THE SOILS OF IRELAND. 35 



of vegetation and quantity of produce borne is very marked ; it is not 

 enough, therefore, to know whether the soils are loams, clay loams, or sandy 

 loams, etc. Geological circumstances determine in a fairly accurate way the 

 chemical resources of the soils, which are not manifest to ordinary observers, 

 but which may with advantage be studied, in connection with the quantity 

 and quality of herbage which the land produces, and may be made to 

 produce. 



It has been found that certain parts of Ireland, determined by geological 

 circumstances yield a superior quality of butter, as compared with other 

 parts — circumstances of manufacture being equal ; * more concentration of 

 effort, upon dairying, therefore, in such localities, as indicated by soil maps, 

 would obviously be attended with good results. 



Pastures clothing soils rich in phosDhates are best adapted to horse- 

 breeding, where strength of bone and constitution are especially demanded ; 

 the necessity for a good supply of lime and phosphate is also requisite in 

 the rearing of young horned stock. Soil, therefore, naturally rich in these 

 ingredients would be especially suitable to these branches of stock-raising. 



A good supply of potash in soils is necessary for the growth of the best 

 samples of malting barley, and generally in promoting maturity in cereals. 

 Means of selecting the most suitable localities for the former crop, and in- 

 dicating the deficiencies in soils, where the crop is grown, would, therefore, 

 be of obvious value to farmers. 



In a brief account of Irish soils such as the present, it would manifestly 

 be impossible to do more than summarise certain features which they pre- 

 sent, and suggest means by which readers who are especially interested, 

 might be made acquainted with such characters and conditions as render 

 soils valuable or the contrary. The writer is well aware that much remains 

 to be said, both as regards the soils themselves and the means of their im- 

 provement — whether moory soils, alluvial deposits, sand tracts, intakes, etc., 

 which occupy large areas in the aggregate, but to none of which special 

 attention can here be given. Before concluding, reference might be made 

 to the strips and wide tracts of alluvial soils which margin the streams and 

 rivers, in order to call attention to the peculiar advantage attaching to the 

 occasional saturation of such soils with the lime-charged drainage waters 

 flowing over the limestone rock, and from limestone drifts. These waters 

 always carry traces of phosphates as well as lime, which add much to their 

 enriching properties : and their value in this respect, equally serves as an 

 illustration of the benefits accruing from, and an argument for the more 

 extended use of, irrigation, too much neglected in this country. 



Of the large areas of peat and moory soils met with throughout Ireland, 

 much might profitably be reclaimed. Reclamation undertaken on an ex- 

 tended scale has occasionally been attempted, with discouraging results. 

 On the margins of peat bogs, however, where the transference of clay and 

 gravel for top-dressing would not be costly, and lime is easily procurable, it 

 has been successfully carried out, and " cut-away " bogs in many places could 

 easily be brought under profitable cultivation. Limestone gravel and clayey 

 drifts would be especially suitable for the purposes ; disintegrating granite 

 has been used effectively in North-west Donegal, and the detritus of Old 

 Red Sandstone in the region of Dunmanway, in Cork. 



Shell gravel and " coralline sand " exist at various points along the coast 



of Ireland, and these substances would be invaluable in reclamation. 



* See article in Farmer's Gazette, issue of loth December, 1898, and editorial comments in 

 issues of 17th December and 14th January following. 



