10 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



about a tenth of the surface ; more .than another tenth is 

 occupied with mountains and lakes. In fact, five only 

 out of the eight millions of hectares in Ireland are culti- 

 vated. * 



Deducting the north-west of France, which we have 

 compared to England, and the middle and east to Scot- 

 land, the south only remains for comparison with Ireland. 

 This comparison holds good in some respects, for the south of 

 France, with reference to the north, is a distinct country, and 

 inferior in acquired richness, just as Ireland is in respect to 

 England ; but here the likeness stops, for in every other 

 respect no two things can be more dissimilar. The com- 

 parison, as in the former instances, and perhaps even to 

 a greater degree, is in favour of France. Our southern 

 region extends from the mouth of the Garonne to that 

 of the Var ; it contains some twenty departments and 

 thirteen millions of hectares ; it has also its mountainous 

 parts in the Pyrenees and CeVennes. But there is a 

 vast difference in fruitfulness between the mountains of 

 Herault and Gard, which produce silk, and even some 

 Pyrenean cantons, where cultivation may be carried to 

 the verge of perpetual snow, and the bleakness of Con- 

 naught and Donegal. The further we descend into 

 the plains, the superiority becomes more and more 

 striking, notwithstanding the natural advantages of 

 Ireland, which have acquired for it the poetical cog- 

 nomen of First flower of the earth, and first gem of 

 the sea. 



The flat country which extends across the island, from 

 Dublin to the bay of Galway, and which is the pride of Ire- 

 land, is surpassed in richness, as well as in extent, by the 

 magnificent valley of the Garonne, one of the finest agri- 



* 12,125,280 acres out of 19,441,944. J. D. 



