STIRLINGSHIRE. That part of this county which skirts the Lennox Hills to the south and east, belongs to the coal district of Central Scotland, and yields coal, ironstone, freestone, and limestone, in considerable quantity. The Great Canal, which connects the Forth and the Clyde, has pert of its course in this county; by this canal the manufactures of Glasgow are conveyed to the eastern parts of the island, and goods of various kinds conveyed back. The Edinburgh and Glasgow Union Canal, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, and the Scottish .Central Railway cross the county, giving access to it from all sides.
In the highland district there are above 4000 acres of natural woods or plantations, the latter being chiefly of oak and larch. The eastern part of the county is the most fertile, and, in an agricultural point of view, the most important. It comprehends the carse or val ley of the Forth below Stirling, the soil of which consists principally of a bluish clay , mixed with sand. There is here comparatively little waste land ; the soil is almost wholly occupied in tillage or in plantations ; and tho greater facility for obtaining manure which the navigation of the Forth affords has tended to the improvement of agriculture.
Stirlingshire contains several manufacturing towns. Alva has manufactures of tartans and blankets. Near Balfron is a large cotton-ma nufactory. Carronshore is near the Carron Iron Works, which are among the largest in Europe. There are 4 or 5 blast or smelting furnaces, 4 or 5 cupola furnaces, and about 20 air furnaces ; besides mills for grinding fire-clay, boring cylinders, grinding and polish ing the metal, &o. The goods manufactured are machinery, agricultural instruments, and warlike implements, as cannon, carronadcs (which take their name from this place), mor tars, shot, and shells. There is abundance of
coal in the neighbourhood, but the ironstone and limestone are chiefly brought from a dis Vessels of 150 tons hurthen come up to the village. About 2000 persons are em ployed at the iron works. Falkirk is chiefly Indebted for its prosperity to an extensive in land trade, and to the iron works, canals, and collieries, in the neighbourhood. At Grano. mouth the Grand Canal terminates, in a basin and harbour, and two extensive wood ponds. The basin and harbour admit large vessels, and smaller vessels can proceed by the canal, the traffic on which is considerable. Great efforts have been made of late years to improve the port by the construction of a vast sea-loch, the formation of a wet dock, and the deepen ing of the river Carron. At Kilsyth the ma nufactures consist almost entirely of hand loom weaving to supply orders from Glasgow. St. Ninians has manufactures of tartans, shawls, leather, and nails. The county town, Stirling, has manufactures of tartan and tar tan shawls, yarns, cotton goods, malt, leather, soap, and candles. There are dye-houses for yarns, home-made cloths, and silks, rope yards and breweries. Considerable trade is carried on in corn, wood, coals, bricks, tiles, lime, and wool. About 100 vessels are engaged in the trade up the Forth to Stirling; and there is constant communication by steam with New haven, near Edinburgh, and the intermediate places on the Forth.