THE IRELAND OF TO-DAY. 43 



pigs is also prosecuted almost everywhere. The 

 West produces numerous though not often 

 excellent fowl. There is everywhere a potato 

 field which in crop rotation often interchanges 

 with oats and is intended for the sustenance 

 of the owner. The importance of the potato 

 in the food of the people is much less than 

 in former times, but even to-day it takes a 

 very prominent place. A good year not only 

 renders possible a comparatively luxurious style 

 of living but it also permits the rearing and sale 

 of pigs, whilst a bad year in many cases means 

 famine. Next to potatoes, cow's milk plays a 

 great part in the people's diet. 



6. As a sixth class we may perhaps mention 

 certain farms, particularly in the West, which 

 may be designated as household farms. A 

 household farm in the strictest sense of the 

 word is not possible in a country where the 

 people have to pay rent. There the farmer must 

 produce for the market. On many farms in the 

 West however the occupants only produce oats, 

 potatoes, milk, &c., for their own use. The wool 

 of the mountain sheep is spun and transformed 

 into clothing. Any scanty surpluses achieved in 

 this manner are sold, but are not sufficient to 

 pay the rent. The rent, therefore, is in many 

 cases paid out of some secondary source of profit, 

 by fishing, tramping abroad for work, industrial 

 activity, &c., so that we may say in a certain 

 sense that only the household needs of the 

 family are supplied by the farm. 



