36 



REPORT OF THE SCOTTISH COMMISSION 



drifts composed of basalt, red marl, siluriaii grits, and slate, mixed 

 with the red sandstone of the valley. 



Climate 



The climate also varies, although not to the same extent as the 

 soil. It is on the whole inclined to be wet. Eains, of course, are 

 more frequent in the west. The rainfall in Kerry in 1905 was 

 over 61 inches, whereas the rainfall in County Dublin was about 

 27 inches. But it is not the rainfall, it is the uncertainty of the 

 rainfall which hurts in Ireland. Ireland, however, is favourably 

 affected by the Gulf Stream, and this makes up for the disad- 

 vantages of a precarious climate. It is thus warmer than other 

 countries in the same latitude. The rain and the heat together 

 account to a considerable extent for the greenness of the grass in 

 the Emerald Isle. 



Size of Holdings 



The farms of Ireland are small farms, as the following figures 

 show : — 



But the farmers of Ireland are not intensive farmers such as jow 

 find on small farms in other countries. Farming varies greatly in 

 Ireland but it is nearly all on the extensive system. The rearing 

 of cattle is the most important branch meantime. There are over 

 10,000,000 acres of pasture, without taking into account the 

 mountain land grazed, and these acres are used mostly for the 

 purpose of rearing store cattle. The soil of Ireland, rich in lime 

 and phosphates, is pre-eminently suitable for this purpose. But 

 as the frames of the cattle are simply built in Ireland for the 

 purpose of being filled up in Britain, the fertility of the soil, 

 which goes to the production of bone, muscle, and tissue, is never 

 returned, with the result that the soil is deteriorating, and will in 

 course of time, if things are not changed, become exhausted. 

 This kind of farming is carried on by two classes, by the farmers 

 who rear calves and sell them as yearlings, and by the farmers 

 who buy these yearlings and turn them out stores. There is a 

 third class of grass farmer in Ireland, the farmers on the rich 

 grass lands, who buy what stores are not sent to Britain and 



