THE SOIL AND CLIMATE. 11 



cultural countries in the world. The Golden Vale, which 

 is the boast of Limerick, the pastures on the banks of the 

 Shannon, the deep lands around Belfast, so favourable to 

 the production of flax, are doubtless of great value ; but 

 the vineyards of Me'doc, the soils of Comtat, which grow 

 madder, those of Languedoc, where corn and maize suc- 

 ceed each other, and those of Provence, where the olive 

 and orange ripen, are more valuable still. Ireland has 

 over England this advantage she has less clay, sand, and 

 chalk, and her soil generally is of good quality ; but the 

 south of France has the advantage of her in sky. The 

 Irish bogs find no equivalent in the marshy landes of 

 Gascogne and Camargue, which are not so unsuitable 

 for production. 



Thus our territory is superior in all points to Great 

 Britain, not only in extent, but in fertility. Our north- 

 west region is more valuable than England and Wales, 

 the middle and east than Scotland, and the south than 

 Ireland. 



It is now more than sixty years since that great agri- 

 cultural authority, Arthur Young, admitted this natural 

 superiority of our soil and climate. At the conclusion of 

 his Agricultural Tour in France during 1787-90, he 

 says, " I now come to pass in review all the provinces of 

 France, and I believe that kingdom to be superior to 

 England as regards soil. The proportion of bad lands in 

 England, as compared to the extent of the country, is 

 greater than in France ; there is nowhere that prodigious 

 quantity of dry sand which is found in Norfolk and 

 Suffolk. The marshes, heaths, and landes, so common in 

 Brittany, Anjou, Maine, and Guienne, are much better 

 than ours. The Scotch and Welsh mountains are not 

 to be compared in point of soil to those of the Pyrenees, 



