IRELAND, KERRY, are nowise inferior to the former. Cork harbour, a principal rendezvous of ships of war, is one of the securest in the world.

Shannon.

Blacksod.

Strangford Lough.

The river Shannon on the West coast affords another fine and spacious harbour. From Kerryhead, at the mouth of this river, to Scattery Island, where the ships of war and East Indiamen usually anchor, the distance is 17 miles; and from the Kerry to the Clare shore by that island, the breadth of the river is nearly three miles. The soundings throughout, Westward of Scattery Island, are from two to 20 fathoms; near that island from two to seven, with a mud bottom.

Blacksod harbour, on the West coast, is sheltered from the South-West winds by the high land of Achil Island; it is five miles in length and breadth, with good anchorage throughout.

Strangford Lough on the North-East, and Lough Foyle on the North coast, are safe and capacious harLough Foyle bours; the entrance to the former, however, is somewhat intricate, and often difficult from the strength of the currents; that of the latter is extremely narrow. Broadhaven, likewise on the West coast, Carlingford Harbour, and Belfast Lough on the North-East, Waterford on the South-East, Kinsale, Crookhaven, Castlehaven, on the South and South-West coasts, are all excellent harbours, and may be approached in safety Howth and in tempestuous weather. The harbours of Howth and Kingston.. that of Kingston in the Bay of Dublin, are both admirable works; the latter especially, which is formed by moles embracing a basin of an Irish mile square in deep water, is perhaps the most magnificent construction of the kind in the world. The smaller havens for the accommodation of fishing and coasting vessels, have been very much improved of late years, considerable sums of money having been expended on them by Parliament, from a wish to give employment to the Irish population.

Canals.

Lakes.

Woods.

The chief canals of Ireland (see CANALS) are the Grand canal and the Royal canal: the former uniting Dublin with the navigation of the Shannon and the Barrow; the latter connecting the same city with the Boyne. The Newry canal forms a junction between Lough Neagh and Carlingford bay. The great natural facilities which Ireland possesses for internal navigation, may be looked upon as a store of resources for the fresh developement of industry at a future day, but at present the internal commerce of the Country is by no means equal to the charge of keeping the canals already constructed in repair.

The lakes of Ireland are extremely numerous. The chief of them is Lough Neagh, which covers an extent of 58,000 acres: it is bounded by the Counties of Antrim, Armagh, Tyrone, and Londonderry. Lough Earne, in the County of Fermanagh, is 35 miles in length, and is in one place 12 miles wide: its banks are in general well wooded. The celebrated lakes of Killarney will be found fully described under KERRY.

There is a remarkable deficiency of wood in Ireland; many miles may be travelled over without meeting a single tree. Yet it would appear from the old Historians that the Country was at one time a continuous forest. Perhaps the impracticability of the native woods, which it was difficult to penetrate, led the English settlers to form an exaggerated opinion of their extent. However that may be, the Irish woods were destroyed with an unsparing hand; and well-grown timber is now hardly to be seen throughout the entire

kingdom. Just as in North America, where the hatred IRELAND of the thick woods led to so indiscriminate a destruction of them, that the nakedness of the landscape in the United States is at present not unfrequently complainea of. Giraldus Cambrensis says, that in his time Ireland had too much wood and very little champagne ground; but Campion, who wrote about four centuries later, (1576,) complains, on the other hand, that the English pale was too naked. Wakefield (vol. i. p. 530.) has collected much testimony to show that, even within the last century, the woods of Ireland were of great extent. These were, probably, coppice-woods. It is doubted by many whether the climate of Ireland be as favourable to the growth of large timber as that of England. In the oak-woods of Kilkenny, and in those of Shillelah, in the County of Wicklow, there are good-sized trees, but nothing that can be called a "monarch" of the wood. The finest timber in Ireland is to be found, perhaps, in the County of Fermanagh, where the beech predominates, and in that of Waterford. The ash-tree is not indigenous, but it flourishes in a surprising manner: the whole tract of light calcareous soil from Carlow to Kilkenny would be a forest of ash in a very few years, if it were not for the cattle and the plough. The climate of Ireland is singularly favourable to the growth of evergreens; the holly attains a great size even on the tops of mountains; the evergreen oak and the arbutus grow luxuriantly; the latter plant is not found in a wild state in any other Country North of the Alps. Some old yew-trees are of astonishing dimensions. One species of this tree, called the Florencecourt Yew, with dark-coloured erect leaves, like the cypress, appears to be peculiar to Ireland, where it is not, however, by any means common. Myrtle grows in abundance near all the coasts, but particularly on the South-Eastern shores in the County of Wexford, where it is often made into besoms. The woods of Ireland were infested by wolves till the middle of the XVIIth century; a sure proof of a backward state of cultivation. In a patent of King James I. the wolves are even said to be numerous.

When that intelligent traveller, Arthur Young, visited Roads. Ireland, in 1779, he was surprised at the superiority of the Irish over the English roads. "For a Country," he says, 66 So far behind us as Ireland, to have got suddenly so much the start of us in the article of roads, is a spectacle that cannot fail to strike the English traveller exceedingly." (Travels in Ireland, ii. 56.) "I could trace a route upon paper as wild as fancy could dictate, and every where find beautiful roads without break or hindrance to enable me to realize my design." (Ib. 57.) But the Irish roads have been wonderfully improved and increased in number since the time of Young. Magnificent roads have been constructed within these few years, under the direction of engineers employed by Government, through the wild and mountainous districts of the South-West. The general excellence of the roads in Ireland may, perhaps, be chiefly ascribed to the abundance of hard limestone, to the absence of retentive clay, and of light sandy foundations, and in some measure to the climate, which, though moist, is seldom incommoded with floods or drenching rains. In 1809, Newenham (View of Ireland) ventured to pronounce that "in proportion to its size, there are few Countries which have so many, and not one, perhaps, which has so good roads as Ireland." Now, it is worth while to remark, that the improvement of the Irish roads is of a comparatively recent date. Even in

IRELAND. the beginning of the last century, Ireland appears to have been nearly destitute of the means of internal communication. Mr. Brown, in a Tract on the benefits arising from navigable rivers, published in Dublin in 1728, observes, that the whole inland carriage of the Country is performed by horses in summer time, when the roads are dry; but in other seasons of the year there is little or no land-carriage. He adds, that the business of land-carriage must be hurried on in one quarter of the year.

Climate,

Rain.

In respect of mildness and equability, the climate of Ireland is surpassed by very few, if by any in Europe. While the Country was still in a wild state, Giraldus Cambrensis spoke of its climate in terms of eulogy; terra terrarum temperatissima, he says, aëris amœnitate temperieque tempora ferè cuncta tepescunt. Its general mildness, indeed, is such, that, except in the Northern Counties, the rich pastures, or those which have been fairly treated, exhibit, in the midst of winter, the finest verdure imaginable, and afford sustenance to cattle throughout the year. In the Southern Counties a great proportion of the cattle are never housed during the winter; and in the County of Kerry there have been instances of two crops of corn being raised from the same land within the year. The vigorous growth of wild myrtle and arbutus in several parts of the South of Ireland, and in elevated situations, sufficiently evinces the general mildness of the winters.

It is probable that the quantity of rain which falls annually in Ireland, is less than that which falls in England; but it is evidently impossible to arrive at certain results on this question, from the partial observations hitherto made on local climates. The SouthEastern part of Ireland is much drier than the North and West; and some Counties, as that of Carlow for example, enjoy at all seasons a genial temperature and serene sky. But yet the atmosphere of Ireland is much more moist than that of the other British Islands. The rains in that Country, though not heavy, are frequent, and, in particular situations, are incessant. Wet fogs and heavy dews are also usual. The diseases of moist climates, agues and febrile ailments, were, formerly, very prevalent, but are now seldom heard of. This change may, perhaps, indicate some alteration in the climate, produced by cultivation, but it is much more probable that it arises from the improved habits of the people in the central and most boggy district. It was supposed by Dr. Hamilton, (Trans. of the Royal Irish Acad. vol. vi. and vii.) that a very important alteration was taking place in the climate of Ireland; the winters growing warmer, the summers more cool, and hurricanes becoming more frequent. The celebrated Kirwan appears to have entertained a similar opinion; but this change, if it really have existence, may, perhaps, be but a periodical variation of climate felt through a large portion of the globe. Dr. Rutty observed, (Nat. Hist. of Dublin,) that the perspiration in Ireland is greater than in England, and in South Carolina and in Cork it is almost equal to what it is in Italy. Indeed, the mean temperature at Cork is so high, as to admit of numerous tropical plants being naturalized in the neighbourhood of that city.

The comparative heat of the several seasons in London and Dublin has been estimated as follows by Dr. Bryan Robinson:

In the general fertility of its soil, Ireland has per- Soil. haps the superiority over Great Britain. "Natural fertility," says Mr. Young, "acre for acre over the two Kingdoms, is certainly in favour of Ireland.” (vol. ii. p. 3.) There are some tracts so rich that it is even difficult to exhaust them. "There are tracts of such 66 on the Earl incomparable land," observes Mr. Young, of Kingston's estate in the County of Cork, that I have seen very little equal to them, except in Tipperary, Limerick, and Roscommon. A deep friable loam, moist enough for the spontaneous growth to fatten a bullock, and dry enough to be perfectly under command in tillage: if I was to name the characteristics of an excellent soil, I should say that upon which you may fatten an ox and feed off a crop of turnips. By the way, I recollect no such land in England, yet it is not uncommon in Ireland." (vol. ii. p. 271.) The finest land in Ireland is a dry, mellow, sandy loam, very deep, and generally resting on limestone. Land of this description is chiefly found in the central and SouthWestern districts, or in the belt extending from the borders of the County of Down to the extremities of those of Cork and Clare; particularly near the ShanStony districts, also, in which limestone gravel is the chief constituent of the soil, occur not unfrequently, and surprise travellers by their fertility. But the Irish mountains are productive as well as the rich lowlands; the softness of the climate is such, that they are covered to their summits with excellent grasses, and, indeed, the highlands of Ireland are the chief nurseries for the immense droves of cattle which are now annually exported from that Country. "On Macgillicuddy's reeks," says Mr. Young, "which is the wildest and most desolate region in Kerry, he might have said in Ireland,) sheep are fattened better than in the lowlands."

non.

IRELAND.

Notwithstanding the fertility of the Irish soil, it is certain that the average produce of crops is inferior Agriculture, to that in England, perhaps in the ratio of four to five. The cause of this inferiority must be sought in the poverty and mismanagement of the agriculturists. A very large proportion of those who till the land in Ireland, are wholly without capital; they are without implements, make use of inferior seed, and fetch their produce to market in the most slovenly manner. The richness of the land, which will often produce successive crops of corn, without requiring the previous attention of the husbandman; the great abundance of natural manures, such as marl and limestone gravel; and the general dryness and friability of the soil, which seldom requires more than a pair of small horses to the plough; are so many advantages which have allowed the Irish farmer to persevere in his remiss and slovenly habits. But it must be remembered that agriculture is not of very ancient date in that Country. The agriculture of the native Irish must have been of the most wretched description imaginable. But even in the beginning of the XVIIIth century, the agriculture of Ireland was barely sufficient to support a population of little more than two miilions. So contracted was the tillage about the year 1727, that a single unfavourable season, as we learn from the Letters of Archbishop Boulter, was productive of great distress, at least to those who did not subsist throughout the year on potatoes.

Extent of

tillage.

Its defects.

In a Letter to Lord Carteret, dated July 20th, 1727, his Grace says, "As to the Corn and Tillage Bill, the great damage to this Kingdom from landlords tying up their tenants from ploughing, the throwing so many families out of work that might be employed by tillage, and the terrible scarcity next to a famine, that a great part of this Kingdom now labours under, by the corn not yielding well last year, and to which we are liable upon any the least accident in our harvest, makes us all very desirous of having it passed; and as it is only five acres out of a hundred that are to be tilled, and that every farmer has two years to lay out his schemes of ploughing, we hope it will not be accounted any hardship to force them to till so small a portion of their land." It may be inferred from the Letters of Archbishop Boulter, that during his administration in Ireland, not more than one-fortieth part of that Country was under tillage, and not more than a tenth, perhaps, of that which is tilled at the present day. In the same Letter the Primate observes, "In some of the finest Counties there is not a corn-field to be seen in ten or fifteen miles travelling." At present cultivation reaches to the tops of the mountains.

In 1809, a well-informed writer (Newenham, View, 303.) calculated that there were probably two millions of acres in Ireland employed in the culture of grain, besides about 800,000 acres of potatoes and 150,000 of flax; but as the internal consumption of the Country, as well as the exportation of grain and agricultural produce of all kinds, have increased within the last twenty years in the ratio of at least three to five, the land at present under tillage in Ireland must amount, at the most moderate calculation, to five millions of acres, or one-fourth of the whole Island.

In the wilds of Mayo, and throughout a great part of the West of Ireland, the culture of land is still in so infantile a state, that the earth is rendered productive rather by the accumulation of labour, than by the as

sistance of skill or capital. There the crop of potatoes IRELAND is every thing; a crop cultivated chiefly with the spade. This system pervades in some degree every part of the Island; on it depends the subsistence of the cultivator and his whole family. His wants, indeed, are few, and easily supplied, else it would be impossible for him to subsist on such scanty means of support; but this circumstance occasions a habit of indolence, which is The small farmers' attended with very bad effects. potatoes are often left in the ground till the commencement of frost makes him apprehensive that his food may be locked up in the earth; and though very serious inconvenience has often been the consequence of this neglect, yet the Irish peasant has not yet learned to adopt a better method. (Wakefield, i. 583.) Mr. Young calculated that, converting Irish acres into English, it would require an expense of five pounds per acre to place Ireland on the same footing with England in regard to her rural economy.

Although the husbandry of Irish farms is, generally speaking, of a very wretched description, it must not be supposed that examples are wanting there of scientific agriculture. Indeed the Scotch system of agriculture may be said to be generally practised on the large farms, or those which remain in the hands of the gentlemen. The lower Orders alone are obstinately opposed to any change of the old routine; yet even among them improvements are daily introduced, and, considering all the circumstances of the Country, particularly the cheapness of labour, the loss arising from their defective system is not so great as might be imagined.

As systems of agriculture, however, ought to be adapted to the climate of the Countries in which they are practised, the agriculture of Ireland must, in many particulars, differ widely from that which is found to answer in Great Britain. In some climates Nature peremptorily prescribes to the farmer the course which he is to follow; the great heats of summer and the heavy rains of winter are equally obstructive of the operations of husbandry; vegetation, too, depends wholly on the seasons, being at one time wholly at a stand, while at another it runs up with a rapidity which it is impossible to check. In a Country having such a climate, as in the South of France, the farmer has no discretion; he must follow the seasons and obey Nature, which admits of no control. But Ireland is an example of the opposite kind; in that Country the ground may be tilled every day in the year; the vegetation of grasses is never suspended by the severity of winter; the distinction of the seasons is not so strongly marked as to deprive the husbandman of a large choice in the routine of cultivation which he is to adopt. The corn grown in Ireland is decidedly inferior to that of England; and the cause of this inferiority is obviously not the want of agricultural skill; but the humidity and moderate temperature of the climate, which are alike unfavourable to the ripening of grain. But the cultivation of artificial grasses, which Nature points out as the proper object of the Irish farmer, is as yet hardly known in that Country. However prosperous, therefore, agriculture may be in Ireland at present, there is no doubt that it admits of very great improvements, not only from eradicating the bad habits of the small farmers, but also by modifying the system of scientific agriculture introduced from Great Britain, in such a manner as to suit the climate. The increase of agriculture in Ireland may be estimated from a comparison of the exports of former periods with those of

IRELAND. the present day. The average amount of grain of all kinds exported during four years immediately preceding 1728 was only 29,638 quarters. In 1825, the grain exported amounted to 12,774,442 quarters, or above forty times the former quantity. The population supported by the land had in the mean time trebled.

Grazing.

Dairyfarms.

Before the middle of the last century, while the tillage of Ireland was in a very low state, its chief wealth was supposed to consist in its cattle and its rich pastures. Yet the most convenient market for Irish cattle was closed by the jealousy of the English graziers. By the 18 Charles II. c. 2. the importation of great cattle, sheep, swine, beef, pork, and bacon from Ireland was declared a common nuisance, and forbidden on pain of forfeiture. The 32 Charles II. c. 2. extended the forfeiture to mutton, lamb, butter, and cheese, and continued it for ever. The rigour of these laws suffered no considerable abatement till the 31 George II. c. 28., which allowed the importation of Irish provisions for a limited period, and which was followed by other Acts continuing the permission. The graziers of Ireland, therefore, gained nothing by the contracted state of tillage, nor have they lost any thing by its extension. On the contrary, the improvement in both branches of husbandry, tillage and the rearing of cattle, has been equally and singularly rapid. In Mr. Young's Tables, the bullocks, cows, and horses exported on an average of seven years immediately preceding 1770 amounted to 2127, in the seven years preceding 1777, to 4040; in 1826 they amounted to 66,649. The sheep exported from Ireland in this last-named year amounted to 72,161, and the swine to 65,919, making a total exportation of live stock of 204,729.

The cattle of Ireland are of a very excellent description. The zeal for farming which existed in that Country during the war and the season of high prices, had the effect of introducing into it every breed known in England, and these have generally been improved by an intermixture with the native breeds. Cattle are not very commonly stall-fed in Ireland, and the system pursued in preparing them for market, apparently evinces much less skill and economy than that followed in England; but then it must be remembered, that the consumption of butcher's meat in Ireland is comparatively little, and that the cattle fattened there are intended chiefly for exportation, which takes place only at particular seasons.

A much greater extent of country is covered in Ireland by dairy than by grazing-farms. (Wakefield, i. 323.) The butter-trade is considered at present, by the provision merchants, as the staple trade; and the increase which has taken place in it deserves more attention from the circumstance, that the dairy farms are generally large farms, on which there exists a good deal of capital in stock; the increase, therefore, of the butter trade denotes the augmentation of the better class of farmers only; the small farmers or cotters being virtually excluded from it.

Carlow has long had the reputation of being the first dairy County. But Belfast and Cork at present dispute with it the prize of excellence. In the County of Cork the cows are generally let out by the year to dairymen at a certain price for each, which varies according to the distance from town, the goodness of the land, and the quality of the cattle. There are, however, many instances of rich and industrious farmers who conduct the business of the dairy them

selves; in which case the emoluments, as well as the IRELAND. trouble, are increased, and the general management of the farm is superior. (Survey of Cork, 578.) Houses to shelter the cows, though of recent date, are now in general use on all well-established dairy-lands. The same may be said of green crops, concerning the merits of which there are various opinions. Many farms have both clover and vetches; the latter of which is in some places gaining ground. The favourite breed for milk is the half-Holderness breed, though it is observed that the common Irish frequently equals them in quantity. The value of butter in trade depends very much on the way in which it is brought to market, and the reputation of the markets in Ireland depends in no small degree on the skill and attention of the tasters, inspectors, &c. The laws enacted for the regulation of the butter-trade, however, have not yet received the best possible form, as appears from the Report made by the Chamber of Commerce in Dublin, in 1826. "A reference to those laws, observe the Commissioners, will clearly evince the necessity of their revision. In their numerous and vexatious regulations, in their interference with the freedom of trade and the rights of property, in the temptations they create, and the facilities they afford for fraudulent evasions, and in their perpetual endeavours to effect by compulsory and penal legislation, the purposes which would otherwise he more surely and successfully accomplished by the natural operation of individual interests." The quantity of butter exported from Ireland, in 1704, when the greater part of the soil was given up to grazing, was 92,220 cwts. But in 1824, when the quantity consumed in the Country was probably five times that of the former period, the exportation amounted to 521,465 cwts.; and this branch of trade has, we understand, considerably augmented since that year.

The cultivation of flax on a considerable scale Flax. may be said to date from the beginning of the last century. The Earl of Strafford, indeed, nearly a century before, while residing as Chief Governor, conceived the project of establishing the manufacture of linen. Impressed with this idea he sent to Holland for flax-seed, and to the Netherlands and France for competent workmen. His exertions were attended with temporary success; but the troubles which soon afterwards broke out, dissipated, for a time, the hopes of establishing this valuable branch of industry. The Duke of Ormonde afterwards took it under his protection; considerable sums were voted by Parliament for the encouragement of the linen-manufacture in Ireland, and, that the business might be better regulated, a Board of Trustees, called the Linen Board, was established, which held its first meeting in 1711. This Board received its last grant from Parliament in 1828, when its existence terminated. The cultivation of flax in Ireland has, perhaps, nearly reached its furthest limit; but so large a proportion of the flax manufactured is grown in small patches by the cottagers, that it is nearly impossible to estimate the quantity of Wakefield ground which is annually sown with it. (i. 683.) supposes that, in 1809, the total number of acres sown with flax amounted to 100,000; but it is likely that a considerable increase has since taken place. In 1820, the flax-seed sold in Londonderry alone was sufficient to sow 40,000 acres, and the quantity sold in Belfast was, probably, double that amount.