Commissioners of Public Works (Ireland): twentieth report with appendices

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36 IRELAND:—TWENTIETH ANNUAL REPORT Land Improvement. 

County of Cork, South and South western Division ; Mr. 
A. 
N. 
Meade, Inspector of Drainage. 

" First. 
Mr. 
E. 
B. 
Roche is at present at full^ work, and is converting a " large tract of wet and nearly worthless mountain lauds into good arable and " wholesome sheep pasture; this is effected, first, by clearing away all the " old crooked fences by which the land was intersected in every direction. 
" The second operation is thorough draining according to the regular system, " the minor drains heing laid out at 30 feet apart, and_ sunk to a depth of four " feet. 
12 inches in depth of broken stone being laid at the bottom as the " conduit for the water. 
The submain drains arc six inches deeper, and have " a box conduit at bottom, beneath the broken stones, and the main drains " consist of capacious sewers flagged both at top and bottom. 
" The main drains arc formed in positions so as to converge as far as " practicable to a certain central point, where they empty themselves into a " series of ponds, near a suitable site for a square of farm offices which it is " Mr. 
Roche's intention to erect. 
" These ponds arc to be used respectively as watering places for cattle and " steeping pits for flax, and finally for irrigation. 
" Mr. 
R. 
Barter is deriving very great benefit from the operations of this " Act on his farm of Glennasack, which pievious to his obtaining the loan " was a cold wet piece of land wholly unfit for tillage, only producing a coarse " sedgy grass in summer ; the soil is a peaty loam resting on a red strong " clay subsoil of a hard impervious nature ; he is proceeding to thorough drain " and subsoil nearly the whole. 
The drains are ,'U feet deep, and the sub-" soiling is effected with the spade and plough to an uniform depth of 16 " inches, the cost amounting to 61. 
8s. 
per acre. 
" The results, so far as the work has been completed, are highly satisfactory, " the soil has been transformed into a friable loam, and this year produced " excellent crops of turnips and carrots as well as corn and meadow. 
" The late Dean Hudson was another very successful operator under the " Act; his land naturally wet, poor, and cold, when drained and improved, " produced crops of turnips which were equal, if not superior in quality to " those raised from the most fertile lands of the district long under systematic " cultivation. 
" I may also mention Mr. 
M. 
Long-field of Castlemary and Captain Collis of " Castlecook who have also given much employment and have effected great " improvements upon their estates by expending loans under the provisions of " the Land Improvement Act." 
Mr. 
Adam N. 
Meade, Inspector of Drainage for the south and south-western divisions of the county of Cork, reports :— " During the past year (1851) the greater number of the loans in my clis-" trict, the west liding of the county of Cork, have been brought to comple-" tion, and a few new ones have been commenced. 
I have no doubt that a very considerable number of additional loans would have been applied for had it not been for the low prices of cereal produce, and the failure of the potato crop. 
" I have been pleased to find that several farmers in comfortable circum¬ stances occupying and living on farms of 100 acres and upwards, and who are consequently obliged to devote a considerable portion of their lands to tillage for the support of their families, are anxious to obtain loans under this Act. 
A great number have applied to me for information on this subject, but the greater portion do not possess an interest in their farms to constitute them owners under the sixth section of the Act. 
" With regard to the execution of the works, I have much satisfaction in stating that a decided improvement has taken place. 
I am now rarely obliged to find fault, as almost in every part of the district the labourers have become expert in the execution of the work, and are enabled to earn higher wages than before. 
In this district the parallel minor drains, four feet deep and 30 feet apart, have been universally adopted where the outfall admits of it. 
In every instance this system has proved satisfactory, while in some drainages having the minor drains from 2\ to three feet in depth, which were executed three years since, the land is not-perfectly dry. 
'' The cost of thorough drainage 30 feet apart and four feet deep varies from 3/. 
10s. 
to 41. 
an acre. 
The difference arises from the nature of the soil and subsoil and the facility of procuring stones. 
Subsoiling usually 

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