the surplus population will emigrate, as they have done from Germany, from Ireland, and to a lesser degree from England.
Up to the year 1846 the soil of Ireland retained the capacity of producing, to an almost unlimited extent, a certain root, containing all the elements necessary for the support of human life.[1] The ex-
- ↑ "A close analysis of this subject would probably lead to the conclusion, that the potato is the main cause of that inertia in the population, and that want of improvement in the lands and tillage, which is so striking throughout Ireland. "This root, as compared with other food stuffs grown in this climate, supplied the largest amount of human food on the smallest surface. Its peculiar cultivation enabled the occupier of land to plant it in the wettest soils; because the ridge or lazy bed, universally adopted in such cases, supplied the most minute system of drainage that can be imagined for that one crop, although it did not permanently drain the land, or extend any substantial benefit in that respect even to the following crop.
"The indolent occupier, therefore, passed his winter inactively, consuming this food which he preferred to all others, and neglecting to prepare his land permanently for more profitable crops, of which he had heard little, and for which he cared less. Enjoying all the while the pleasing delusion, that, as sure as the spring came round, any portion he might select of his farm would be ready to receive his favourite root, and to furnish a certain supply of food for his numerous and increasing family.
"This delusion is now broken, but its evil consequences continue."—Digest. Devon Commission, Summary. p. 16.
| Increase per cent in the five years | 9·60 | Town. |
| Increase per cent„in the five years„ | 1·53 | Rural. |
Thus making the rural population increase instead of decrease, but this is not correct, as they have excluded Savoy, Savoy Hautes, and the Alpes Maritimes, in 1856, but included them in 1861. See App. p. 34.
