2OO By Stream and Sea. 



legged or ragged, and, in truth, there are some English 

 counties where Hodge had better hide from comparison 

 with the Antrim farm hand. There seems this year to have 

 been great delay with the hay crop, and it is high time the 

 cocks which still stand in the meadows should be ricked. 

 The grain is not ripe, nor are the crops good even for this 

 land ; but such potato fields were never seen before. 



Some one has informed the independent, civil, well-dressed 

 driver of my car that when there is a comet grapes and 

 potatoes are to be had galore, and this certainly happens at 

 present to coincide with known facts. Somehow the potato 

 in Ireland makes a much grander show in the field than 

 elsewhere. The leaves are greener and more gracefully cut, 

 the stalks are more bushy, and the flowers better shaped and 

 coloured. One would not care to mention an Irish potato 

 field as the subject of an epic or an Academy picture, but 

 an Englishman cannot fail to be struck with the luxurious 

 picture it presents. 



Happily the flax at this time of the month rests at a stage 

 when the nostrils are not seriously offended by it. It covers 

 the field just now, like straight short lengths of hay, and is 

 undergoing the process of drying as rapidly as the moist 

 climate will allow it. The English characteristics of the 

 landscape are continued by the appearances of Episcopalian^ 

 Presbyterian, and other places of worship in the villages. A 

 range of hills, along the base of which we wind, extends to 

 the left ; the commons of Carrick are very picturesque, and 

 in a high state of cultivation. For what is called scenery 

 the country, however, is not remarkable ; nature has done 

 nothing violently here, but has been content with gentle 

 undulations and a fair proportion of wood and water. The 

 rain-stained placards on the walls remain to show that, 

 whatever a recent election cry in other parts may have been, 



