i8o3. ( 85 ) 



BRANCH 11. 



ReFIEIV of AcRICULrURAL PUBLICATIONS* 



Statijlical Survey of the County of Kilkenny ^ made, in the year 

 1800 and 1 80 1, by W'llUam Tighe. 644 pages, with an ylp^ 

 pendixy ii(^ pages. Dublin : Printed by Grajherry and Camp- 

 hell. 



Many perfons feem inclined to think, that the chief benefit de- 

 rived from the inftitution of a national Board of Agriculture, in 

 Great Britain, was the general furvej, oiade under its authority, 

 of the ftate of huibandry in the feveral diftrifts of which the ifland 

 is compofed. Before the publication of thefe lurveys, farmers in 

 different counties were almoft equally unacquainted with the cuf- 

 toms and pratHces of their brethren in other quarters, as with 

 thofe of foreign lands. Hence the inftitution proved a benefit 

 to agriculturifts, though, perhaps, not to the fame extent as 

 was fanguinely expected, when the Board was originally infli- 

 tuted. 



Taking it, therefore, as granted, that the furvey made of Bri- 

 tifh hufbandry has proved beneficial to the public, we congratu- 

 late our Iriih brethren upon the like bufinefs being taken up 

 among them. The Farming Socilty of Ireland, whofe lau- 

 dable endeavours to promote improvements v/ere noticed in our 

 laft Number, are the diredors in this affair, and we believe it could 

 not have fallen into better hands. Few people in this country 

 know any thing of Irifli hufbandry, and as this is the firft fpeci- 

 men of the Society's refearches which has reached us, we Iball 

 devote a larger Ihare of our journal to an examination thereof, 

 than is conliftent with the variety which we ufually prefent. 



Kilkenny is an inland county, fituated in the fouth-eaft quarter 

 of Ireland, containing about 318,000 plantation, or 410,000 Eng- 

 liili llatute acres, and icg,ooo inhabitants, the greateft part of 

 whom are Roman Catholics. From vicinity to the fea, the cli- 

 mate is mild, and harveft proves generally a week or two ear- 

 lier than in thefe tillage counties fituated to the northward. The 

 nature of the foil is fuch, that, with proper treatment, the greater 

 part of it may be made to produce good grain or excellent her- 

 bage Some of it is a moorifli turf, incumbent on white or yel- 

 low clay ; other parts are of a light foil, covering an argillaceous 

 ibiftus, and a confiderable proportion is of rich clay, loam, and 

 VOL. IV. 1^0. xiu. L light 



