The cyder orchards of Clare have been much noticed, but they seem to be at present upon the decline. With respect to the Cackagee cyder, the extraordinary flavour of which has been so highly celebrated, there is rather a want of accurate information. Some say, that the finest is made from the juice of the first squeezing, that of the second being reserved for the common cyder ; while it is asserted by others, that only one side of the apple, namely, that which hangs towards the sun, is employed in the preparation of the best kind of cyder ; and some allege, that the apples are thrown into heaps, and are not squeezed till they have attained a certain degree of fer mentation. It does not appear, that the species of fruit from which this produce is obtained, is much cultivated, nor itself consequently of much importance. The ap ples from which it is made are of a remarkably sour na ture, and grow chiefly in the neighbourhood of the sea, and in parts where there is seldom any frost or snow . They are said to be bad bearers, to which may in part be owing the scarcity of the article.
Though in the county of Clare one may travel foe many miles over limestone rock without seeing so much as a bush, and though there is perhaps hardly any thing in it which merits the denomination of a wood, there are yet sonic plantations. The extent of ground which these cover has been estimated to be to the amount of nearly 800 acres.
Clare produces excellent cattle of the long-horned breed. There are also large flocks maintained here of long-woolled sheep. The regular dairies in the county are few. Sonic persons let their cows to their tenants, whose wives retail the milk with a very considerable pro fit. Sheep's milk is frequently mixed with cow's milk for the market ; and the filthy custom still prevails of permitting the calf to suck two teats while the dairy maid empties the other two, the consequence of which is that the dribbling from the calf's mouth falls into the pail.
In respect to manufactures the produce of the county of Clare hardly, in any instance, to go beyond its own consumption. Spinning is by no means prevalent, and the excellent Clare dowlas is scarcely any longer known. The only manufactures indeed for which there is a market within the county, are coarse flannels and worsted stockings. At the same time, it is to be obser ved, that the wearing apparel of the lower orders, is for the most part, prepared in their own tandlies. The usual clothing of the men is a kind of frieze thus made at home, and which is of a much superior quality to what is commonly to be had in the shops. Some parts of the women's dress are often of the same kind, or more frequently of a coarse flannel dyed of a bad red colour, which is also of their own preparation. Kelp is made along the shore of this as well as of the adjoining coun ties. Sea-weed, in general, has been long known as a valuable manure. Sea sand also, with which this coast abounds, is used here for the same purpose, to a great extent, and with proportionate advantage.
The west coast of Ireland, in general, is subject to extremely violent storms. It is said that near Doolen,
in this county, blocks of limestone, 10 or 12 feet in di ameter, are thrown up sometimes on ledges of rocks, which are several feet in height. At the same place there is a barrier of water-worn stones, sonic of them many tons in weight, raised above 20 feet high across a small bay where fishermen used to land from their boats, and where their former quay, surrounded with huts, re mains many yards from the sea. Against the fury of the winds prevalent in this quarter, though there is no want of harbours on the coast, yet along the whole extent of this county there is not one in which ships may lie with safety. Its ports on the Shannon are by no means con siderable.
The only rivers in the county of Clare that arc deserv ing of notice, are the Shannon and the Fergus. The former of these, as it approaches the confines of this county, is expanded into Lough Deinghcart. It con tracts its limits again from the vicinity of Killaloe, but between Clare and Kerry, the breadth of this noble river varies from one to five miles. The Fergus, which is the principal river that has its source within the county it self, admits not of the navigation of anyivessels of greater burden than sloops. Its estuary, however, at its junction with the Shannon, is very wide and full of islands. This river, and indeed soveratothars in Clare, dip under ground in some parts of their course. There (tr. ;IN thicl 0..10 y also many turlachs, or spots, which at one time are lakes, and at another sound sheep walks. The most remark able of these is that at Kilcorney, in Burrell, where the waters, issuing often more than once a year from a spaci ous cave, deluge the whole adjacent flat grounds. There arc sonic lakes in the county, but none of much consi deration.
The plants and minerals with which the mountainous and stony parts of the county of Clare abound, are ma ny of them deserving of attention. There are found here several of those which are considered to be the rarer plants of Ireland. Such are the Iris fradissima, the .lrbutus :rya oral, the Rubus saxatilis, the Cardamine bellidifolia, the .1s/icy-tea cynanchica, the Lysimachia vul garis, the Butomus umbellatus, the Sedum telt-II/Jinni, the Potentilla fruticosa, the Dryas octopetula, the Mentha jadcgium, the Turmas hirsute, the Chciranthus sinuatus, the Cnaphnhum dioicum, and the Satyrium hircinum. The mineralogy of the county has been but little explo red. Lead ore is said to occur in various places ; in some of which it was formerly raised and smelted. Man ganese is abundant, and there are different ores of iron, particularly micaceous iron ore, and red iron stone. Boate mentions iron works in Clare, which belonged to English merchants, in thu p.rt of the 17th centu ry. At Doolin in Burren, there has been found a vein of purple fluor spar, similar to that brought in ornaments from Derbyshire, some of the specimens having cubic crystals; but the extent of the vein is not known, and no attempt has been made to apply it to any useful purpose.