PRACTICABILITY OF IMPROVING IRELAND. 189 



to take a journey of observation, to spy out the riches not the naked- 

 ness of the land. They will find that many of the lands, recoverable 

 from the waters, are almost inexhaustable. I myself saw, in 1817, 

 such land embanked from the river Shannon, which had then yielded 

 its sixteenth or eighteenth crop of corn, without rest, intermission, or 

 manure; and it was then too rich. I have lately enquired, and find 

 that this same spot has been kept in tillage ever since 1817 ; making 

 from 33 to 35 crops in succession, and this land is still rather too 

 rich for many crops. The banks of the same river afford abundant 

 opportunities for valuable speculations. Other rivers the same; 

 and it is a great encouragement to know that the greater number of 

 the rivers, in the central parts of Ireland, have soft, calcareous bot- 

 toms ; every particle of which, when raised in the deepening of these 

 rivers, could be beneficially applied. 



And while capital would be employed in making the rivers navi- 

 gable, four other great objects would be obtained at one and the 

 same time, and at one and the same expense ; that is, first the sub- 

 merged lands would be recovered : secondly, manure would be 

 accumulated : thirdly, the atmosphere would be freed from much of 

 its superfluous moisture : and, fourthly, much future damage would 

 be prevented to lands, from bogs which are impending over them, 

 ready to burst down and utterly destroy them. 



To illustrate, at once, the necessity and advantage of river im- 

 provements, I shall relate a very remarkable event. In the month 

 of June, 1821, a bog in the King's Co., containing 500 acres super- 

 ficial, and 40 feet in depth, was set in motion by a pressure of water 

 which could not find a vent by means of the usual currents. This bog 

 moved with astonishing velocity along the valley, and forced before it 

 whole meadows; and in a short time the whole valley for the breadth 

 of a quarter of a mile, was covered from eight to ten feet in depth ; 

 nor could its progress be arrested, until an engineer was employed, 

 who opened the course or channel of the river as an outlet, which ef- 

 fectually lowered the head of water; and the bog then ceased to flow. 

 By this misfortune several hundreds of acres of valuable land were 

 totally lost, and many proprietors ruined. There have been many 

 similar instances, some within my own memory, all arising from the 

 want of river improvements. 



The three millions sterling, which has been estimated as the sum 

 sufficient for the entire of these improvements, would, if honestly 

 expended, give employment and might prevent the system of begging 

 which costs nearly twice three millions. Indeed, the only objection 

 I can discover, to such employment and expenditure, is that it might 



