k pandering to sentiment displayed by the present
government. The Board admits that no matter how vigorously and
constantly agricultural improvements are inculcated, the tenants of
Ireland are tardy in their adoption. The small farmers dislike change,
and at the present moment they are rapidly slipping back into their
old grooves. They believe that the old system will pay when they have
no rent-days to meet. The Balfour Administration encouraged honesty,
industry, self-reliance. The Morley Government puts a premium on
idleness, unthrift, retrogression, and dishonesty. It is easier to
half-till the land, paying small rents or none at all, than to get the
utmost out of the land with the object of paying the landlord his
due.

The Board is carrying on the afforestation of Ireland, which in many
parts is almost without trees. When the potato crop failed in 1890 Mr.
Balfour commenced to plant trees on the western sea-board. In 1891 a
sum of L1,970 was spent in draining, fencing, and roadmaking, and in
planting 90 acres of 960 acquired by the Tory Government for the
purpose. In 1892 a further sum of L1,427 was spent in carrying on the
work. It is said that a previous Liberal Government had rejected the
scheme on the ground that trees would not grow in a situation exposed
to the salt gales of the Atlantic, but Mr. Balfour's trees have
thriven remarkably well. He tried all sorts, convinced that something
should be done, and that an ounce of experiment was worth a pound of
theory. Sycamore, ash, elm, beech, birch, poplar, alder, larch, Scotch
fir, spruce, silver fir, sea buckthorn, elder, and willow--he gave
them all a chance, some as main plantations, some as shelter belts.
All proved successful except the silver fir. Besides this, three
hundred and fifty holdings have been planted with shelter belts, and
about six hundred and fifty more were being planted when Mr. Balfour
loosed the reins.

An eminent Irishman, a great authority on this subject, assures me
that he could dictate similar facts for a week without stopping to
search his memory. Mr. Gladstone proposes to place the poor people of
Ireland under a Government utterly inexperienced in the administration
of great matters, utterly unreliable where the handling of money is
concerned, utterly ignorant of business methods and business routine.
The fate of the destitute poor and the fortunes of the well-to-do
classes are to be at the mercy of men whose business ventures hav