MONAGHAN AGRICULTURE
The large estates of the county vary from £20,000 to £1000 per ann., but a very considerable portion of the land is held in grants producing from £20 to £500 per ann.: the former are not resided on by the proprietor in fee, but the latter almost uniformly; many of them are held from the crown by the descendants of the Scotch colony introduced here after the settlement of the county by James I.; a considerable portion were grants to Cromwell's soldiers, many of whose posterity now possess farms so small as not to yield an annual income exceeding £20. Few of the farms on the larger estates are tenanted in perpetuity: the usual term is 21 years, and a life, or 60 years and three lives. The mountainous districts form an exception to this observation, as they are divided into extensive portions, and mostly depastured by young cattle.
An extraordinary mode of tenure formerly existed on some estates, of letting several townlands in one lease to all the occupying tenants, who might be from 20 to 30 joint lessees; by which practice part of the legal expenses for drawing the lease was saved by the tenants, but it gave the landlord a powerful control over them, as any one of the tenants is liable to have his goods seized for the rent of the whole: the rent paid by each is acknowledged by a receipt on account, and he who pays last obtains a receipt for the total amount.
The farms throughout the county do not average 25 acres; the smaller, which are much more numerous, not six: so that ten acres may be adopted as the general average. Great improvements have been made within the last few years in almost every department of agriculture, both as to the treatment of the land and the implements. The principal manure is lime and the produce of the farm-yard, together with composts of various kinds. Limestone in a state of decomposition is found in several districts; when first raised, it has a compact slaty appearance, but on exposure to the atmosphere forms a kind of paste; no benefit is derived from it as a manure for the first year; but for several years after the crops are most abundant. Marl, though found in several parts, is little used except in the southern districts, where it has been found very beneficial to the corn crops: but in general, land is seldom manured for any crop but the potato.
In the northern districts, in consequence of the smallness of the farms, and the wetness of the soil, the manure is mostly carried to the fields in baskets, here called "bardocks," slung across the back of an ass, and very often on the shoulders of the women. There is no county in Ireland where manual labour is more employed in farming than in Monaghan. The spade which is generally used in tilling the land, working the manure, raising potatoes, &c., resembles the English spade in having a footstep on each side, but differs from it in having the blade made hollow and filled with timber, to which the handle is made to fit in a sloping form. In some parts, where the soil is heavy and adhesive, the blade tapers nearly to a point, and is much curved in the middle, to prevent the mould clogging upon it. The principal crops are wheat, oats and potatoes.
Flax has been a favourite and beneficial crop for the last few years: the quantity sown is constantly increasing. Clover and green crops are every year becoming more common. The pasturage in the mountainous districts is mostly formed of rushes and sprit grass, neither of which affords much nutriment; in the other parts it is very rich and close, the grass heavy and exceedingly nutritious. In some parts white clover is produced spontaneously, though too often choked with rushes; in others it is sown with grass seeds and mowed twice or thrice a year: oats are also mixed with the clover seed, and cut green for fodder, by which management the farmers estimate that one acre is more productive than four of common pasture. The tops of furze, here called whins, are used for fodder; they are prepared by being pounded in a stone trough with a wooden mallet, which makes them very juicy; they are greedily eaten by horses, and answer the double purpose of food and medicine.
In some parts much attention is paid to the fences, which are generally quicksets of white thorn, often mixed with sallows that are afterwards applied to many purposes of country work; in some parts the only fence is a small mound of earth, apparently raised more as a boundary mark than as a means of security against trespassing. The chief breed of horned cattle is a cross of the Old Leicester with the Roscommon cow, which grows to a large size and fattens rapidly. Butter is made in great quantities in the north and west.: for though there are no large dairies, every farmer makes some, the greater part of which is sent to Monaghan, Newry and Dundalk, where it is bought up for the English market. Sheep are very numerous in the north and north-west, and of great variety of sorts.
The native horses are not of a good kind; those worthy of notice are brought in from other counties: a small strong breed called Ragheries, imported from Scotland by carriers who are inhabitants of the island of Rathlin, (whence the name) are in great request; they are cheap, durable, serviceable, well calculated for a hilly country, and live to a great age. Asses are also numerous: they are found to be extremely useful and very easily fed, being particularly fond of the green tops of furze, on which the Raghery horses also feed. Pigs are more numerous here than in any other county; they are slaughtered in great numbers for the provision merchants of Belfast, Newry and Drogheda, and are also exported alive to Liverpool. The lakes abound with fish, particularly trout and pike, which grow to a great size: the pearl muscle is found in some of the larger streams.
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