of Ulster during the first few years succeeding the potato failure was as portentous as in any other province in Ireland, for whereas in Leinster only 44,514, in Minister 85,929, in Connaught 78,958 holdings between one and fifteen acres disappeared, in Ulster as many as 95,429 have been obliterated.[1] If we restrict the comparison to holdings between one and five acres, Ulster's sinister pre-eminence over Leinster and Munster is still maintained, nearly twice as many holdings of this description having been extinguished in Ulster as in Munster, and almost three times as many as in Leinster, the numbers being in Leinster 27,007, in Munster 44,956, in Ulster 74,650, and Connaught 81,786.
It has been urged that the foregoing figures prove nothing, inasmuch as Ulster contains a farming population largely in excess of that of Munster and Connaught, and nearly twice as numerous as that of Leinster, and that we must ignore the fact of nearly 100,000 small holdings having disappeared in Ulster, on the ground that they formed a smaller percentage on the total number of farms in that Province than did those which have suc-
- ↑ Reduction of Holdings between 1 and 15 acres, from 1841 to 1861;
1841. 1861. Decrease. Leinster . 96,149 . 53,363 . 42,786 Munster . 119,610 . 35,695 . 83,915 Ulster . 201,820 . 110,511 . 91,309 Connaught . 145,656 . 69,831 . 75,825 For the particulars of the entire period from 1841 to 1865, see Appendix.
