The dairy husbandry is the most extensive, and the best managed in Ireland. Kerry, Cork, Waterford, and parts of Kilkenny, Carlow, Meath, West Meath, Longford, and Fermanagh, as well as the mountainous parts of Leitrim and Sligo, are principally occupied by dairy farms. But ter is the only produce: a great deal is also made on the small tenures in Cavan, Monaghan, and Down. The me thod practised in Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and other coun ties in the west of England, of letting dairies to dairymen, at so much a cow per annum, is followed in the south of Ireland. The average number of cows on a dairy farm is about thirty or forty ; three acres of land, of middling quality, arc deemed necessary for the subsistence of each cow. average produce of milk is eight quarts in 24 hoots tn summer : and five quarts in winter ; four good cows will give half a cwt. of butter in a week. The best butter is make in Carlow, and the worst is produced from the rich soil of Limerick and Meath. Butter of the first quality is sent to Et.gland, where it is either consumed or for the East and West Indies ; the next sort is sent to Spain, and the third to Portugal. The fattening of calves for veal is little practised in any part of Ireland.' The grazing husbandry of Ireland is not, as in England, united with the tillage husbandry; nor are there large tracts of land, exclusively devoted to the breeding of cat tle, as in the Highlands of Scotland. The mountains of Ireland, instead of being grazed by those who faint them, are frequently let, on a partnership-lease, to the inhabi tants of a neighbouring village, each of whom turns in a certain number of cattle, horses, goats, or geese, accord ing to the rent lie pays. The few cattle that are fed on the mountainous districts are generally very poor. The most extensive and valuable lands for fattening cattle are in Munster. viz. the Caucases on the banks of the Shan non and Fergus, and in parts of the counties of Limerick and Tipperary. Some parts of Cork, Queen's County, West Meath, a small part of Louth and Kildare, also con tain Lich grazing land.
The native Irish cattle arc nearly extinct ; they are nar row in the loins and thin in the quarters ; with short legs, large bellies, and white faces. The Kerry stock are a dis tinct breed. The Ilolderness, Staffordshire, and Devon shire breeds, are the principal ones which have been in troduced front England : the Staffordshire is the most common on the grazing lands, or rather a mixture of the native Irish and the Staffordshire.
A greater extent of country is employed in Ireland for the grazing of sheep, than for the grazing of bullocks, Roscommon. Galway, Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary, are the great breeding counties for sheep. In the province of Ulster there is not a single breeding flock. Galway, Clare, Roscommon, Tipperary, and Meath, are the prin cipal fattening counties. Mr. Wakefield says, that in the whole course of his tour lie never saw a sheepfold ; and only once sheep feeding on turnips. The native lush sheep are small, and are covered with nearly as much hair as wool ; but they are now not common. In consequence
of their having been crossed with different kinds of En glish sheep, the Irish sheep at present are of the polled, long-woolled kind, and, in the great breeding counties, very large. In many parts of Ireland, they are kept only for their wool, and this only for the use of the family. A breed of fine woolled sheep, peculiar to the mountains of Wicklow, exhibit the only traces of a distinct race of short woolled sheep in the island.
The native Irish horse is a very useful animal: it sel dom exceeds 15 hands in height, and is very hardy and sure-footed. This breed is very much used by the linen merchants of Ulster, in riding from market to market. A large, long, blood horse is much reared in Meath, and is to be found in most of the rich grazing counties. But the horse, usually employed for all kinds of labour in Ireland, is the one first described. There are few parts of this country in which goats are not kept. Those belonging to the cottars, are generally confined by a tether to the tops of the banks. In the mountains, where they are numerous, they are quite at liberty. Many of the poorer families have no other milk but what their goats afford. The Irish breed of hogs is very tall, long, and narrow in the loins. They are met with in every part of the kingdom. No pea sant is without one. They are fattened principally with potatoes ; and afterwards sold, for the purpose of paying the rent. Breeding sows are generally kept by dairymen. Rabbit warrens are not numerous in Ireland ; but some of them arc very extensive. On the cast side of the river Bann, there are two, one of which contains 500 acres, and the other about two thousand. It is singular, that the hair of the hares in Ireland will not felt ; whereas the rabbit hair in that country answers remarkably well in the manu facture of hats.
Bees thrive remarkably well on the dry hills in the county of Down, and the honey there is highly esteemed for its fine flavour ; but the breeding of them is much on the decline in this county, as well as in Kilkenny, where formerly a considerable quantity of mead was made. The county of Wexford is celebrated for crammed fowls ; and there is a fair at Bellyheague, in that county, expressly for the sale of poultry of all kinds. Families send thither from a great 'iistance. to purchase store fowls. Turkeys are numerous in Ireland. The warmth of the cabins, in to which they are always admitted, is favourable to their increase. In the county of Cork there is a lair for a sale of them.
The linen manufacture is very justly considered as the staple manufactuie of Ireland. It was established by the Earl of Strafford, when he was lord lieutenant of this coun try. in the reign of Charles I. In order to fix it on a firm foundation, he brought flax seed from Holland, and spinners and manufacturers from the Netherlands and France. His lordship himself afterwards embarked in the business, and expended 30,0001. of his private fortune.