During the last few years land has been falling rapidly out of cultivation.

The area under cereal crops has accordingly considerably decreased.[2] Since 1868, not less than 400,000 acres have been disused for this purpose.[3] Wheat can be bought better and cheaper in America, and imported into Ireland ground into flour.

The consequence is, that the men who worked the soil, as well as the men who ground the corn, are thrown out of employment, and there is nothing left for them but subsistence upon the poor-rates, emigration to other countries, or employment in some new domestic industry.
Ireland is by no means the "poor Ireland" that she is commonly supposed to be.

The last returns of the Postmaster-General show that she is growing in wealth.

Irish thrift has been steadily at work during the last twenty years.