The Tobacco Growing Industry in Meath

 

Randlestown House, entrance front
Gillman collection, Irish Architectural Archive

 

From 1898 to 1938 the Randlestown area of Navan was central to plans to introduce tobacco growing on a commercial basis in Ireland. The industry centred on the 300-acre Randlestown estate, the ancestral home of Sir Nugent Everard. The estate had its own tobacco plantation and also acted as a rehandling station – taking in tobacco from the local growers and processing it for sale to factories. At its peak, the industry provided almost 100 jobs and played a vital part in the local economy.

Over a period of more than thirty years, from 1898 to his death at the age of eighty in 1929, Everard devoted his energy, enthusiasm and financial resources to the cause of tobacco growing. After his death the local growers formed the County Meath Co-Operative Tobacco Growers Society. The Co-Operative continued into the 1930s, and closed in 1939, the last year in which tobacco was grown in the county.


http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/environment-geography/flora-fauna/the-tobacco-growing-indus/

Read More

Flora and Fauna of Wexford Sloblands

A 1,000-hectare low lying flat polder land situated on the north side of Wexford Harbour was reclaimed from the sea in 1847. A two and a half mile long dyke was built from north of the Raven Point at the entrance of the harbour to the shore at Ardcavan, one and a half miles northeast of Wexford. This dyke enclosed 2,500 acres of mud flats and several islands the most important of which are Begerin Island, Big Island and Middle Island. These islands which comprise about 150 acres of the North Slobland stand out as low ridges in the other wise flat landscape.
The North Slob is roughly semi circular in shape, the sea-dyke forming the east-west diameter. A horseshoe shaped wide and shallow channel runs through the slob, ending abruptly at the sea-dyke near its east and west extremities.

This channel acts as a reservoir for the rainwater draining off the Sloblands and as the water rises in the channel it is pumped into Wexford Harbour via a pump-station on the sea-dyke at the west end of the channel.

Sloblands are below sea level. The reclaimed mudflats were divided up into large fields and kept dry by constant pumping. For about 100 years much of the Sloblands provided rough summer grazing for livestock, although parts were cultivated for cereals and root crops.

Horseriding on the slob

Nowadays most of the lands are sown with high quality grasses and winter/spring cereals although on occasions, a variety of other crops have been planted. Water plants and reed beds flourish along the edge of the drainage channels. The slobs are reminiscent of the Dutch polders. This is by its very nature, immensely attractive to wildfowl and waders.

The North Slob in Wexford is internationally famous for its wintering flock of 10,000 Greenland Whitefronted Geese (approximately one third of the world population), and for the wintering flocks of Brent Geese, Bewick's Swans and Wigeon. The North Slob is also very attractive to many other species of wildfowl and birds with almost 250 species now recorded.

There are many excellent vantage points to observe the birds and other fauna on the Wexford Sloblands.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/environment-geography/flora-fauna/flora-and-fauna-of-wexfor/

Read More

Why Go Green?

There are a number of important reasons to Go Green with your business, the most significant being that preserving the world’s natural resources is the responsibility of every individual both at work and at home.
You can Go Green by:

• Setting a positive example for staff which boosts morale and company loyalty
• Gaining a competitive advantage by differentiating yourself as a Greenified company
• Improving efficiency and potentially lowering operating costs
• Providing a cleaner and healthier work environment

Going Green can be an incremental process. As with many other business efforts, there will be easily attainable action steps and more advanced requirements. It is impossible to say how far along the Green path any business should travel, but a focused effort can have a meaningful impact.
There has never been a more appropriate time to Go Green. Its value is recognised more so now than ever before. 











http://www.goldengate.com.mt/Content/34/why%20go%20green/

Read More

Go Green

tip one  Look for and purchase products that are made from post-consumer content such as paper and plastic products. 

tip two  Recycle used office supplies whenever possible. 

tip three  Save paper by printing on both sides of a sheet of paper and printing in greyscale/draft whenever possible. 

tip four  Turn off your computer when not in use. 

tip five  Replace Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors with flat screen monitors. Flat screen displays consume only about one-third the energy of a CRT monitor. 

tip six  Keep computer equipment updated; current new computers and monitors are more energy efficient than those even just two years old. 

tip seven  Replace standard incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) wherever possible. These use 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs while delivering the same light. 

tip eight  Heat or cool your office to 23°C 
















http://www.goldengate.com.mt/Content/33/green-office-tips/

Read More