OF THE COUNTY OF DOWN. 43 



Sufficient for their confumption ; this, along with th,e 

 fucceeding crop of grain, in fome degree counterba- 

 lances the mifmanagement attending them; for, to ob- 

 tain that defirable and neceflary object, every method 

 is ufed in making manure, by which, at leaft, one crop 

 fucceeds a fallow. 



Character of the Partners. 



IT is a difficult matter to give a general character of 

 the inhabitants of any extenfive diftricl:, especially where 

 there is a very great difference in their Situation and 

 circumftances. The farmer of an extenfive traft, whofe 

 pofleffions put him nearly on a par with gentlemen of 

 fmall incomes, will naturally aflume the character of 

 that rank, to which he at leaft approaches ; whilft the 

 renter of a few acres finks, nearly to the level of the 

 tradefman or labourer. It is, therefore, neither in one 

 or the other of thefe denominations, that we are to 

 look for the general charafteriftic of our farmers, but 

 in the middle clafs, the pofleflbrs of from twenty to 

 fifty acres: thefe we (hall find to be a refpe&able body 

 of men, whether confidered in point of underftanding, 

 or morals; ftiarp and clever in their dealings, as may 

 be expefted from the clofe population of the country, 

 the conftant intercourfe, and continual making of bar- 

 gains, as well as their regular attendance on markets 

 and fairs, which are held in every town, and which an- 

 G 2 reforted 



