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THE 
 
 POTATO BLIGHT 
 
 N IRELAND. 
 
 A PLAIN STATEMENT OF FACTS COLLECTED FROM VARIOUS 
 INDEPENDENT AUTHORITIES. 
 
 PREPARED AND PUBLISHED B\ 
 THE IRISH LOYAL AND PATRIOTIC UNION, 
 
 ^■"iDUBLIN r 109, GRAFTON STREEt. 
 LONDON: 26, PALACE CHAMBERS, WESTMINSTER. 
 
 DECEMBER, 1890. 
 
 PRICE ONE PENNY. 
 
 I I [645 
 
6;)f 
 ■f^l^ 0'NtS.._._ 
 
 f ®5x BOSTON COLLEGE 
 
 ^i:^^\g-\i\il 
 
 NOTE 
 
 This pamphlet does not profess to do more than 
 give, in a collected form, the opinions of various 
 competent authorities upon the nature and extent of 
 the Potato Blight in Ireland. 
 
 The general conclusion, derived from a perusal of 
 each of these authorities, seems to be that, in many 
 parts of Ireland, the Potato crop is quite equal to the 
 average of former years, indeed, in many cases, it is 
 above it. The area of failure seems to be confined 
 to the western sea-board ; and even here, in many 
 cases, the failure is not universal. 
 
 While this pamphlet was going through the press, 
 a valuable series of articles appeared in the Daily 
 Graphic from the pen of Mr. T. W. Russell, M.P., 
 which practically bear out the conclusions arrived at 
 by the different writers and authorities quoted 
 in the following pages. 
 546] 
 
THE POmO BLIGHT li mW 
 
 From '' Blackwood's Magazine." Novemher, 1890. 
 
 A GREAT outcry was raised some four or five weeks ago about 
 the failure of the potato crop in Ireland, although, as a matter of 
 fact, nobody then knew how the potato crop would turn out, 
 inasmuch as digging had scarcely begun. There was a deep 
 art in raising this outcry so prematurely, since it was impossible 
 for anybody to say whether the potatoes had failed or not. The 
 Nationalist agitator showed his usual cunning in boldly asserting 
 that whereof he could have no certain knowledge, and a section 
 of the British public manifested its usual short-sightedness and 
 gullibility in accepting as demonstrated fact what could at best 
 be only wild conjecture. The assumption that the potato crop 
 had failed v/as made the excuse for another No-Rent manifesto. 
 Messrs. Dillon and Healy had shown their hands by advising 
 their countrymen to pay no rent, but to live upon their means 
 through the winter and spring, and then give to the landlord 
 whatever surplus might be left. (Everybody knows what the 
 surplus would be!) On August 2% Mr. Healy, at a National 
 League meeting in Dublin, strongly urged the Irish tenants to 
 pay no rent until they had provided for their own necessities; and 
 the same day he said, in an interview with a correspondent of the 
 St. James's Gazette, that ''if the choice is between paying rent 
 and living" (there is much virtue in an ''if"), "there can be no 
 doubt as to which alternative we, or any other men possessed of 
 ordinary humanity, would advise. ... In most cases there 
 will be no question of advice for us ; payment of rent will simply 
 be impossible." This interview, it is worth while noting, took 
 place in Mr. Healy's "new house in the beautiful bay of Dalkey." 
 Equally significant is the fact that Mr. Healy did not advise Irish 
 tenants to pav no fees to Nationalist lawyers until they saw what 
 
 [647 
 
4 
 
 surplus they might have after living- through the winter, and that 
 he did not pronounce the payment of such fees to be " simply 
 impossible." 
 
 DONEGAL. 
 
 I commenced my inquiries in Donegal, which, for some reason 
 or other, has been dropped by the Nationalists lately, though it 
 figures prominently in the manifesto to the American Committee. 
 My reasons for going to Donegal were that it is the locale of the 
 Olphert estate, of which we have heard much, and are likely to 
 hear more, and that a good portion of its seaboard is occupied 
 by the Rosses and the parish of Gweedore, which are among the 
 congested districts. A day or two after I got into Donegal, the 
 Romish clergy of the diocese of Raphoe passed a series of reso- 
 lutions, which affirmed that grevious distress was impending 
 owing to the failure of the potato crop, and that 40,000 persons 
 would be brought to starvation if relief were not given at once. 
 The anonymous Liberal Unionist banker, whose statement was 
 published in the Si. James's Gazette, declared that the fields were 
 "black with rotting potatoes all round the Olphert estate and the 
 worst parts of the congested Donegal districts." Mrs. Ernest 
 Hart, writing in the Times of September 13, with regard to the 
 state of things in Gweedore, affirmed that ''within the last month 
 the blight has rapidly spread and destroyed the crop on which 
 the people largely depend for food. . . . It is estimated that 
 one-fifth of the population of Gweedore will be able to hold their 
 own and need no help, but that four-fifths will suffer more or less 
 from the loss of their crops." Now I will not characterise these 
 statements as fabrications, nor will I impugn the motives of their 
 authors, but I do unhesitatingly declare t.hem to be ludicrous 
 exaggerations. I traversed the poorer parts of Donegal, and I 
 saw no sign of approaching famine. The people are well clothed 
 and well nourished. Hunger, if it existed, would most surely 
 show itself in the faces of the people, especially of the children ; 
 but I detected no indication of it, though I saw the children in the 
 schools as well as in their own homes. Moreover, I found a crop 
 of potatoes everywhere. In the worst parts of Gweedore and the 
 Rosses, I saw potatoes dug out of the earth, and in most cases 
 they were fairly numerous and of medium size. At Letterkenny 
 potatoes were selling at 3s. per cwt., or 4|d. per stone of 14 lb. 
 At Dunfanaghy the price was 4s. per cwt. Last year, however, 
 the price was just half what it is now, a fact which certainly 
 proves that the potato crop is deficient as compared with last year 
 (when the yield was unusually large) : though it also proves that 
 people who grow potatoes for the market are just as well off this 
 year as they were last, since they get the same amount of money 
 548] 
 
for half the produce. Both at Dunfanag-hy and Gweedore I ate 
 potatoes grown on the spot, and they were as gfood as I ever wish 
 to eat. I also ate potatoes grown on the Olphert estate, and 
 they were of good size and quality. To say that the fields in this 
 district are black with rotting potatoes is a gross misrepresentation, 
 which can only be the offspring of ignorance or of political design. 
 Two or three persons with whom I conversed used the phrase 
 *' rotten potatoes"; but when I asked them to explain what they 
 meant by it, it turned out that they merely meant that the potatoes 
 were not so large or so good in quality as usual. A gentleman 
 of my acquaintance in Belfast, who has a most intimate acquaint- 
 ance with Donegal, was up in the most westerly corner of the 
 county the other day, and he went into a field where they were 
 digging potatoes. "Well," said he, "how are the potatoes 
 turning out?" "Sure, your honour, they are all rotten." But 
 on examining them for himself, " the divil a rotten one [to use 
 his own phrase] could I see." The worst that can be said with 
 regard to Donegal is that in some parls the potatoes are barely 
 half a crop. This is my conclusion after careful inquiry. And 
 this, though it may of course turn out somewhat serious to a 
 small proportion of the people, affords no ground whatever for 
 the absurdly exaggerated statements which have been made with 
 a view to scaring, to cajoling, or coercing the British public. In 
 Belfast and Londonderry the partial failure of the potato crop is 
 regarded as an ordinary incident. The best informed men in 
 those towns say : " Oh, we have potato disease every year, more 
 or less ; this year there is probably a little more than usual ; but 
 it is simply a question of degree." And they are both amazed and 
 amused that so much should be made of the matter in England. 
 
 In saying what I have done as regards Donegal, I am only 
 corroborating the statements of Mr. Jackson and Mr. Courtney. 
 The former gentleman, addressing a meeting at Leeds on 
 September 24, said: — 
 
 " He had travelled from Carndonagh, in north Donegal, down to Cork 
 and Baltimore in the south, and he had also explored a large portion 
 of the sea-coast. There was no doubt that, in some parts which were 
 poorest and farthest from rapid means of communication, there were 
 districts in which the potato crop was not only small in size but very 
 deficient in quantity. There were other districts in Ireland, he believed 
 by far the largest portion, in which the potato crop was satisfactory. 
 
 He did not wish to minimise the evil, or to say one word 
 which would weaken measures which might be necessary to remedy 
 what certainly would be a loss to the people whose crops of potatoes 
 had failed. But at the same time he had confidence that the generally 
 bad condition of the crops had been very much exaggerated, especially 
 by Irish newspapers." 
 
 [549 
 
I inquired somewliat carefully as to the action taken by 
 Mr. Jackson when he was in Ireland, and particularly in Doneg-al. 
 My reason for doing- this was that Mr. M'Fadden, the notorious 
 priest of Gweedore, has gone out of his way to discredit 
 Mr. Jackson's statements through the English press. Writing in 
 the Pall Mall Gazette, the priest said : — 
 
 ** Mr. Jackson and General Sankey drove in a waggonette over a 
 beautiful public road that leads through a tract of moorland beyond the 
 inhabited portions of Gweedore, halted for luncheon at the Gweedore 
 hotel, resumed their journey, and passed out of Gweedore without 
 seeing Gweedore at all, or the state of its crop. And I am told that 
 they have said that reports regarding the blight are exaggerated I They 
 may say what they like, but it is well for the public to know that they 
 have not seen the district." 
 
 Mr. M'Fadden is apt to think that no visitor has seen the district 
 unless he has seen Mr. M'Fadden ; and if the visitor is a person 
 of consequence, he is prone to consider himself aggrieved if he is 
 not called upon and consulted. Those persons who know the 
 facts understand perfectly well why the priest of Gweedore thus 
 attempts to discredit Mr. Jackson's statements. Gweedore is the 
 name not of a town or village, but of a large and straggling 
 district many miles in extent, and Mr. Jackson might see much ot 
 it without going anywhere near Mr. M'Fadden. The Secretary 
 of the Treasury pursued his inquiries most conscientiously, took 
 samples of the potatoes from the fields as they were being dug, 
 and forwarded them to England every day. 
 
 But whatever may have been the case as regards Mr. Jackson, 
 I have seen Gweedore — the whole of it. I went to Derrybeg — 
 partly to see the place where poor Martin'was brutally murdered, 
 and partly to see Mr. M'Fadden's own house, which is the best 
 for miles round. I also went to Bunbeg, near which Mrs. Ernest 
 Hart's modest premises — frequently dignified by the title of 
 ''factory" — are situated. After seeing the whole of Gweedore, 
 and the Rosses as well, I emphatically endorse Mr. Jackson's 
 conclusions ; though I should be disposed to qualify even this by 
 saying that I think his views on the potato crop are too pessi- 
 mistic. As to Mr. M'Fadden's statements, they are wild to the 
 degree of absurdity. He says : — 
 
 "The failure of the potato in this district is complete; the poreens that 
 are in it are utterly unsafe for human food. In my opinion the failure is 
 much greater and more uniform here than it was in 1879. [Which may 
 be true ; but being true, it only proves that the condition of things in 1879 
 was not half so bad as it was represented to be.] If employment is not pro- 
 vided, the situation will become most serious. I don't know under heaven 
 what course I am to take. The Government is simply humbugging us.'* 
 550] 
 
Before the dig-g-ingf of the potatoes had well commenced, the 
 priest declared the crop to be a "complete failure." Although 
 the people all along" the road were dig^g-ing- up potatoes, and 
 preparing them for cooking-, one is asked to deny the evidence 
 of one's own senses, and to believe that there are no potatoes at 
 all. Mr. M'Fadden asserts that the Government is trying to 
 humbug himself and his friends. The truth is, that he and his 
 friends are trying to humbug the British Government and the 
 British people, and I am afraid, as usual, with only too much 
 success. 
 
 So far as the potato crop is a failure, it is largely due to the 
 slipshod style of cultivation in vogue in Ireland. If a man sets 
 potatoes in wet bog, what can be expected ? And this is just 
 what the majority of them do in all these poorer districts. The 
 Irish peasantry are in no sense farmers; they do not understand, 
 and will not make any effort to understand, agriculture; they are 
 simply labourers, thousands of whom go to England or Scotland 
 for the harvest, and potter about their little holdings for the rest 
 of the year. They do nothing thoroughly. From December to 
 March they will leave their land untouched, and during that time 
 the water will stand on it till it is sodden, while cattle and pigs 
 may run over it at their will. In March the "farmer " will begin 
 to do what he ought to have done in December; the seed is put 
 into wet and cold land ; and if the season is at all unfavourable, 
 the seed is killed before it can properly strike root. A man in the 
 Rosses district began to dig his potatoes, and they turned out 
 very poorly (they were Champions, of which I hear everywhere 
 very unfavourable accounts, — "Them Champions have ruined the 
 counthry," said one old man to me) ; another man, with land of 
 the same character and situation, has a very good crop of potatoes, 
 also Champions. What made the difference .? In one case the 
 land was drained, and was comparatively dry and warm ; in the 
 other case it was undrained, and was merely cold sodden bog. 
 The first requisite of the Irish peasant farmer is — energy ; the 
 second requisite is — energy ; the third requisite is — energy. If 
 the poorest parts of Donegal, Mayo, and Galway were in the 
 hands of people like the Montenegrins, or the Dutch, or even the 
 French, they would make them blossom like the rose, and bring 
 forth abundant harvests. 
 
 EAST MAYO AND WEST GALWAY. 
 
 What I have said with regard to Donegal will apply, often 
 even more forcibly, to other "distressed" districts, such as East 
 Mayo and West Galway. A superficial observer passing through 
 these districts would, especially if he were a sentimentalist, 
 probably conclude that many of the people were living in abject 
 
 [651 
 
8 
 
 poverty. But in no country is it so misleading" to judge by 
 appearances as in Ireland. Because people live in little cabins 
 and herd with cows and pigs, and their women and children go 
 barefoot, many strangers conclude that they are in dire distress. 
 But in Ireland these are not signs even of ordinary poverty. 
 Plenty of people who have a good round sum in the bank live in 
 exactly the same style. They do so from habit and choice, and 
 not from necessity. In Connemara I saw the house of a man 
 who has been a poor-law guardian, and who can produce from 
 £200 to £500 in solid cash any day in the year (besides a large 
 amount of cattle), but his house is as dirty and as miserable in 
 appearance, and his children as forlorn and neglected, as any 
 others that you can find, even in Ireland. Another instance, also 
 in Connemara, is this : In a certain cabin, or rather in one room 
 of the cabin, there lived and slept a man and his wife, two 
 grown-up sons, and two grown-up daughters. This might be 
 thought enough ; but in addition there was a bull, which was tied 
 to the daughters' bed, a litter of pigs which was under their bed, 
 and either one or two other quadrupeds besides. Now, why did 
 these people live like this ? It was not because they were poor, 
 for they were actually very well off. The man had even built a 
 new house, which he refused to occupy for " fear his luck would 
 leave him." The richest man in a certain congregation in the 
 west of Ireland has a mud floor in his house,, and his best room 
 would be despised by many an English working man. In Ireland 
 it is necessary to penetrate a long way beneath the surface in 
 order to reach the heart and the reality of things. Still, there 
 are some things that do lie upon the surface; and an observer 
 who has any acuteness at all need not. go far astray. For 
 example, when one sees that the very dogs (of which there are a 
 great many) are sleek and in good condition, and that the fowls 
 are fed with meal, — when one can count as many as twenty 
 turkeys besides smaller fowl, eight or ten head of cattle, six or 
 eight sheep, a dozen stacks of oats and the same number of hay, — 
 it requires no great penetration to perceive that these people are 
 very well off. Of course I do not affirm that every Irish farmer 
 is as well off as this, but I say that thousands of them are (and 
 thousands more a great deal better off), and that even the 
 poorest of them are living in rude comfort. 
 
 On the same road I met a woman of the peasant farming 
 class, whose husband holds fifteen acres under the Hon. E. Ashley, 
 whom she pronounced to be one of the best of landlords. This 
 woman had on kid gloves, a stylish cloth jacket, a French merino 
 dress, fur boa, and a fashionable hat. She was going to Sligo 
 market. I learned from her that the people thereabouts keep 
 from one to ten cows, and sell the butter, giving the buttermilk, 
 552] 
 
9 
 
 etc., to pigs and calves. Observing- a good many geese and 
 turkeys about, I asked her how much they fetched in the market, 
 and she informed me that dealers at Christmas gave 3s. each for 
 geese, and 4s. for turkeys. But when I asked her about the 
 potatoes, she replied that they were " all black." As a matter 
 of fact, they were really good, the evidence of which was open 
 to anybody who had eyes to see. 
 
 Between Sligo and Ballina there are even more numerous 
 signs that the people are well off". The houses are better, and 
 there are indications of improved taste, such as greater clean- 
 liness, flowers, &c., and orchards begin to appear. But the 
 women and children still go barefoot. Potatoes I saw in 
 plenty. They were digging and pitting them ; there were sacks 
 of them on the ridges ; and they stood in front of the cabins 
 washed ready for cooking. In and around Ballina there are no 
 signs of distress. I met there a commercial man who had been 
 in BelmuUet, and as I knew this to be one of the places where 
 the distress was supposed to be the worst, I asked him his opinion 
 on the matter. "Well," he replied, ''all I know is that 1 spent 
 only one day there, and I took £800." He thought that pretty 
 conclusive; so did I. 
 
 Mayo has an unenviable reputation as the birthplace of the 
 Land League, as well as in some other respects. A Connemara 
 man would consider himself grossly insulted if you called him a 
 Mayo man. Mr. Dillon is member for East Mayo, and in the 
 remarks hereafter quoted he chides the people of the county for 
 their slackness with regard to the Nationalist movement. Mr. 
 Courtney, M.P., visited East Mayo, and afterwards declared that 
 there was " no total failure of the potato crop except in isolated 
 districts." He did not state that he had himself seen any district 
 where there was a total failure of the crop, and I do not think 
 that he could make such a statement, though I know that he went 
 to the worst districts. I have not found any place where the crop 
 has totally failed, and I have never met a man who knew where 
 there was such a place. Certainly the crop has not totally failed 
 in Mayo, either East or West. A gentleman who knows the poor 
 districts of Ireland more intimately, probably, than any other man 
 living, says: "The people have had good prices for their small 
 stock for the past two or three years, and every one has a cow, and 
 consequently a calf, to sell (and nothing is so profitable as a calf), 
 in addition to the milk used. For those who have gone to England 
 for Avages this year — as is customary — good wages have been 
 obtained; £10, £12, or more' will be brought home by some 
 thousands of men in both Mayo and Galway." This is the testi- 
 mony of a man who knows Mr. Dillon's constituency far better 
 than Mr. Dillon will ever do if he represents it for fifty years. 
 
 [553 
 
10 
 KERRY. 
 
 Kerry is another of the poorer counties, and the position there 
 is thus described by a resident of intelligence and position : *'You 
 wish to know if our potatoes are good. They are not ; they are 
 small and very sappy. At Lisdoonvarna the potatoes were 
 beastly wet, black and small. At Kilkee they were delicious 
 in flavour and very dry; balls of flour, but small. At Glin they 
 say that their potatoes have never been better. So you see that 
 they vary; but to talk of a potato famine is all bosh. The 
 country people are no more dependent on potatoes for food than 
 you are. They use bread nowadays ; and what between 
 American flour and bacon, and the high wages that are going, 
 
 they are not badly off. It is a very fair season ; 
 
 crops are very flourishing ; there has been a good deal of rain, 
 but there has also been any amount of strong wind, and that 
 has dried up the country. 
 
 CONNEMARA. 
 
 Connemara is the pet country of the Parnellite and Gladstonian 
 agitator. The British public have been literally deluged by a 
 flood of misrepresentations (not to use a stronger epithet) with 
 regard to this district ; or, as Mr. Mitchell Henry mildly puts it 
 — "There is an enormous amount of stuff talked about the 
 Western peasants." But in Connemara I found virtually the 
 same state of affairs as in the other districts to which I have 
 referred. There are potatoes in plenty. Most of the people 
 have geese, ducks, fowls, &c, ; and the geese, at all events, they 
 do not sell, but eat themselves. The man, who possesses but one 
 cow is a rare exception ; most of them have six or eight cattle, 
 besides sheep, &c. In a village not far from where I write, every 
 man (with two or three exceptions) has his horse (besides cattle), 
 and rides to mass. 
 
 Mr. Mitchell Henry, who lives in Connemara, says: "There is 
 a great failure of potatoes all through the West, but not to the 
 extent stated by interested politicians. Potatoes planted in 
 February are good, but those planted, as usual, far too late, have 
 never grown properly through the wet spring." Another 
 evidence of the fact that it is the wretched style of cultivation 
 (farming it cannot be called) which is chiefly in fault. Until a 
 rational system of dealing with the land is adopted in Ireland, a 
 wet season will always produce disaster. Yet the landlords and 
 the British Government are to be held responsible for consequences 
 which spring directly from the tenants' own delinquencies ! 
 
 My conclusion as to the partial failure of the potato crop, and 
 as to the probable consequences of that failure, is clear and 
 554] 
 
11 
 
 definite. This famine cry is another phase of the conspiracy to 
 impoverish and ruin the Irish landlords — "the Eng-lish garrison," 
 or the friends of EnGfland. 
 
 [From the ''Scotsman's'"' Special Agricultural Commissioner.] 
 
 Now that the survey of the potato crop in the congested 
 districts of Ireland has been completed, it may be of interest to 
 draw together the threads which were picked up. First, as to 
 the extent of the deficiency in the crop. In every district this 
 varies considerably, In the most severely afflicted parts, such as 
 the seaboard of West Cork, the wet, ill-cared for soil of Galway, 
 and the still wetter, and equally worn-out lands of Donegal, the 
 crop, I think, could not, as a rule, be safely stated at more than 
 from 30 to 40 per cent", of an average yield of sound, eatable 
 potatoes. In certain cases, probably on one holding in eight or 
 ten, the deficiency is still greater. In just as many instances the 
 produce of eatable tubers would be as high as from 50 to 80 per 
 cent, cf an average crop. The cases of entire failure are few 
 and far between. 
 
 What quantity of food, then, will these small farmers have 
 lost in the deficiency of the potato crop.? In a moderately good 
 year their gross produce of potatoes would average about 3 to 4 
 tons. This year in the worst parts they, as a rule, are not likely 
 to have more than from i ton to 2 tons of potatoes that are 
 suitable for consumption by the 'family. Many, no doubt, will 
 have more; a few will have even less. It has to be noted that 
 in an average year most of the small farmers grow considerably 
 more potatoes than they require for food for their families. Pigs 
 and poultry are largely fed upon them, and often the cows have 
 a small share, while small quantities are sold, or exchanged for 
 groceries and Indian meal or flour. It is notorious, indeed, that 
 in years of plenty potatoes are used on the small farms of 
 Ireland in the most lavish and improvident manner. It is but 
 right that in considering the actual extent of suff"ering or loss 
 which the contraction of the food supply from the potato crop 
 may inflict upon the small farmers, these facts should be taken 
 into account. It may be assumed that in a year of scarcity a ton 
 of potatoes may be made to ''go much further" than in a year 
 of plenty — this, too, without the family suffering any more serious 
 
 [555 
 
12 
 
 discomfort or inconvenience than is involved in the practice of 
 wholesome economy. Although it may be the case that the 
 great majority of the small farmers in certain congested districts 
 of Ireland will raise from ij to 2| tons less sound potatoes this 
 year than in an average year, it does not follow that they have 
 lost that much of essential food for themselves and their families. 
 They have assuredly been overtaken by a very serious misfortune. 
 The sum of their loss, or rather, their actual suffering, however, 
 will not, or at any rate need not, be so great as would be repre- 
 sented by the proportionate shortcoming in the potato crop. If 
 they would promptly close up the ordinary channels of waste, 
 and use the supply they have got with the strictest economy and 
 care — in particular, if they would take a little more than ordinary 
 trouble in cooking the potatoes and presenting them on the table 
 in palatable forms — they would not be so badly off as the per- 
 centage of deficiency would indicate. They might make the ton 
 and a half go as far in feeding their families as a couple of tons 
 or more would carry them in years of plenty. A ton and a half 
 of potatoes will supply a family with lo lb. daily for 336 days. 
 
 A word here as to the cause of the deficiency in the potato 
 crop on these small Irish farms. The dull, wet, sunless weather 
 which prevailed during the greater part of the summer was un- 
 doubtedly the chief and the primary cause. It brought in its 
 train a visitation of the potato fungus, Peronospora infestans, 
 varying in severity and not quite universal. The wretched systems 
 of culture pursued on most of these small holdings intensified the 
 untoward influence of both the weather and the disease. The 
 three combined have brought about the grave calamity which 
 has overtaken so many of the small farmers of Ireland. The 
 proportion of the mischief arising from each cannot be precisely 
 defined. I am decidedly of opinion, however, that the mysterious 
 and much-abused fungus has had less to do with the calamity 
 than either the bad weather or the bad systems of culture. The 
 last-named must get the lion's share of the blame. No doubt 
 had the weather been favourable the potato land on these small 
 holdings, wretchedly ill-treated as it is, would have given a ton 
 or two more produce per acre. It is equally true, I think, that 
 if the potato crop had been grown on these holdings in anything 
 like proper or advantageous conditions the bad weather and the 
 fungus could not have done a tithe of the mischief they have 
 brought about. We have seen that when the potatoes were 
 planted early in the season on well-drained, well-tilled land, 
 sufficiently manured, and kept moderately free from weeds, the 
 crop has as a rule been fairly good — about two- thirds to three- 
 fourths of an average crop, with only a small percentage of 
 diseased tubers. In particular, on dry soils in airy situations 
 656] 
 
13 
 
 very little. damag-e has been done by the disease. On the other 
 hand, where the crop has been grown in less advantageous 
 conditions — on wet, poor land, worn out and "potato sick " by 
 too frequent cropping with potatoes, choke-full of the grossest 
 weeds, and manured very sparely — the produce, as a rule, is 
 sadly deficient. Even here the loss is not due so much to the 
 actual destruction of the crop by the fungus as to the deficiency 
 in the development of the tubers. That this deficiency in growth 
 arises mainly from the unfavourable conditions under which the 
 crop is grown on the majority of these holdings, cannot for a 
 moment be doubted. 
 
 These points I have noted particularly, and I emphasise them 
 here for the reason that in a contemplation of the recurrence of 
 the potato plague in Ireland they seem to me to possess very 
 grave importance. The seat of the mischief is the bad system 
 of culture. So long as this continues, a potato plague may be 
 •expected to follow every wet season. If the disease accompany 
 or succeed the inclement weather, which it would be very likely 
 to do, the disaster would be all the greater. But even with little 
 or no disease, a wet season such as the past would be sufficient 
 to seriously curtail the crop of potatoes grown in such conditions 
 as those under which it is raised on the vast majority of the small 
 farms of Ireland. What inference is to be drawn from this? 
 That by hook or crook these conditions of potato culture should 
 be radically altered. This must take place if Ireland is to be 
 saved from periodical distress. 
 
 There is much talk as to the propriety of the Government 
 giving the small farmers new seed to be paid for at certain 
 intervals. This would be a temporary relief to those who will 
 have to eat what would otherwise have been used as seed. But 
 there is no permanence in this remedy. To distribute costly seed 
 to be planted in the miserably ill-conditioned, ill-cared-for, 
 '' potato-sick " land which is waiting for it would seem to be 
 doubtful policy. It may tide over the difficulty for a year or two. 
 It will not remove it. The only remedy of any reasonable 
 degree of permanency and trustworthiness would be the intro- 
 duction amongst these small farmers of a better system of culture 
 — of such a system as would give the potato something like a fair 
 chance of holding its own against the influences which oppose its 
 healthy development. How this improved system could be 
 introduced on many of these small holdings is a matter of extreme 
 difficulty. There are various means, however, by which improve- 
 ment might be effected, and the subject is one which demands 
 most serious and careful consideration. But it lies outside the 
 subject-proper of this enquiry, and I cannot conveniently further 
 discuss it here. 
 
 [557 
 
14 
 
 "What are the prospects as to famine ? This is the question ot 
 most immediate importance. I shall not presume to speak upon 
 it with absolute decision. It is a delicate question, surrounded 
 with difficulty and with not a little uncertainty. My object has 
 been rather to elicit facts than to draw inferences. Yet it will, 
 perhaps, be expected that I should indicate the impressions 
 which I formed from -^vhat I saw and learned. Actual distress 
 cannot be general. It was, indeed, only in exceptional cases 
 that I discovered any symptoms of approaching- want. The 
 small farmer who has at least one cow, a fair stock of poultry, 
 a pig or two, a ton or more of potatoes, a small patch of turnips, 
 and three or four small stacks of oats and straw (perhaps thirty 
 to fifty bushels of oats), and an ample supply of turf for fuel, can 
 hardly be regarded as on the brink of starvation. The great 
 majority of the small farmers have more than one cow, and most 
 likely also several sheep. Then, one or more members of the 
 family may have earned a few pounds by labour in England or 
 Scotland, or in other parts of Ireland. And in Donegal, at any rate, 
 several shillings may be obtained weekly by knitting, spinning, 
 weaving, sprigging, or shirtmaking. In those famihes to which 
 these remarks would apply, there can be no danger of real 
 famine or of anything approaching it. In those families which 
 are not possessed of a cow, have lost the greater portion of their 
 potato crop, and have little support from able-bodied men, 
 there will undoubtedly be varying degrees of want. Towards 
 spring many of these may require assistance to stave off starva- 
 tion. There has been much discussion as to how this relief should 
 be given. There is a concensus of opinion amongst intelligent 
 men of all classes, and in all parts of the country against the 
 giving of absolute charity in a wholesale fashion as in 1886, or, 
 indeed, in any fashion excepting through the ordinary channels 
 employed for the relief of the poor. I have heard warm sym- 
 pathisers with the people assert that they would almost as soon 
 see famine stalking the land as have the people again exposed to 
 such degrading, pauperising, dishonest practices as occurred in 
 connection with the relief given in 1886 and 1879. 
 
 In all the congested districts there will be during the winter a 
 vast amount of unemployed labour — men who are well able to earn 
 all the assistance their families are likely to require. The cry is 
 for work for this unemployed force. By the extensive schemes of 
 railway extension which the Government have sanctioned, and have 
 under consideration, this will be provided to a very large extent. 
 By other works, such as road-making and land improvement, 
 additional employment may be gfiven. There is therefore little 
 likelihood of serious privation overtaking any very large section 
 of the Irish peasantry through the deficiency in the potato crop. 
 568] 
 
15 
 
 Nothing* is further from my desire than to misrepresent or 
 minimise the calamity which has befallen the small farmers of 
 Ireland. It seems right, however, to point out that this calamity 
 consists solely of the deficiency in the potato crop. In reg-ard to 
 all other sources of food supply and income they are as well off 
 as in average years. The great majority of them have lost about 
 a ton and a half to two and a half tons of potatoes. A few have 
 lost rather more; a good many considerably less. 
 
 The rent of these small holdings seems, as a rule, to be very 
 moderate. In a vast number of cases it is so small as that it 
 could hardly affect them greatly either way whether they paid it 
 or not. On one property which I visited in Donegal there are 
 over 800 holdings of about 10 to 13 acres, with 3 to 5 or more 
 acres arable, and the right of pasturage on the adjoining- 
 mountains. The rent of these averag^es just over 17s. per annum. 
 I was assured on excellent authority, that on this same property 
 as over this part of the country generally, the amount annually 
 spent on tobacco for smoking- would average from 40s. to 60s. 
 per holding. More than three rents blown away in smoke.- — 
 Scotsman, November ist, 1890. 
 
 Mr. JAMES H. TUKE. 
 
 As the public mind of England seems much perplexed by the 
 conflicting reports which are rife concerning the extent of the 
 potato blight, and of the area affected by the potato disease in 
 Ireland, as well as to the necessity for measures of relief, will 
 you allow me to state the result of careful enquiries made during 
 a recent visit to portions of the congested districts of the west.? 
 
 The circumstance of my having been one of the workers for 
 the relief of the dreadful famine of 1846-7, and that I have since 
 that time made the economic condition of the peasantry of the 
 West of Ireland the subject of constant attention, gives me some 
 advantage in forming an opinion of the actual condition of these 
 districts at the present time, which is hardly possible to an occa- 
 sional visitor, however careful his observations may be. 
 
 That the people are not by any means so dependent on the 
 potato for their daily food as formely, and each year consume 
 larger quantities of wheaten flour and Indian meal. 
 
 It is important also to bear in mind that the potato crop 
 throughout Ireland, except in the wet boggy lands of the districts 
 
 [559 
 
16 
 
 under consideration, is stated to be good, and is selling- at very 
 moderate prices. Even at Clifden (one of the poorest unions) I 
 was told that the price in the market a fortnight ago was 3jd. 
 per stone. 
 
 In thus seeking to place before your readers the reasons which 
 have led me to the opinion that there is no need for "panic" 
 or " the cry of famine," I have no wish to minimize the absolute 
 need which exists for close watchfulness and care on the part 
 of the Government in the limited area to which I have alluded. 
 There are one or two districts in Western Donegal, and several 
 in Mayo, Galway, and some adjoining counties, chiefly (but 
 not wholly) bordering on the sea coast, in which the quality 
 of the soil is so unfavourable to the growth of the potato that 
 a cold wet season is almost certain to cause a failure in the crop, 
 and consequent distress as soon as the other slender resources 
 of the people are g-one. 
 
 This is the third time in the last ten years that a partial failure 
 of the potato crop has placed the inhabitants of portions of the 
 congested districts of Ireland in more or less danger of scarcity 
 of food, and it is perfectly evident that the material condition of 
 these districts is such as to render the recurrence of similar 
 periods a certainty whenever the climatic influences are unfavour- 
 able to the growth of the potato. 
 
 The evil is one which no merely political measures can 
 remedy, and must equally recur whether Ireland is subject to 
 British or Irish rule. It is not possible after the experience of 
 the past, for men of all shades of political opinion, and irres- 
 pective of party, to unite and inaugurate such economic measures 
 as will surely, though it may be slowly, remove this constantly 
 recurring cause of dispute and suffering ?. — Letter to the TimeSy 
 15 th October, 1890. 
 
 [From the *' Irish Farmer's Gazette.''] 
 
 We publish to-day what we think we can well claim to be the 
 most exhaustive and authoritative account of the condition of the 
 Irish potato crop that has been prepared this season. Recog- 
 nising the importance of obtaining reliable information regarding 
 the actual condition of the crop at a time when so many con- 
 flicting reports are current as to the damage done by the blight, 
 we undertook the collection of returns from all parts of the 
 country, and through the kindness of our numerous corres- 
 660] 
 
17 
 
 pondents we are thus enabled to place before our readers the 
 very complete, and we are inclined to think reliable, series ot 
 reports which follow. Further than to thus introduce them and 
 prominently acknowledge our indebtedness to the correspondents 
 who have so kindly and so promptly favoured us with their 
 opinions, we need say no more regarding- the reports in this 
 place. They speak for themselves as to the state of the crop in 
 the various localities specified : — 
 
 Antrim. — Antrim. — About two-thirds of average yield on 
 low farms. Little disease except in moory, undrained bottoms. 
 On mountain farms the yield is small, the cold summer having 
 checked the growth of the tubers. 
 
 Antrim. — Antrim. — In this part of Antrim union early 
 potatoes were an average crop, but many diseased ones — I 
 should say about one-half. Later sorts are a good average, and 
 not badly diseased. In mountain districts I believe the crop is 
 almost a failure. 
 
 Antrim. — Ballymoney. — County Antrim could give a better 
 report ten days later, as about here they are only beginning to 
 raise the potatoes. Magnum Bonums average crop, and little 
 disease. Champions, and Irish Whites, of good quality, and not 
 much diseased; but the bulk will be quite one-third less than 
 the average. Scotch Whites not half a crop, and badly 
 diseased. 
 
 Armagh. — Killyrea. — The potato crop in this neighbour- 
 hood is very good on light, dry land — far heavier than last year; 
 but on wet, heavy land not so good, with more black potatoes ; 
 but still a fair crop of good potatoes left. Owing to the low price 
 of imported potatoes at planting time, a great many of the 
 farmers changed their seed. 
 
 Armagrh. — Armagh. — Not commenced to dig out potatoes 
 yet; but from what I have seen, will average about half a crop. 
 As a rule, the tubers are small and not very good to eat. On 
 heavy clay and moorland they are badly diseased. I have seen 
 reclaimed bog and mountain where the crop would not seed the 
 ground ; other places fairly large and plentiful, but fully 75 per 
 cent, of them completely rotten. On light, sharp, dry land crop 
 good, but tubers small and not much diseased. 
 
 Carlow. — Bagnalstown. — Potatoes have turned out a fair 
 crop here. Very few diseased, except in the mountain districts. 
 
 Carlow. — Carlow. — Yield under average ; quality average. 
 
 Carlow. — Hacketstown. — Owing to lateness of this district, 
 very little potatoes dug out yet. The crop varies very much ; 
 
 J I [561 
 
18 
 
 some have about ten barrels (24 st.) to the acre, and others up to 
 40 barrels to the acre. Early sown potatoes about one-fourth 
 black; late sown potatoes about one-half black. 
 
 Carlow. — Rathvilly. — Potato dig-ging- is now about half 
 way through in this locality, and they certainly will not turn out 
 more than half a crop of sound eating- potatoes, and these of a 
 small size. The tubers that were affected with disease all rotted 
 away, leaving only the medium sized and small ones. 
 
 Cavan. — Cavan. — In some places in this district the crop is 
 quite up to the average ; my own, in good land, is a good crop. 
 The general crop is, however, much under the average. 
 
 Cavan. — Bailieboro*. — Potatoes very bad both in yield and 
 quality ; have not been as bad for years. 
 
 Cavan. — Killeshandra. — As yet there is scarce half the 
 potato crop raised in this locality. The yield is about a fourth 
 under average, and the quality of any planted after the middle 
 of April is inferior — more so in ground where two or more crops 
 have been grown. 
 
 Clare. — Ennistymon. — In this district the yield is about one- 
 fourth under average, and the quality in wet, undrain'ed lands is 
 exceedingly bad, but there is no probability of anything 
 approaching a famine. 
 
 Clare. — Tulla. — The potato crop is very variable. My own 
 are fair; no large tubers ; but those that remain are very sound 
 — about a three-quarter crop. Some of my neighbours say the 
 crop is good enough ; others say they have none. No fear of a 
 famine here. 
 
 Cork. — Bantry. — The crop very deficient in some parts of 
 this union, and the yield will only be about one-fourth of 
 an average. In other parts the crop is quite gone, and farmers 
 are about to ploug-h the fields. 
 
 Cork, — Carrigaline. — In the good lands about here where 
 the potato has been properly cultivated in drills the crop is an 
 average one, but on inferior land, of which there is a great 
 quantity, the crop is a failure. The district is very thinly 
 populated ; the people require a change of seed. I am advising 
 a change from Hmestone land to brownstone, and vice versa. 
 Where phosphate has been used along with farm-yard manure 
 the crop is much better than elsewhere. 
 
 Cork. — Cork. — Crop much under average; in some cases 
 quality good. 
 662] 
 
19 
 
 Cork. — Rathcormack. — Yield very variable — with cultivation 
 g-ood and circumstances favourable, a good crop, with the 
 reverse a bad one ; general result something- over a half crop. 
 Little disease of tubers; on dry soils quality g^ood. 
 
 Donegal. — Bundoran. — Potatoes are bad here; very much 
 under average in both yield and quality. 
 
 Donegral. — Dunfanaghy. — Not enough potatoes dug here as 
 yet to see result. 
 
 Donegal . — Milford. — The yield and quality of the potato 
 crop in this district is very bad. As dig'ging is progressing 
 there are worse accounts every day. 
 
 Down. — Downpatrick. — The potatoes in this district are a 
 much better crop than was expected some weeks ago. Quality 
 good, and in some places the crop is over average. Champions 
 have suffered in wet or heavy lands by disease. 
 
 Down. — Kilkeel. — Potatoes are turning out well in this 
 district. Farmers are busy digging, and all report a good crop ; 
 very little blight shewing itself, and big prices are looked 
 forward to. 
 
 Down, — Newtownards. — Champions — Earlyplanted potatoes 
 on fairly dry soils, a good average crop, and quahty excellent ; 
 fewer diseased tubers than during the past two seasons. Of 
 Magnums there is an average crop of splendid quality ; no 
 disease. Skerries — Small crop ; quality good. On wet soils all 
 varieties are poor quality. 
 
 Down. — Banbridge — Yield one-third less than usual. 
 Quality exceedingly good and dry. One-third the crop is 
 diseased, the early potatoes being much the worst. Champions 
 are not quite so bad. I am told they are not so diseased around 
 here as in surrounding districts where the land is low and damp. 
 
 Dublin. — Blanchardstown. — The potato crop in this district 
 is now lifted, and is considerably under average; with me it is 
 about average, and quality good, and, in fact, a satisfactory crop. 
 
 Dublin. — Finglas. — The potato crop has not yet been lifted 
 in North Dublin union ; but, from what I hear, they are a very 
 uneven crop. Later on I may be able to give a better report. 
 
 Dublin. — Glasnevin. — Potatoes have turned out much better 
 than was expected a few weeks ago. The fine, dry weather we 
 have had seems to have arrested the progress of the disease. 
 About a fourth of the crop diseased. 
 
 [563 
 
20 
 
 Fermanag"h. — Enniskillen, — In good land the crop is an 
 average yield, while the quality is fair. In poor, mountain land 
 there is a very bad yield, and the quality is also bad. This also 
 refers to wet clay land. 
 
 Fermanagh. — Enniskillen. — Potatoes, as a rule, of bad 
 quality, and about two-thirds of a crop only. Disease, however, 
 is very local; some places have none and first-rate potatoes. 
 Early set potatoes are quite as bad as late set ones. 
 
 Gal way. — Clonbern. — Both yield and quality are very bad 
 in this neighbourhood; about one-third of a crop in Glenamaddy 
 union, and nothing in part of the Tuam unions. 
 
 Galway. — Galway. — It is only now that the potato crop is 
 being dug ; the weather is most favourable, being the best we 
 have had for months. The reports are very conflicting — in some 
 places the crop is almost a failure, in others very middling, and 
 in others good. Judging from all the reports and from what I 
 see coming to market, I would say that it would be a good guess 
 to say that in this district we shall have two-thirds of a crop. 
 All complain of the smallness of the tubers, which, of course, 
 injures the produce. 
 
 Galway. — Gort. — The yield and condition very disappointing. 
 It is feared the major portion of sound tubers, even such as they 
 are, will not keep, except where grown on warm, light soils. In 
 many fields labour of digging out exceeds the value of crop. 
 
 Galway. — Tuam. — The accounts about the state of the 
 potato crop are so conflicting that it is very difficult to form a 
 decided opinion about the quantity, compared with other years. 
 There is only a small portion of the crop dug at present, and the 
 most general account is that there is only a half crop, and the 
 quality much inferior to other years; but, as a great many 
 persons (myself included) have a fair crop, I estimate the crop 
 as forty per cent, under average. 
 
 Galway West. — I regret to say the potato crop on the west 
 coast is very bad this season, except in a few instances. I have 
 no doubt in almost all cases, if properly treated, the crop would 
 not be the failure that it is. Where sown in fresh land and 
 properly manured, care being taken to remove all weeds, and 
 not planting the sets too thickly, the crop is even this year good. 
 In planting potatoes care should be taken not to have slits or sets 
 looser than from 12 to 15 inches. I know some places where 
 they are put only 9 or 10 inches apart. Where this is so the 
 stalks grow up thin and weak, and are not able to resist the 
 blight, particularly a wet year, because then they grow up weak, 
 and have not sufficient air to form potatoes in time. In old worn 
 564] 
 
21 
 
 out land the crop is very bad. My experience is that, if 
 properly treated, there is no crop holds better, and it gives much 
 less trouble than turnips. I have myself about three Irish acres. 
 I don't think I ever had a better crop. You have my name and 
 address if any one doubts what I say. I will let you see the crop, 
 or any one on your behalf. 
 
 Galway. — Portumna. — The potato crop in the Portumna 
 districts and union is very bad, the tubers being- small and wet 
 and the yield very poor, with a large portion black, at least 
 three-fourths, while in neighbouring districts, viz., Abbey, about 
 nine miles off, I am told the crop there was never better. In 
 my own neighbourhood, Earlston, the bog potatoes are wonder- 
 fully good and free from blight. 
 
 Galway. — Woodford. — Since the end of August the potato 
 crop has gone from bad to worse. In most cases only about 
 one-fourth remains sound. It is generally admitted that the 
 crop has not been so poor since 1847. 
 
 Kerry. — Castleisland. — The best potatoes in this district are 
 not more than half a crop, and barely so good. They are very 
 soft and soapy, owing to their being so unripe, as they were 
 struck very early by the blight. In most cases they are not 
 worth digging, being so small and so much diseased. 
 
 Kerry. — Tralee. — Potato digging unusually late this season 
 in this district. The crop is not turning up more than half in 
 quantity and of only medium quality. In cases of early planting 
 last spring the crop is, however, digging a very fair average in 
 quantity and quality, but, taking the crop all round, it is not more 
 than half. 
 
 Kerry. — Killarney. — In this district the yield of the potato 
 crop is not anywhere more than half the average yield, and the 
 tubers are of a very inferior quality. 
 
 Kerry* — Listowel. — I have carefully examined the potatoes 
 in this district (Listowel union), principally all round Listowel 
 and on to Ballybunnion. The crop is most variable; in some 
 places good, in others only half a crop ; places very bad. I 
 inspected a con-acre field let by me, and the crop all round 
 (ten acres) was good ; some very good. Everywhere weeds 
 have grown to an extent I never saw before, and it will cost a 
 good deal to clear them out of the land. 
 
 Kerry. — Listowel. — Potatoes vary very much. In some places 
 a very poor crop, and small ; in others a fairly good crop, but so 
 wet and bad tasted not fit to eat ; in others a very fair crop, and 
 
 [565 
 
22- 
 
 very good to eat. On the whole, not more than half last year's 
 crop. Any potatoes fit for eating- by the poorer people will be 
 used up by the first of the coming' year. 
 
 Kildare. — Athy. — The potato crop in this district is the worst 
 since 1847. ^^ most places it is a complete failure, even on good 
 dry soil. They are wretched ; in fact, hardly worth the trouble 
 of taking- out of the ground. In cold, wet soil they are absolutely 
 worthless. 
 
 Kildare. — Naas. — Where dug, the potato crop has turned 
 out an average yield, with about one-fourth diseased. Where 
 sown late, with worn out seed, there are more unfavourable 
 results. 
 
 Kildare. — Maynooth. — I have had a good opportunity while 
 partridge shooting in the district about Maynooth and Kilcock 
 of judg-ing as to the state of the potato crop. I had no idea it 
 could be so bad; fully three-fourths gone, and in every case the 
 men digging them said they were wet and badly flavoured; 
 some said they could hardly be eaten, they tasted so bad, and 
 had the colour and appearance of yellow soap. 
 
 Kilkenny. — Thomastown. — Hardly any potatoes dug as yet. 
 Those that are are fairly good, though the tubers are rather 
 small. 
 
 Kilkenny. — Callan. — In this neighbourhood the yield of 
 potatoes is heavier than last year, and the quality good. There 
 is but a small percentage of the tubers diseased. 
 
 Kilkenny. — Kilkenny. — Produce smaller in size and a larger 
 proportion of diseased than for some years past, but the crop by 
 no means a failure. 
 
 Kilkenny. — Castlecomer. — Potatoes where planted early are 
 fairly free from disease, but quantity and quality inferior to last 
 year. Late sown potatoes indiff"erent ; quality and quantity 
 deficient and a good number black ; tubers generally deficient 
 in size. 
 
 King^'s. — Parsonstown. — Yield under average. Potatoes 
 small. Some disease, but by no means a total failure of crop; 
 in most places there is an abundance to provide for winter 
 requirements. 
 
 King's. — Tullamore. — The potato crop fairly good; not many 
 black, but size rather small. As a general rule, crops will be 
 about one-fourth less than last years. Growth was stopped by 
 the blight before the crop matured. 
 
 King's. — Tullamore. — The only information I can give re- 
 garding the potato crop about here is that thev are good for 
 566] 
 
23 
 
 eating, some of them black, and the general opinion is that they 
 will be a good half crop. Very little dug up to this time. A 
 good deal depends on the weather during the month. 
 
 Leitrim. — Carrig-allen. — From all that I have seen I should 
 say that the yield of sound potatoes is less than half the average 
 of most years in this district. They are very small in size. 
 
 Leitrim. — Mohill. — As a rule, the potato crop is not good. 
 In some places it is, especially where farmers have changed their 
 seed every few years and planted them in drills, but even on 
 those farms it is not as good as last year. The failure is greatly 
 exaggerated. Farmers cannot expect to have good potatoes 
 while they continue bad farming, never changing- their seed till a 
 total failure comes, and planting them always in ridges or lazy 
 beds, without draining their land by thorough drainage, and not 
 manuring or weeding them. 
 
 Leitrim, — Mohill. — Potatoes in this district have turned out 
 even worse than was at first anticipated. The only place where 
 they are at all sound is in an occasional piece of fresh ground ; 
 in old ground they are not worth the cost of digging. 
 
 LimerickM — Croom. — I must modify my former report as to 
 the potato crop. Instead of 33 per cent, under average, 50 per 
 cent, will take place. 
 
 Limerick* — Croom. — The potato crop is very variable. 
 Where grown from imported seed on light land they are good, 
 both for eating and as a crop. On rich, heavy, or wet land they 
 are bad. For this locality, I consider they are about 2^ per cent. 
 under average of past few years. Not as many black as I 
 thought there should be after such a wet summer. 
 
 Limerick. — Kilmallock. — Yield generally bad. Potatoes 
 small, being only partially matured when affected by the blight. 
 The quantity very deficient, with few exceptions. Ridges not 
 heavily earthed seem to have done best. 
 
 Limerick. — Stradbally. — Accounts vary. Not many dug 
 yet; about half to three-quarters of a crop on the average; pits 
 covered with diseased haulm in all cases. Imported Champions 
 worst of all. My own Regents, Orkneys, Magnums good crops 
 and good at table. 
 
 Londonderry. — Coleraine. — The potato crop in this dis- 
 trict is a good one. The yield has been so good that the 
 " touched " potatoes interfere in no way with its success. Quality 
 g"enerally superior. 
 
 [567 
 
, 24 
 
 Londonderry. — Limavady. — As far as I can see, the 
 yield of potatoes is good, and the diseased tubers not much more 
 than average. 
 
 Long"ford. — Longford. — The potato crop in this union is 
 a very poor one; not more than half sound, and these of a very 
 poor quality, small and soft. With myself, however, they are 
 very good — better than last season ; the secret of which is high 
 moulding in drills 28 inches apart. 
 
 Longfford. — Granard. — Potatoes only about half a crop and 
 very inferior in quality. 
 
 Louth. — Ardee. — There is no blight in this part of Louth. I 
 have just finished digging an acre, and there are only about 
 I cwt. damaged potatoes in all. Yield medium ; quality good. 
 
 Louth. — Dundalk. — The potato crop in this district is a very 
 fair average. No complaints as to yield or quality. 
 
 Lou t h .— Dundalk. — Potato crop is slightly under the average, 
 but no disease. Quality good. 
 
 Louth. — Dundalk. — The potatoes in this neighbourhood are 
 a very fine crop, the tubers being large and mealy. Where the 
 newly imported seed has not been planted, however, over one- 
 fourth of the crop is bad. Not so much damaged where the new 
 seed has been sown. 
 
 Mayo. — Ballinrobe. — Only commenced digging out the 
 potato crop this week. The yield I should estimate at a third 
 less than a full crop. The tubers are, generally speaking, small, 
 and the quality in some parts inferior, and in others very good, 
 but in none have I heard of or seen much of the disease. Taking 
 it altogether, the crop is a much better one than was expected. 
 
 Mayo. — Ballyglass. — On dry, fresh land the crop is pretty 
 fair, but on low, wet land it is very bad; also on old, tilled out 
 land. 
 
 Mayo. — Bohola. — This being the worst populated district in 
 Ireland (Swinford Union), people are wholly dependent on 
 English earnings and the potato crop, the latter of which is a 
 complete failure. The yield is small and unfit for use. Many 
 fields will remain undug, not being worth the labour of getting. 
 
 Mayo. — Castlebar. — The yield in this district is average, and 
 the quality fair, except in a very few instances. The average 
 crop is, of course, below last year and the year before, but fully 
 up to previous averages. 
 
 Mayo. — Westport. — The crop is now partially dug, and the 
 yield, taking the whole of the union into account, will not be one- 
 668] 
 
25 
 
 sixth an averag"e crop. The quality in a few townlands is good, 
 though the tubers are nowhere large. The great bulk of the 
 crop in this union is unfit for human food. 
 
 Meath.— Dunsany. — Potatoes only partially dug. The yield 
 and quality will be good; about one-third diseased. 
 
 Meath. — Dunshaughlin. — The yield in this district would 
 average about five tons sound, with a few good for eating of a 
 moderate size. This where imported seed was used, and grown 
 in fresh land after lea oats ; in very rich land quite worthless, 
 and nearly all damaged. This applies particularly to where a 
 second crop is grown, as on labourers' plots. 
 
 Meath. — Kells. — Potatoes, where grown on land properly 
 prepared are about half of last year's yield. Where grown on lea 
 land, in lazy-beds, one-third of a crop of last year; but where 
 planted on the lea in beds, as is much practised, without turning 
 the sod, almost a failure. Imported seed not much better than 
 good home grown. All, however, very good for use. 
 
 Meath. — Trim. — The potato crop in this district is variable. 
 On some farms it is up to an average yield ; on most it is not. 
 This applies both to the quality and quantity of the crop. 
 
 Monag"han. — Clones. — General crop of potatoes very bad; 
 not more than one-third of an average crop sound. Next 
 season's seed will hardly be got saved in this district. 
 
 MonOg"han. — Monaghan. — In this district potatoes in a 
 good many places are a full crop ; others medium ; heavy and 
 wet soils very bad. 
 
 Queen's. — Mountmellick. — The potato crop is turning out 
 worse than was anticipated. In the higher districts they are 
 reported as not worth the labour of digging. The same on bog 
 land. On the most suitable land for growing potatoes there 
 will not be more, in weight, than half an average crop of market- 
 able potatoes ; immatured, and of bad quality. The disease is 
 still spreading amongst them. If this showery, damp weather 
 continues there will not be many sound potatoes left at the usual 
 digging time. 
 
 Queen's. — Mountmellick. — No potatoes taken out here 
 except for immediate use. Farmers are too busy at preparing 
 corn for market. In two or three weeks a more general account 
 of potatoes can be given. 
 
 Queen's. — Ballacolla. — Speaking as to my own immediate 
 neighbournood — that of Aghaboe, in the district of Kildellig — 
 
 [569 
 
26 
 
 the whole crop is a short one. On my own place it is tolerably 
 good; but with a very few exceptions the adjoining- farmers will 
 noi get more than half of what is considered a good crop. 
 
 Queen's. — Mountmellick. — In this district the crop is light 
 in yield, but quality is good. 
 
 Queen's. — Portarlington. — The Champion is the principal 
 potato grown in this district. There is little or no disease in the 
 tubers where grown on dry land, and their quality is good. The 
 crop, however, is a little over one-half of last year. Where 
 Magnum Bonums and potatoes of similar kidney type are grown 
 the crop is good and free from disease. The writer will show at 
 the Royal Dublin Society's exhibition five new seedlings of the 
 third generation from Magnum Bonum, all free from disease. 
 
 Roscommon. — Castlerea. — Quite up to the average of 
 last year as regards quantity, but not so large nor of as good 
 quality. In some places, where not properly tilled, a poor crop. 
 
 Roscommon. — Roscommon. — About one-third of the 
 potato crop in this district is diseased. The yield is fairly good, 
 the potatoes being numerous, but not large. In many places they 
 have matured badly, but recent dry weather has partially 
 remedied this defect. 
 
 Slig'O. — Sligo. — One-third yield, and quality middling. 
 
 Tipperary. — Ballymackey. — Potatoes will not be dug here 
 till the end of month. They are an extremely uneven crop, and 
 will be under average. In some places the return will not be 
 equal to the seed put in ; in others a half crop may be expected. 
 Imported seed not in any case better than home grown. Blight 
 began on the night of July i6th. 
 
 Tipperary. — Cashel. — The potato crop is turning out just 
 as I anticipated. My own (about seven statute acres) and every- 
 where, when well tilled and clean, I find an average crop ; where 
 badly tilled and dirty, about half a crop, particularly when 
 planted in wet land. The fact is, potatoes of late years have 
 been so plentiful, and hardly saleable, that farmers put them in 
 anywhere and anyhow, and the result is a failure. 
 
 Tipperary. — Nenagh. — Potatoes are bad both in yield and 
 quality. The general run of the tubers is small, and digging out 
 something less than half an average crop. 
 
 Tipperary. — Roscrea. — Yield is average in well-cultivated 
 fields, but some complain of the tubers not being as dry as last 
 year. This is owing to the wet season. 
 
 Tyrone. — Donaghmore. — Potato raising not yet general in 
 this district. We began this morning. Our produce will be 
 570] 
 
27 
 
 under averao^e, especially Champions; many small and not 
 matured. We fear the small farmers will have a bad crop, 
 especially in poor and wet soils. 
 
 Tyrone. — Omagh. — The potato crop in this union is far 
 under averag-e both in quantity and quality. In mountain dis- 
 tricts the crop is not worth dig-ging-. Have not begun to store 
 the potatoes yet, owing to harvest operations not being quite 
 completed. 
 
 Waterford. — Kilmacthomas. — The yield of potatoes in 
 this district is about an average on nearly every farm. The 
 quality is generally g-ood where the yield is good. I have seen 
 a great difference even on the same farm : in one field they v/ere 
 very good, in another nearly all black, and what were white 
 were very poor in quality. 
 
 Waterford. — Portlaw. — I have had the opinion of three 
 different farmers living some miles asunder, who are just digging 
 out their potatoes. The first says : " I have never had a better 
 crop all my life." The second : "A good crop both in quantity 
 and quality." The third: "A very fair crop, and good in 
 quality." My own experience is, a medium crop, of excellent 
 quality. 
 
 W^aterford. — Youghal. — On the sea coast, in the unions of 
 Youghal and Dungarvan, the crop not more than one-fifth; 
 inland they improve from one-half to an average crop, according- 
 as soil, seed, and tillage were suitable. In the union of Lismore 
 the crop generally is a good average, except in mountain districts 
 and wet unsuitable soils. Here the crop is about one-half, and 
 of inferior quality. 
 
 W^estmeath. — Athlone. — The potato crop in this district is 
 one-third under average of the last three years; quality fairly 
 good, not many black potatoes being noticeable. The low yield 
 is caused by smallness of size and fewness in number of tubers 
 under stalks. 
 
 Westmeath. — Moate. — Potato digging has only just begun 
 in this district. So far as I can see, any potatoes in new ground 
 are a full crop, with a good many black ones. Those in old, 
 tilled land are not so plentiful. 
 
 Westmeath. — Mullingar. — The potato crop is only about 
 half dug in this union ; so far it is only a very poor crop, I should 
 say about one-third of an average, being both small and thin in 
 the ground. The disease is not quite so bad as was expected; 
 however, on low-lying land the rot is very prevalent. 
 
 W^estmeath. — Mullingar. — The potato crop, in my opinion, 
 will be fully one-third short of last season's abundant crop in 
 
 [571 
 
28 
 
 this district. The sound tubers are fair in quality; they are 
 selling- in the Mullingar market at 6|d. per stone at present. 
 
 Westmeath. — Mullingar. — A variable crop of potatoes ; 
 some very bad, some much better than was expected. The 
 tubers are smaller in size than usual, but good for table use ; 
 about one-fourtli diseased; my own excellent. On the whole, 
 crop about one-third short. 
 
 Wexford, — Enniscorthy. — Potatoes here are g-enerally 
 untouched in the ground, hands being still employed thatching 
 and preparing for sowing tawny oats. The potatoes are small, 
 but not much diseased. 
 
 Wexford. — New Ross. — The potato crop is not more than 
 one-half in quantity on the whole. Early sown is best; late, very 
 thin, small, and wet. 
 
 Wexford. — New Ross. — In this union potato digging has 
 not yet become general, but enough has been dug to show that 
 our hopes of the crop in July have not been realized, as the late 
 planted crop is poor — not so much that the blight has attacked 
 the tubers as that they have not matured — even the large potatoes 
 are soft. The yield and quality are poor as compared with the 
 last two years. 
 
 Wexford. — New Ross. — I have dug half my crop, and they 
 have turned out good and plentiful, but this portion was sown 
 early. The other half was sown late, and as far as I have dug 
 they are small, and about two-thirds of a good crop. I think this 
 represents the true state of the case for the union of New Ross. 
 
 WicklOW. — Baltinglass. — Potato crop about half an average 
 one, but in some low-lying fields, where the June frosts burned 
 the tops, not more than the seed of the land will be dug out. 
 
 \Vickl0W. — Bray. — In this neighbourhood potatoes are a 
 fair average and not many bad as yet ; stalks held green a long 
 time. In the Ballytore district stalks withered early. On dry 
 land a fair crop ; on moory land inferior and small; but in both 
 places crop less than last year. 
 
 Wick low. — Rathdrum. — Potato under average in quantity, 
 
 with half crop severely blighted. Many gardens around almost 
 totally blighted. 
 
 Wicklow. — Rathdrum. — I have scarcely one-third of a crop 
 fit for market ; there are a great deal of small, rubbishy tubers 
 of no use but for pig feeding. I have been through my neigh- 
 bours' fields and I find they are much the same. In general 
 they are good for table use. I change my seed every second 
 year. — Irish Farmers' Gazette^ October i8th, 1890. 
 672] 
 
29 
 
 Subjoined will be found a few additional reports reg'arding' the 
 condition of the potato crop. The account from the Aug-hnacloy 
 district of the County Tyrone — with which we have been kindly 
 favoured by Mr. Montray of Favour Royal — is of special interest 
 by reason of the exact return given of the yield, and the 
 percentage of diseased tubers. 
 
 Limerick. — Croom. — I have now ploughed out my potatoes, 
 which were fresh Scottish seed this year, and grown on new 
 land. The crop is very good and perfect for eating. The black 
 ones were all about seed size, and numerous. If all were good 
 it would have been a very large crop ; indeed, as it is, now that 
 they are picked over, I have a good average crop. Some people 
 about me have a bad yield ; but, on the whole, much better than 
 they expected. 
 
 Tyrone. — Aughnacloy. — Seeing so many reports of bad 
 crops of potatoes, and at same time seeing many fair crops in 
 this neighbourhood, I measured off i rood, Irish plantation 
 measure, and had the produce weighed on my weigh-bridge. 
 The rood so measured was in the middle of a field, and taken 
 full length of field, except a small bit measured off another set of 
 drills to make up the rood : — 
 
 Tons. cwt. qrs. 
 Sound potatoes, Champions ... -..3 i 3 
 Damage and refuse ... ... ... o 8 2 
 
 Total 3 10 I 
 
 Sound potatoes, at low price of 2s. per cwt. £636 
 8J cwt. damaged, at 8d. per cwt 058 
 
 Value of rood ... £692 
 
 The above rood was measured for a man in my employment, 
 who got a rood of potatoes as part wages. — Irish Farmers* 
 Gazette, November ist, 1890. 
 
 [From Special Commissioner ''Sheffield Daily Telegraph."] 
 
 Wherever I went, as I have already stated, I found potatoes, 
 and for the most part they were fairly good crops. I know of 
 no district of Ireland where the crop has totally failed, and I 
 never met a man who knew where there was such a district. 
 So far as there is failure, it is owing to the incompetence or sloth 
 
 [673 
 
30 
 
 of the tenants, and not to any action of the landlords or of the 
 British Government. Whatever failure there may be, it will not 
 be serious, and the people of Ireland are quite capable of dealing* 
 with it, if they have a mind, without any assistance from American 
 ''charity" or from Imperial funds. — Sheffield Telegraph, October 
 25 th, 1890. 
 
 The " New York Herald " Report. 
 
 Mr. Gordon Bennett, proprietor of the New York Herald, 
 who, in 1879 and 1880, raised a Special Fund for the relief 
 of distress, states : — 
 
 "We have sent an entirely unprejudiced and highly capable 
 correspondent to Ireland for the purpose of obtaining for the 
 readers of the New York Herald a trustworthy account of the 
 actual facts with regard to the alleged scarcity of food. Some 
 of his experiences will be found described elsewhere. The 
 general conclusion at which he has thus far arrived is that there 
 is likely to be a scarcity in some districts, but no famine. 
 He thus confirms, in the main, the accounts which have been 
 received from other independent sources, and from official 
 quarters." 
 
 ["The Toronto Daily Mail."] 
 
 The Dublin Freeman of October nth— -a Nationalist organ — 
 quotes the highest price for the best potatoes at 3s. 6d. for 
 112 lbs. This is equal to 69 cents, per bag of 90 lbs. The 
 market price on Saturday last in Toronto was from 40 to 60 
 cents, per bag. A potato famine in Ireland would cause famine 
 prices, but 69 cents, per bag for the very best potatoes shows that 
 happily there is no famime as yet. — Toronto Daily Mail, October 
 29th, 1890. 
 
3X 
 
 LAND COMMISSION REPORT. 
 
 The following summary of official reports of the Land 
 Commission appear in the Times of December loth, 1890. 
 
 A Parliamentary paper was issued on December 6, 1890, con- 
 taining* a report (received November 11, 1890) upon the crops, 
 compiled from returns sent in by the assistant commissioners, 
 valuers, and scrutineers in the employment of the Irish Land 
 Commission. The greater part of the paper consists of a 
 tabular statement with regard to the potato crop, containing 
 minute details of about seventy unions, such as the average yield 
 compared with former years, the size, the probable supply of 
 seed available for next spring, the varieties grown in each district, 
 the price, and the general opinion as to the causes of the failure. 
 Returns are also given as to general crops in the same 
 unions, and in only one case is the report "below average," 
 while in most cases the return is "very good," " abundant," or 
 " above average." 
 The following is a summary of the report : — 
 *' The following report is compiled from information supplied by the 
 assistant commissioners, valuers, and scrutineers of prices employed by 
 the Irish Land Commission, and refers to unions in the districts in 
 which they reside, and to those portions of unions which have come 
 under their observation when inspecting holdings for the purpose of 
 fixing judicial rents. 
 
 " The potato disease has produced the worst results on the western 
 seaboard from Derry to Cork, and also on poor, cold, wet lands gener- 
 ally throughout Ireland ; the result in most instances has been to pro- 
 duce small and unmatured, rather than diseased, tubers. 
 
 ** The disease has produced the worst effect in those instances in 
 which some or other of the following conditions prevailed : — Undrained 
 land, bad cultivation, continued use of the same seed, continued 
 cropping with potatoes on the same land, want of proper care of the 
 seed throughout the winter, cutting the sets too small. 
 
 [575 
 
32 
 
 "The circumstances being otherwise similar, the following conditions 
 usually produced the best results : — Frequent change of seed, use of 
 good seed, planting in fresh ground, early planting, good cultivation, 
 well-drained land. 
 
 " In the counties of Derry, Down, Antrim, and Louth, the crop was, 
 with few exceptions, very good. 
 
 " Varieties reported as untouched by disease are : * The General,* 
 'The Colonel,' * Bloomers,' 'Railways.' 
 
 '* Varieties reported as very good disease resisters are: 'Bruce,* 
 * Magnum Bonum,' ' Imperator,' * Sutton's Abundance.* 
 
 " Varieties reported as fairly good disease resisters are : * Skerries * 
 and ' Irish Whites.' " 
 
 Another Parliamentary paper contains extracts from reports 
 upon the potato crop of 1890 made for the Land Commission in 
 certain unions of the counties of Clare, Cork, Donegal, Galway, 
 Kerry, Leitrim, Limerick, Mayo, Sligo, Waterford, and Wexford. 
 These are all drawn up by assistant commissioners, and one of 
 these gentlemen, Mr. T. S. Porter, prefixes a general report 
 which will apply to any portion of Ireland. Mr. Porter says that 
 potato seed imported from America direct to Ireland seldom does 
 well, and is not to be relied on. The great bulk of the seed 
 potato supply for Ireland has of late years been drawn from 
 the counties of Fife and Forfar. Mr. Porter suggests that if 
 seed is purchased in the spring of 1891, it shall be bought in 
 fresh districts, and that in purchasing seed in Scotland, special 
 regard shall be had to the district for which it is required 
 in Ireland. A great deal of harm, he adds, has been done 
 in many districts in Ireland by the boards of guardians spending 
 the money they borrowed in 1880 for the purchase of seed 
 in buying local seed grown in the district, and re-selling to the 
 farmers. This seed was of little use and caused great complaint. 
 The tuber called the '' Champion " is now grown almost universally 
 over Ireland. It is an enormous cropper, and gives a large 
 supply of small potatoes not good for eating, but of great use for 
 feeding fowls and pigs. It has two disadvantages— it is a very 
 late potato, and it will not keep well after March. Nevertheless, 
 it is more popular than the " Magnum Bonum." Mr. Porter thinks 
 that it is desirable to produce a potato which would take the 
 place of the '' Champion,"whichis now, undoubtedly, deteriorating. 
 
 Mr. Porter concludes his general remarks by the statement 
 that whereas the total amount borrowed under the Seed Supply 
 Act of 1880 was nearly ;/^ 600, 000, not more than 24,000 tons at 
 £5 a ton, or £120,000, would be wanted in 1891. 
 
 Printed by M'^Corquodale & Co. Limited, " The Armoury," Southwark. 
 
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