The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-02-05

be mentioned that the Irish farmers have
very indistinct idea of bushel. Every.
thing in Ireland is bought and sold by
weight. The ton, the long ton or two
thousand two hundred and forty pounds,
is az familiar to the Irish farmer as the
half bushel measure is TO Southern
planter. Sixty pounds of potatoes being
regarded a bushel, the average yield Of
potatoes in Ireland is over two hundred
bushels. The average yield of fturnips is
about twelve tons. think that both the
roots and tops are weighed. The average
yield of hay is about two tons. The
average quantity of wheat is about twenty
eight bushels. The average yield of oats
is somewhat greater than that of wheat,
and of barley and rYe.a third greater.
The climate of Ireland is not we'll adapted
to either wheat or oats. The defect Is
that the moisture is so great that neither
wheat nor oat ripen we'll. The potat"
of Ireland is good, but no better than Can
be raised in any part of the two Caro-
linas. have often heard j, said that in
Ireland it was not an uncommon thing
to see at the same time on the table both
old and new, or fresh, potatoes, and that
the old were the better. This does moi
correspond with what / saw. l saw a
great many old potatoes, that is, potatoes
of the year previous, buE they were by no
means good. They were full of black
spots. They were not, as we would say,
rotten, but they were badly damaged on
account of age. They were far better
than our old potatoes, kept in the same
way. would have been, but they were not
near so good a. our ''new" potatoes are.
As general thing, the Irish farmers
live we'll. They do not eat as much hogs
lard as we eat, but they live as we'll, if
not better, than the same class of persons
do in our country. They have an abun-
dance of good milk and butter, and
many of them have cheese. Oatmeal
mush and milk, or as they call it "stir
about" is as palatable dish as ever was
tasted, and it is full of nutriment. 1t is
this oatmeal that gives to the Irish lad
his muscle and the Irish lass her rosy
cheeks.
As general rule, the Irish people,
those of the better class, buy all their
bread except oat bread and potato bread.
The bakers in the towns and cities send
out their bread wagons se:eral times
during the week all over the adjacent
country with bread. From these wagons
the farmers buy as much bread as they
need. This bread is decidedly good. 1t
is made of good -four and is we'll baked.
The oat bread is baked at home. Thsis
usually baked in thin cakes, and is
generally very dry and hard, but we'll
tasted. From what l saw, think that
very little cat bread is used The oat
meal is generally made into "stir about"
Potato bread is made by mixing potatoes
and -four together, as is done sometimes
in our Southern country. We, however,
use sweet potatoes; the Irish use Irish
potatoes. 1t is tough but palatable.
The Irish use no coffee, or at least. very
little; but they are great tea drinkers.
The lea they drink is far better than
what we use. In fact, no one who has
drunk the tea used ethics. in England,
Ireland or Scotland, can drink the stuff
which we call tea. So far as remember,
I did not see biscuit in ireland. | do
not think the people use that kind of
bread at all.
The hospitality of the Irish people
knows no bounds. 1t is without paral.
lei. We Americans, who arc in con.
tinual rush, as if our very existence
depended npon the rapidity of our move
ments, can form no idea of the marvel
aus hospitality of an Irish farmer.
When stranger knocks at his door and
asks for Judging for the night. he does
not rack his brain for an excuse TO turn
him of, or 60 into the house to ask bis
wife, but promptly replies with glow
ing countenance, which betokens warm
heart, Eyes, come in" In his own
house an Irishman is a gentleman.