Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/192

Rh is intended the minute garden husbandry of East Flanders; but even admitting such a change of system not only to be possible, but proximate, a further reference to our table will show that at all events in many parts of Ireland, if not in all, the proportion of the agricultural population to the area it occupies is almost as dense as it is in Belgium. If, therefore, the Belgian system is to be introduced, and our tenant-farmers are to take to growing tobacco, hops, onions, colza, and carrots, on patches of three or four acres, in the expectation of making a fortune, emigration cannot be accused of having deprived them of the opportunity.

But in Belgium it is only by dint of the most unremitting industry, and a traditional skill, which