KILKENNY. We here have another Irish county, which, like Kildare, is wholly inland. The surface of Kilkenny is mostly occupied by the limestone of the central plain, overlaid in the billy districts north of Kilkenny city by shale and sandstone. The coal formations are nearly co-extensive with the hilly districts. TheSe coal-beds would be of great commer cial value, if the natural resources of Ireland were better developed. The general colour of the limestone is a blueish gray. Near Kil kenny it passes into a fine black marble, con taining a great variety of shelly impressions. These beds are extensively quarried, and the blocks dressed on the spot by a saw-mill dri ven by the Nore. The marble, which is some times procured of a jet black, is manufactured into chimney-pieces,tombstones, Etc. ; it bears a very high polish, and can be raised in large blocks. In the coal-tract the soil is a moory turf lying over a stiff whitish clay, which is the poorest district out of the mountain region ; but many districts have deep rich soils. Some of the best wheat and. meadow lands in the south of Ireland are situated in the level tract along the Suir. About one-third of the level
districts is in tillage. There are two districts almost wholly occupied by dairy-farmers, the Walsh Mountains and the southern part of the Castlecomer tract. In the sonthern dairy district the sour milk is used for fattening pigs for the Waterfowl market : in the northern district the milk is sold, there being no conve nient market for pork.
The manufacture of carpets, diapers, and tapestry was introduced into the county by the Countess of Ormonde in 1359. James, Duke of Ormonde, about the middle of the 17th century, established and encouraged, at a great expense, both linen and woollen ma nufactures ; and about the close of the same century the Bessborough family introduced the manufacture of linen into the southern parts of the county. None of these branches of trade, however, nor that of blankets, intro duced about a century ago, have continued on anything like an extensive scale. A coarse frieze for borne consumption is made among the peasantry. There are many flour-mills in the county.