1921

Careless farmers

The unfavourable spring and summer of 19230 were not altogether accountable for the partial failure of last season’s potato crop. Planting was deferred until three or four weeks after the usual time, and the spraying of the crop was very carelessly carried out.

Not more than half the usual quantities of spraying materials were sold last year in County Galway. The wagon loads of potatoes which County Galway consumers were obliged to get from other parts of Ireland to go to prove the care and attention taken from growers in other counties.

To meet the increased cost of labour and manures farmers must grow heavier crops, and avoid risks as far as possible. To do so, spraying must be carried out efficiently.

County Galway, with 24,000 Irish acres of potatoes, is the second county in Ireland in respect of area. The total yield in 1920 was about 100,000 tons below that of an average year, which was a serious loss to the farmers and a hardship on the townspeople.

We hope that the lesson of 1920 will not be forgotten, and that farmers will this year spray in time and thoroughly.

One of the farmer’s chief difficulties is keeping of his crops free from weeds. Unfortunately in this important matter some of our farmers are rather careless. They do not realises – probably through lack of education in the matter – that where a crop is allowed to get weedy, the material resources of the land are being doubly taxed, and the crop which it is intended to grow cannot be a viable, much less a financial success.

The farmer has no power over some of the circumstances which determine the success or failure of a crop, and it is, therefore, a short-sighted policy for him not to use every means in his power to check weeds over which he has complete control.

Our attention has been directed to this matter by the number of cornfields in some districts, which are covered with the weed well-known to farmers as “Baráiste”.

We cannot estimate the extent of the damage caused year after year to our corn crops, but it must be very considerable. The yield of gran is greatly reduced, and the quality seriously impaired.

Modern science has given us a simple, effective, remedy involving little labour. This remedy has been used successfully for some years past by the best of our farmers, but we deeply regret the lack of enthusiasm displayed by many of our tillers in connection with the destruction of this objectionable weed.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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1921

Village halls

Young men and women of the present day expect and obtain more time for recreation than their parents. The monotony of young lives in the country districts leads to a desire to leave comfortable homes for the towns, or to emigrate.

In this work of reconstruction, which we hope will not long be delayed every means by which the young people can be induced to remain on the land must be considered.

Village halls can be made to play an important part in this respect by providing facilities for recreation and enabling those with progressive tendencies to continue with their reading and education after leaving the national schools.

To encourage a taste for reading and the acquirement of useful knowledge, every hall should be provided with a small library containing a selection of suitable books. The erection and equipment of such halls should not be left to voluntary effort, but should be looked upon as a national duty for which public money ought to be provided, and for which the country would be repaid in an enlightened, industrious and efficient rural population.

Custom House attacked

A large force of armed men raided the Custom House, Dublin, at one point on Wednesday, held up the staff and set fire to the building, which was completely destroyed. Yesterday morning the flames could be seen issuing from the surrounds.

The many Government departments in the building included the offices of the Local Government Board, Customs and Excise, Inland Revenue, the Old Age Pensions, and their valuable documents have been reduced to ashes.

From the housetops and the streets of Dublin on Wednesday afternoon, thousands witnessed the aftermath of one of the most serious assaults made by the I.R.A. upon the institutions of the Crown – the burning of the famous Custom House.

Following the burning, nearly a score were killed or wounded in a battle between the I.R.A. and R.I.C. Auxiliaries of the F and Q Companies.

The building was so badly devastated that to-day only the walls and a portion of the Local Government Board Office are still standing.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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1921

Timber lands

Anticipating an industrial and agricultural development of Ireland in the future, one wonders where our supplies of timber are to come from.

No doubt foreign countries could supply the need, but why not develop our own resources, and make ourselves self-supporting in this respect?

In recent years, the country has practically been denuded of ripe woods, and nothing, on a comprehensible scale, has been done to replace them if we except the small shelter belts that may be seen growing successfully in many districts.

Farmers who have furnished their new homes in this way have taken advantage of the existing forestry scheme of the committee of agriculture, but we understand that owing to the lack of funds it is impossible to launch and adequate scheme. We can picture under more favourable conditions large tracks of waste lands being purchased and planted with trees, which in time will provide a very valuable asset to the country.

The subject is so important that in at least three or four counties a special rate has been struck. We were glad to see that the Galway County Council arranged to discuss the matter during the year, but owing to other pressing subjects, no progress could be made for the present. We look with hope to the reappearing of this subject in the near future, and to seeing much of the waste lands of the country planted in our time.

Election as expected

The elections for the Parliament of “Southern” Ireland have turned out exactly as every intelligent observer in Ireland had anticipated.

There have been no contests. Accordingly, the Republicans have swept all before them without opposition, and out of the 128 seats in “Southern” Ireland, they now hold 124 – the four members for Trinity College being the sole objection.

Yet those who make presence to wisdom, knowledge and understanding of Ireland, were making preparations for the “Southern” Parliament. Nothing has indicated the wide gulf which separates them from the actualities of to-day so much as these elections.

This week-end the contests for the six counties that are to govern by the North-Eastern Parliament, will take place, and it is anticipated that the result will come as a surprise to many, for it will be found that the Ulster of Sir Edward Carson’s brand is by no means the homogenous community the world has long been led to believe it is.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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