Page:Irish In America.djvu/195

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USEFUL EFFORTS—THE PLAGUE OF DOGS.
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importance of encouraging the people to adopt the culti vation of the land as a fixed and settled pursuit. In former times it was difficult to obiain a licence from the Governor of the day to till any portion of the soil : but in 1866 an Act was passed offering to the poor cultivator a bonus of eight dollars for every acre up to six acres cleared and fitted for crops, besides a free grant of the land itself. As thousands of acres, suited for cultivation, may be had in various parts of the island, it is to be hoped that the liberal policy of the Colonial Government may be crowned with success. Fisheries, however bountiful, or even in exhaustible, are, from natural causes altogether beyond the control of man, necessarily more or less precarious ; and it is wise statesmanship as well as true patriotism to try and lay the foundation of a great branch, of industry which, while adding to the wealth of the community, may form the best resource against unexpected calamity. Efforts are also made to encourage the breeding of sheep, for which the climate and soil seem eminently suited. The attention of the Agricultural Society is being devoted to the subject, and with some success. But Bishop Mullock insists that unless relentless war be waged against the dogs of the colony, sheep-farming will be a matter of impossibility. To destroy, at one fell swoop, the noble breed of dogs which have done much to make Newfound land known to the world to annihilate the splendid brute so remarkable for courage, sagacity, and fidelity may appear to be a proposal worthy of a Draco, and might well stimulate the indignant genius of the poets of the universe ; but the Bishop makes out a strong case, which he may be allowed to put in his own words : We hav.e, says Dr. Mullock, the means of raising on our wild pastures millions of that most useful animal to man the sheep. On the southern and western shore, indeed everywhere in the island, I have seen the finest sheep walks ; and what is better, the droppings of the sheep in this country induce a most luxuriant crop of white clover,