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 352 IRELAND settlers do not preponderate. They are more impulsive and warm-hearted than the people of England and Scotland. As settlers in other parts of the world, especially in the United States, the Irish have proved very useful and industrious in various kinds of manual occupa- tion, but at home they are principally tillers of the soil. A marked improvement in the con- dition of the country has taken place within the last 80 years. The work of bringing waste lands into cultivation reduced the uncultivated land from 6,295,735 acres in 1841 to 5,023,984 in 1851, and to 4,357,338 in 1871. Emigration, which had been powerfully stimulated by the potato disease of 1846-'7, showed a steady de- crease for several years after 1852. In that year it was 190,322; 1853, 173,148; 1854, 140,- 555 ; 1855, 91,914; 1856, 71,724; 1858, 64,337; 1865, 101,497; 1866, 99,467; 1867, 80,624; 1868, 61,028; 1872, 72,763; whole number from 1851 to 1872, 2,157,257. The total num- ber of paupers relieved was, in 1848, 2,043,505 ; 1850, 1,174,267; 1851,755,347; 1852,519,775; 1853,409,668; 1854,319,616; 1857,190,851; 1861,217,430; 1863,317,624; 1866,270,173; 1868,339,728; 1871,282,492. The following statement shows the progress of the agricul- tural wealth of the country : land under culti- vation in 1854, 5,570,610 acres; 1858, 5,882,- 052; 1868, 5,498,278; 1872, 5,486,522. Of the last number, 2,090,673 were under cereal crops, 991,802 under potatoes, 346,464 under turnips, 135,650 under other green crops, 122,- 003 under flax, and 1,799,930 were meadow and clover. The produce in 1871 was as fol- lows : wheat, 705,939 quarters; oats, 7,410,- 814 ; barley, bere, and rye, 965,709 ; beans and peas, 49,690; potatoes, 2,793,641 tons; turnips, 4,246,332 ; mangel and cabbage, 761,863 ; flax, 12,929. The live stock in 1872 consisted of 560,500 horses and mules, 180,036 asses, 4,057,- 153 cattle, 4,262,117 sheep, 242,310 goats, 1,385,386 pigs, and 11,612,207 poultry. The aggregate value of the live stock was estimated in 1841 at 21,105,808; in 1851, 27,737,395; 1861, 33,434,385; 1871, 37,515,111. The linen manufacture is the most important branch of Irish industry. The spinning wheel of the Ulster cottier gave place to the spindle in the early part of this century, when the first flax- spinning machinery was erected. The number of flax factories has increased from about 70 in 1849 to 154 in 1870, with 916,660 spindles and 14,834 power looms, employing 55,039 persons. One of the chief seats of this manufacture is Belfast. Of cotton factories there were 14 in 1870, woollen factories 61, and worsted fac- tories 3. The silk manufacture, which was in- troduced into Dublin by French emigrants at the end of the 17th century, proved unprofit- able ; almost the only branch now flourishing is a fabric of mixed worsted and silk, known as Irish poplin or tabbinet. Lace is manufactured to some extent in Limerick. Great progress has been made within the last few years in the manufacture of embroidered muslin. The chief seat of this industry is in Glasgow ; but while the initiatory and concluding manipulations connected with it are almost wholly performed in that city and its neighborhood, the needle- work, although partly wrought in Scotland, is chiefly executed by the peasantry of Ireland. About 300,000 persons, principally females, are employed in this work in all the counties of Ulster and some localities of the other prov- inces, and the gross value of the manufactured goods amounts to about 1,400,000. Spirit distilleries were established in Ireland at an early period. The number of distilleries and rectifying establishments in 1871 was 65, against 93 in 1835; the number of gallons en- tered for home consumption 5,212,746, against 12,296,342 in 1838 ; the rate of duty is 10s. per proof gallon. Among the fisheries of Ireland, those of salmon and herring are flourishing. The number of vessels and boats employed in fisheries in 1871 was 8,999, and the number of men and boys employed 38,629, against 19,883 vessels and boats and 113,073 persons in 1846. In the coasting trade of Ireland the entrances in 1871 were 18,676 sailing vessels, tonnage 1,598,343, and 5,947 steam vessels, tonnage 2,619,891 ; the clearances were 5,947 sailing vessels, tonnage 439,001, and 8,500 steam vessels, tonnage 2,660,027. The registered shipping in 1871 numbered 651 sailing vessels under 50 tons, tonnage 19,919; 923 sailing ves- sels above 50 tons, tonnage 148,555 ; 60 steam vessels under 50 tons, tonnage 1,555 ; and 142 steam vessels above 50 tons, tonnage 48,133. The commerce of Ireland consists of the pro- vision trade and of the trade in the produce of the country with Great Britain and foreign nations. The exports are mainly sent to Liver- pool, Bristol, and Glasgow, from Belfast, Dun- dalk, Drogheda, Newry, Waterford, and Lime- rick, and particularly from Cork and Dublin. The entrances of vessels engaged in the foreign trade in 1871 comprised 802 British and Irish, tonnage 282,752, and 920 foreign, tonnage 343,721 ; the entrances of vessels engaged in the colonial trade numbered 289 British and Irish, tonnage 125,679, and 34 foreign, tonnage 15,571. The principal ports of entry were Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Waterford, Limerick, Londonderry, and Newry. The importation of grain into Ireland in 1870 comprised 6,716,- 534 cwt. of wheat, 215,279 of barley, 9,670 of oats, 5,738,138 of Indian corn, and 193,707 of wheat meal or flour. By far the most exten- sive market for Irish products is Great Britain ; but the abolition of duties on this cross-chan- nel trade, which took place in 1825, has taken away the means of estimating the imports and exports. The total value of Irish and British products exported direct to foreign countries from Ireland in 1871 was estimated at 462,- 486. The direct trade between Ireland and the United States has of late decreased. The num- ber of American vessels entering Irish ports in 1871 was only 38, tonnage 24,701. Marble, porter, ale, whiskey, and manufactured goods