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are those of the champaign district in the south-east.
Near Leitrim county it is deep, coarse, and sometimes
incumbered with rushes, but in the vicinity of Bally-
shannon it assumes a richer character. The change
arises from the subsoil, here limestone, the bed of which
extends to the neighbourhood of Donegal, supporting a
light, gravelly, brown soil; thence to the mountains of
Boylagh and Bannagh the soil gradually deteriorates,
having a brown clay and rubbly substratum. From
Dunkanealy to Killybegs and to Tellen Head the soil of
the cultivable glens is a light gravelly till, resting on
variously coloured earths and rocks; while that of the
mountain region, with the exception of a few green spots,
consists of a thin surface of peat on a substratum of
coarse quartz gravel, under which are found variously
coloured clays, based for the most part upon granite.
The soil of the little dales in Fannet is a brown gravelly
mould, or a kind of till based on gravel, soft freestone
or clay-slate of various colours: but both here and at
Horn head, to the west of Sheep Haven, the drifting
sands, impelled by the gales from the Atlantic, have
covered much good land. The soil of the arable lands
of Ennishowen is mostly similar to that of those last
described.
The chief tillage district is the barony of Raphoe,
in which, besides potatoes, wheat, oats, and barley, flax
is grown and manufactured largely. From Ballyshannon
to Donegal and Killybegs tillage is general; and in
Boylagh and Bannagh much land is now under cultiva-
tion, though formerly scarcely sufficient was tilled to
supply the inhabitants with potatoes and grain. Oats
and potatoes, the former chiefly for distillation, are the
principal crops throughout the mountainous districts;
but latterly the growth of barley and flax has been
encouraged. Agriculture, as a system, however, is not
much practised except among the resident gentry, by
whom great improvements are annually made. They
have formed and strenuously support farming societies,
have awarded premiums, and recommended improved
implements and a better rotation of crops. The effects
of their exertions shew themselves in a very striking
manner in the baronies of Raphoe and Tyrhugh, in each
of which there is a farming society, which has been
attended with very beneficial effects; wheat has been
raised in both these baronies with the greatest success.
Ballyshannon formerly imported flour to the amount of
several thousand pounds annually; during the last two
years, considerable quantities of wheat were exported.
Turnips, vetches, mangel-wurzel and other green crops
are common. In the two last-named baronies the
fences, also, have been much improved: they are now
generally formed of quickset hedges, while in most other
parts, except the north of Ennishowen, they are sod
ditches or dry stone walls. The iron plough is in
general use among the gentry and larger farmers, but
the old cumbrous wooden plough is still used in many
parts. The angular harrow is becoming very general,
and all other kinds of agricultural implements are
gradually improving. A light one-horse cart, with
iron-bound spoke wheels, has nearly superseded the
old wooden wheel car, and the slide car is seldom
seen out of the mountain districts, in which the
implements are still rude in construction and few
in number, consisting, on many farms, merely of the
loy (a spade with a rest for the foot on one side only),
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the steveen (a pointed stake for setting potatoes), and
the sickle. Good grasses of every species grow in the
champaign tracts; but in the mountains they are
coarse and bad. Cattle, which have been fed for twelve
months on the latter, where the vegetation consists of
aquatic grasses, rushes, and heath, are seized with a
disorder called the cruppan, a sort of ague that is cured
only by removal to better herbage; yet the change of
pasture, if long continued, gives rise to another disease,
called the galar, no less fatal, unless by a timely removal
to the former soil. Even the pastures of the champaign
parts are unfit for fattening and are therefore used only
for grazing sheep, young cattle, and milch cows. A
peculiar herbage, called sweet-grass, formed of joints
from two to three yards in length, grows on the shores
of Innisfree, several feet under the high water mark of
spring tides, to which the cattle run instinctively at the
time of ebb. In Raphoe, irrigation is general. Besides
the composts usually collected for manure, lime is in
universal demand. In the maritime district from Bally-
shannon to Killybegs, sea-weed and shelly sand are the
chief manures; throughout the mountains, sea-corac
alone, except on the grounds of a few gentlemen where
lime is used. The character of the cattle has been
much improved by the introduction of the English and
Scotch breeds, particularly the Durham, Leicester, and
Ayrshire. A cross between the Durham and old Irish
produces an animal very superior in appearance, but not
found to thrive. The favourite at present is a cross
between the old Leicester and the Limerick, which, being
again crossed by the North Devon, or Hereford, grows
to a large size and fattens rapidly. The breed of pigs
has also been greatly improved; when fattened, they
are by some sent to market alive, by others slaughtered
at home and the carcases carried to Strabane or Lon-
donderry for the provision merchants there. Fowl and
eggs in large quantities are transmitted to the sea-ports
for exportation. The county is very bare of wood,
though there is some good ornamental timber in many
of the demesnes, and young plantations, formed in
several places, are very thriving. Well stocked orchards
and gardens are to be met with round many of the
farm-houses in Raphoe.
Granite forms the summit of all the mountains, and
with the new red sandstone, rests on a substratum of
limestone mostly of the primitive formation and con-
taining no organic remains, although secondary lime-
stone abounds in several parts. The limestone is found
through all the level districts near the sea and elsewhere,
and in the mountains forming the manors of Burleigh
and Orwell. On the eastern shore of Lough Swilly,
and in some other parts of Ennishowen, is found a
species of calcareous argillite, having the appearance of
grey limestone, but containing too much silex to burn
freely. Round Carndonagh, in the same barony, is a
dark blue limestone of superior quality. Many species
of valuable marble have been discovered. One of these,
of a pure white, free from flaws or discolouration, and
capable of being raised in blocks of any dimension at a
trifling expense, has been found in the Rosses; but the
want of roads, though the quarries are at a short dis-
tance from the sea, prevents its exportation. Grey and
black marble of very fine quality have also been found.
Little advantage has hitherto been derived from any of
the other mineral productions. Lead ore has been