Where I reside there are many thousands
of acres waste, because it would not be let at a moderate rent." _Quest.
75_. "Is the land with you termed waste, capable of being made
productive?" _Answ._ "Yes; every acre of it."
On this same question of the reclamation of Irish waste lands and
redundant population, Commissary-General Hewetson, one of the principal
assistants of Sir Randal Routh, writes, in the height of the Famine:
"The transition from potatoes to grain requires tillage in the
proportion of _three_ to _one_. It is useless, then, to talk of
emigration, _when so much extra labour_ is indispensable to supply the
extra food. Let that labour be first applied, and it will be seen
whether there is any surplus population. _If the waste lands are taken
into cultivation_, and industrious habits established, it is very
doubtful whether there will be any surplus population, _or even_ whether
it would be equal to the demand." "Providence," he adds, "has given
everything needful, and nothing is wanting but industry to apply it."
"Yes!" to use the words of Mr. Scrope, "there are two things more
wanted--namely, that Irish industry should have leave to apply itself to
the improvement of the Irish soil, and be assured of reaping the
undivided fruits of such application.
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