SO I L AND C L I M A T E. 3 



SECTION II. 

 Soil, Face of the Country and Climate, 



*TO judge of Ireland by the converfation one fometimes hears 

 in England, it would be fuppofed that one half of it was 

 covered with bogs, and the other with mountains filled with 

 IrifK ready to fly at the fight of a civilized being. There are 

 people who will fmile when they hear that in proportion, to 

 the fize of the two countries, Ireland is more cultivated than 

 England, having much lefs wafte land of all forts. Of uncul- 

 tivated mountains there are no fuch tra&s as are found in our 

 four northern counties, and the North Riding of York/hire, 

 with the eaftern line of Lancafter, nearly down to the Peak 

 of Derby, which form an extent of above an hundred miles of 

 wafte. The mcft confiderable of this fort in Ireland are in 

 Kerry, Galway, and Mayo, and fome in SJigo and Donnegal. 

 But all thefe together will not make the quantity we have in, 

 the four northern counties ; the vallies in the Irifh mountains 

 are alfo more inhabited, I think, than thofe of England, ex* 

 cept where there are mines, and confequently fome fort of 

 cultivation creeping up the fides. Natural fertility, acre for 

 acre over the two kingdoms, is certainly in favour of Ireland ; 

 of this I believe there can fcarcely be a doubt entertained, 

 when it is confidered that fome of the more beautiful, and 

 even beft cultivated countries in England, owe almoft every 

 thing to the capital art and induftry of the inhabitants. 



The circumlUnce which ftrikes me as the greateft fingulari- 

 ty of Ireland, is the rockynefs of the foil, which fliould feem, 

 at firft fight againft that degree of fertility; but the contrary 

 is the fa dt. Stone is fo general, that I have great reafon to 

 believe the whole ifland is one vaft rock of different ftnita and 

 kinds fifing out of % the fea. I have rarely heard of any great 

 depths being funk without meeting with it. In general it ap- 

 pears on the furface in every part of the kingdom, the flatttfl 

 and mcll fertile parts, as Limerick, Tippciary and Meath, 

 have it at no great depth, almoft as much as the more barren 

 ones. May we not recognize in this the hand of bounteous 

 providence, which has given, perhaps, the moft Money foil 

 in Eurooe to the moifteft climate in it ? If as much rain fell 

 upon the clays of England (a foil very rarely met with iti 

 Ireland, and never without much done) as falls upon the rocks 

 of her fifter ifland, thole lands could not be cultivated. L>ut 

 the rocks here are cloathed with verdure ; -thole of lime llone 

 with only a thin covering of mold, have the foi'ttll and moft 

 beautiful turt imaginable. 



Of the great -advantages refulting from the general plenty 



of lime ftonc, and lime-ftone gravel, and the uatuie of the 



A 2 bok 



