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river of this county. It rises in the county of Roscommon, and after watering Castlerea, it begins to divide the counties of Galway and Roscommon near Ballymoe, runs by Athleague, Mount Talbot, Ballyforan, Ballinasloe, and adds very considerably to the waters of the Shannon. Its course, in general is very sluggish and consequently overflows its banks in many places, and almost every year damages great quantities of meadow, though at the same time it contributes much to their fertility. This evil might be somewhat abated by judicious embarkments, and cutting off the water from the higher grounds, especially the bogs, but chiefly by levelling all the petty eel weirs on the river, which, instead of walls, should be made entirely of wattles, that would permit the water to pass through them. A canal on this river from the Shannon, and carried to Galway, has been in agitation. The canal is now (1823) excavating. It will be a means of improving the agriculture of the surrounding country to a great extent. trust it will not stop until it communicates with Tuam. I imagined canal companies had long since seen the impropriety of meddling with rivers. Keating says this river was formed in the reign of Heremon. The Shannon touches only a small part of this county, beginning near Clonfert, and ending at Mountshannon. The river of Shruel, which divides this county from Mayo, injures many acres of ground; its only discharge at present is through apertures in the rocks under a hill, and emerges again near Moycastle. If these apertures, called swallows, were enlarged, and boys prevented from throwing sods and stones into them to facilitate the catching of eels, much injury might be prevented, but

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ye sons of Suck." O'Flaherty says, about the year 2944, "the three rivers Suc sprung up between the lands of Galway and Roscommon."

the obstructions are every day increasing, and when the river is completely stopped, then possibly the proprietor will be sensible of his neglect, when he sees the country for many miles inundated, and property to a great amount destroyed, and perhaps many lives lost. Formerly the mills of Shruel threw back water for several miles, and injured a great quantity of land, the estate of Mr. Kirwan; but lately that gentlemen has, with great judgment, run a back water drain parallel to the river, which gives him a power of draining a great tract of valuable land; but though executed for several years, no assistance has been given by cutting off the springs from the high ground, of much more consequence than even the back water drain. It has been proposed lately, by an eminent engineer, to prevent the water from sinking through the swallows, by bringing the river on the surface; but I understand one of those petty objections so frequently made by ignorance, has been raised to prevent it. The injury by the obstruetions in this river, and which are very much encreased by the mill at Shruel, extends through a great tract of country as far back as Castle Hacket and Thomas

town.

This county is almost every where blessed with springs of the purest water; there is one at Eyrecourt, whose water, I am informed, is six ounces in a quart lighter than any other in the county; it is certainly excellent, but I very much doubt the extent of its superiority. Another at Oranmore, near the bridge, remarkably fine, and from which a copious stream always flows; by analysis it has been found two ounces in the pound lighter than any other within twenty miles of it (that at Eyrecourt is not twenty miles off); a very fine spring near Killconnel Abbey; very fine springs near the east suburbs of Galway, called St. Augustine's wells,

where people do penance by parading in their bare feet round those wells a stated number of times.-See Rutty on mineral waters. A spring well near the summit of the rocky hill of Knocknay; it is never dry, and very fine water. Chalybeate wells abound,—the most remarkable I shall mention. One at a short distance from Woodford has been used with great success, and has been analized by Dr. Donnelan of Portumna ; one of great repute near the white gate on the estate of Mr. Burke of Tintrim. In the same neighbourhood, at the village of Quose, on Lord Clanrickard's estate, a well that instantly kills poultry that drink of it. A chalybeate of great efficacy in the demesne of Kiltulla, the seat of John D'Arcy, Esq. and on this gentleman's estate at Kingston, in Cunnamara, there is one that Mr. Kirwan, who often explored this country, considered as one of the best in Europe. Another at Cahertinne, near Dunsandle, often used. A fine spa between Clonfert and Lawrencetown; it has been taken with great effect in liver complaints; it is thought to be at least equal to that at Castleconnel; one near Athenry much frequented; another at Rathglass, near Kilconnel, much used; another near Woodbrook has been used; another at Killimor much used; one on the road side, near Abbert, has been greatly used; another of great repute near Hampstead; a far famed chalybeate spa at Oughterard, which induces many invalids to take lodgings there. This well is badly built, and no care taken, by a drain round it, to prevent the mixture of rain water: indeed the same neglect attaches to every spa well; they are uniformly neglected and dirty. Probably there are many others that escaped my notice.

CHAPTER II.

AGRICULTURE.

SECTION I.

MODE OF CULTURE,

WHEAT is the crop at which almost every farmer aims, and to which almost every other is subservient: it must be confessed this predilection has one good ef

• In Henry the Second's time, our wheat was so small and shrivelled as scarcely to be cleaned by the fan; there was much straw but little corn, probably from the richness of the soil and a defective tillage. It is thought we had this grain from a Scandinavian tribe of Picts, called Cruthnii. Cruthneach is the Irish for wheat, and it is likely we received an imperfect knowledge of the cultivation of it from them. Baron Finglass informs us, that in the reign of Henry VIII. "No man having a plough of his own buy any corn, upon pain of forfeiting 12d. for every peck he shall buy, until his own corn be all spent. Also, that no man shall export corn out of Ireland, if the peck of wheat be above the value of 12d. and malt above the value of 8d. upon pain of forfeiting the same, and that no license be given to any man for the exportation." By a statute of Edward IV." All persons were prohibited from exporting grain from Ireland if the peck of grain exceeded 10s. upon pain of forfeiting the grain, or the value thereof and the ship, half to the king and half to the seizer. Likewise, that no merchant shall buy corn in the sheaf, upon pain of forfeiting the same."

fect attending it-the inducement to cultivate potatoes on a much larger scale than otherwise would be done : fallow for this crop, but not near so many as

Wheat pro

too many formerly, thanks to the potatoes for it. duced on fallow is usually sown in October. Where potatoes have been the previous crop, seldom until December, and sometimes, if the season is wet, defer the sowing until spring; twenty stones are usually allowed to sow an acre, but some few, where the ground is in high tilth, sow only ten stones, but always less seed in spring than in autumn. It is sowed both under the plough and by shovelling; the latter mode generally by cottiers. Oats are usually sowed after potatoes, produced by burning the surface, especially in moory soil not fit for wheat; but in ground adapted to it, wheat is the favourite crop; two barrels, or twenty-eight stone of oats, are generally sowed on the acre; some few sow less, but usually the quantity allowed is more than is neccessary. The general mode of those who have not a sufficient quantity of manure for their potatoes, (and which are by much the greater number) is to hire land and pare and burn the surface; they pay various prices, from three to ten guineas an acre, according to the quality of the ground, but more frequently the price is regulated by the demand. Where there is little ground to be let for this purpose, it is astonishing the prices they will pay, or frequently promise to pay, and when the price of the seed and their own labour are added to the rent, one is at a loss to account for it, except that they must have the land at any price. Those who have land to let often take advantage of this necessity, and frequently suffer by it, for it is nothing uncommon to let whole fields in this manner at a high rent, and after a part is pared, some other person in the neighbourhood advertising ground at a lower price, they abandon what

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