The drought of 1887, and some of its effects on Irish agriculture

Abstract

The exceptional character of the summer of the year 1887, and its marked influence on the crops on my farm at Fassaroe, Bray, Co. Wicklow, induced me two months ago to make enquiries, and collect information from other parts of Ireland, for the sake of comparison. A circular with queries regarding the rainfall and crops was sent to a large number of observers on November 2nd. Their names were selected from the list of Irish contributors to British Rainfall, published by Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S., Secretary to the Royal Meteorological Society of London, whose annual volume is the standard work on the distribution of rain over the British Isles. The information received was very interesting, and the favourable reception my paper on "The Prices of Some Agricultural Produce, and the Cost of Farm Labour for the Past Fifty Years," met with, encouraged me to arrange and tabulate the results, and bring them before the Statistical Society.