LIGHT HORSES 269 



His main business was perhaps potatoes, and he 

 had developed a considerable business in "seed." An 

 immense barn was devoted to storage, because it was 

 found much more convenient for winter deliveries in 

 bad weather than the usual pits, though great care 

 had to be taken to ensure ventilation and prevent so 

 large a mass heating. Our host sprouted most of his 

 seed, for which again the barn was convenient, and 

 was hard at work spraying at the time we were going 

 round. Little disease was in evidence that year, 

 though on the very same day we noticed a few 

 leaves affected in a garden. The only cereal generally 

 grown in the district was oats, and that wholly for 

 consumption, there being little or no sale and at a 

 low range of prices. In consequence the finer Scotch 

 varieties we had seen in the Ards had given place 

 to the coarser sorts yielding grain only suitable for 

 stock. 



On this farm we saw a choice herd of pedigree 

 Shorthorns, and though our host complained that they 

 were not in their proper condition for the time of 

 year because of the shortness of grass through the 

 drought, to any one who had just come from the 

 scorched English pastures they looked to be thriving 

 and on an abundance of keep. No dairying was done 

 on the farm, the sale of yearlings being the form of 

 realization adopted. No sheep were bred, but every 

 year a certain number of lambs were brought off the 

 mountains and fattened on the grass with turnips, 

 as the land would not stand folding. On another 

 farm our host went in for horse breeding, and there 

 he had a mare of what is sometimes distinguished 

 as the old Irish draught breed an active horse that 

 will do light ploughing and other farm work and is 

 particularly adapted for artillery and other transport 



