46 The Soils of Ireland 



for arable land, rising as they do above the moister levels 

 of the plain. 



The direct decay of the limestone often produces a 

 stiff clay soil on which water lies. Where the limestone 

 is very pure, it is liable to yield only a sparse mud or 

 sand, which is carried away as soon as it appears on the 

 surface, leaving barren slabs and terraces of limestone. 

 These rise into very striking regularly terraced limestone 

 hills in Clare and Galway. On the wetter lowlands, where 

 water does not run off, broad peat bogs resting on old 

 lake-marl or water-logged limestone have accumulated. 



Ridges of Old Red Sandstone, such as the Slieve Bloom 

 and Galty ranges (summit of Galtymore, 



stone^ ^° " ^^-^^ -^^^^ ^ '^' ^^*^ ™'^' frequently rise through 

 the limestone plain. These usually form 

 barren heaths, but support good coniferous plantations. 

 In the cores of the Old Red Sandstone hills Silurian 

 shales often appear, weathering out into hollows occupied 

 by farm lands and surrounded by the Old Red Sandstone 

 scarps. Throughout the southern counties, from the west 

 of Kerry to the centre of Waterford, long east-and-west 

 ridges of Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous slate 

 prevail. Fertile clay-covered belts of Carboniferous Lime- 

 stone occupy the long depressions of the northern part 

 of this area, and these support finely developed woods by 

 the sides of the rivers. The sandstone and slate uplands, 

 in contrast, commonly form moorland, and culminate in 

 the rugged scenery of the Reeks of Kerry, of which the 

 highest summit reaches 3414 feet (c. 1040 m.). 



The granite of the Leinster chain along the south- 

 eastern coast of Ireland forms thin soils 

 •Ordortcians. bearing moorland', in marked contrast with 

 the clays worn from the Ordovician foothills 



^ In the north of this chain the moorland is dominated by Galluna 

 on the slopes and by Scirpus ca^pitoms on the summits. See Pethy- 

 bridge and Praeger, 1905. 



