At the last meeting of the Royal Dublin Society, Dr.
Mapother read a very good paper on the food of the Irish, 'after which Cap- tain Henry gave an account of a "mess" he had established to
secure his labourers better food, and which had existed since April last with the most satisfactory results. Before that time his labourers used to crouch under the hedges eating their miserable meal of porridge, or dry bread, or potatoes. He employed a good cook, obtained the best meat and vegetables, and now supplies an abundant well-dressed dinner for threepence each to the men and twopence each to the women and children ; the numbers of the mess have risen gradually to about 200, the people have improved in appearance, work much better, and are grateful and contented. The result to himself has been a small profit, and to his labourers a very different condition of mind from that in which they shoot their landlords. The Irish peasantry might become under such landlords as this as manageable and industrious and much more kindly than the English peasantry themselves.
