Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

KER
haustible supply of manure of two kinds, sea-weed and
sand, which on loamy soils act jointly with the best
effect, and on soils where either is found to be injurious,
the other operates as a correction. The agricultural
implements are few and simple. In the mountainous
parts the plough is scarcely used; the process of tillage
being wholly managed by a spade of peculiar construc-
tion, called a “loy.” Until the late general improve-
ment of the roads, wheel carriages were little known in
these districts, but their use is now becoming general.
From the introduction of the improved kinds of cattle
from Great Britain, the county now possesses the
long-horned Leicester, the Hereford, the Holderness,
and the Devon breeds: the common cattle of the
country are partly of the long and partly of the short
horned, varying in size according to their pasture: in
mountain farms they are very small and chiefly short-
horned. The mixtures of blood have operated towards
the extinction of the original Kerry breed of small
cattle, so beautiful in their shape, so valuable for their
milk, and so easily fattened to the best quality of fine-
grained meat. Yet some of their good qualities still
remain: they frequently prove good milchers, and
almost all, when brought into rich pastures, increase
considerably in size and make excellent beef. The dairy
stock is of a very good description, not of any distinct
breed, but what may be termed an excellent grazier’s
cow, of good shape and thrifty appearance, weighing
from four to six cwt. when fat. The sheep are of the
mountain kind, in some parts of good size, and in
general with very good wool of clothing quality: from
their strong resemblance to the Merino, particularly in
the formation of the horns of the males, and from the
former communication between Spain and this part of
Ireland, there is every reason to suppose that the moun-
tain flocks of this county are deeply crossed with Merino
blood. Numerous herds of goats are fed on the moun-
tains, which, though apparently suffered to ramble at
large, are collected every evening for milking by dogs
trained for the purpose. Little attention is paid to the
breed of swine. In some places a very bad description
of long-legged, thin, flat-ribbed pig, difficult to fatten,
is met with; in others, a well-formed white pig, easily
fattened and weighing from two to three cwt., is reared.
The Suffolk breed of horses has been introduced, but
has not spread largely through the county. The Kerry
ponies, once so famed, and originally of Spanish or
rather of Moorish extraction, were formerly strong
enough for farming purposes, but now, by injudicious
crossing, are so degenerated as to be fit only for the
saddle and for very light weights. Numbers of them are
brought down from the mountains to Killorglin fair,
in droves of perhaps a score together, not one of them
having been ever embarrassed by a halter, till sold
there. Ponies of a superior description are occasion-
ally offered for sale here, and command high prices.
Some of the wilder mountains are still haunted by the
native red deer, and a few of the fallow deer still remain
wild about Ballyheigue; the hunting of the former
through the mountains of Killarney, with their resound-
ing echoes, affords sport of the most animating
description.
This county was once almost entirely covered with
timber of large size and of the best description, and even
now in the mountain valleys the growth of timber is kept
44
KER
down only by the grazing of the cattle; for it has been
found that wherever these were excluded, timber spon-
taneously grew up, insomuch as, in some cases, to choke
up and prevent the growth of young plantations. Some
of the great landed proprietors are very attentive to the
planting of their property. The Marquess of Lansdowne
planted 100,000 trees, principally oak, ash, Scotch fir,
beech, and larch, in the twelve years between 1800 and
1812. The extent of the Earl of Kenmare’s woods is
estimated at 2,000 acres; and Mr. Herbert’s, of Muck-
ross, at nearly double that number. Extensive and impor-
tant improvements have been effected by Lord Headley
on his estates at Glenbegh, Castleisland, and Aghadoe,
particularly the first, where the change produced in a
few years, not merely in the cultivation of the land,
planting, draining, embanking, &c., but in the habits and
manners of the peasantry, excites the admiration of all
who were previously acquainted with this wild, moun-
tainous, and lawless district. Orchards are not unfre-
quent in the northern district. This county produces
the celebrated Kacageogh cyder: the trees which bear
this famous apple are the worst-looking and least pro-
ductive of any; they appear to be falling down, are ill
supplied with leaves, unhealthy in appearance, so knotty
as to resemble trees grown from pitchers, but unrivalled
in the quality of liquor they produce. The next in
quality is made from an apple called the Speckled Moss.
The fuel universally used is turf, of which the supply
may be said to be inexhaustible. Coal is rarely used
for fuel, except by a few respectable families.
The western portion of the north of the county,
which has been described as lying low, is a great lime-
stone basin, the eastern boundary of which is formed
by a line from Knockanure hill southward to Listowel,
and thence south-westerly to Ardfert, where it; sinks
under the ocean in Ballyheigue bay. This limestone is
secondary, with marine remains and eale spar, usually
of a light blue or smoke-grey colour: it seldom rises
more than forty or fifty feet above high water, appearing
sometimes in crags and low cliffs, but mostly concealed
by a cover of yellow clay. Its northern boundary, the
hill of Knockanure, about 700 feet high, is composed of
grey sandstone; the junction on that side is every where
concealed by a deep cover of clayey loam. To the west
of that hill, the contiguous rock sinks under the level
of the ocean, and permits the tide to enter the mouth of
the Cashen, the navigation of which is obstructed by
sand hills; but these, being partly calcareous, alford a
useful supply of manure to the upper country. From
the Cashen to Kerry Head stretches a bank of upland,
which, as it proceeds westwardly, becomes chiefly a
heathy moor, rising to a considerable height at its ter-
mination: it is composed of thick beds of argillaceous
sandstone, nearly horizontal, in the partings of which
the beautiful quartz crystals called Kerry stones are
found: they are transparent and regular, and very hard.
Steel-grained lead is also found traversing this formation.
On its southern side this bank is more slaty and some-
what calcareous, being mixed, near Ballyheigue, with
lesser masses of close-grained conglomerate. On the
west is a low sandy flat and salt marsh, defended from
the ocean by a screen of sand hills extending from
Ballyheigue to Barra harbour. In the northern upland
formation of the middle district of Kerry are beds of
culm, which has been worked only in its eastern range,