(Signed,)

WILLIAM MELLON, Master of Workhouse.

APPENDIX D.

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Farm.

9.-CLONES WORKHOUSE NATIONAL SCHOOL FARM.

3rd January, 1852. SIR, I beg to submit to you this Report, with the Farm Account Book, &c.

The Workhouse Farm here has been in operation now two Clones Union years past, and it has not disappointed the expectation of the Board of Guardians, by whom it was established. It contains thirty-three statute acres, at an average rent of £1 68. per acre. The whole of the land is always under cultivation; and the system of house-feeding our dairy cows is strictly carried out in all its details. Like most other farms newly entered upon, we had to encounter a good deal of uphill work at the outset, filling up useless gripes, and removing old fences; but as the greater portion of the land is naturally dry, this saved any labour in forming new subdivisional ones; the different crops being merely marked out every season, with a small footpath betwixt each, thus indirectly exenplifying the waste arising from many large fences, which, in this neighbourhood, consume almost one-third of the area of the ground they enclose. The want of manure the first year was another drawback, though this was not to be regretted in the main, as it afforded the boys under agricultural training an opportunity of becoming practically acquainted with the preparation and use of the artificial manures. In order to take full advantage of this, I employed both guano and bones; the latter, bought from the poor people in the neighbourhood, were broken, and the process of dissolving them conducted by the boys with perfect success. Many of the gentlemen and farmers of the neighbourhood, regarding these operations as an experiment, were curious as to the result, and made frequent visits, both during the process of putting in the crops, and their after-growth, so that a double object was obtained-the boys instructed, and the practicability of commencing a course of cropping without a supply of farm-yard manure fully established. The crops, both seasons, have turned out very well; and I have no doubt whatever, but the farm, as a model of agriculture, has hitherto extended a most beneficial influence upon the mode of cultivating the surrounding districts. The rate-payers, on all hands, are much pleased with the Chairman, Wm. Forster, Esq., J. P., of Ballynure, and those other gentlemen of the Board who have bestowed so much of their time and assistance in superintending the general interests both of the farm and dairy. The funds needed at the outset for farm seeds, manure, stock, &c., were advanced out of the rates, and were afterwards replaced to the credit of the Union by instalments, arising from the sales of butter, and surplus vegetables, &c., leaving a clear balance in favour of the farm, upon Inventory and Valuation, made by

the Board of Guardians, on the 11th October last, amounting, APPENDIX D. in stock and capital, to £486 8s. 9d.

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One other result I should not omit to bring before your workhouse notice. It is most important and most encouraging. I Agricultural allude to the well-known fact, that since the commencement of the farm there has been an increasing willingness among Clones Union the rate-payers to employ the young male and female inmates of the Workhouse as farm servants. Before, they used to allege, "they were good for nothing," now, there is a kind of competition to get them. The boys are invariably preferred out of the "Agricultural" class ; and some of these have been sought after and hired by farmers from the neighbouring Unions. The girls, as they grow up, are taught washing, scouring, and mending; and, for the most part, they receive, in turns, instruction from the Matron in the feeding and management of farm stock, and the ordinary ongoings of the dairy. Our charge of the agricultural department is now about to terminate, but we will always feel an interest in its prosperity.

I had intended to send you a somewhat different kind of statement, diverging, in some material respects, from the ordinary course, though essentially the same in its general bearing. I had collected, from various quarters, a good deal of statistical evidence, calculated to show, from a clear induction of facts, that the agricultural training of our unfortunate pauper youth is fitted, in an eminent degree, to render them useful both to themselves and the public; but the idea of its length prevented me from sending it.

But after all, what is to be done with the Workhouse children? It appears from the latest returns, that the number of these, under fifteen years of age, stood, in March last, at very nearly 142,000, or more than one-half of the entire pauper population. One cannot fail being struck with the vastness of this number. And is all this immense section of the rising generation to be brought up, like the older paupers, in systematized idleness, degradation, and vice? It is impossible to regard them in any other light than as forming the staple reinforcement of the adult labouring population; and unless something is done to fit them for their destination, they must conduce to the ruin instead of the prosperity of the country. It will not meet the case to allege that they are taught to read and write. This is not enough: they should be inured to early habits of industry and forethought, to enable them to provide for themselves in afterlife. It would not answer any sound policy to give trades to them all; and hence, the training up of as many of the boys and girls as possible, to be useful farm servants, would seem to have become a measure of obvious necessity. In those few cases where out-door employment

APPENDIX D. has been resorted to, where agricultural training schools have been established, and obtained a fair trial, the results have been most satisfactory.

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The concluding extract from one of the local Journals, the Ulster Gazette, may be considered to embody much more ably Clones Union than could be expected from me, the substance of all that can be conveyed in the form of any ordinary report; while, as a public document, it is to be regarded as furnishing a most satisfactory testimonial to the working of the scheme of agricultural industrial training in the case to which it relates:—

Farm.

"It is most gratifying to state that the Guardians of the Clones Union have determined on requesting their master, Mr. Kirkpatrick, to deliver a course of evening lectures on the principles and practice of agriculture. This is to be done in a plain style, suited to the understanding of the younger paupers, for whose benefit and improvement the matter has been originated.

"Such a proceeding is most praiseworthy, as it will lay the foundation of a sound agricultural education, which maturer years will develope. Some of the rate-payers have determined to attend during the lectures, that they may encourage the proceeding, both by their presence and example. A judicious resolution of this kind will be a stimulant to all parties, and the impression produced on the young mind cannot fail of being lasting. The series of lectures will embrace a plain history of agriculture; the unquestionable necessity of adopting the present improved practice; also a detailed instructive description of all the operations necessary to be performed on a well cultivated farm. The rotation of crops will be taken separately, and, as it forms the basis of all good farming, particular attention will be bestowed on the subject.

"It may be remarked that the Clones Workhouse has forty acres of good land attached to it, which enables the Guardians to keep twenty stall-fed milch cows of the most approved breeds, and the same number of pigs; the former producing a greater supply of milk and butter, which forms so heavy an item in most workhouse accounts, than is necessary for the consumption of the inmates. In fact, whilst walking through the house and over the ground attached, the place seems to change character, for instead of believing you were in a workhouse, you would imagine you were in some large industrial and agricultural establishment the girls being instructed by the schoolmistress in a kind of coarse, but profitable embroidery, (better known in the locality by sprig ging,) whilst the boys are engaged at their outdoor labour on the

farm.

"This is most encouraging, as it shows that the spirit of enlightenment is abroad; and, instead of workhouses being the scene of riot and confusion, it is hoped they will become, throughout the country, the models of enlightened labour and active industry." J. KIRKPATRICK.

Dr. Kirkpatrick, Education Office, Dublin,

To Amount paid Rent and Taxes,

s. d.

for Cattle,

Cattle sold,
Dairy Produce,