Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/515

495 DUBLIN 495 about 600 acres in area, the property of Lord Talbot de Malahide. Shell-fish, especially lobsters, are caught here in abundance. Small islets lie not far off, the most interesting of which is that known as Inispatrick, noted as the spot upon which St Patrick first landed in Ireland, and where he built his first church. Ireland s Eye, off Ilowth, is a very picturesque rock standing on about 54 acres of grass land. It has afforded great room for geological disquisition. The fishery districts are Dublin and Howth. The chief stations are Howth and Skerries, the former of which is much used by the Manx and Cornish fishermen, who resort in considerable numbers to the harbour during the fishing season. Dublin Bay haddocks and herrings have long been esteemed, and justly, for their superior quality and flavour. Rivers and Mountains. The chief river in the county is the Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains about twelve miles south-west of Dublin, and, after running about 50 miles, empties itself into Dublin Bay. The course of the river is so tortuous that 40 miles may be traversed and only 1 gained in direction. The scenery along the banks of the Liffey is remarkable for its beauty. The mountains which occupy the southern border of the county are the extremities of the great group guarding the adjacent county of Wicklow. The principal summits are the Three Rock Mountain and Garry Castle, the former having an elevation of 1586 feet, and the latter of 1869 ; and the group formed by Kippure and the Seefin range, Kippure being 2527, and Seefin 2150 feet high. But the grandest features of these hills are the great natural ravines vrhich open in them, the most extraordinary being the Scalp, through which the traveller passes from Dublin to Wick- low. Agriculture. Of the 226,895 acres which form the area of the county, 100,236 acres were returned in 1871 as under tillage, 91,503 as pasture, 4716 wood, 15,700 in towns, and 14,470 waste, bog, mountain, and water. The face of the county has indeed changed but little during the century, and the statistics as to the treatment of the soil ex hibit an almost stationary result. The growth of the towns suburban to the city has made the only appreciable change, and that change has been not inconsiderable. The farms are in general small. Near Dublin, particularly on the southern side of the city, a very considerable portion of the county consists of ornamental grounds, and the rents are proportionately high. The produce of the crops is generally greater than in any other county, not so much on account of any natural superiority in the soil, as by reason of the facilities afforded by the neighbourhood of a large city, and the greater expenditure of capital on the land. Of cereals the prin cipal crops are oats and wheat ; and of green crops, potatoes. In live stock the county is particularly rich in proportion to its extent. The following tables give the acreage of crops and numbers of stock in 1873 and 1876 : Whpat 1873 ...... 16,723 6392 1876 ...... 16,009 5616 H Snd Cattle - shee P- 1873. ..21, 098 1876 . 20,015 54,502 52,770 88,604 64,263 Potatoes. 0tll, G p r n 10,107 6826 Meadow 45,57 V 4 9,863 6566 49,789 ). Pigs. Goats. Poultry 4 20,032 6245 194,880 3 17,273 5878 213,531 As regards the division of the land, the number of hold ings in the county has somewhat diminished within recent years. In 1853, there were 9016 separate holdings, while in 1876 there were only 8792. According to the Owners Returns of 1876, the county was divided in 1874 among 4100 proprietors, of whom 2526, or 61 per cent., owned less than one acre of ground, a proportion almost identical with the average of Leiuster. From the same authority it appears that the total area held amounted to 217,457 acres, giving an average of 53 acres per property (that of the province being 187) ; and the total valuation amounted to 686,794, giving an average of 3, 3s. 2d. per acre, as against 18s. lld. for the whole province. Fourteen proprietors owned more than 2000 acres each, and 57,969 acres in all, or 26 per cent, of the area, viz : Charles Cobbe, 9662 acres; Earl of Howth, 7377; Sir C. C. W. Domville, 6252 ; George Woods, 4141 ; Sir Roger Palmer, 3991 ; Lord Langford, 3659 ; Ion Trant Hamilton, 3647; Mrs White, 3422; W. W. Hackett, 3198; Eyre Coote s representatives, 3107 ; R. Q. Alexander, 2973 , Earl of Pembroke, 2269; Lord Annaly, 2139; Marquis of Lansdowne, 2132. The manufactures of the county are mainly confined to the city of Dublin and its neighbourhood. There is, how ever, a manufactory of cotton hosiery at Balbriggan of some importance. Administration, &amp;lt;kc. There are nine baronies in the county : 1 and 2. Balrothery East and West, containing Rush and Lusk (population 1800), Skerries (2236), and Balbriggan (2332) ; 3. Coolock, containing Clontarf (3442), and several minor villages; 4. Nethercross, con taining the ancient parliamentary borough of Sworda (1008), and the village of Glasnevin ; 5. Newcastle, con taining the village of Lucan, and Newcastle, which was represented in the Irish Parliament by two members ; 6. Uppercross ; 7. Rathclown, containing the towns of Dundrum (540), Blackrock (8089), Kingstown (16,378), Dalkey (2584), and Killiney (229U) ; 8. Castleknock, in which is situated the Phosnix Park ; and 9. Dublin, con taining the city and many outlying villages. The village of Donnybrook, famous for its fair and accompanying riotous pleasure, is now part of Pembroke township, one of the richest and most beautiful suburbs of the city. The nine baronies, including the city, are divided into 99 parishes, all within the archdiocese of Dublin. The county proper, excluding the capital, contains 222,709 acres; the rateable property is valued at 700,854 ; the population at the last census (1871) was 158,936 ; and the number of houses, 28,803. Between 1841 and 1871 the increase of population was nearly 13 5 per cent., although between May 1851 and December 1871 there emigrated from the county 58,774 persons. In 1871, 70^ per cent, of the total popula tion were Roman Catholics. In the city that denomination forms 79 per cent. The numbers of the last religious census were Catholics, 111,964; Episcopalians, 39,289; Presby terians, 2995 ; and various, 4688. There are two poor-law unions, Balrothery and Rathdown, but portions of the county are in unions situated in adjacent counties. The average daily number of paupers in the county workhouses in 1875 was 674. Dublin is the head-quarters of the military district, and of the general commanding-in-chief and staff of Ire land. The total number of children receiving education in 1824 26 was reported in a parliamentary return to be 33,008. In 1853, there were 159 national schools in operation, attended by 28,799 children, and in 1876 there were 52,127 children attending the national schools. Previous to the union with Great Britain, this county returned ten representatives to the Irish Parliament, two for the county, two for the city, two for the university, and two for each of the boroughs of Swords and Newcastle. The number of representatives was reduced to five by the Act of Union, one member being withdrawn from the uni versity, and the boroughs of Swords and Newcastle disfran chised. The Reform Act of 1832 restored the second member to the university, leaving the representation iu other respects unchanged.