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ARM
the north-western adjoining Tyrone, and the neighbour-
hoods of Armagh, Market-hill, and Tanderagee, are
level; the remainder is hilly, rising in the southern
parts into mountains of considerable elevation. The
highest is Slieve Gullion, rising, according to the
Ordnance survey, 1893 feet above the level of the sea;
it is about seven miles from the southern border, and
is considered to be the loftiest point of land in Ulster,
except Slieve Donard, in the neighbouring county of
Down. Slieve Gullion sinks on the east into the Fathom
Hills, which skirt the Newry water. One of the finest
and most extensive prospects in Ulster is obtained from
its summit, which commands the bay of Dundalk; and
the bold and picturesque features of mountain scenery
are confined to this immediate vicinity, including the
Doobrin mountains and the neighbourhood of Forkhill.
Westward to the Fews the country exhibits a chain of
abrupt hills, the greater part of which can never be
reduced to a state of profitable cultivation. Further
west are the Fews mountains, a subordinate range,
lying in a direction from south-east to north-west.
The fertility of the more level districts towards the
eastern, northern, and north-western confines is very
remarkable, especially in the views from Richhill, the
numerous demesnes being sufficiently wooded to orna-
ment the whole country, and the surface generally varied
by pleasing undulations. From the shores of Lough
Neagh, however, extend considerable tracts of low,
marshy, and boggy land. The other lakes are few and
small: that of Camlough, romantically situated on the
northern verge of Slieve Gullion, is the largest. Lough
Clay, in the western part of the county, which gives
rise to one of the branches of the Callen river, is the
next in size; but neither of them would be noticed for
extent or beauty if situated in some of the neighbouring
counties. A chain of small lakes occupying the south-
western boundary of the county is valuable from the
supply of water afforded by them to the mills in their
neighbourhood. Coney Island, near the southern shore
of Lough Neagh, and between the mouths of the Black-
water and Bann rivers, is the only island in the county;
it is uninhabited. The climate is more genial than most
of the other counties in Ulster, as is evinced by the
greater forwardness of the harvests: this advantage has
been attributed to the nature of the soil and subsoil,
the gentle undulation of the surface, the absence of
moor or marshy land, and the protection by mountains
from the cooling breezes of the sea.
The soil is generally very fertile, especially in the
northern part, the surface of which is a rich brown loam,
tolerably deep, on a substratum of clay or gravel. There
is an abundance of limestone in the vicinity of Armagh,
and in Kilmore and other places; and there are quarries
near Lough Neagh, but the stone lies so deep, and they
are subject to such a flow of water, as to be of little
practical use. Towards Charlemont there is much bog,
which yields red ashes, and is easily reclaim able; the
substratum of this is a rich limestone. The eastern part
of the county consists of a light friable soil. In the
south the country is rocky and barren: huge rocks of
granite are found on the surface promiscuously mixed
with blocks of limestone, as if thrown together by some
convulsion of nature. All the limestone districts make
good tillage and meadow ground: the natural meadow
found on the banks of the rivers, and formed of a very
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ARM
deep brown loam, yields great crops without manure.
The hilly district is generally of a deep retentive soil on
a gravelly but not calcareous substratum: a decayed
freestone gravel, highly tinged with ferruginous ore, is
partially found here: the subsoil is sometimes clay-slate.
In these districts heath is peculiarly vigorous, except
where the judicious application of lime has compelled it
to give place to a more productive vegetation. Except
near Newtown-Hamilton, there is but little bog among
these hills. The valleys which lie between them have a
rich and loamy soil, which yields much grain, and does
not abound in aquatic plants, although the poa fluitans
grows in them in great luxuriance. The general inequa-
lity of surface which pervades the county affords great
facilities for drainage.
In consequence of the dense population the farms
are generally very small, and much land is tilled with
the spade. Wheat is a very general crop in the baronies
of Armagh, the O’Neillands, and Turaney; the main
crops in the other baronies are oats, flax, and potatoes.
In the smaller farms potatoes constitute the first and
second crops, sometimes even a third; and afterwards
flax occupies a portion of the potatoe plot, and barley
the remainder, if the soil be dry and fine, but if other-
wise, crops of oats are taken in succession. The treat-
ment of the wheat crop consists of one harrowing and
one ploughing, to level the potatoe furrows; if two crops
of potatoes have preceded, a small quantity of ashes is
scattered over the surface. The seed most in use is the
red Lammas wheat, and the quantity sown is about
three bushels to the acre. Potatoe oats are commonly
sown on the best lands; black oats, and sometimes
white oats, on land manured with lime, in the moun-
tainous districts; this latter species, when sown on
mountain land not previously manured and drained,
will degenerate into a black grain in two or three sea-
sons. Flax is invariably sown on potatoe ground,
the plot being tilled with the spade, but not rolled:
Dutch seed is sown on heavy soils, American on light
soils. The seed is not saved, and therefore the plant is
pulled just before it changes colour, from an opinion
that when thus prepared it makes finer yarn. More
seed was sown, in 1835 than was ever before known, in
consequence of the increased demand from the spinners
in England and Ireland. The pasturage is abundant
and nutritious; and though there are no extensive
dairies, cows are kept by all the small farmers of the
rich northern districts, whence much butter is sent to
the Belfast market: a considerable quantity of butter,
generally made up in small firkins, is also sent to
Armagh and Newry for exportation. The state of agri-
culture in modern times has very much improved; gen-
tlemen and large farmers have introduced all the im-
proved agricultural implements, with the practice of
drainage, irrigation, and rotation crops. Mangel-wurzel,
turnips, clover, and all other green crops are now gene-
rally cultivated even upon the smallest farms, particu-
larly around Matket-hill, Tanderagee, Banagher, and
other places, where the greatest encouragement is given
by Lords Gosford, Mandeville, and Charlemont, and by
Col. Close and other resident gentlemen, who have
established farming societies and expend large sums
annually in premiums. The Durham, Hereford, North
Devon, Leicester, Ayrshire, and other breeds of cattle
have been introduced, and by judicious crosses a very