S E L E C T C O M M I T T E E O N F I C T I T I O U S V O T E S , I R E L A N D. 7 • w / I 321 13737. Have you ever seen lime applied as manure upon a limestone soil Mr en,*, Yes, I have, with the best effect; my father held a great quantity of land in his - - y^ Tirvi lnnrlc r\ r o nmocfono oml r> v » r\ l- v rt — — 1 _ _ ' j • , 1 .1 / v> own hands of a limestone soil, and he applied it with the best effect 13738. Mr. O'Connell.] Where is your father's land?— To the north of Meath, adjoining Cavan. 13739- Mr- Serjeant Jackson.] In the case of Hugh Carroll, if you understood him to mean that the most an honest man could afford to pay for the land was 30 s. an acre, and you understood that he and his family must subsist out of the farm, as well as pay the 30 s., would not then an item, in your computation have been properly the value of that subsistence ; supposing the humblest far-' would not the value of that diet have been a proper item to have inserted in the other side of the account ?— If he had expressed that, it is probable I should have taken it into the calculation, but my recollection is that he did not. 13740. But when he was giving you 30 s. an acre, did you understand him to speak of that as the value of the utmost produce that could be got out of the land, or the utmost a man could afford to pay for the land, subsisting him- self and his family upon it ?— It is not easy to say at this distance of time what I did understand, but I think I understood that 30s. would have been the rack- rent, and the utmost a man could pay the landlord holding the land. 13741. You seem to have proceeded upon that in the course you took in making your computation; did you make your computation at that time such as you have stated here ?— Yes, I made a loose note. 13742. And if you understood the man to say that, besides the 30 an acre, it produced enough to subsist his family, should you not have introduced that item into your computation ?— Yes. 13743. And you did not introduce such an item?— I did not. 13744. Mr. French.] Will you tell me any crop that would amount to only 30 s. an acre ?— I think you might assume any crop that might grow upon it would not produce 30 s. an acre one year with another, communibus annis; my answer is, I do not think that man could obtain from that farm any descrip- tion of crop which, one year with another, would produce him by the acre 30 s. profit. 13745. What do you consider an acre of potatoes worth ?— It depends upon the soil they are set in and the manure that is placed there. 13746. You know the description of soil for which this man pays 5 I. 13 for eight acres, you know the quality of the manure the peasantry are in the habit of putting, and will you tell me what an acre of potatoes in that soil, manured as they are in the habit of manuring it, may be worth ?— I cannot answer that question with certainty, inasmuch as the description of manure varies greatly, but supposing it to be well manured, I should think the quantity produced from an acre of that land would be 1,000 stone; and I come to that conclusion for this reason, that good land in the county of Meath would, upon an average, produce 2,000 stone, and this being bad land, I conclude it might produce 1,000 stone, and taking that at 2 d. a stone, it would produce about 8 6 1. 8 d., but to produce that it would have been necessary to put down good manure. 13747. Mr. O'Connell.'] Is not the Kings County in general, I do not speak of its borders, a more productive soil than the county of Meath ?— No, not half so productive. 13748. Mr. Serjeant Jackson.] Meath is a very rich county, I believe?— Yes. 13749. Chairman.] Just state the sort of rent which that soil which, accord- ing to your idea, would produce 2,000 stone of potatoes per acre in the county of Meath, would fetch ?— Thirty shillings, upon a common average. 13750. Mr. French.] The land you are talking of in Meath is the same, I suppose, as the grazing districts ?— It is in the grazing districts ; but land that is in the grazing districts, and used for grazing, will produce best, tor it is not worn out by frequent tillage. 13751. This land is in the grazing districts ?— Yes; I speak now ot the common average, and the conclusion to which I have come, from caretul inquiries and my own observation. „ 13752. Will you tell me what you consider an acre of oats to be worth r— An acre of oats, of the kind I speak of, would be worth about 8 I. 15 that is, G I. 15 the corn, and 2 I. the straw. , 643. T T 13753- Are 19 June 1838.