AVERAGE Quantities of Seed used, and of the Produce per Acre, of the In the GENERAL OBSERVATIONS at the end of this chapter, I have formed in one table the results of the nine districts, and brought the lbs. avoirdupois into Irish and English measure. AGRICULTURAL CAPITAL. In treating of the capital necessary to agricultural improvement, although we may be desirous of coming to accurate conclusions, yet we shall find ourselves liable to considerable uncertainty, much depending on the nature of the soil, and on other adventitious circumstances. It may not, therefore, be in my power to afford the reader that satisfaction, which he desires. Many writers with the best intentions would have considered themselves authorized to fill up in an authoritative tone blanks, which a fear of misleading has induced me to leave open; but I should be sorry to lay down data from which erroneous opinions might be formed; and I am convinced that in the views I have taken of the subject my errors are on the safer side. I have suppressed a considerable part of the information I collected; and I must even acknowledge that the matter retained is not sufficient to illustrate the point completely. In whatever manner land may be managed, the capital required must be estimated from fixed and invariable principles. If a person takes any given quantity into his own hands, the expense of stocking, and every charge incurred up to the time that his receipts enable him to go on without further disbursement, would form the capital employed. But I shall suppose that in addition to this, he has erected farm buildings, drained, fenced, enclosed, or embanked different fields, or laid out money in any way whatever for the improvement of the estate. This money ought to be classed under another head; it is like money expended in purchasing so much more freehold property and adding to his territorial possessions. In this case a calculation ought to be made of the value of the principal so sunk for a number of years, and the whole should be added to the rent as a surcharge. To point out a thing which is so obvious, may to some appear superfluous; but I have seen so many instances of gentlemen improving their landed property, who charged the money laid out to the expenditure of a year, and then asserted that they had lost by their farming, as convinces me that they were entirely ignorant of this simple and evident truth. I know that to many it is difficult to be comprehended, and that this is frequently the case in Ireland. Hence arises the benefit of middle-men of property, who ought always to be introduced when an estate is susceptible of improvement, and the owner incapable of bearing the expense with which it is attended. Under such circumstances a middle-man can most beneficially effect what could not otherwise be accomplished; and the imposition of an increased rent on his tenants is only a measure of justice, which enables him to recover, within the term of his lease, the capital expended and the interest arising from it during its existence. The worst thing in regard to middle-men in general is, that like the sub-tenants, they are persons without any capital; and when this is the case an estate cannot be afflicted with a greater evil. The capital employed in grazing must be entirely regulated by the number of beasts which the land will sustain. On the rich caucass lands on both sides the Shannon and Fergus, the best lands in Limerick, Roscommon and Meath, where an acre is capable of grazing a bullock, the capital may be easily calculated; and at the present rate of store beasts the current price of a beast with the annual rent will give the capital required per acre. In the dairy districts, as the cost of cows is much less, the capital required on these lands cannot by any means be so large. Sheep lands, in my opinion, may be stocked with as small a capital as any. Very little pasture is capable of fattening more than four sheep per acre, which at thirty-five shillings each, is £7. an acre, independently of rent. This is the whole expenditure, as far as I am acquainted; the herd makes the hay, is paid for his trouble by what are called conveniences, and the occupier is not any thing out of pocket. On the contrary, by selling a little meadow or corn acre potatoes, he has, probably, when he comes to balance their accounts, money in hand. In regard to tillage land in Ireland, I find it impossible to form any estimation, though I am perfectly aware, that the capital ought to be equal to the following items : 1st. A year's rent; but in general none is paid till the first crop is threshed out. 2d. A year's labour, which is all done by the family. 3d. Seed corn of various descriptions; but this is often obtained upon credit from shopkeepers, and when paid for, the money is frequently borrowed at the rate of a shilling interest per month for each pound. 4th. Implements: so few, however, are used, and those employed are so bad, that the value of them amounts to a mere trifle. 5th. Horses: animals of this kind, of whatever quality, purchased. 6th. Cows: these, in all probability, have been reared on the premises of a landlord, under that kind of indulgence which is called a convenience. Hence it is seen, that an Irish farmer may be said to commence without any capital. He has not to pay taxes or poor's rates; the county cess he discharges by labour, that is, by working with his car on the roads; and as he begins his agricultural career in want, and continues it amidst poverty, it may readily be conceived, that cultivationunder such untoward circumstances must be wretchedly bad. If his family be industrious, he will sometimes save a little money, and perhaps bury in the earth a few guineas, some of which at a future period, are probably released from their confinement to portion one of his daughters. To attempt any calculation of the capital required under a system of this kind, would be as ridiculous as to endeavour to ascertain what quantity of water might be conveyed from one place to another in a sieve. So little has this subject been considered in Ireland, that it is not mentioned in any of the county surveys, the authors of which seem to have taken it for granted, that capital, to an Irish farmer is not at all necessary. In this respect there is a very striking difference between the manner of occupying land in England and in Ireland. At the present prices, it is calculated that ten pounds per acre as capital, is required by every farmer in England* upon entering on his farm; and few would think of taking land unless they could shew their landlords that they either possess sufficient property, or can borrow it for such time as it may be wanted. But setting aside every consideration of landlord and tenant, it is necessary to bear in mind the difference between a country where productions are created chiefly by capital laid out upon horses and implements, and consequently obtained in part by machinery, and a country where productions are raised chiefly by the hands of man. On the former, taxes fall lightly; they are paid by the owners of property: on the latter, they are an oppressive burden, because they fall upon personal exertion, and deprive the poor of the chief part of those gratifications, to which their labour entitles them. Under the term taxation I include every contribution towards national defence, which a government requires of its subjects, for if they cannot pay in money they must by personal service, and thus the evil becomes incalculably great. It is to the capital employed by British farmers that I ascribe that matchless state of prosperity which has enabled England to bear up against the heavy burden of its national debt; against its immense circulation of paper currency; against a hostile combination of the chief powers of the continent, having at their head the greatest captain of modern times; and when I perceive a contrary system encouraged in Ireland, I cannot but deprecate principles, the aim of which is to create numbers of people * Mr. Burke, who wrote some years since, says, "a farmer who cultivates 1200 acres, cannot proceed with any degree of safety and effect, with a smaller capital than £10,000. Burke's Thoughts and Details on Scarcity, vol. iv. of his works in quarto, p. 270. rather than effective strength; and sufficiency of food rather than super-abundance of produce. With the capital engaged by English farmers, a greater quantity of wheat, barley, and other grain, is produced, than in Ireland or France by a greater number of people, and upon a greater number of acres. Thus the real wealth of the country is concentrated within sight and within the reach of its own exertions. FALLOWS. "fallowing Mr. Kirwan says, and I cannot refer to better authority, that is the principal operation by which exhausted lands are restored to fertility. Its use, he says, seems to consist in exposing the roots of vegetables to decay, by which means food for a fresh growth is prepared; the atmosphere also deposits carbonaceous substance on earth long exposed to it."* But whatever benefit may arise from this process with the implements generally used in Ireland, it is impossible that fallows can be effectually made, without a heavy harrow, without a roller ;+ and without a plough, the share of which has a wing, it is ridiculous to attempt any thing of the kind. The wing or fin of the ploughshare is, indeed, the greatest deficiency; it should always be as wide as the heel of the plough; and in making fallows, I found it essential to increase the width of it every time it was laid, as the land was "got to pieces." This is the only way to destroy weeds, and particularly thistles; but much must depend on the ploughman, who, if master of his business, will always attend the blacksmith to give directions for laying the share in a proper manner. It is to be observed also, that wrought iron shares are very superior to cast iron ones, as the latter cannot be altered. In Ireland three tilts, such as they are, go for a fallow; in the best cultivated parts of England eight are required, and the second tilt, or crossing the fallows, is generally made by taking a deep hold of the ground. In any other part of the course I never found deep ploughing answer; but in making a fallow, it is of great importance that the plough should penetrate to as great a depth as the soil will admit, Mr. Dutton's account of an Irish fallow is, I am sorry to say, too correct; and as I wish to give Irish authority for the fact, I shall transcribe it :-" According to the slovenly mode of fallowing in the county, and I may add the greater part of Ireland, it has not the intended effect of destroying weeds; but with respect to perennial weeds, that propagate by the root, a quite contrary one, as it only divides the roots and increases them, for few ever think of pick * Annals of Agriculture, vol. 23. p. 93. + Mr. Townsend says, that no common farmer in the county of Cork possesses a roller. Survey of Cork, p. 248. Survey of Clare, p. 52. |