The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-12 00:00:00

'RESIDENT MAGISTRACY.

The vacancy in the resident magistracy of Done-
gal, occurring by the death of Mr. T. A. Dillon, has
been filled up by the appointment of Mr. Redington,
county Galway. Mr. Denehy and Mr. Barry,
R.M., receive £lOO a year each additional, which
sums were placed at the disposal of his Excellency
the Lord-Lieutenant by the death of Mr. Dillon.

AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS OF

IRELAND.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)
LIMERICK, SEPTEMBER.

Visitors to the wild beauties of Killarney, or to
the rugged scenery encompassing the bays of
Kerry, know how backward and impoverished
is the cultivation of the thin and stony soil. The
climate on this most westerly land of Europe is
exceedingly mild and moist, and we admire here
the bay, laurestinus, and arbutus, which flourish
unharmed even by the inclemency of the last severe
winter. The quantity of rain is excessive, and
though the limestone soil of the valleys is porous,
the more prevalent old red sandstone forms an im-
pervious bottom to a wet soil ; so that complete
under-drainage is much needed before good hus-
bandry can be pursued. This is done to a consider-
able extent on the more improving estates. Wheat
does not ripen well in most seasons, excepting in
favoured localities like the good land fringing the
larger lake of Killarney, and approaching the very
entrance of the dark pass of Dunloe ; here, with a
fine harvest, the very finest quality of wheat is
reaped and made into the delicious white bread of
the district. The primitive rotation of potatoes,
wheat, and oats is giving place to the alternation of
grain and green crops, and good implements and
good management are being slowly introduced. A
great feature of the farming for several miles inland
from the coast is the use of sea-weed, shell-sand,
and coralline—the weed being a fine manure for a
single crop, the latter exerting a more permanent
effect. Most farms in Kerry have bog or mounfain
land in connection, and are rented at extremely
varied rates, the value of a farm being estimated by
the " collop," equivalent to the maintenance of one
cow—the keep of a horse being reckoned as one
and a-half collops, and so on. So that a farm con-
tains so many collops, according to its size and
quality; and the rent for each collop differ under
different landlords and in various localties. There
are many large estates on which vast improvements
have been effected; Lord Headley, Lord Lans-
downe, Lord Kenmare, Mr. Herbert, and others
having remodelled holdings, introduced better
management, and amazingly benefited the class of
poor cultivators in Kerry ; and, besides the fine
farms in the hands of the gentry, there are also
many well managed by farmers and breeders of
note. Dairying prevails everywhere; but the gene-
rally used and most profitable cow is not that na-
tive to the county. The small, light, active, and
wild Kerry, with small head, short, fine, upturned
horns, and long hair, black or black and brindled,
is, in fact, rather scarce ; specimens of the true
breed being bought up and sent long distances to
gentlemen who are fanciers of pretty animals.
Hardy, living on scanty herbage, yielding beautiful
milk, peculiarly rich in butter, and readily fattening
;when required, the Kerry is exactly adapted to the
'circumstances of its native region ; but on better
"pastures the size of the breed increases, and where
'good provender, and warmth,s'
:and shelter are pro-
vided, as•in proper dairy
management, the usual
cross of the middle-horn Irish cow
with
short-
horn is found most.profitable, and there
are scarcely
any dairies of'Kerry cows exclusive ly. • This is not
a great sheep-grazing county ; but while the the e
red
'deer haunt the steep woods of Glenna and the