276 ULSTER ROUND LOUGH NEAGH 



unweathered subsoil, glacial scratchings could be 

 seen. Despite the proximity of limestone and the 

 presence of occasional boulders of the same rock, the 

 soils showed evidences of a lack of lime, corn marigold 

 being a not uncommon weed among the barley. We 

 found a five-course rotation in operation, not unlike 

 one that is practised in the Lothians, another potato 

 and barley growing district near the sea. Beginning 

 with turnips manured with most of the dung available, 

 barley was then taken, and one-year seeds were sown 

 in the barley. The ley was manured with seaweed 

 before being ploughed up, and a crop of potatoes was 

 next taken to be followed once more by barley. Very 

 few oats were grown in this particular area, and we 

 saw only one field of wheat. Practically all the land 

 was under tillage farming, though on the heavier soils 

 the ley might be left down for three or four years and 

 then made very fine pasturage. 



Barley is thus the leading crop, and its cultivation 

 shows a marked and indeed admitted improvement as 

 a result of the experiments conducted by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture with the co-operation of Messrs. 

 Guinness, the brewers. The main result has been the 

 introduction of a pure strain of Archer barley into 

 Ireland in place of the very mixed seed that was formerly 

 handed on from one farmer to another. The pure 

 seed was distributed widely as soon as the experiments 

 had demonstrated beyond all the limits of error 

 attaching to such work that this particular strain gave 

 a consistently higher yield, sufficient to more than make 

 up for the possible inferiority of quality which is 

 ascribed by some judges to Archer. In the Dundalk 

 district, in which wide-eared barleys of the Goldthorpe 

 type had been universally grown, Archer was now 

 making headway ; indeed, we saw it on field after field 



