Primitive Husbandry •
The simplicity is scarcely credible. Hay is still being cut, and cut with. sickles. It is often good hay but full of- the weeds that dry most slowly ; and it is a marvel how it is ever saved in so wet a climate. Much husbandry is as simple as husbandry can be ; yet in an area that seemed all barrenness I came upon a holding that was a mosaic of little squares of grain and potatoes ; and the holder was busy saving these from disease by the use of the latest spray and sprayer. His crops all looked admirable. There were few such oases in the neighbourhood ; but on the most waste of open, heather spaces cattle of at least tolerable quality are in numbers, pick up at least sufficient nourishment, and are healthy and well- looking. A monthly sheep and cattle fair in the little local township is crowded with stock (cattle in the street and sheep on the pavement), business is brisk. Poverty is intense nevertheless. It is calculated that with some of the smaller homes there enters not more than four pounds a year in money. The inmates live on what they produce, chiefly potatoes, and acquire what they cannot produce by barter. In especial eggs are exchanged for flour.
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