A Statistical and Agricultural Survey of the County of Galway Book

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. AGRICULTURE. SECTION I. MODE OF CULTURE. TVHEAT is the crop at which almost every farmer aims, and to which almost every other is subservient: it must be confessed this predilection has one good el- In Henry the Second' time, our wheat Wmm small and shrivelled a scarcely to lie cleaned by the fan ; there was much straw but little corn, probably from the richness of the soil and a defective tillage. It is thought we had this grain from Scandinavian tribe of Picts. called Crvttnii. Crutkneach is the Irish for wheat, and it is likely we received an imperfect knowledge of the cultivation of it from them. Baron Finglass informs us, that in the reign of Henry VIII. " No man having a plough of his own buy any corn, upon pain of forfeiting r'/. for every peck he shall buy, until his own corn be all spent. Also, that no man shall export com out of Ireland, if the peck of wheat be above the value of I'.'rf. and malt above the value of nil. upon pain of forfeiting the same, and that no license be given to any man for the exportation." By a statute of Edward IV. " All persons were prohibited from exporting grain from Ireland if the peck of grain exceeded 10s. upon pain of forfeiting the grain, or the value thereof and the ship, half to the king and half to the seizer. Likewise, that no merchant shall buy corn in the sheaf, upon paia of forfeiting the same." feet attending it?the inducement to cultivate potatoes on a much larger scale than otherwise would be done : too many fallow for this crop, but not near so many as formerly, thanks to the potatoes for it. Wheat produced on fallow is usually sown in October. Where potatoes have been the previous crop, seldom until December, and sometimes, if the season is wet, defer the sowing until spring; twenty stones are ...Read More