The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-12-03
Joseph Medill, in Chicago Tribune.
IRELAND.

Joseph Medill, in Chicago Tribune.
IRELAND.
The streams are everywhere
bright and clear, and general,
swift running. For 80 small a ter
ritory, there are remarkably large
rivers and lakes. With the excep
ton of one or two in Switzerland
there are larger lakes in ireland
than can be found elsewhere IN Eu
rope. The Shannon is a larger river
than any in Great Britain, and nav.
igable for a longer distauce. The
harbors are among the finest in the
world. The climate is remarkably
temperate and equable. Many
plants which can only flourish in
lighthouses in England, flourish in
the open air in Ireland; while the
great moisture which prevails is &C
favorable to the vegetation that the
country is carpeted in almost per.
petual green. This verdure extends
to the mountain tops where there is
a particle of earth, and on the sea.
shore right down to where the
ocean-breakers dash against the
rocks.
From what I had heard before
visiting Ireland, I supposed it was
nearly treeless country. But such
is not the case. Every rod square,
almost, which is unfit for cultiva-
ton, is covered with trees. Trees
abound on the mountains and on
the steep hillsides, and along many
of the roads and lanes; and they
may be seen everywhere standing
singly or in clumps. Where one
tree is seen in Illinois from the win
dows of the train, fifty may be seen
in Ireland.
The hedge-rows add greatly to
the beauty of the landscape. The
foliage of the thorn is very dark
green, and those live fences can be
distinguished for long distances,
sub-dividing the face of the country
into squares like those of chess
board.
AS general rule, the fields in
Ireland are mere patches, to the
eye of an American. More than
half the island is fenced off into
fields Of 4 to 8 acres, and it is sell
dom that a field of so acres is seen.
The way a fence is made is as fol-
lows: An embankment is thrown
up 3 or 4 feet high from the earth,
taken from a ditch on either side
thereof. non this embankmert is
planted nursery-thorns, or the thorn
berries, and in a short time there is
a live fence that will last for gener-
ations, and turn anything, whether
man or beast. For most Of the
year, the ground is 80 saturated
with water that these fence-ditches
are needed to drain the fields and
carry off the surplus rainfall. On
the heavy clay soils, bitches can
hardly be too numerous; and this
is an argument in favor of small
fields. On the stony lands, the
fences are constructed Of stone, and
there are thousands of miles Of such
fences in Ireland but the thorn
hedge predominates.
While the climate is damp, and
the ocean winds raw and disagreea-
Bile for most Of the year, yet the
is remarkably healthy.
The bills of mortality are as low as
any country in the world. In 1872
the deaths were only l8 to the 1000,
while tho births were 81 to the
l 900 inhabitants. This would in
dicate about $4,000 births against
$4,000 deaths. 1t is this extraordi-
nary salubrity and fecundity that
enables the little island to send
forth such prodigious swarms of
without being depopu-
lated. 1 picked up Belfast paper
one day, and, glancing at the obit-
dairy notices, counted upwards OF
thirty deaths where the deceased
had reached beyond the age Of three
score and ten, and several had
passed 80 and two 80. The pro-
portion of gray-haired men and
women met with in Ireland is very
remarkable: but the reason is, that
the young men and women 60 be-
yond the seas by tens of thousands
annually. The general poverty Of
the country, and the difficulty OF
subsistence, force them to
leave a land which they passionate
|y adore.