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manta are some small lakes, here called Loughans,
which are formed by the surface water in winter. The
best land in the county, most of which has a limestone
bottom, is applied to the growth of wheat, which is the
predominant crop. Barley is usually sown after it:
bere is not in general cultivation. Oats are cultivated
in all parts of the county: the species most commonly
used is the Irish, a hardy but small grain, which does
not shed easily. Rye, which is but little cultivated, is
usually sown on land that has been pared and burned,
and produces fine crops on mountainous ground.
Potatoes are everywhere grown, and all the manure of
the county is applied in their culture; but the most ap-
proved is that from the farm-yard, though the sweepings
of the streets of Kilkenny are purchased at a high
price, and other manures consist of composts of various
kinds; lime only is sometimes used. In the barony of
Iverk, and everywhere within reach of the coast, or of
the Suir, sea-wrack and sand are generally used. Green
crops are very rare, being cultivated only by some of the
principal gentry and a few wealthy farmers. Manure is
seldom used for any but the potatoe crop: when
exhausted by repeated tillage, the land is too frequently
left to recruit itself by a natural process; grass and
clover seeds are, however, sometimes sown, and the ad-
vantages are beginning to be appreciated.
In the best cultivated parts of the county about one-
third of the ground is under tillage, but in the hilly
parts the proportion is much less. The use of green
food for any species of stock is almost unknown to
common farmers: many of the cattle graze abroad the
whole winter, but some are housed from Christmas to
April. In the Walsh mountains grass is kept for the
cattle, into which they are turned in the winter without
hay, straw, or shelter. The only green food used in
winter is furze tops pounded, which are commonly
given to horses, and sometimes to black cattle: the
former become fat, sleek, and fine- skinned on this food:
the sort preferred is the large French furze, but the
small Irish furze will serve. The stalks of potatoes,
dug when green, are given to cattle: sheep are remark-
ably fond of them, and particularly of the apples, which
fatten greatly. The Jerusalem artichoke has also been
used successfully as food for sheep. Less attention
seems to be paid to pasture than to other agricultural
objects, being, in the tillage districts, such fields as will
no longer bear corn, let out without any seeds. The
mountain pastures are left in a state of nature, unen-
closed and unimproved. Sheep are banished from
many places for want of fences, and the land seems to
be applied to no purpose, being left to the spontaneous
growth of heath. These heaths are very liable to take
fire in dry summers by accidental circumstances, and
cause some damage: the fire, however, eventually
improves the surface, when not too intense, and
sometimes is kindled for that purpose. That the
hilly tracts are capable of being improved by culture
is testified by the aspect of the small enclosures near
mountain villages, where the natural grass by a little
shelter and manure becomes surprisingly green. Im-
provement is not much impeded by rights of com-
mon, as there are few persons to assert such rights, if
they exist, and landlords seem to have an undisputed
authority in partitioning lands, which, though grazed in
common, confer no legal claim on the occupier. Irriga-
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tion is but little attended to, although, where it has been
practised judiciously, it has been found very advan-
tageous. There is a considerable portion of land,
bordering both on the Suir and the Nore, which is
embanked and chiefly used for meadows: the most
remarkable is. in the parish of Roer, where the embank-
ment is about two miles long; some of it is pastured,
and was formerly tilled, but the greater part is constantly
kept in meadow: it is intersected by open drains com-
municating with a main drain connected with the river by
sluices. Besides this district, the most extensive dairies
are in the barony of Iverk and principally around the
Walsh mountains: this tract has a good depth of soil,
much inclined to grass. So late as the close of the
last century, the principal family residing in it consisted
of five branches, holding among them more than 2000
acres; they retained a remarkable degree of clanship,
by constantly intermarrying, and were very comfortable
and hospitable. But from the practice of subdividing
the land amongst their descendants, the farms have
become very small and the occupiers poorer. The land,
however, is much improved: the chief crops are oats
and potatoes, and great numbers of cattle and pigs
are bred here. The milch cows are principally fed on
potatoes during the summer, and the butter is of a
superior quality, and brings a good price both at
Waterford and Kilkenny, whence it is exported to Eng-
land. The pigs are mostly fed with buttermilk and
potatoes and grow to a large size: vast numbers are
annually shipped for England, and during the season
the provision merchants of Kilkenny and Waterford
obtain a large supply from the barony of Iverk.
Throughout the whole of that part of the barony which
is not immediately adjacent to the city of Waterford;
the population is more or less connected by ties of
consanguinity, rarely marrying out of their own dis-
trict. Limestone to a great extent is burned for
manure; and limestone sand and gravel, raised from
the numerous escars and screened, were formerly
esteemed nearly as efficacious as lime, and are still
frequently employed when found at a distance from
limestone rocks. Before the practice of burning lime
became general, they formed the principal manures,
for which reason large excavations are to be found
whence these substances were raised: the most remark-
able is in the barony of Iverk, where, from the magni-
tude of the old excavations, they have been in use
probably for a thousand years. A manure somewhat
similar is used, under the name of Kilmacow sand, for
hilly ground: it is carried up the Nore to Innistiogue,
and thence drawn for some miles up the hills. Marl is
found in great quantities in different parts, generally
mixed with fragments of limestone; but, in conse-
quence of the higher estimation in which lime is held,
it is not in general use. River sand, raised below Ross,
is more extensively used than marl. At the edge of
the river, near Ringville, black mud, containing the
decayed remains of vegetables, is raised, and proves an
excellent manure for light ground; some sand is also
taken up, containing thin broken shells of a species of
tellina; the earth of old ditches and from boggy ground
is often mixed with it. A compost of lime and earth
is common as a top dressing; and the scrapings of
roads, and furze, fern and straw, spread on lanes and
other thoroughfares, are also used. Burning was the