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SECTION XXVII.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, LIQUID OR DRY-IN WHAT INSTANCES ARE WEIGHTS ASSIGNED FOR MEASURES, OR VICE VERSA.

stone.

THE weights of this county are of the same standard as those used all over Ireland, but much use is made of stone weights, nominally of equal weight with those of metal; but although a stone may be throwing about the ground, and even pavement, and of course must be lessened by every collision, yet after suffering this for a year or more, it is still used under the original denomi nation. Weights are assigned for measure in potatoes, as in some places the barrel is forty-two stones weight, in others sixty-four stones, and sixteen pound to the At Bunown forty stones of potatoes to the bushel. The pottle of milk in Ballinasloe is three quarts; in Eyrecourt four quarts; in Gort three quarts; in Loughrea six quarts: how ridiculous this is! how much better if the prices, as in the assize of bread, and not the measure changed. In some places five quarts of ashes (at 64d.) to the pottle; eight quarts of oatmeal to the pottle in Loughrea; five in Eyrecourt; seven in Woodfort, &c. &c.: butter also is eighteen, twenty, and twenty-four ounces to the pound. Hay and straw is usually sold by the hundred weight, though sometimes straw is sold by the bundle.-Note, a cubic yard of hay sometime in the rick generally weighs about lcwt. 1qr. 21lb. Turf kishes, and baskets for horse loads, are of any size the owner chooses; but the statute turf kish, I understand, should be four feet six inches long, two feet and ten inches deep, and two feet and four inches broad.*

• The ancient way of measuring was by the Cronnoge, which was a bas

Salt is the only thing, I believe, in which measure is assigned for weight; it is usually sold by the quart. The barrel of wheat is twenty stones; of oats, fourteen stones; of barley, sixteen stones; of rape, sixteen stones; but in general every thing is sold by the stone, for as very few have scales, they put in any quantity the sack or bag will hold: two of our barrels of wheat weigh five hundred and sixty pounds, and the English quarter five hundred and sixteen pounds; I mention this because many imagine the English quarter is equal to two of our barrels. There are great frauds practised in the measurement of lime; every person should get a box made for this purpose. It would be highly desirable that Edward the Third's statute was renewed; he enacted that one weight, one measure, and one yard should be used all through the British dominions. Richard I. (1199) established one weight and measure throughout his dominions; but this was dispensed with by the profligate King John, for money.

The following table may be useful to those agriculturists who keep accounts, which I fear is not a general practice; I therefore publish it.

L L

ket lined with a skin, supposed to hold the produce of seventeen sheaves of corn, and equal to a Bristol barrel. The ancient Summagiium, Sagmegium, or Sauma, seems to have been a car or cart load, and is contradistinguished from Onus, which was a horse load, called in this county an upload.

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Relative Weight of produce per Acre, English, Scotch, and Irish, from one Ounce per Square Yard, to one Pound, calculated in Stones,
Pounds, and Ounces; and from one Pound to one Stone, in Tons, Cwts. Stones, and Pounds-the former answering for Wheat, Bar-
ley, and Oats; the latter for Cabbage, Turnips, Potatoes, &c. &c,

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Example.-If a Square Yard of Turnips weighs 60lbs. see that Figure in the first Column of the lb. Table, and the corresponding Line
gives the Weight per Acre, English, Scotch, and Irish. Where Ounces occur in the Weight, refer to the Table of Ounces in the same man-
ner, and add the Result to the Weight.

To ascertain the Weight-as a Square Yard is too minute a Division of an Acre, take a nine feet Rod, and measure a Square of nine Feet,
which is equal to nine Square Yards; weigh the Produce, and divide by nine-this gives the Weight per Square Yard. Or measure any Num-
ber of Squares in different parts of the Field, weigh the Produce of all, divide by the Number of Squares, which will give the Average, then
by nine, which gives the Produce of a Yard

This Table will also serve as a Guide in manuring Land, and may prove useful in other Processes of Husbandry, where the Relative Scale is
applicable.

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RELATIVE VALUE OF THE Acre of LAND IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.

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This Table may also be used for ascertaining the Relative Expense of Labour, per Acre, in the three Countries.

SECTION XXVIII.

MORALS, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE.

THE morals of the people of this extensive county are at least on a par with the best of any other part of Ireland. That they are not better must be imputed to the deplorable ignorance in which they are permitted to live; they are merely the children of habit, for they owe little or nothing to instruction, and it is very remarkable that the inhabitants of every rank scarcely ever correct their children. They are very frequently admonished from the altar by their pastors,* but any advice they may receive that is at variance with their very irritable feelings, dwells but a short time on their minds; they usually act from the impulse of the moment, and from a people so shamefully neglected by the landed proprietors, we ought to be astonished it has not led to more crime than can be attached to the character of the lower order of the people of this county; and those who exclaim that they are too much under the control of the catholic clergy, generally saying they are priest ridden, &c. expose their ignorance of the subject; the fact is the reverse; the younger part, especially, pay very little attention to their admonitions; if they did, we should hear little of ribbonmen or any other disturbers of the public peace. There is, however, a most material change for the better since lord Chesterfield's administration, who

* Some years since on my way to Cunnamara I stopped at the inn at Oughterard, at the time that mass was performing in the parlour; some article of dress had been stolen from a female; a discourse was delivered from the altar by the parish priest, Rev. Mr. Martin, better calculated to produce a repentant restitution than any I ever remember to have heard. It spoke not only to the heart, but to the comprehension of the audience.

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