Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/365

 IRELAND 351 lower than 50 F. ; the mean winter temperature is 40, spring and autumn 50, and summer 60. There is a difference of 3 between the average temperatures of the extreme north and south. The average temperature of any month in each season varies hut slightly from the above fig- ures. There is perpetual moisture, which fos- ters vegetation and maintains unfailing pastu- rage ; this is due to the prevalence of westerly winds which bring with them the tepid vapor- laden atmosphere of the Gulf stream. Hence the climate of the TV. coast of Ireland is milder than that of the TV. coast of England in the same latitude. The average spring temperature of Queenstown is 50, the highest in the Brit- ish isles. The average annual rainfall is esti- mated at 36 in., but in some elevated regions, as in Kerry, it is much higher. In the w.est the rainfall is much greater in winter than in the other seasons. Prolonged frosts and snows are rare, and thunder storms are neither frequent nor violent. The prevalent winds are from the west and south, the S. E. .wind predominating in the early part of the year. Easterly winds are dry and keen and much dreaded by inva- lids. The climate on the whole is very salubri- ous. The frequency among the poorer classes of fevers and dysentery is attributed less to the humidity of the atmosphere and the exha- lations from marsh and bog, than to unwhole- some and insufficient diet, imperfect clothing, damp and close dwellings, and want of clean- liness. One fourth of the entire surface is cov- ered with sterile rock, water, marsh, and bog ; arable soil of a mediocre quality composes an- other fourth ; and the remainder is a deep rich loam generally covering a calcareous subsoil. This rich loam, with a subsoil of inferior depth, and producing a luxuriant herbage, is found throughout Eoscommon, in some parts of Gal- way, in Clare, and in other districts. Both the loam and the subsoil attain their greatest depth in Meath, Longford, Tipperary, and Lim- erick ; the Golden Vale district, belonging to the last two counties, is celebrated for its fertility. On the banks of the Fergus and Shannon the soil is different, though equally productive, and very marshy in appearance. These dis- tricts are called "cancasses;" the substratum is a blue silt deposited by the sea and partaking of the quality of the upper stratum, thus al- lowing the whole to be advantageously ploughed to any depth. In Limerick and Tipperary is another kind of rich soil, consisting of a dark, friable, sandy loam, which if kept clean will yield grain for several generations ; it is equally well adapted for tillage and pasture, and sel- dom suffers either from extreme drought or excessive rain. The subsoil, being calcareous, needs no manuring. In the north the quantity of rich soil is not very considerable ; but val- leys of uncommon fertility are found in every county, even amid the bleak mountains of Don- egal. In some parts, as in Galway, the rock protrudes above the surface in wave-like pro- jections, and the interstices are filled with a 436 VOL. ix. 23 mould producing a thick sward very grateful to sheep. The only large tract exclusively de-vo- ted to sheep grazing is the Curragh of Kildare. The mountains are capable of cultivation to a considerable height, and their summits with few exceptions are fit for pasturage in summer. Indeed, both from soil and climate, Ireland is naturally a pastoral country ; nor was it till 1727 that any systematic effort was made at large culture, when Primate Boulter, as one of the lords justices, urged on the English government the necessity of enforcing a tillage system. In the northern counties the farms are general- ly small, cultivated with the spade, and yield potatoes, oats, and flax. In the northern part of Fermanagh the farms are larger, the tillage better, and wheat is largely grown, oats how- ever being the chief crop. In the five counties forming the northwest of Ireland, oats is the principal crop, and barley is raised near the sea; and since the famine of 1846 much of the land formerly under tillage has been converted into pasturage. In the southwestern counties grazing is more resorted to, tillage backward, and the farms small. In Tipperary and King's and Queen's counties the best farming is to be seen, wheat forming the staple crop. In Meath, TVestmeath, Louth, and Kildare the tillage is inferior, the farms larger and treated after the English manner, and the chief crop is wheat. As the mean summer heat is 56, the finer sorts of grain ripen in the island; while the open winters, by lengthening the period of grazing, favor the rearing of cattle. The country is very deficient in wood, although it is said to have been formerly covered with forests. The timber found in the bogs is oak, fir, yew, holly, and birch. The progress of agricultural im- provement, and the timber act, which secures to the tenant at the expiration of his lease a pecuniary interest in the trees he has planted, promise a large supply of wood in future. Ireland is rich in cattle, horses, especially hun- ters, and sheep (with less wool than the Eng- lish). There are many rabbits, but little game excepting deer. Fish abound, especially the salmon, pike, eel, and trout. The sunfish fre- quents the TV. coast, which is occasionally visited also by whales. Seals are met with about the exposed headlands. There are frogs, but no toads or serpents. Bones of the elk or moose deer have been found in several places. Wolves were once numerous, and the Irish wolf dog was kept for hunting them. Of poultry the product is extensive. The flora of Ireland in- cludes the arbutus unedo along the lakes of Killarney ; new species of saxifrage and ferns have been discovered on the Kerry moun- tains ; rare alpine plants are met with in Con- nemara (Galway), Benbulben mountain (Sligo), and in the county Antrim, and peculiar kinds of alga) on various parts of the coast. The majority of Irishmen resemble in temperament the southern rather than the northern races of Europe. This is most apparent in those parts of Ireland where English and Scotch