The greatest drawback to the general fertility of the soil of Ireland consists in the immense extent of the bogs by which that country is disfigured. These differ from the English mosses, in being rarely level, but rising into hills ; there is a bog in Donegal, which is said to be a perfect scenery of hill and dale ; the most common plants are heath-bog-myrtle, and a little sedgygrass ; the colour of the peat is, for the most part, reddish, whence they are called red bogs. The dry heaths are, for the most part, confined to the mountains, unless the curragh of Kildare be reckoned such. This curragh is rather elevated ground, highest near Kildare, and thence descending by degrees towards the Lift)', about three miles long, and two or three broad, divided into rows of heath and grass.
Boate, in his Natural History of Ireland, divides the bogs, strictly so called, into four sorts : First, the grassy bogs, in which the surface is covered with some kind of her bage; hence they are very deceitful and dangerous to tra vellers. Some of these, in particular the great bog in the county of Kerry, dry up during the summer, so that cat tle may graze upon them. But the deepest grassy bogs are impassable in the summer as well as in the winter. There arc, however, at all times, firm places in them, by means of which those who arc well acquainted with them may pass over. 2. Watery and miry bogs, which contain grass, covered, however, with water and mire. 3. Has socky bogs, or shallow lakes,overspread with little tufts or islets, consisting of reeds, rushes, coarse grass, and some times small shrubs. As the roots of these are closely in terwoven, and sometimes rest on ground rising to the sur face of the bog, these bogs may be passed over. Most of them are found in Queen's and King's counties. 4. The peat moors.
There is also another division of the bogs of Ireland in to three sorts—mountain bogs, red bogsf and floating bogs. With respect to the last, which is the most singular kind, it has been ascertained that a quantity of water lies in a body between the turbary and the gravel, which keeps the turbary in a buoyant state, and contributes to the growth of the fungus substance. When the turf-cutter incautious ly approaches the bottom of a turf•hole, the water frequent ly bursts up through a close covering of two or three feet, and exposes him to imminent danger.
In September 1809, a warrant was issued, by which com missioners were appointed to inquire into the nature and extent of the several bogs in Ireland, and the practicability of draining and cultivating them. These commissioners
laid before Parliament four reports on this important sub ject, from which the following particulars have been col lected. The limits of this article necessarily compel us to draw from them only the most relevant and interesting information ; and we must refer such of our readers as wish for further particulars, especially on the substances found in these bogs, the analysis of these substances, and the most eligible means of draining and cultivating the bogs, to the reports themselves.
In the coot report, thy commissioners state, that they consider the greater part of these bogs as forming one connected whole ; and that a portion of Ireland, of little more than one-fourth of its entire superficial contents, and included between a line drawn from Wicklowhead to Gal way, and another drawn from Howthhead to Sligo, com prises within it about six-sevenths of the bogs in the isl and, exclusive of mere mountain bogs, and bogs of less extent than 500 acres. This portion, in its form, resem bles a broad belt, drawn across the centre of Ireland, with its narrowest end nearest the capital, and gradually ex tending in breadth as it approaches the \Vestern Ocean. This great division of the island, extending from east to west, is traversed by the Shannon from north to south, and is thus divided into two parts. That portion of the bogs which lies to the westward of this river contains more than double the extent that are to be found to the eastward. The commissioners are of opinion, that if the bogs of Ire land (exclusive of mere mountain bogs, and bogs under 500 acres) be supposed divided into 20 parts, about 17 of them will lie in the great division just described, viz. 12 to the westward, and 5 to the eastward, of the Shannon ; and, of the remaining three parts, two will lie to the south, and one to the north, of this division. Most of the bogs which lie to the eastward of the Shannon, occupying a consider able portion of King's county, and the county of Kildare, are generally known by the name of the Bog of Allan ; but this is not one great morass. On the contrary, the hogs to which this appellation is applied are perfectly distinct from one another, often intersected by ridges of dry coun try, and inclining towards different rivers. In general, there is no spot of these hogs, to the eastward of the Shan non, so much as two Irish miles distant irom the upland and cultivated districts.