Page:Irish Emigration and The Tenure of Land in Ireland.djvu/68

Rh habitually and patiently endure. It will be seen in the evidence that in many districts their only food is the potato, their only beverage water; that their cabins are seldom a protection against the weather; that a bed or a blanket is a rare luxury; and that nearly in all, their pig and their manure heap constitute their only property."

"Such being the condition of a large proportion of the people of Ireland from 1834 till 1845 when the population was at its highest amount, it is perfectly clear that a mere increase of population was no proof of prosperity; and if so, it is idle to argue that a mere decrease of the population is necessarily an evidence of decline"—W.N. Neilsan Hancock, LL.D., Supposed Progressive Decline, &c.

Comparison of Profits on Large and Small Farms.

(See supra, p. 11, note.)

"This I take to be the true reason why large cultivation is generally most advantageous as a mere investment for profit. Land occupied by a large farmer is not, in one sense of the word, farmed so highly. There is not nearly so much labour expended on it. This is not on account of any economy arising from combination of labour, but because, by employing less, a greater return is obtained in proportion to the outlay."—Mill's Political Economy, p. 186.

Spade versus Plough. (See supra, p. 11, note.)

"Again, the subsoiling by spade labour may cost from 10s 8d per acre, as performed by Mr. Wilson, to £7 or £8, or even £12 per acre, as described by M.Barber, by trenching."—''Dig. Dev. Com. Summary, p''. 82.

"The cost of ordinary subsoiling with the plough may be taken at about £1 10s per acre."—''Ibid. p''. 83.

"The ordinary spade subsoiling and trenching, which consists in moving the soil with the spade to two spits deep, must always be a most costly operation." ''Ibid. p.'' 84.