their own sakes; for every improvement the tenant makes in either cattle or land, ultimately ends in the landlord's pocket, in either a rise of rent, or a certainty of its payment: the interest of a good landlord, and a good tenant, are inseparable; above all things, they should procure good boars, for pigs are the poor man's chief stock, and constitute a very material part of their means of paying their rent: every person must be sensible there is much room for improvement in this stock. It has been often asserted that swine, left at their liberty to roam about, thrive better than those confined in a stye: I grant that where they are kept in the usual filthy state, and neglected in the quantity or quality of their food, they certainly do, and probably whilst they are young it may be useful to give them liberty. When landlords are absentees, the procurement of good males should be given in charge to their agents, whom I suppose to be resident. The non-residence of an agent appears to me the most extraordinary mismanagement of an estate: I should nearly as soon suppose the conductor of an extensive manufactory or brewery, to live in Dublin, or at any considerable distance from the concern, as an agent; they should be called receivers of rent, and not agents. The South Down sheep are not much liked in Cunnamara, they say, the wool is too short, and their own wool longer and finer. If a selection was made of the native breed, they might probably arrive to a high degree of perfection; at present not the smallest is ever made. In contradiction to this, many say that South Down wool would be preferred, if a price adequate to the fineness could be procured for their stockings, but the women complain that they are at the mercy of the pedlars, who are their only customers, and who often enter into combinations to lower the price. Note I am informed a Mr. Mullarky in Cunnamara, is remarkable for fine wooled sheep of the native breed. In the 4th vol. of the 2d series of the Repertory, p. 461, it is asserted, that inoculation with the cow-pock has succeeded completely in preventing the scab in sheep. If this has any foundation in truth (which I confess I very much doubt), it would be a valuable discovery. Has any breeder tried it yet? MARKETS, OR FAIRS FOR THEM, And list of fairs. Ballinasloe is the chief fair for fat cattle, to which the buyers from Cork, Limerick, all parts of Leinster, and frequently from England and Scotland, repair in October: the fair usually continues for four days. The Leinster graziers here also lay in their stock of sheep for the winter and spring. This fair, though established at a very early period for the accommodation, it is imagined, of the Galway merchants, who had a considerable export of beef, long before the cities of Cork or Limerick had monopolized it, yet no patent appears for it until 1757, when Richard Trench, Esq. of Gurbally, got one for holding a fair at Dunlo on the 17th of May, and 13th of July. The great fair for fat cattle in October, it is probable, was established long before this period. I regret I have not been able to procure a list of the number of cattle and sheep sold at this fair. I wished to have ascertained the sales as far back as any record could be procured. For this purpose I wrote to Mr. Sinclair, Lord Clancarty's steward, who, from being Baron of the fair, was competent to give me the information. I was so unfortunate as not to have been thought worthy of the slightest notice. There is also at Ballinasloe a very considerable fair in May, at which many graziers from Leinster lay in their stock of lean cattle: here may be seen numbers of fine heifers, selected by graziers and jobbers, for their size and fine shape, a practice which has greatly retarded the perfection to which cattle would be brought, if the best were selected for breed; there are also a considerable number of sheep at this fair, but bearing no comparison to those in October. The fair in October, produces a good number of horses, but greatly inferior in number and quality to those produced 20 years ago. A very considerable number of store cattle and sheep are sold at Loughrea on the 26th of May. In every considerable town there is a market for a small number of fat cattle and sheep, once a week. In Galway, there have been sold on one market day in September 1808, 20 head of fat cattle and 200 fat sheep. In several places there are fairs chiefly for the sale of turkeys, to which the neighbouring gentlemen usually send to lay in their stock for winter and spring; they find this much cheaper than rearing them at home, as the cottier's wife and children take better care of them than it could be expected their own servants would; they are usually sold full grown, and frequently fit to kill, for from 1s. 8d. to 2s. 6d. each; in 1821, they could be purchased in many places for 10d. and a shilling: at the fair of Aughrim alone, on the 14th of October, there are frequently 20,000 turkeys sold; they are greatly inferior, especially in the breast and wings, to those produced in Meath, and many other parts of Ireland, and also much smaller, which probably proceeds from not getting corn at an early period of the growth. |