18 SHELL MARL DEPOSIT. 



which in two years is expected to be navigable by 

 steamers from Galway and the sea, some thirty miles 

 distant. Their height above sea-level does not at any 

 point exceed 150 feet. The winters are mild, and the 

 climate most suitable for grass and green crops ; the 

 soil is in every way adapted for feeding off green crops 

 if desirable, or for finishing sheep and cattle for the fat 

 market. The milk and butter are of the richest 

 quality. Labourers' wages are at present from 8d. to 

 lOd. a-day, — the people most peaceable, and very 

 intelligent, though negligent and idle to an uncommon 

 degree, if not carefully superintended. Land may be 

 dug over by contract, 12 inches deep, all the large 

 stones laid on the surface, and the whole placed in 

 fine state for further operations, for about £1 per 

 English acre. Lime can be burned on every farm at from 

 5d. to 6d. a barrel, of 3 imperial bushels. The 

 rapidity with which the land on this limestone subsoil 

 recovers itself, and, without any seeds being sown, 

 reverts to good pasture, is very remarkable. I saw 

 one instance here of a field exhausted to the last 

 degree, as I was assured, by the con-acre system, — 

 which had been abandoned to nature not more than 

 five years ago, and it is now covered with a rich sward 

 of grass. 



After passing Frenchbrook we skirted a " turlough," 

 laid dry by arterial drainage, the whole subsoil of which, 

 several feet thick, was rich shell marl. This marl is 

 used with great success, though in a limited degree to 

 what it might be, by the neighbouring cottier-farmers, 



lr* 



