CLARE. 



671 



Cyder 

 rchards. 



Planta- 

 tions. 



Cattle. 



Clare, for some of the crops, chiefly rape and potatoes, the prac- 

 "Y~~ ticc of paring and burning, though illegal, and though 

 much discountenanced by landlords, is still retained in 

 this county, as well as in other parts of Ireland, especially 

 where the ground is coarse, and in a little improved state. 

 Some attempts have also been made towards increasing 

 the value of the bops in the county by means of irriga- 

 tion, which has the effect of converting them into good 

 meadow land. 



The cyder orchards of Clare have been much noticed, 

 but they seem to be at present upon the decline. With 

 respect to the Cackagee cyder, the extraordinary flavour 

 of which has been so highly celebrated, there is rather a 

 want of accurate information. Some say, that the finest 

 is made from the juice of the first squeezing, that of the 

 second being reserved for the common cyder ; while it 

 is asserted by others, that only one side of the apple, 

 namely that which hang* towards the sun, is employed 

 in the preparation of the best kind of cyder ; and some 

 allege, that the apples are thrown into heaps : and are not 

 iqueezed till they have attained a certain degree of fer- 

 mentation. It does not appear, that the species of fruit 

 from which this produce is obtained, is much cultivated, 

 nor itself consequently of much importance. The ap- 

 ples from which it is made are of a remarkably sour na- 

 ture, and grow chiefly in the neighbourhood of the sea, 

 and in parts where there is seldom any frost or snow. 

 They are said to be bad bearers, to which may in part 

 be owing the scarcity of the article. 



Though in the county of Clare one may travel for 

 many miles over limestone rock without seeing so much 

 as a bush, ind though there is perhaps hardly any thing 

 in it which merits the denomination of a wood, there are 

 yet some plantations. The extent of ground which these 

 cover has been estimated to be to the amount of nearly 

 800 acres. 



Clare produces excellent cattle of the long-horned 

 breed. There are also large flocks maintained here of 

 long woolled sheep. The regular dairies in the county 

 are few. Some persons let their cows to their tenants, 

 whose wives retail the milk with a very considerable pro- 

 fit. Sheep% milk is frequently mixed with cow's milk 

 for the market ; and the filthy custom still prevails of 

 permitting the calf to suck two teats while the dairy 

 maid empties the other two, the consequence of which 

 is that the dribbling from the calf's mouth falls into the 

 pail. 



In respect to manufactures the produce of the coun- 

 ty of Clare seems hardly, in any instance, to go beyond 

 iti own consumption. Spinning is by no means preva- 

 lent, and the excellent Clare dowlas is scarcely any- 

 longer known. The only manufactures indeed for which 

 there is a market within the county, are coarse flannels 

 and worsted stockings. At the same time, it is to be 

 observed, that the wearing apparel of the lower orders, 

 ia, for the most part, prepared in their own families. 

 The usual clothing of the men is a kind of frieze thus 

 made at home, and which is of a much superior qn i y 

 to what is commonly to be had in the shops. Some parts 

 of the women's dres are often of the same kind, or more 

 frequently of a coarse flannel dyed "f a bad red col ur, 

 which is also of their own preparation. Kelp is made 

 along the shore of this as well as of the adjoining coun- 

 ties. Sra-weed, in general, has been long known as a 

 valuable -nanure. Sea s*nd also, with which this coast 

 abounds, is used here for the same purpose, to a great 

 extent, and with proportionate advantage. 



The west coast of Ireland, in gencial, is subject to 

 extremely violent storms. It is said that near Doolen, 



Manufac- 

 ture*, 



in this county, blocks of limestone, 10 or 12 feet in di- Clare, 

 ameter, are thrown up sometimes on ledges of rocks, " """Y"'""' 

 which are several feet in he.ght. At the same place 

 there is a barrier of water- worn stones, some of them 

 many tons in weight, raised above 20 feet high across a Harbours, 

 small bay where fishermen used to land from their boats, and 

 where their former quay, surrounded with huts, remains 

 many yards from the sea. Ajjainat the fury of the winds 

 prevalent in this quarter, though there is no want of 

 harbours on the coast, yet along the whole extent of 

 this county there is not one in which ships may lie with 

 safety. Its ports on the Shannon are by no means con- 

 siderable. 



The only rivers in the county of Clare that are de- n; vers . 

 serving of notice, are thi Shannon and the Fergus. The 

 former of these, as it approaches the confines of this coun- 

 ty, is expanded into Lough Deingheart. It contracts 

 its limits again from the vicinity of Killaloe, but between 

 Clare and Kerry, the breadth of this noble river varies 

 from one to five miles. The Fergu-., which is the prin- 

 cipal river that has its source within the county itself, ad- 

 mits not of the navigation of any vessels of greater burden 

 than sloops. Its estuary, however, at its junction with 

 the Shannon, is very wide and full of islands. This ri- 

 ver, and indeed several others in Clare, dip under ground 

 in some part of their course. There are in this county Lakes, 

 also many turlachs, or sp< ts, which at one time are takes, 

 and at another sound sheep walks. The most rt mark- 

 able of these is that at Kilcorney, in Burren, when the 

 waters it-suing often more than nee a year from a spaci- 

 ous cave, deluge the whole adjacent flat grounds. There 

 are some lakes in the county, but none of much consider- 

 ation. 



The plants and minera's with which the mountainous pi au t,, 

 and stony parts of the c unty of Clare abound, are 

 many of them deserving of attention. There are found 

 here several of those which are considered to be the rarer 

 plants of Ireland. Such are the Irisfcetidissima, the 

 Arbutus uva ursi. the Ruling saxattiis, tti Cardaiftine 

 bcllidifolia, the Arperula cynanchicn ih- L^nmaclua 

 vu/garis, thi- Butomus umbcUalus, tht Seduni teie/.lnum, 

 the Potcnttlla Jrut'.cota. thr Dryas ocloft,-tatrt ill. Men- 

 tha jjulegium, the 1 limits li/rsula, the Cheirunthus *init- 

 atus, the Gnajihalium dioicum, and the Satyrium hirci- 



niim. The mineralogy of the county ha been but little 



, T , / ., ' . 



explored. Lead ore is said to occur in various places ; 



in some of which it was formerly raised and "-melted. 

 Manganese is abundant, and there are different ie >r' 

 iron, particularly micaceous iron orr, and red iron Atone. 

 Boate mentions iron works in Clare, which belonged to 

 English merchants, in the early part of the J7th cen- 

 tury. At Doolin in Burren, there has been f.<unda vein 

 of purple fluor spar, similar to that brought in orna- 

 ments from Derbyshire, some of the specimens hav.ng 

 cubic crystals ; bu: the extent of the vein is not known, 

 and no attempt has been made to apply it to any useful 

 purpose. 



Clare county is divided into 9 baronies, and 79 pa- j> |jtj c al 

 rishes, most of which are comprehended within the uni- division, 

 ted sees ot Killaloe and Kilfenora. Thee 79 parishes, 

 in consequence of unions, form only 30 benefices, which 

 too have not all churches. The proportion of the Ca- 

 tholics to the Protestants in this county, has not been 

 very precisely ascertained. The gentry are, for the most 

 part, members of the established church. But the gra- 

 ziers, who possess very considerable property, both ia 

 leases and stock, are said fo be ail of the Catholic reli- 

 gion. Indeed, u hi'S been alleged, that the tenants are 

 universally Catholics ; those who pretend to be Protest- 



