Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF ANTRIM. 



1161 



7104. LONDONDERRY. 510,720 acres, generally mountainous, fertile and) beautiful in' the vallies, 

 and containing every variety of soil. {Sampson's Survey of Londonderry, 1802, Wakefield. \Sup. Encyc. 

 Brit.) 



Landed property. With the exception of lands belonging to 

 tlie church, and the towns of Londonderry and Coleraine, and 

 certain portions reserved by the Crown to be afterwards erected 

 into freeholds, the whole of Londonderry was granted by 

 James I. to the twelve companies or guilds of London. The 

 estates are therefore held from these companies, either in per- 

 petuity, or on determinable leases. The principal proprietors 

 or leaseholders are Lords Waterford and Londonderry, Conolly, 

 Ogilby, and the families of Beresford and Ponsonby. 



The average ize iif Jiinn-i is from five to twenty Irish acres, 

 or at a medium little more than fifteen acres English. Whole 

 districts are sub-divided into patches of seven or eight acres, 

 but in a few situations there are farms of upwards of 300 acres. 



The leases are for a great many different periods, though most 

 commonly for twenty-one years and one life. 



The principal _crops are potatoes, barley, oats, and flax. 

 Wheat IS not in general cultivation. Turnips are very rare 

 and sown grasses and clovers far from being common. No 

 unitbrm .rotation of croi>s is recognised in practice, but it is 

 usual to take two crops of oats successively, and sometimes flax 

 the year following. Florin is the predominating plant in the 

 meadows, where it grows spontaneously with great luxuriance. 

 The live stock presents nothing worthy of particular notice. 

 Grazmg gromidsare not^xtensive, and there are few dairies. On 

 the east side.of the Bawn there are two extensive rabbit-warrens. 



The principal manu/odure is linen; the value exceeds half a 

 million sterling, besides brown or unbleached linens. 



7105. ARMAGH. 290,786 acres of varied and rather interesting surface of mountain, plain, and bog; 

 with rivers, streams, and lakes, and a climate mild for the latitude. {Coote's Survey of Armagh, 1804. 

 Wakefield. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



of th milch cows to the size of the farms is, on small farms 

 under five acres, one cow ; on farms exceeding five, and under 

 ten acres, perhaps two cows, seldom more. A considerable 

 number ofcattleai-e reared. From the low country they are 

 sent to the mountain ferms, .md frequently afterwards sold in 

 the Scotch market. They are in general of a'smaU. stunted 

 breed. The native sheep are an awkward breed; the wool 

 coarse, and in small quantity ; very little of it is exposed to 

 sale, there being harcQy sufficient for domestic use. Goats, 

 swine, and poultry abound. Wild geese, swans, wild ducks, 

 and several other species of aquatic birds, are indigenous to the 

 lakes and rivers. Formerly bees were much attended to, but 

 at present tliey are neglected. 



The romU in general are bad ; and, what is extraordinary, 

 the turnpikes are the worst, and the cross roads the best. 



The principal manufacture is that of linen. 



Marble of an excellent quality, and of great beauty, is wrought 

 in Armagh. 



Estates in this county are not large, there being only seven or 

 eight proprietors who possess them of the annual value of from 

 R)00/. to 10,000/. The fai-ms also are small, being commonly 

 from five to twenty acres, and seldom exceedinx; tbrty or fifty. 



Neither the arable nor the pasture htubandry of this county 

 present much that is worthy of notice. Potatoes, flax, and 

 oats, are the chief produce of the arable districts ; and those 

 are cultivated in a very rude and inferior manner, in conse- 

 quence of the ignorance of the farmers, and their want of 

 capital. 



There are no extensive dairy farms, nor are there any farmers 

 exclusively in this branch of husbandry ; nevertheless a con- 

 siderable quantity of butter is made here. One hundred weight 

 per cow is considered as the average produce. The proportion 



7106. DOWN. 558,289 acres, of which one-eighth are mountainous and waste, the remainder hilly 

 and productive, cultivated by small manufacturers, and embellished by plantations, bleaching grounds, 

 and neat white-washed habitations. The climate is variable, but not subject to extremes. {Dubourdieur's 

 Survey of Down, 1802. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



Landed property. There are some large estates, though in 

 general it is much divided, and has all the different gradations, 

 from the most opulent nobleman to the tenant in perjjetuity 

 who farms his owni land. Most of ft is freehold. The rental 

 was above the average rental of the best coimties in Scotland, 



as returned to the commissioners of the property-tax in 1811. 



The farms may be divided into two kinds ; the first, [such 



are possessed by farmers who have recourse to no other branch 



of industry ; the second, such as are held by weavers and other 

 tradesmen. The former run from twenty to fifty, and, in 

 some instjmces, so far as 100 acres; the latter are of every size, 

 from one to twenty acres. The rent is always paid in money ; 

 ])ersonal services are never exacted. Some leases are ibr lives 

 and years, others for lives alone. Fences consist chiefly of a 

 ditch and bank, without quicks of any kind, or sometimes with 

 a few plants of furze stuck into the face of the bank ; but dry- 

 stone walls are frequent in the stony mountainous parts. 

 Great improvement has been made in its agriculture witliin 

 these twenty years. Threshuig mills and two-horse ploughs 

 have been iiitroduced. But it cannot be said that a good sys- 

 tem prevails generally, which the small size of the farms, indeed, 

 render impracticable. A regular rotation is rarely followed in 

 the crops ; fallows, clovers, and turnips, are upon a very small 

 scale; and from the greater part of the arable land, it is still 

 the practice to take crops of grain in succession, only partially 

 interrupted by potatoes, flax, and peas. Oats, the principal 



grain, are grown on all soils; barley is usually sown after 

 potatoes, and also wheat to some extent on the coast. Of flax 

 they sow four bushels an Irish acre, and the medium produce 

 is fiCty stones. Rye and peas occupy but a small space. Lime, 

 marl, shelly-sand, and sea-weed, are used as maniures. Paring 

 and burning are confined to the moimtains. 



There are extensive meadutvs on the banks of the Bann and the 

 Laggan ; but the soil, except on the mountains, is thought to be 

 better adapted to tillage than pasture. A good many beasts are 

 fatted, but cows are the prevailing stock, kept in small numbers 

 on every farm. They are long-homed, thin in the sides, and deep 

 in the belly, but yield much milk when weU fed, and each of 

 them from 60 to as much as 120 poimds of butter in the year, 

 or about two-thirds of the medium produce of the butter dairies- 

 of England. Sheep, in flocks of any size, are confined to the 

 mountain tUstricts. They are very small, many of them, when 

 fat, not weighing more than seven or eight pounds a quarter. 

 On the low ground there are a few, seldom exceeding half a 

 score, on almost every farm. A great number of hogs are fat- 

 tened ; many of them bred in the county, but not a few brought 

 from the west of Ireland. The dry hills of this county, covered 

 with heath and odoriferous herbs, are well adapted to bees, 

 but the number of hives has greatly decreased within these 

 twenty years. 



The principal manufacture is linen, which is carried on in 

 all its branches. 



7107. ANTRIM. 622,059 acres; on the east and north mountainous, destitute of plantations, and 

 abounding in bogs ; the other parts more level and fruitful, and the chmate drier than in some other 

 counties. {Newenham's Statistical Survey. Wakefield. Dubourdieur's Survey of Antrim, 1812. Sup. 

 Encyc. Brit.) 



Minerals. Besides basalt, limestone, gypsum, coals, fossil- 

 wood, or wood-coal, sandstone, &c. are found. The fossil- 

 wood, or wood-coal, in most places, is covered witli columns of 

 basalt, and is curious as explanatory of the origin of coal. Not- 

 withstanding the compressed state in which it is found, the 

 bark and knots are quite distinct, and the rings denoting tlie 

 annual growth of the wood may be counted. In some instances 

 the roots of the trees may be traced. Of the only two coal 

 mines which are wrought in the province of Ulster, there is 

 one in Antrim, at Bally Castle. The coals are bituminous, 

 and of a bad quality ; a great part of them are exixirted. 



Landed properly. Estates are in general freehold, being 

 either immecUate grants from the Crown, or held under those 

 grants. The exceptions are the properties under Uie see of 

 Connor. Some of the estates are very large. The Marquess 

 of Hertford, and the Antrim family, possess the fee of the major 

 part of the county. The former has 64,000 f^reen acres; that 

 is, land capable of (tillage, and indei>endently of bog and 

 mountain. Most of the Antrim estate is let on peri>etuity, m 

 farms worth 200W. or 3000Z. per annum. 7"he other great 

 proprietors are the Marquess of Donegal, Lord Templeton, and 

 Lord O'Neil. The estate of Lord Templeton, however, is 

 only leasehold under the Marquess of Donegal, who lets his land 

 for sixty -one ^ears and a life, but renews at the end of a few 

 years for a price. 



The/arms are in general very small. The principal feature 

 in the tillage system is the potatoe faUow. The small size of 

 the farms, and, in some places, the rockiness of the soil, precludes 



the use of the ordinary means of culture, and therefore a part 

 of the land is dug wiUi the spade. The quanUty of potatoe-land 

 is regulated by the quantity of manure that can be collected. 



After potatoes, flax is sown, and the quantity of flax ground is 

 regulated by the abUity to purchase the seed. A crop of oats 

 furnishes the regular rotation. When the ground is exnausted, 

 it is turned to rest, that is, it is suttered to lie till it is covered 

 with natural grass. Such is the most general plan of husbandry 

 pursued in Antrim. In those parts where the farms are too 

 large for the spade culture, the land i:; ploughed by three or 

 four neighbors uniting their strength; one supplying the 

 plough, and the others bringing a horse, bullock, or even a 

 milch cow. Wheat is a plant of very modem introduction in 

 Antrim, and very little of it is sown. 



The most important crop is flax. 



The cattle consist chiefly of milch cows, belonging to small 

 occupiers, of a small stunted breed. Sheep are very litUe 

 attended to ; and the few that are kejrt are of a very mferior 

 kind. Goats are numerous in the mountainous parts of the 

 county. Pigs also are kept in great numbers. 



This county by no means abounds with wood ; nor are fruit- 

 trees cultivated in great abundance, or with very much success, 

 ttf the apple, however, several new and valuable varieties 

 have lately been introduced, and advantageously cultivated. 



Antrim has long been distinguished for its liiien manufacture ; 

 but latterly the manufacture'of cotton has, in some measure, 

 supplanted it, esjiecially in the vicinity of Belfest. 



There is a considerable saUnoo-fisbing on the coast. 



