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KIL
large; £6051. 12. 5. for the public roads, being the
baronial charge; £5206. 7. 8. for public establishments,
officers’ salaries, buildings, &c.; £4713. 15. 10½. for
police, and £2304. 14. 11½. in repayment of loans ad-
vanced by Government. In the military arrangements
it is included in the eastern district, and contains three
barrack stations, two for cavalry at Newbridge and Athy,
and one for infantry at Naas.
The general surface is rather level. In the barony of
West Ophaly are several gently rising hills, and others
occur towards the eastern boundary of the county.
The greatest elevation of the plain country is around
Naas, both which baronies and their vicinity present an
appearance of great fertility, which is also exhibited
generally throughout the eastern and southern, and a
portion of the western parts of the county; but towards
the north and north-west are vast tracts of the Bog of
Allen, comprising more than 50,000 acres, having a flat,
dreary surface, relieved here and there by verdant
elevations, here called “islands.” Near the southern
extremity of this immense bog are the hills of Grange
Allen, Cheelow, Dunmurry, Redhills, and Knocknagy-
logh, generally fertile, and cultivated to the summit.
There are also small hills in the vicinity of Timoline and
Moone; others stretching from Killan, by Kilrush,
Davidstown, Calverstown, and Thomastown, and termi-
nating in the hills of old Kilcullen and Ballysax; and
other small and detached elevations near Arthurstown,
Lyons, Longtown, &c. The Bog of Allen and the Cur-
ragh of Kildare are two distinguishing features of the
county. Most of the bogs which lie eastward of the
Shannon, occupying considerable portions of Kildare
and the King’s county, are comprehended, in common
parlance, under the former of these names, which does
not, therefore, apply to any single morass. On the
contrary, the tracts of bog to which it bears reference
are often separated by high ridges of dry land inclining
towards different rivers, as their natural vents for drain-
age. The portion of it within Kildare lies, as before
observed, in the northern part of the county, and near
its southern margin the island of Allen (a name given
to an elevated tract of cultivated soil) surrounded like
an oasis in the African desert, by the solitude of the
uninhabited morass, presents a gratifying feature of
variety; it rises abruptly from the bog, is nearly conical,
and is composed of limestone gravel. Towards the west
rises the Hill of Allen, a steep elevation of a conical
form, about 300 feet in height. The Curragh is a fine
undulating down, six miles long and two broad: it lies
in a direction from north-east to south-west, having the
town of Kildare near its western extremity, and crossed
by the great road from Dublin to Limerick; and is, in
fact, an extensive sheepwalk of above 6000 acres, forming
a more beautiful lawn than the hand of art ever made.
Nothing can exceed the extreme softness and elasticity
of the turf, which is of a verdure that charms the eye,
and is still further set off by the gentle inequality of the
surface: the soil is a fine dry loom on a substratum of
limestone. It is depastured by numerous large flocks
turned on it by the occupiers of the adjacent farms, who
alone have the right of pasture, which greatly enhances
the value of these farms. This plain has long been
celebrated as the principal race-ground in Ireland, and is
equal, if not superior, to that of Newmarket, in all the
requisites for this sport.
VOL. II.—81
KIL
The soil varies but little as compared with that of
some adjoining counties: the most prevailing is deep
and mellow, in some parts inclining to clay, but princi-
pally a rich loam, varying from 10 to 16 inches in depth,
and resting on a hard and compact substratum, in some
places impervious to water: when first turned up it is
cold and arid, but when mellowed by the influence of
the atmosphere, it becomes fertile. In some parts the
upper, or surface, soil rests on a substratum of limestone
gravel; in others, on limestone, or clay-slate. In gene-
ral the county is fertile and well cultivated, particularly
around Athy, and thence along the banks of the Barrow,
extending to the borders of the county of Carlow. The
districts around the towns of Kildare, Naas, Kill, and
Clane are also fertile, well fenced, and tolerably well
cultivated; but in wet seasons much water remains on
the surface, showing the want of a good system of
drainage, which is much neglected. Agriculture is
systematically practised in some parts, particularly by
the noblemen and resident gentlemen, and their example
is beginning to produce its beneficial effects among the
small farmers. Wheat is cultivated generally, and the
quality is remarkably good; the barley is also bright
and sound; the oats are good, clean and heavy, except
in a few low, cold, and clayey situations; potatoes are
extensively grown, and in great varieties of sorts, large
quantities being sent to Dublin; turnips and mangel-
wurzel are cultivated by a great number of the wealthy
farmers, clover and vetches by nearly all; and rape is
grown extensively around Monastereven. The Scotch
plough is general, the old heavy wooden plough being
rarely seen; indeed agricultural implements of all kinds
are greatly improved, except the spade, which is still a
long narrow tool. The heavy wooden wheel car has
given place to one of much lighter construction, with
low spoke-wheels, iron-bound, the kish, so general in
the western counties, is scarcely ever seen here; some
of the vehicles are made exactly after the plan of the
Scotch cart, some of them with, and some without the
high sides. Greater attention is manifested in collect-
ing manure, and large composts are raised in the
vicinity of bogs by the mixture of bog mould and stable
manure or ashes. The burning of subsoil in kilns was
introduced by the late Mr. Rawson, who compiled the
statistical survey of Kildare for the Royal Dublin
Society, and has now become general, producing the
finest crops of potatoes and turnips. A kind of in-
durated sand found in banks, the adhesive property of
which is so great that the bank, when cut perpendi-
cularly, will never yield in any kind of weather, is con-
sidered by some agriculturists as a kind of golden mine
for the farmer who can avail himself of the benefit of
it. The cottagers in the neighbourhood of the Curragh
collect the sheep dung, which they mix in tubs with
water, stirring it until it forms a thick solution, which
they call “mulch;” in this they steep the roots of their
cabbage plants for some hours; a quantity of the sub-
stance consequently sticks to the roots, and ensures a
full crop. In the smaller farms a very disadvantageous
custom is prevalent of dividing the land into long nar-
row enclosures, which occasions an unnecessary and
therefore injurious extent of fence in proportion to the
land included. The fences generally are tolerably good,
but they everywhere occupy too much ground; the
usual kind is a bank of earth thrown up from a wide
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