep yield that are fed upon it. A Curragh fheep, from giv- ing jib. carried there, will yield i2lb. but the quality is coarfe. There G L O S T E R. 217 There are great trafts of bog in the county; and 153,000 acres that pay county charges; 170,000 acres at 155. and 30,000 of bog. The rife of rents fmce 1750, more than two-thirds, but are much fallen fince 1772, in many farms 45. in the pound. Eftates through the county are remarkably divided 5 and are in general fmall. The fize of farms varies much, 600 acres are a very large one; ufually not lefs than 100; very few in partnerfhip. There are many farms with- out buildings, which if divided and built, would let much better. The arable fyftem, when burning is permitted, is to plough in the fpring, very thin, then crofs cut it and burn the fod as ibon as the feafon ferves, which will be fome time in June> plough in the afhes very light- ly, and fow turnips ; thefe they never hoe, which is faid to be difficult, on account of the number of ftones ; they feed the crop on the land with three-year old wethers or lambs. After this, plough it up and fallow for a fe- cond crop of turnips, which they manage as the firft, but feed them earlier ; then plough once, and fet it to the poor for potatoes, at 61. 6s. to 61. i os. an acre, after which they fow bere upon one ploughing; this they fucceed with wheat alfo on one ploughing; and after the wheat, oats. Then they fummer and winter fallow, which is followed by wheat and oats as before; but by this time the land is quite ex- haufted. A partial burning is fometimes ufed, which is to break up in November, and plough twice 2i8 G L O S T E R. twice or thrice by May, and then to burn what the harrow does not reduce. For wheat they plough once, as before-mentioned in the burn- ing courfe; and four times on a fallow. Sow 20 ftone to an acre ; the crop five to fix and a half barrels ? the medium price of late il. is. a barrel. They fow a barrel of bere, of fix- teen ftone, the crop 14 to 23 barrels, which great produce is from the rich preparation. Of oats two barrels, or 24 ftone, the crop i o to 1 6 ; of barley they fow 1 6 ftone, the crop 10 to 1 6. The price of bere and barley 95. 6d. No clover at all fown, nor any grafs feeds, and very few peafe or beans, as they never feed their pigs or horfes with either. Very little flax. There are a few bleach yards about Clara, &c. but the bufinefs is not much upon the increafe. Potatoes they plant in the com- mon trenching way ; the feafon from the mid-, die of April to the middle of May j more after the firft of May than before it j eight barrels plant an acre ; they always weed them. The apple fort is preferred from lafting longeft; the medium price 2d. a ftone j twenty ftone the barrel. Account of an acre. Planting, 48 men, the firft and fccond trenching at 8d. i 12 o Seed, at 35. 4d, * | 6 6 Taking up, 4$ men I 120 Picking up, carrying home, and forting ; horfe- hire only, as the family does the reft - 088 Kent -. - -660 G L O S T E R, 219 PRODUCE. loo barrels, at 3$, 4d. 16 13 4 £xpcnces •» - - n 5 2 Profit ^ - £-582 Prime coft, as. 3d. a barrel. A barrel will laft a family of five perfons a week. The turnips on the burnt land they fow from the 2oth of July to the 4th of Auguft, but a fortnight or three weeks earlier upon a fal- low, the quantity of feed iJ.lb. they never hoe; the price upon an average 3!. an acre, either to take away or feed on the land, but the for- jner rarely done : they feed them off with fat flieep or lambs, very rarely with black cattle. No lime burnt for manure, nor any (lone gravel ufed, though plenty of it found all the country through. One farmer made an experiment of them both for corn, but nei- ther anfwered j the general opinion is, its be- ing bad for the grafs afterwards ; there is not any marie known j the farm-yard fyftem in- complete, as every where elfe, fpddering in the fields ; but cows are kept in the houfe at night, and fed with hay for about five months in the winter. Their hay grounds they wifh to fliut up about the 25th of March, but if their hay is finifhed, they are obliged to be later -, mow from 220 G L O S T E R. from the i5th of July to the i5th of Septem- ber, which lateneis is owing to their feeding fo late in the fpring. They ufually upon the average of weather, and management, get it into the large cock in about ten days, and leave it in that from one to two months ; the medi- um produce per acre, two tons and a quarter, and the price 305, a ton -3 the women here ne- ver make it. Tillage is performed more with horfes than with horned cattle -, the latter only by confi- derable graziers, and they are ufually fpayed heifers. Four horfes, or four heifers to a plough, which do half an acre a day j the depth, from the fhallownefs of the foil, not . more than fix or feven inches ; the price 73. 6d. an acre. Very few hogs kept, not more than for mere convenience. To hire and flock a farm will, on an ave- rage, take 40$. an acre, if a grazing one, but lei's in proportion to the tillage ; but there are men who will hire on little or no capital, this however is much lefs than formerly, from fe- veral landlords having fuffered feverely from it. The tillage of the whole country is very incon- fiderable ; it is chiefly pafturage, not one acre in fifteen is tilled; the barony of Garrey caftle has much more ; one reafon of there not being more, is the number of farms, from 150 to 400 acres, under leafes for ever, which are fo highly improved by the tenants, that they ab- itain from tillage, under the idea of its being pre- G L O S T E R. 221 prejudicial. RefpecYmg the labour of a farm, the ftanding bufinefs is done by cottars ; a cottar is one who has a cabbin, and an acre and a half of garden, charged at 303. and th'e grafs of one or two cows, at 255. each, and the daily pay 6d. the year through, the account being kept by tallies, and thofe charges deduct- ed ; the year's labour amounts to about 61. af- ter the cottar's time for his potatoes and turf is deducted ; the remaining 403. is paid in mo- ney, hay, or any thing elfe the man wants. The cows are fed by a field being affigned for all the cottars of the Farm. No inftance of a cottar without a cow. The calves they rear till half a year old, and then fell them at j 2s. to 2os. which will pay for the cow's hay. They keep no fheep, but every cabbin has a pig, a dog, and fome poultry. No difference in their circumftances for the laft fifteen years. It is here thought that it would be very difficult to nurfe up a race of little farmers from the cot- tars, by adding land gradually to them at a fair rent ; it would be alfo very difficult, if not impoffible, to cut off the cottars from a farm; nobody would be troubled with fuch tenants, and no farmer would hire a farm with the poor on it independant of him, their cattle and all their property would be in conftant danger; as the kingdom iircreafes in profperity, fuch ideas it is to be hoped will vanifh. Their food is potatoes and milk for ten months, and po- tatoes and fait the remaining two; they have however a little butter. They fell their pig, their c,alf, and their poultry, nor do they buy meat 222 G L O S T E R. meat for more than ten Sunday's in a year. Their fuel cofts them about 145. a year, or eighty kifh of turf, an ample allowance. There is in every cabbin, a fpinning-wheel, which is ufed by the women at leifure hours, or by a grown girl, but for twelve years 19 in 20 of them breed every fecond year. Vive le pomme de Tere ! Expence of a poor family. Cabbin and garden - - I 10 o Labour in the garden -•,; - I 10 o Two Cows - - - 2 10 o Hay for ditto - Ujt; ': * I 10 o Turf - V'~ o 14 o Cloathing, 153. a head &tZ£ • 3 J5 o Tools - ~ 050 Hearth tax ~ - -020 ii 16 o ne Receipt. The year •» - 365 days Deduct Sundays Bad weather Holydays Two calves Pig - Poultry Carried over G L O S T E R. 223 Brought over £.9 n 6 303 days fpinning between the wife and daugh- ter at 3d. 3 15 3 Expences Remains for whiflcy, &c. &c. - £. i 10 9 Potatoes are much more the food than for- merly ; there are full twice as many planted. The cottars in their gardens follow the courfe of crops firft mentioned. They are all very much addicted to pilfering : their general cha- racter idlenefs and dirtinefs, and want of at- tention. They are remarkable for a moft in- violable honour in never betraying each other, or even any body elfe, which refults from a ge- neral contempt of order and law, and a want of fear of every thing but a cudgel, the reader will remember that maiming cattle, pulling down, and fcattering flacks, and burning the houfes of thofe who take lands over their heads, are very well known. I am regiftering infor- mation, and that not from one or two perfons, but feveral. The pafturage fyftem is to buy in yearling calves, called bull chins, at from 355. to 555. (but twenty years ago, 22S. yd. each), which they generally fell at Banagher fair, when three years and an half, at 5!. los. to 61. buy- ing and felling regularly every year. They al- fo buy cows in May, and fell them fat in au- tumn, 224 G L O S T E R. tumn, with 405. profit. Sheep they either breed, or buy hoggits in May, at I2S. to 155. each in the fleece, and fell them fat, at three years and an half old, from il. is. to il. 45. each; they get three fleeces, worth i8s. the profit jos. a head, keeping them three fum- tners and two winters. No folding. Flocks rife from 100 to 2000, they calculate to keep a fheep to every acre of their farms. The fleeces, on an average of a running flock, are three to a Hone of 1 6 Ib. The price, this year, 175. 6d. twenty years ago only 95. or los. Not much alteration in the number of fheep through the country ; all fat ones, are in win- ter fed with turnips and a little hay. Their low lands rot ; but being more careful than formerly, it is not fo common as it was ; that, with the £/</, (a fudden giddinefs) and the red water, are the chief diflempers they are troubled with. Milch cows are kept only for convenience, a few to every farm. An acre and half necef- fary to keep one the year through, but muft have ii. ton of hay befides. One four or five years old ready for milk in the fpring, fells for five or fix guineas. A three years old heifer ready to calve, four or five guineas. The bounty on the inland carriage of flour to Dublin has occafioncd the building feveral mills, five confiderable ones, four were imme- diately built in confequence. The quantity of tillage has increafed double in 20 years ; probably G L O S T E R. 225 probably from this caufe, among others, has arifen the increafe of whilky, the quantity of which is three times greater than fifteen years ago. Not lefs than 30,000 barrels of barley and here are diftilled yearly within 8 miles of Glofter. Land fells at 25 years purchafe. Suppofe fix farms, one let for ever, at 20 years purchafe, one for three lives, let 20 years ago, 25 — one for two lives, ditto 28 — one for one life, ditto 30 — one for 31 years, 30— -one to let now, 20. Average of all, 25 years. Ten years ago it would have been twenty-fix and a half ; twen- ty years ago, twenty-three and a half. Leafes are generally for three lives, or thirty-one years. The country in general is much improved in moft national circumftances ; buildings are much increafed, on a larger fcale, and of a far better fort than twenty years ago j there is alfo a rife in the price of almoft all commo- dities. Prices not minuted in the table. Rabbits, 8d. a couple. Reading pigs, as. 6d. much beyond the proportion of other things. Kile in the price of meat, id. a Ib. in twenty years, lince which bere has alfo advanced, from 6s. to 95. 6d. the barrel of 16 ftone. Wo- mens labour, 4d. Wages of a farming man, 4!. ditto a boy, il. ditto a maid, 2!. From 10 VOL. II. P to 226 G L O S T E R. to 1 4 men reap an acre of corn in a day. Mow- ing grafs, by the acre, as. 8 j.d. two men do it in a day. Threfhing wheat, 6d. a barrel. Bere, 4d. Oats, ^d. Cutting turf, footing, &c. las. the 120 kifti. BUILDING. A common cabbin, 5!. Ditto of ftone, lol. t« " 151- Walling, mafon's perch work One barrel lime ' " •* 3 Seven load ftone Attendance Sand and carriage Feet high £.0 16 8 A guinea a perch, 7 feet, 6 inches high. Slates, 95. 6d. athoufand. Slating, il. 2S. pd. a fquare, every thing included. Oak, is. 3d. a foot. A(h and home fir, is. Lime, five- pence halfpenny a barrel, burnt, with turf in kilns on arches ; two arches burn 400 barrels, the ftone large. 400 kifh of turf will burn 400 barrels ; price of burning and filling from 2!. 55. 6d. to a guinea and half. September 30th, took my leave of Mr. Lloyd, a gentleman from whofe converfation I reaped equal inftruction and amulement. Faffed by Shin- JOHNSTOWN. 227 Shinroan, Murderinny, and Graig, to Johnf- town, the feat of Peter Holmes, Efq; Much of this line a very beautiful country ; near Johnf- town nothing can be more pifturefque, the whole well planted with hedges and little woods, and confiding of the moft fanciful variety of hill, dale, and fwelling declivities, upon which every bufh and tree is feen to advantage. For the following particulars I am indebted to Mr. Holmes, who, notwithstanding his own ability to anfwer every queftion, trufted not to it, but called in the beft afliftance the neighbourhood could give. Baronies in the county of Tripper ary. Lower Ormond, 2os, an acre.— Upper Or- mond, 2os.— Skevin, i8s. — Eliogurty, aos. Owen and Aira, I2S. — •Clanwilliam, il. as. pd. Middle third, 253. Befides Iffa, OfFa, and Kilnemanna. The whole county on an ave- rage would now let for 2os. an acre. Rents have doubled in twenty years. Through the whole barony of Lower Or- mond, the foil is in general a dry lime-ftone land. Farms are large, fome very large, few lefs than 5 or 600 acres : the fize is rather in- creafed. There are many without any build- ings, and it is only from particular circum- fiances that they let the better for them. The fmall farms are taken much in partnerfhip j a P 2 parcel 228 JOHNSTOWN. parcel of labourers will take i or 200 acres. The common courfe of tillage is, i. Pare, and burn for turnips. 2. Turnips. 3. Potatoes. 4. Bere. 5. Wheat. 6. Oats. 7. Grey peafe. 8. Fallow. 9. Wheat. 10. Oats. "n. Lay out for grafs quite exhaufled. Alfo, i. Fallow turnips from the turf. 2. Tur- nips, and then as before. The management is to plough the fod at Chriftmas, in April or May crofs plough it, and let it dry, burn as foon as dry, which will be fometimes in May ; fpread the afhes, plough once, and harrow in a pound and a half or two pounds of feed to the acre, from the 20th of June to the 4th of Auguft. They never either hoe or weed. Begin to feed them upon the land in December with fat ftieep, giving three or four acres at a time to 2 or 300 fheep ; and one acre to loofheep, giving them at the fame time hay in fheep racks : a middling acre will keep 1 3 from Chriftmas to the firft of April, being worth from two gui- neas to 3!. They are alfo commonly ufed for fheep and lambs in March and April. The profit upon fat fheep, from turnips only, will amount to from 75. to IDS. a head. The land is ploughed three times for the feccnd crop ; but the turnips are not fo fweet forYheep as the ftrft, yet they fell as well : they muft be JOHNSTOWN. 229 be eaten off firft, as they will not fland fo long as the others. The poor people hire this turnip land at fix guineas to 7!. los. for planting potatoes. About ten years ago the price was four gui- neas to 5!. but the reftridlions on paring and burning have leflened the quantity of it. For this potatoe crop one ploughing is given in March or April, fix to eight barrels of feed planted ; the favourite forts are the apple po- tatoe for late, and the early wife for early ufe,, They hand weed them carefully, and take them up the middle of November or beginning of December, the average crop 90 barrels, Expences on an acre. Rent ^ . 6 16 6 Seven barrels of feed, at 45. i 8 o Planting, thirty men a day - - 0160 Taking up, eighty men a day - -200 ii o 6 PRODUCE. Ninety barrels, at 45. - - 18 o o Expenfes n o 6 Profit - /. 6 19 6 Prime coft, 2s. 5d. a barrel. The 230 JOHNSTOWN. The culture has increafed very much,and been the means of reclaiming great tracls of land, which otherwife would never have been touch- ed. The potatoe land they plough immediate- ly for bere, and, if weather dry enough, fow 14 ftone per acre, and get 16 barrels. For the wheat they plough thrice ; fow in November 14 ftone, and get 7 barrels. It was in this neighbourhood Mr. Yelverton had his famous crop, which has been written fo often in all the books of hufbandry in Eu- rope, but nobody here believed it. The ac- count I had was this : that he felecled the beft acre in a field of 30, which he marked out; but his labourers knowing his intention, put many flocks from the adjacent parts of the field into that acre. Thus without any in- tentional deceit in the gentleman himfelf was the public completely deceived. From hence it appears, there was fome reafon in my pro- pofing to the London fociety, to annex to their premiums for the greateft crops, the condition of reaping, threfhing, and meafuring all in one day, and in the prefence of witnefles which they adopted much againft the opinion of fe- veral gentlemen who did not approve it. For the oats they plough once, fow two barrels in March, and get on an average from 10 to 14. For the peafe, they plough once, fow twenty ftone broad caft, are fo far from hoeing or weeding, that they like to have weeds among them, by way of Jllcks ! get fix or feven barrels JOHNSTOWN. 131 barrels an acre. The fucceeding fallow is ploughed four times, the crop of wheat as good as after here, but the following oats will not yield above eight or nine barrels. The medium prices of the preceding pro- ducts have of late years been, Wheat, aos. Bere, los. Oats, 5. Peafe, 6s. There are very few threfhing floors of wood : but they make the clay ones fo hard, that they think them as good. Flax is fown only by the cot- tars in their gardens -, very few that do not fow fome. Six potties of feed on about four perch of land. They proportion it very ex- aclly to their own confumption ; it is wove by weavers, who make it their bufinefs to weave for others ; and there are very few gentlemen that do not do the fame for the coarfe linen of their families. Marie and lime-flone fand are the manures ufed here. They have two ways of improving wafte land with marie : they plough and fow oats, and marie the flubble : or elfe they marie at firft upon the lay : this is moftly praftifed in the Duharrow mountains, where it has worked very great improvements. It is a grey foapy marie, full of fhells, dredged from the bottom, of the Shannon. The expenfe of get- ting it, with boats and carriage into the land, is 405. an acre. Lime-ftone fand is laid on at the end of an exhaufting courfe, on the oat flubble : it cofts about 503. an acre. Very little lime ufed. No farm-yards > the hay is flacked 232 JOHNSTOWN. flacked in the fields where it is defigned to be fed, and fcattered about ; and fhame on them, they do the fame with their flraw -, but no wonder the farm-yard fyftem is unknown, for they fell much of their corn in the flack in the field, which gentlemen buy for ftraw. Great improvements have been made in the Duhar- row mountains, infomuch that the tythes of one parifh have rifen from 70!. a year to 400!. The fheep in the Ormond baronies are kept chiefly for breeding ; they do not fell the lambs till they become three years old wethers ; give the ewes the ram at two years old, which fup- ply the place of the old ewes, culled out and fattened at four years old, going five. In 170 there are 50 ewes, 40 lambs, 40 two-year olds, 20 three year old wethers fold, 20 ewes kept, and 20 old ones fold. Ten are kept for acci- dents. The fat wethers fell at 2os. fromgrafs, and 3 os. from turnips \ and the 20 culled ewes will fell at aos. each ; the wool of the whole, three fleeces to a flone. Mr. Robert Gowen has fold a fcore of four-year old wethers at Dublin, for 59!, Their black cattle are in the fucceflion way. To 1000 acres, befides 1500 fheep, they will buy in 180 year-old calves every year, at 455. bought in from May to September, the right time May and June; they keep them two years and an half, felling them in November, at 61. to 81. allowing three for Ipfles, there would be 177 JOHNSTOWN. 233 177 calves, 177 two-year olds, 177 three- year olds — 531. Alfo upon 1000 acres there would be two breed- ing mares, and fix colts, ten working heifers, 4 car horfes, and ten milch cows ; there would alfo be 100 acres of 1000, in tillage, ten of which under turnips every year, and fifty acres of hay mown j an inftanceoutof thoufands how little attention in Ireland is paid to providing a due quantity of winter food. Mr. William Harden, thirty-two years ago, fold wool at 6s. 6d. a ftone; it rofe gradually for ten years to ics. 6d. and did not get up to 1 55. till about four years ago; but the price was very fluctuating, rifing and falling fuddenly without any evident reafon ; the weight of the fleeces have not increafed in thirty years, but the number of (heep is greater j turnips were com- monly fown at that time. In black cattle however, there has been a great improvement, being much larger than formerly. Calves have rifen in price as much as wool, fuch as now coft 455. might, thirty years ago, have been had at 205. Mr. Harden's father bought a two-year old bullock for 55. of a man now alive. In tillage, buljocks and heifers are generally ufed, four in a plough, and they do not quite half an acre a day. Three ploughs will do an acre ; they ftir five inches deep. The price 6s. Paring and burning take from twelve to I forty 234 JOHNSTOWN. forty men per acre, according to the drynefs of trie feafon. Labour is done by cottars, who have a cab- bin and a garden of one acre, if only one man in family, but if the fon is grown, two acres. The cabbin and one acre is reckoned at 2os. allb two collops, at 2qs, each, which are ge- nerally cows, All this he works out at five pence a day, all extra labour fix-pence half- penny a day, and eight pence in harveft. They all have from one to three pigs, and much poultry. Their food is potatoes for at leaft eleven months of the year, and one month of oat, barley or bere bread. Expences and receipt of a cottar family. Cabbin, and one acre rent - i o o Two cows - -200 One ftone of broken wool - o 14 o Weaving it --030 Weaving their linen - -03© Hearth money - 020 Tools - 050 Tythe of one acre - -050 Hire of half an acre potatoes - 380 £.8 oo Receipt. Two Pigs •? 2O On an average of years the two cows will yield three calves in two years - - 200 Poultry JOHNSTOWN. 235 Brought over - - £>• 4 o o Poultry f » o 15 o Hire 365 days 52 fundays 15 holydays 20 bad weather 48 ficknefs and their own work 135 230 Expences Remains for unfpecified articles £ . i n o It is a general remark, that induftrious and attentive men will earn 5!. in the year. The circumftances of the poor are much bet- ter than they were twenty years ago, for their land and cabbing are not charged to them by gentlemen higher than they were 30 years ago, while all they fell bears double the price. Potatoes are rather more cultivated and eaten than twenty years ago, and are managed better. The poor in this neighbourhood are by no means to be accufed of a general fpirit of thieving. It arifes from holding them in too much contempt, or from the improper treatment of their fuperiors. No white boys have ever arifen in thefe baronies, nor any riots that laft longer than a drunken bout at 3 a fair : 236 JOHNSTOWN. a fair : nothing that has obflructed the exe- cution of juftice. There is no objection to cutting off the cot- tars from a farm, and making them tenants to the landlord, upon the fcore of difficulty in letting a farm without cottars upon it, provid- ed they were kept perfectly diftinct by a good fence. Nor is there any doubt but out of them a race of little farmers might be gra- dually formed. Land at improved rents fells at 20 years purchafe. Rents are doubled in 20 years j they are not fallen fince 1772. Leafes are ufually for three lives, or thirty-one years. The interefl of money has certainly rifen, and the year's purchafe of land fallen in twen- ty years $ yet in the fame period it is un- doubted that the kingdom has improved greatly, which has the appearance of a con- tradiction. Buildings have very much in- creafed in all the towns, and in a flile far fu- perior to former periods. Tythes are very rarely taken in kind. Bere and wheat pay 6s. an acre. Barley and oats, 35. Potatoes, 6s. They are generally let tp proctors, who are fevere to the poor, and very indulgent to gentlemen. The rigour, however, does not extend beyond thole prices. The JOHNSTOWN. 237 The bounty on the inland carnage of corn has occafioned the. building Tome mills, which united with the turnip hufbandry, and the vaft increafe of whifky have altogether much increafed tillage. Prices not in the tables. Labour of a woman or boy in harveft, 4d. Mowing grafs, as. 4d. to as. 6d. Hire of a car, a day, is. 3d. to is. 8d. Building a cab- bin of ftone and (late, 25!. Walling the mafon's perch, 45. Lime, per barrel, feven- pence halfpenny ; at Nenagh, is. Culm, per barrel, 38. one burns nine of lime, in fome places only fix. Quarrying the ftones o o o^ Breaking and burning 003 Oak timber, 503. to 3!. a ton. Fir, 405. Wildfowl. Wild ducks, is. 6d. a cou- ple. Teal, 9d. ditto. Widgeon, 6d. ditto. Rabbits, 8d: ditto. Trout 5lb. for is. Sal- mon, 2d. per Ib. Frefh water fiih in general, 2|d. a Ib. Oyflers, as. per 120. The Shannon adds not a little to the con- vfr.icr.ce and agreeablenefs of a refidence fo near 238 JOHNSTOWN. near it. Befides affording thefc forts of wild fowl, the quantity and fize of its fifh are amazing. Pikes fwarm in it, and rife in weight to 5olb. In the little flat (paces on its banks are fmall but deep lochs, which are covered in winter and in floods ; when the river with- draws, it leaves plenty of fifli in thfem, which are caught to put into ftews. Mr. Holmes has a fmall one before his door at Johnftown, with a little ftream which feeds it ; a trowling rod here gets you a bite in a moment, of a pike from 20 to 4olb. I eat of one of 27lb. fo taken ; I had alfo the pleafure of feeing a fiflierman bringing three trouts, weighing i4lb. and fell them for fix-pence halfpenny a pieqe. A couple of boats lying at anchor, with lines extended from one to the other, and hooks in plenty from them, have been known to catch an incredible quantity of trout. Co- lonel Prittie, in one morning, caught four ftone, odd pounds, thirty-two trouts : in ge- neral they rife from 3 to plb. Perch fwarm ; they appeared in the Shannon for the tirft time about ten years ago, in fuch plenty that the poor lived on them. Bream of 61 b. Eels very plentiful. There are many gillaroos in the river, one of i2lb. weight was fent to Mr. Jenkinfon. Upon the whole, thefe circum- flances, with the pleafure of fhocting and boating on the river, added to the glorious view it yields, and which is enough at any time to chear the mind, render this neighbour- hood one of the molt enviable fituations to live in that I have feen in Ireland. The face of JOHNSTOWN. 239 of the country gives every circumftance of beauty. From Killodeernan-hill, behind the new houfe building by Mr. Holmes, the whole is feen to great advantage. The fpreading part of the Shannon, called Loch Derg, is commanded diftinclly for many miles ; it is in two grand divifions of great variety. That to the north is a reach of five miles leading to Portumna. The whole hither fhore a fcenery of hills, checkered by inclofures and little woods, and retiring from the eye into a rich diftant profpecl. The woods of Doras, be- longing to Lord Clanrickard, form a part of the oppofite fhore, and the river itfelf prefents an ifland of 120 acres. Inclining to the left, a vale of rough ground, with an old caftle in it, is backed by a bold hill, which inter- cepts the river there, and then the great reach of 1 5 miles, the bay of Sheriff, fpreads to the eye, with a magnificence not a little added to by the boundary, a fharp outline of the county of dare mountains, between which and the Duharrow hillsy the Shannon finds its way. Thefe hills lead the eye ftili more to the left, till the Keeper meets it, prefenting a very beau- tiful outline that finks into other ranges of hill, uniting with the Devil's Bit. The home fcenery of the grounds, woods, hills, and lake of Johnftown, is beautiful. Mr. Holmes has practiced agriculture upon an exteniive fcale, and not without making fome remarks, which muft be of ufe to others. He 240 JOHNSTOWN. He has not for five or fix years paft been without a fmall field of Scotch cabbages. The feed he fows both in March and autumn for ufe at different feafons ; the rows he plants three feet afunder, and two feet from cabbage to cabbage. He has ufed them for fat fheep and fat cattle, but principally for weaned calves : they have anfwered perfectly well in all, but remarkably fo with the calves, of which Mr. Holmes has had the beft in the country, and fingly from being thus fed. His people were all of opinion, that a good acre ot cab- bages will go as far as two acres of turnips, worth each 3!. Two years ago a violent froft flopped the ufe of turnips, and he then found the benefit of them prodigioufly great. He has always manured for them with dung or marie, the former beft. RAPE CAKE, Mr. Holmes has ufed as a manure, with great fuccefs : in 1775, he drefled two acres of worn out meadow, with a ton and an half an acre, at 2!. 2s. per ton; and in 1776, he laid on feven tons, at i-j. per acre ; the firft trial was made too late, and a dry feafon com- ing, the effect was not great, The laft year it was laid on the fifth of April, when the effect was remarkably great : it threw up a moft luxuriant crop of the fineft herbage, infomuch that he is convinced nothing can anlwer better, and is determined to extend the practice con- fiderably. He has tried it on low, wet, and on JOHNSTOWN. 241 on upland, and the effeft infinitely greater on the latter. In the fame field, Mr. Holmes fed 150 fheep fome months, on the produce of feven acres of turnips, going over nine acres of grafs ; the benefit to the latter did not near equal that of the rape, except in the deftruc- tion of mofs, which was deftroyed by both methods. CLOVER. Mr. Holmes has ufed this grafs thefe fix years ; he began with fix acres, and has ex- tended it as far as feventeen acres laft year : he fows 24lb. of feed per acre. The crops as good as he has feen in England ; has mown it twice, but now feeds the fecond growth. He has tried it on dry lime-ftone hills, which are flow in coming to grafs, but anfvver well in clover. For his fheep he finds it of great ufe. Ewes Iamb here about the i/th of March, and when turnips are done, want the clover very much: alfo in keeping fat fheep for a late market. Courfe of crops, i. Turnips on old turf, two ploughings and a flight burning. 2. Turnips. 3. Barley, yield- ing 1 8 barrels. 4. Clover. 5. Clover. 6. Wheat, yielding 8 barrels. 7. Oats, ditto 15. Alfo, I. Manure a ftubble for cabbages. 2. Po- tatoes. 3. Barley, 20 barrels. 4. Clover. 5. Clover. 6. Wheat. 7. Oats. VOL. II. C Oaober 242 D E R R Y. October 3d, taking my leave of Johnftown and its agreeable and hofpitable family, I took the road towards Derry, the feat of Michael Head, Efq; through a country much of it bor- dering on the Shannon, and commanding many fine views of that river j but its naked- nefs, except at particular places, takes off much from the beauty of the fcenery. Near to Derry there' are fome finer views. From one hill, the road commands the bay of SkerifF, Loch Derg, back to Johnftown j and the river turning un- der the hills of Achnis, a promontory of wood, which feparates them, is fully feen : there are alfo many hedges, fo well grown with fcatter- ed trees on the higher fide as to have a pleafing effe6t. I found Mr. Head, on my arrival, juft going to dine with a neighbour, Mr. Parker, whole father had worked a very fine mountain improvement, and who would probably be there : this was a fufficient inducement, had there been no other, for me to accompany him. I found Mr. Parker's houfe fo near the river, as focnetimes to be wafhed by it. The improvement I had heard of is a hill of above 40 acres, w,hich was covered with ling, furze, &c. and not worth 6d. an acre thirty-two years ago when the work was begun. He grubbed, ploughed it, and fowed oats, and marled the ftubble from the Shannon j the marie, from the fteepnefs of the hill, being carried on the backs of oxen. Upon this -he took a crop of wheat, and another of oats, both exceedingly fine, and with the latter fow- ed the feeds for the grafs, which ftill remains, an D E R R Y. 243 and has been improving ever fince; it is now- worth 303. an acre, and a very pleafing object to the eye, efpecially fince Mr. Parker, junior, has added to the finenefs of the verdure and herbage by feeding it with many fheep. In the fame converfation I alfo learned a few particulars of a bog of twelve acres part of one of 150, improved by Mr. Minchin, near Ne- nagh. The firft operation was to cut main drains (ix feet deep, and crofs ones of 18 inches or two feet, and as foon as it was a little firm, covered it with lime-ftone gravel three inches thick, before the bog would bear a car ; but did it by beginning at the edge, and advancing on the part gravelled. Part was tilled, and part left for grafs without ploughing : the meadow thus formed has been exceedingly fine. One- uncommon circumftance was, his having paved the bottom of the drains with gravel, in order to prevent cattle from being bogged in them. The expenfe of the whole improvement 8L an acre. The profit immenfe. It is to Mr. Head's attention that I am in- debted for the following particulars concern- ing the barony of Owna and Arra. The foil is a light gravelly loam, on a ilaty rock, which is almoft general through the 'whole. The rent on an average 153. for profitable land, and is. for mountain ; and as there is about half and half, the whole will be 8s. The rife of rent, in twenty years is about double. Eflates are generally large, fcarce any fo low as 5 or 6ool. 244 D E R R Y. 6ool. a year. Farms are all fmall, none above 3 or 400 acres : many are taken in partner- ihip, three, four, or five families to 100 acres. They divide the land among themfelves, each man taking according to his capital. The terms rundale and changedale unknown, as is the latter practice. There are no farms with- out buildings upon them. Laying out money in building better houfes would pay no intereft at all, as they are perfectly fatisfied with their mud cabbins. Courfes of crops on reclaimed mountain, i. Marie for oats. 2. Bere. 3. Bere, 4. Wheat. 5. Oats, or Englifh. barley. 6. Oats. 7. Oats. 8. Oats. 9. Oats. 10. Oats. The number of thefe crops of oats proportion- ed to the quantity of marie laid on -t but the rule is to take as long as the land will yield, a*ul then leave it to recover itfelf by weeds. Another courfe. i . Potatoes in drills on an exhaufted ftubble. 2. Bere. 3. Oats. 4. Oats. 5. Oats. 6. Oats, and fo on till none will be got. The quantity of wheat'is very little ; for that little they low a barrel an acre, and get 8 bar- rels -, medium price, icd. to i3d. a ftone. Of bere they fow a barrel, and get 15. Of oats low two barrels, the produce 8 to 15, accord- ing to being early or late in the courfe. Price of bere, fix-pence to feven- pence halfpenny. ?ats, four-pence to fix-pence per ftone. No peafe, D E R R Y. 245 peafe, beans, clover, or turnips j but they have little patches of flax for their own confump- tion. Potatoes they very generally cultivate in drills; they plough the flubble twice or thrice, and then open trenches with the plough three feet afunder ; in which they put fome dung, lay the fets on it, and cover them with the plough if they have horfes, or if not with fhovels. They keep them clean by conftant earthing up with ploughs or (hovels. They dig them out, the produce thirty-five barrels per acre. They find that nothing is fo good and clean as fallow for corn. Some poor people hire grafs land for them in the lazy bed way, paying 3!. 105!. los. per acre. The only manure ufed befides dung is the fhelly made, dredged up from the bottom of the Shannon. Mr. Head's grandfather was the firft who introduced that method of getting at it by bringing men from Dublin ufed to raifing ballaft. It proved fo profitable, that the ufe has much increafed fince. It lies irre- gularly in banks, from 100 to 200 yards from the fhore, and under 10 or 12 feet of water in fummer which is the only time they can get it. The price of railing it is from is. to 2s. ac- cording to circumftances, befides finding boat, ropes, and all tackle ; a boat contains 60 bufhels, and requires 5 men. They land it on a quay,, from whence it is taken in fledge carts to fome diftance for drying, nor is it dry enough for carting away till the year follow- ing. Some think it worth carrying one mile, and 246 D E R R Y. and even two. The common people do not lay on more than four or five boat loads to an acre, but Mr. Head always ten, and the whole expenfe he calculates at 405. Much bad land has been reclaimed by it, and to great profit. All their dung is ufed for potatoes. The tillage of the common people is done with horfes, four in a plough, which do half an acre a day: gentlemen ufe four oxen. The price 8s. an acre. No paring and burning. They (hut up their meadows for hay in March or April, and rarely begin to mow till September. I fhould remark, that I faw the hay making or marring all the way (October 3d) from Johnftown hither, with many fields covered with water, and the cocks forming little iflands in them. They are generally two months making it ; the crop one to one ton and a half per acre. There is no regular fyftem of cattle in this barony, there not being above four or five gra- ziers -, but gentlemen, in their domains, have all the different fyftem s. The common far- mers keep a few of moft forts of cattle, except fat ones. No large flocks of (heep, but every farmer a few breeding ewes. The fleeces four to a ftone. They fell either lambs, hoggits, or two or three year olds ; the price of a two- year old ewe i os. they have no winter food but grafs, even the gentlemen have their fat mut- ton all winter from the low grafs lands on the Shannon, 9 D E R R Y. 247 Shannon, without either hay or turnips. The marled land has a remarkable fpring of grafs in the winter j the rot is very little known. All keep pigs, which are much increafed of late ; their pork 325. a cwt. laft year at Lime- rick; Mr. Head has known it fo low as 145. No proportion between cows and pigs. In hiring and flocking farms, many will take them in partnerfhip with no other capital than a little flock of cattle. Difficult to fix the number of years purchafe at which land fells. None has been fold in this barony In Mr. Head's memory. Leafes to proteftants three lives. The common mode of labour is that of cot- tars, they have a cabbin and an acre for 303. and 305. the grafs of a cow, reckoning with them at five pence a day the year round ; other labour vibrates from four pence to fixpence. A cottar with a middling family will have two cows i there is not one without a cow. All of them keep as many pigs as they can rear, and fome poultry. Their circumtlances are rather better than 20 years ago. A cottar 's expenceSf Rent of, a cabbin and an acre I 10 o Two cows - -300 Hay for ditto, one, ton - i 1 5 o Tythe 040 Hearth money - -020 Carried over £, 6 1 1 o One 248 D E R R Y. Brought over £.6 n O One ftone of wool a year for the man, one for the woman, and two ftones for three chil- dren ; this is what they ought to have, but the fa£t does not exceed two ftone, one at 173. and one at 8s. - - 150 Tools r -050 Turf, whether bought or in their own labour i o o Flax feed, five or fix pottles, at 8d. - 036 Breaking and fcutching, eight ftone, at rod. 068 Heckling ditto, at iod. - -068 Weaving 536 bandies, at is. id. a fcore - 0166 N. B. After heckling 56lb. flax, the reft is tow, which they fpin for bags, &c. Two pair of brogues, ps. gd. and four pair foles, 18. iod. each, 73. $d. 0171 A pair of women's ihoes, 35. 3d. and a pair of foles, u. 5d. - -048 A boy of fourteen, two pair, at 2S. 2d. foies, is. id. A hat, as. 8d. the boy one, is. 6"d. - f His receipt. Deduct from— Sundays Holiday Bad weather ———365 days 52 i 10 Own work 48 — - in Remain at 5d. . 254 5 5 I0 The. t> E R R Y. Brought over 'JThe boy of twelve or fourteen, three-pence halfpenny a day - Two pigs, one eat, the other fold for - Two calves, one ?os. one ios, - N. B. Chickens and ducks pay for fait, foap and candles, gnd they eat the geefe, When my informant, who was a poor man, had finifhed, I demanded how the aos. defici- ency, with whifky, and the prieft, were to be paid -, the anfwer was, that he muft not eat his geefe and pig, or elfe not drefefo well, which pro- bably is the cafe. Their acre of garden feeds them the year through j nine months on po- tatoes, and the other three on oaten bread, from their own oats. The confumption of potatoes not increafed in twenty years. A fa- mily of five perfons will eat and wafte forty-two {lone of potatoes in a week. They are not ad- dicted in any remarkable degree to thieving. The cottars of a farm might eafily be taken from it, and yet the farm let without difficul- ty, for the tenant would foon have others ; but it is questioned whether they could eafily be made farmers of. Dancing is very general among the poor people, almoft univerfal in every cabbin. Dancing-mailers of their own rank travel through the country front cabbin to cabbin, with a piper or blind ridler •, and the pay is fix- pence a quarter. It is an abfolute fyftem of education. 250 D E R R Y. education. Weddings are always celebrated with much dancing ; and a Sunday rarely pafles without a dance ; there are very few among them who will not, after a hard day's work, gladly walk feven miles to have a dance. John is not fo lively, but then a hard day's work with him is certainly a different affair from what it is with Paddy. Other branches of education are likewife much attended to, every child of the pooreft family learning to read, write, and carl accounts. There is a very ancient cuftom here, for a number of country neighbours among the poor people, to fix upon iome young woman that ought, as they think, to be married ; they alfo agree upon a young fellow as a proper hulband for her ; this determined, they fend to the fair one's cabbin to inform her, that on the Sunday following /fe is to be horfed, that is carried on men's backs. She muft then pro- vide whifky and cyder for a treat, as all will pay her a vifit after mafs for a hurling match. As foon as fhe is horfed, the hurling begins, in which the young fellow appointed for her hufband, has the eyes of all the company fixed on him ; if he comes off conqueror, he is cer- tainly married to the girl, but if another is vic- torious, he as certainly lofes her, for fhe is the prize of the victor. Thefe trials are not always finifhed in one Sunday, they take fome- times two or three, and the common exprefli- on when they are over is, th&tjuch a girl 'was goafd. Sometimes one barony hurls againft another, D E R R Y. 251 another, but a marriageable girl is always the prize. Hurling is a fort of cricket, but inftead of throwing the ball in order to knock down a wicket, the aim is to pafs it through a bent flick, the ends ftuck in the ground. In thefe matches they perform fuch feats of activity, as ought to evidence the food they live on to be far from deficient in nourifhment. Tythes — Potatoes, 53. Wheat, barley, bere, 55. Oats, as. 6d. Meadow, 2s. They are in the management of proftors, but the great- eft hardfhip attending them, is the poor man paying for his garden, while the rich grazier pays nothing, owing to the famous vote of the houfe of commons. There is only one flour mill in the barony, and the increafe of tillage is very trifling, but the whifky ftills at Killaloe, trebled in five or fix years. Prices not in the tables. Wild ducks, is. a couple. Teal, 6d. Plo- ver, 2d. Salmon, three halfpence to 3d. per Ib. Large pike, 2S. 6d. each. Trout, of twelve inches long, id. each. Eels, is. a do- zen. Eggs, ten a penny in flimmer, three in winter. Women's labour in harveft, 3d in winter, 2d. Maid's wages, il. los. A lad's, il. 8s. Mowing, per acre, as. 4d. Women earn by fpinnirig, 3d. Hire of a car, with man and horfe, is. 6d. Threfhing wheat, per ±52 D E R R Y. per barrel, 6d. Bere, 4<1. Oats, two pence halfpenny. Barley, 3d. BUILDING. A mud cabbin, 4]. Ditto of (tone and flate, 20!. A dry wall, five feet high, building - 013 Labour coping - - -006 Daftiing - - - -002 Lime, two barrels .», ; : - -014 Sand - - - -005 • 035 Befids carting the ftones, the mafon's perch of houfe wall. ing, is. 6d. All materials laid at the fpot. Oak bark, 81. to pi. a ton. Cars are nj.ade by hatchet men, at 6d. a day. Timber and labour of one - • o 10 o Iron f - - o 10 o £.100 In the hills above Derry are fome very fine flate quarries, that employ 60 men. The quarrymen are paid 35. a thoufand for the dates, and the labourers 5d. a day. They are very fine, and fent by the Shannon to diftant parts of the kingdom $ the price at the quarry 6s. a thoufand, and at the fhore 6s. 8d. 400,000 flates are railed to pa/ the rent only, from which fome eftimate may be made of the quantity. Mr, D E R R Y. 253 Mr. Head has made Come confiderable im- provements of wafte or rough land by means of marie. His firft was a field of 14 acres ten years ago ; the foil light, as before defcribed of the country in general ; the fpontaneous growth, furze and ferns, worth 53. an acre. He cleared it from ftones, which were ufed for building ; the expence fmall, marled it, and fowed five crops of corn, and with the laft of them hay feeds: it became a mea- dow in two years, and is now worth 305. an acre. The next was a field of eight acres, the fame foil j he broke it up for potatoes, then took one crop of corn, marled it on the ftub- ble, and fowed five crops of corn, laying down with the fifth. Worth 8s. an acre before, now 30$. Five acres and an half were alfo done, marled on the furface, the effeft little ; it was therefore ploughed up in four or five years ; yielded two crops of good turnips, two of Englifh barley, and then laid down. It is now worth 305. an acre. The next attempt was upon 16 acres, not worth as. 6d. an acre, over-run with furze, fern and heath, with fo many {tones that clear- ing them away cofl los. an acre. Ploughed and burnt it, and took two crops of turnips, then two of oats. Left it to itfelf for five or fix years, and then marled it, fince it has yielded four crops of corn, and is now worth il. 2S. 9d. an acre. The 254 D E R R Y. The laft improvement is a field of 1 1 acres, which has been lately marled. Mr. Head has 400 fheep, and theyconfiftof 100 breeding ewes. — 100 lambs. — 84 hoggits. — 70 three-year old wethers and culled ewes, fat. — 46 two year old wethers. He fells an- nually Fifty fat wethers — 57 o » Fifty culled ewes, at i8s. — 45 o o Four hundred fleeces, 133 ftone, at 1 8s. 119 14 o £.221 14 O Mr. Head has a practice in his fences which deferves univerfal imitation : it is planting trees for gate-pofts. Stone piers are expen- five and always tumbling down ; trees are beautiful, and never want repairing. Within 15 years this gentleman has improved Derry fo much, that thofe who had only feen it before, would find it almoft a new creation. He has built a handfome ftone- houfe, on the flope of a hill riling from the Shannon, and backed by fume fine woods, which unite with many old hedges well planted to form a woodland fcene, beautiful in the contraft to the bright expanfe of the noble river below: the declivity, on which thele woods are, finifhes in a moun- tain, which rifes above the whole. The Shannon gives a bend around the adjoining lands, fo as to be feen from the houfe both to the weft and north, the lawn falling gradually to a margin 3 of CASTLE C O N N E L. 255 of wood on the (hore, which varies the out- line. The river is two miles broad, and on the oppofite fhore cultivated inclofures rife in fome places almoft to the mountain top, which. is very bold. It is a very fingular demefne ; a ftripe of very beautiful ground, reaching two miles along the banks of the river, which forms his fence on one fide, with a wall on