Book I. 



AGRICULTURE OF KILKENNY. 



1155 



condensed account (803. )> and shall here submit some brief notices as to each county. 

 These unavoidably present a degree of simeness incompatible with much interest or in- 

 struction. There are agricultural surveys of but a few of the Irish counties, so that 

 we have drawn our resources principally from the copious and highly interesting work 

 of Wakefield, and some more recent statistical writers and tourists. 



7076. DUBLIN, 240,000 acres ; one eighth in mountain and waste, a tenth in buildings, roads, rivers, &c. 

 and the remainder in arable and pasture. {Archer's Statistical Survey^ Sfc. 1801. Sup. Encyc, Brit.) 



The dimate of this county is drier than that of some others ; 

 east and north-east winds are less frequent than in Kngland, 

 but storms from the south-west and west are more frequent. 

 Average number of dry days in Dublin for ten years, 179 ; or 

 nearly half the year wet, and half dry. 



The soil is {renerally shallow, and the substratum almost uni- 

 versally a cola clay. ' There is very little turf bog in the nor- 

 thern parts, but some considerable tracts amonj^ the mountains 

 in the south. No minerals or fossils of much value have been 

 discovered, or are now worked, but there are some f;ood quar- 

 ries of freestone ; limestone, and limestone gravel, abound in 

 various parts. 



iMntied i>ropertff in this county is a much more marketable 

 commodity than in most other districts of Ireland. There are 

 here no large territorial domains. Leases vary in their terms, 

 but commonly include a life, for the purjjoseof creating a vote. 



Farrm are in general very small near the city, seldom more 

 than twenty or thirty acres ; but at a distance, from .50 to 150 

 acres. 



The farm buildings are, for the most part, very insufficient. 

 Near the city, the fences are of white thorn ; but in the remote 

 parts, they are nothing more than a bank and ditch. I^ime, 

 limestone gravel, and marl, are used as manures. The city of 



7077. WICKLOW, 500,000 acres, in great part mountains and bogs, and without inhabitants. {Fra. 

 zer's Survey of Wkklow, 1801. Sup. E)icyc. Brit.) 



Dublin might afford the means of enriching a tract of several 

 miles around it, but its street dung is so little valued, that it is 

 sometimes brought to Scotland by coasting vessels as ballast, 

 and much of it is thrown into the Lilfey. 



On the araiUe lands, two crops of wheat in succession, and 

 after these two of oats, without fallow or green croj), are fre- 

 quently taken, according to Archer. Barley is not cultivatetl 

 extensively. The natural jiastures are, with few exceptions, of 

 an inferior quality. There are few or no flocks of sheep in the 

 possession of farmers. In the city, and within four miles of it, 

 alxjut 1600 cows were kept in May, 1801, according to Archer, 

 where there were formerly near 7000. The old Irish breed of 

 cows is almost^extinct, and their place 

 horns and other breeds from England. 



There is a considerable alnum JUIiery on the Littey, in 

 which also abundance of eel and pike Jire'caught. There are 

 sea fisheries of herrings, white hsh of different kinds, and 

 oysters both in natural and artificial beds ; the shells of some of 

 the fed oysters have been found as large as a horse shoe. 



The manufactures of the county are chiefly of linen of dif- 

 ferent kinds, but they are of little importance. The coloni.il 

 commerce with Dublin is considerable. 



The climate so mild, that the myrtle flourishes in such pro- 

 fusion, as to have been sometimes used for making stat)le- 

 brooms. The common laurel, Portugal laurel, and arbutus, 

 attain a great size, and can scarcely be recognized to be the 

 same shrubs. Dublin is supplied with early potatoes and 

 house-lamb from the sea-coast of Wicklow, the climate of 

 which, according to Mr. Wakefield, is decidedly different from 

 that of the rest of Ireland. This is the only part of that coun- 

 try where he ever saw grapes growing out of doors. 



Metallic ores are supposed to abound ; copper and lead have 

 been worked, and gold has been found. 



There are no navigable rivers or extensive lakes. Some of 

 the streams precipitate themselves from considerable heijjhts, 

 forming beautiful cascades; the most remarkable one is at 

 Powerscourt, where the water falls from a height of 360 feet. 



Laiukd property in the centre of the county in large estates : 



7078. WEXFORD. 597,760 acres, mountainous on the north and west, a light soil and tolerable cultiva- 

 tion on the east, and in other parts a cold stiff clay, unimproved by culture. ( Wakefield. Fraxer's Survey 

 of IVexford, 1807. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



Earl Fitzwllliam's nearlv 100,000 acres. The sea coast is 

 much divided and abounds with villas, the temi>orary residence 

 of the wealthy citizens of Dublin. " It appears to me," says 

 Wakefield, " to contain more gentlemen's seats than the same 

 space in the vicinity of London." The common period of 

 leases is twenty-one years and a life. Potatoes, and ail the 

 usual kinds of com, are cultivated ; but turnips, clover, and 

 other ameliorating crops, only partially. Marl, and limestone 

 gravel, are the i)rincipal manures. Irrigation is practised. A 

 breed of fine woolled sheep, i)eculiar to the mountains of this 

 county, exhibit the only traces of a distinct race of short- woolled 

 sheep in Ireland. 



The herring Jishery in the bay of Wicklow is the liest in Ire- 

 land after Galway. Flannels are extensively manufactured, 

 but scarcely any linen. 



The dimate is mild and favorable to the growth of timber, 

 which abounds here more than in most counties. There are 

 some large myrtles in the open gardens. 



The latuled estates are large, from '2000/. to 10,000/. a year, 

 and into farms of various sizes ; but there is little of that 

 minute division which is common in other parts of Ireland ; 

 nor are there jmy rich grazing farms. Dairies, at which the 

 principal article is butter, are numerous, but generally under 

 bad management. The cows themselves are of a very inferior 

 description; and the same character belongs to their sheep, 

 which forms a very inconsiderable part of the live stock. In 

 their modes of cultivation, however, the farmers here are more 

 advanced than in many other parts of the island. The baronies 



of Forth and Bargie have been long noted for their great crojis 

 of barley; beans,' too, are cultivated with success, as well as 

 clover and turnips ; the drill system is common tor potatoes, 

 and preferred to any other method ; and lime, though brought 

 from a distance at a great expense, and also marl, are very ex- 

 tensively employed as manure. The tenantry, including the 

 cottars, are accordingly in a much better condition, indus- 

 trious, provident, and many of them comparatively wealthy. 

 Here, as in Cork and Wateiford, whole fields are kept under 

 furze, which, in this mild climate, is pretty much used as fuel. 

 The bakers employ it for heating their ovens, of which a con- 

 siderable number are employed, as a good deal of wheaten 

 bread is consumed in these coimties. 



7079. KILKENNY. 510,000 acres mountainous, but with some rich and beautiful vales on the 

 banks of the Barrow, Suir, and Noire, and a climate so mild that in winter the thermometer seldom falls 

 lielow the freezing point, while in summer it ranges between seventy and seventy-five degrees. There is less 

 humidity than in Dublin and Wicklow, as well as less of the east and north winds. {Tighe's Survey of 

 Kilkenny, 1802. Sup. Encyc. Brit.) 



This county has many romantic situations, ornamented with 

 counfry seats ; and its flat districts, where the tillage farms are 

 more extensive than in most parts of Ireland, present a pros- 

 pect very different from what is often met with in that 

 country. 



The sinl is for the most part on limestone, and there are very 

 few togs. The largest colliery in Ireland is at Castle Coomer, 

 near the northern boundary of the county. It is a stone coal 

 raised in immense pieces, but of a sulphurous quality, which 

 renders it disjup-eeable, and sometimes noxious, and it is, there- 

 fore, less fit for being used in families. For this reason, and 

 also from the great exjiense at which it is raised, English coal 

 is used in preference, even within a few miles of the works. 

 There are several quarries of marble, chiefly of a black color, 

 of which a few tons are exjiorted. Excellent sandstone and 

 manganese, and iron and lead ores, have been observed in 

 Ufferent parts. 



Pnyperty in larul is in several large estates, and many of a 

 moderate* extent, not exceeding a rental of 2000/. a year. The 

 principal proprietors are Lords IJexborough, Clifton, and 

 Orinond. The leases are in general for three lives, and part- 

 nership leases are common, though prohibited on one of the 

 largest projierties. On this estate the tenant is allowed to 

 transfer his lease to one individual, but not to divide his 

 farm. 



Of the hutlnndry the most important department is the 

 dairy, which extends over the greater part of it. The most 

 considerable dairies are in the district called the Welsh, or 

 Walsh Mountains, a tract of drv grassy land fit for tillage, but 

 still in its natural state, and not enclased.' About 20(X) Irish 

 acres of this land were held in 1800 by one family, who kept 

 l'20cows. The cattle are not for the most i>art housed m 

 winter, and otily those that are about the time of calving, get a 



4 E 



little hay on the fields, where the horses also are kept all the year. 

 They fatten pigs to the weight of five hundred weight. "The 

 produce of the best dairies Is one hundred weight and a half, or 

 three firkins of butter per cow, and each cow recjuires from one 

 and a half to three Irish acres. The practice of letting cows to 

 dairymen, which is common in Munster, is but little known in 

 Kilkenny, the cows belonging to the dairymen themselves, 

 who, in some situations, breed them on their own farms, and 

 in others prefer buying them at a proper age. Too little atten- 

 tion is paid to cleanliness in their dairies, especially in the 

 northern district ; and for this reason, according to Wakefield, 

 though Irish butter, when fresh, is preferable to any in Europe, 

 yet it " is in the lowest estimation in the London market, as it 

 is almost always heavily salteti, and very friuently tastes 

 smoky, fishv, and tallowy." The cattle of this county are a 

 mixed race from the native breed and the English long-homed, 

 and their sheep have been, in some parts, improved by the 

 Liecesters. The Merinos have been mfroducea withm these 

 few years by Messrs. Nowlan, the proprietors of a woollen 

 factory, who have now 600 of the pure ra< ; md they find that 

 l)oth the quality and the weight of the fleece have improved 

 since the sheep were imported. The usual com crojis are 

 raised here, but clover and other green crops not in a suitable 

 proportion. It is the custom to work oxen intermixed with 

 horses, in teams of six, or three pair, deep, the oxen placetl fore- 

 most. Vet the fallows are better managed here than in any 

 other part of Ireland. Irrigation has been' practised for many 

 yeais, butnotextensively. (Sup. Euctjc. Brit. KilJceitni/.) 



Sahnoit wee caught in the rivers, and sent to Dublin packed 

 in boxes of ice. Woollen is the chief manufacture. Messrs. 

 Nowlan and Shaw produce excellent superfine cloths, from aji 

 esUblishinent as celebrated in Ireland as that of Owen at 

 Lanark is in Scotlaml. 



