LIMERICK. This Irish county has tracts of great fertility; especially one called the Golden Vein, which occupies the greater part of the eastern plain of Limerick. The soil is a rich, mellow, crumbling loam, and is equally suited to grazing or tillage : it is chiefly in pasture. A still richer soil is that of the Cor casses; which extend for fifteen miles along the southern bank of the Shannon, from a little below Limerick to the embouchure of the Dee]. They yield the greatest wheat-crops raised in Ireland ; and their produce of pota toes is also large. Pasture and dairy farming are the staple occupations of the people. Great quantities of butter are made. Pigs of a very superior description are bred in great numbers by the dairy farmers.
There is a small manufacture of coarse woollens for home consumption, and the bleaching of linen is carried on, but on a con tracted scale. There are paper - mills, and large and powerful mills for the grinding of corn.
The chief town of the county, Limerick, is the fourth town in importance in Ire land, and is the capital of the western part of the island as Dublin is of the east, Belfast' of the north, and Cork of the south.
There are distilleries, breweries, tanneries, foundries, flour-mills, and ship-yards. Vessels of 1000 tons' burthen can approach within five miles of the city, and those of 400 tons can unload at the quays. By the inland navigation of the Upper Shannon, and the Grand Canal and Royal Canal, the city has communica tion with Dublin, as well as by one of the branches of the Great Southern and Western Railway. The number of ships registered at the pert of Limerick is about 120. About a thousand vessels leave the port annually; and an equal number enter.
Limerick has a reputation for its lace, its gloves, and its fish-hooks ; and the marble and slate of the neighbouring districts have con siderable value.