Book I. AGRICULTURE IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 133 



snow in these parts of the island seldom lies for any time, and frost hardly ever continues 

 beyond a few days, and while it lasts it is by no means intense. The mildness and hu- 

 midity of the atmosphere produce a luxuriance and rapidity of growth in vegetation, to 

 which no other part of the empire can afford any parallel ; and this appears in the most 

 remarkable manner in the ivy, and other evergreens, with which the kingdom abounds. 

 These are not only much more plentiful, but far more luxuriant, and of much quicker 

 growth, than in the most favoured parts of Great Britain. To those who are accustomed 

 to the dry weather of this island, the continued rains of the south and west of Ireland are 

 extremely disagreeable ; but it is to this peculiarity in their climate, that the Irish have 

 to attribute the richness of their pasturage, an advantage which, coupled with the re- 

 markable dryness and friability of the soil, points, in an unequivocal manner, to a rotation 

 of crops, in which grazing should occupy a principal place. 



817. The territorial surf ace of Ireland affords a pleasing variety, consisting in some 

 parts of rich and fertile plains, in others of little hills and acclivities, which succeed one 

 another in frequent succession. The most elevated ground is to be found in the bog of 

 Allan. Its height above the sea does not exceed 270 feet, yet, from this ridge, the 

 waters of the rivers run to the different seas. This elevated ground is connected with the 

 principal mountains of Ireland, diverging in the north from the hills of Tyrone, and 

 leading in the soutli to those of Sleeve Bloom and the Galtees. The chains of moun- 

 tains are neither numerous nor considerable ; the most remarkable are, the Kerry 

 mountains, those of Wicklow, the Sleeve Bloom chain between the King's and Queen's 

 county, and the mountains of Moume, in the south of the province of Ulster. 



818. The soil of Ireland is, generally speaking, a fertile loam, with a rocky sub- 

 stratum ; although there are many exceptions to this description, and many varieties. 

 Generally speaking, it is rather shallow ; to which cause the frequent appearance of 

 rocks near the surface, or at no considerable depth, is to be attributed. It possesses a much 

 greater proportion of fertile land, in proportion to its extent, than either England or Scot- 

 land. Not only is the island blessed with this extent of cultivable ground, but it is 

 almost all of such a quality as to yield luxuriant crops, with little or no cultivation. Sand 

 does not exist except on the sea shore. Tenacious clay is unknown, at least near the 

 surface. Great part of the land of Ireland throws up a luxuriant herbage, without any 

 depth of soil, or any skill on the part of the husbandman. The county of Meath, in 

 particular, is distinguished by the richness and fertility of its soil ; and, in Limerick and 

 Tipperary, there is a dark, friable, sandy loam, which, if preserved in a clean state, will 

 yield crops of corn several years in succession. It is equally well adapted for grazing as 

 for arable crops, and seldom experiences either a winter too wet, or a summer too dry. 

 The vales in many of the bleakest parts of the kingdom, as Donegal and Tyrone, are 

 remarkable for their richness of soil and luxuriance of vegetation, which may be often 

 accounted for by the deposition of the calcareous soil, washed down by the rains of 

 winter, which spreads the richest manure over the soil below, without subjecting the 

 farmer to any labour. {Wakefeld, i. 79, 80.) 



8 1 9. The bogs, or peat mosses, of Ireland, form a remarkable feature of the country, 

 and have been proved by the parliamentary commissioners to be of great extent. They 

 estimate the whole bogs of the kingdom at 2,330,000 acres, English. These bogs, for 

 the most part, lie together. In form, they resemble a great broad belt, drawn across the 

 centre of Ireland, with its narrowest end nearest to the capital, and gradually extending 

 in breadth as it approaches the western ocean. The bog of Allan is not one contiguous 

 morass, but this name is indiscriminately applied to a great number of bogs, detached 

 from each other, and often divided by ridges of dry country. These bogs are not, in 

 general, level, but most commonly of an uneven surface, swelling into hills, and di- 

 vided by valleys, which afford the greatest facility to their being drained and improved. 

 In many places, particularly in the district of Allan, the rivulets which these inequalities 

 of surface produce have worn their channels through the substance of the bog, down to 

 the clay or limestone gravel beneath ; dividing the bog into distinct masses, and pre- 

 senting, in themselves, the most proper situations for the main drains, for which pur- 

 pose, with the assistance of art, they may be rendered effectvial. 



820. The commissioners employed by government to report on the bogs of Ireland found three distinct 

 growths of timber immersed below three distinct strata ot bog. The timber was perfectly sound, though 

 deprived of its bark, which has communicated its antiputrescent quality to the water, and of course has 

 preserved every thing embedded in the mass ; though, as Miss Plumtree remarks, without " any thing 

 like a process of tanning ever taking place." The bogs of Ireland are never on low ground, and have 

 therefore evidently originated from the decay of woody tracts. (Plumtree's Residence in Ireland.) 



821. Landed properti/ in Ireland is more generally in large estates of some thousands 

 of acres, than in small ones ; but in its occupation it is subdivided in a degree far beyond 

 any thing which occurs in any other part of the empire. In some counties, as Mayo for 

 example, there are upwards of 15,000 freeholders on properties of not more than 40s. 



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