218 IRELAND [MINERALS. iron-mining has been prosecuted with some briskness in Antrim, as well as in Down and Londonderry. The quantity produced in the country has risen from 106 tons in 1860 to 77,600 in 1870 and 155,833 in 1879; but for the proper development of the industry the available supply of coke is wholly insufficient, and until other methods or materials of smelting have been discovered, the valuable iron ores of the country will contribute a very small modicum to its prosperity. Gold. From the gold ornaments and crucible ladles and other implements used in the purifying of gold that have been discovered in a bog en the borders of Limerick and Tipperary, it would appear that that metal was manu factured there at a very early period ; and there is a tradition that gold was smelted for King Tighearnmas about 1620 (or 915) B.C. in one of the valleys of the Liffey. About the end of last century a nugget of gold 22 oz. in weight was found in a tributary of the Ovoca, and, the Government hiving shortly afterwards taken up the enterprise, placer mining was carried on for some years. The gold was from 2 If to 21|- carats fine, the alloy being silver. The total value of the gold obtained at the Government works was .3675, while gold to the value of over ,10,000 was obtained by private en terprise. All the gold has been found in shallow places. Very little gold is found in the iron or quartz veins, although pieces of iron are always found with the gold, and quartz is sometimes attached to the nuggets. The gold usually occurs in small grains, but nuggets of con siderable weight are sometimes found. Silver and Lead. In very ancient times there were silver mines at Argetros, county Kilkenny, and near ToDmavara, county Tipperary. The metal occurs both as native silver and in the lead ore, which sometimes yields as much as 80 oz. of silver to the ton. Lead is found in a greater number of localities than any other metal. Its most usual form is galenite, which occurs sometimes alone, but generally with sulphide of zinc, sometimes with the sulphides of iron and copper, and occasionally with sulphate of baryta and sulphate of strontium. In 1854 the lead mines of Ireland were wrought by ten companies, and the amount of ore raised was 3069 tons 15 cwts., yielding 2210 tons 15 cwts. lead and 18,096 oz. silver. Since that period the industry has gradually declined, until in 1875 it was prosecuted by only one company, that of Luganure in "VVicklow ; but since 1877 two mines have also been wrought at Carahan in Clare. Table II. gives returns from 1876 to 1879. Copper. The principal copper-mines are at Knock- mahon in Waterford, at Cronebane and Connary in Wicklow, and at Bearhaven, Ballycommisk, and Cosh een TABLE II. Produce of Lead and Silver, 1876-79. CoiTrianies. Lead Ore. Lead. Silver. Value of Ore. Tons. Cwts. Tons. Cwts. Oz. s. (I 1876 Luganure (1) 1825 4 1368 18 6840 20,077 1877 Luganure (1) 1655 18 1241 6205 18,214 1378 Luganure (1) 1526 1 1130 5(550 12,208 10 Carahan (2) 178 133 10 1,882 7 1879 Lugamire (1) 1124 9 800 4000 7,309 Carahan (2) 148 111 1,524 TABLE III. Produce of Copper, 1874-79. Number of Minos. Copper Ore. Value. Copper. Value. Tons.
Tons.
1874 8 9773 54,339 802 72,090 1875 8 7019 42,020 600 54,000 1876 6 6186 32,342 452 37,645 1877 6 4949 19,664 281 21,300 1878 6 1821 9,662 140 9,600 1879 5 2096 13,062 179 11,505 in Cork. Chalcopyrite or yellow copper is the most common, but melaconite or black copper is found at Crone- bane and Connary, and tetrahedrite or grey ore in the small beds to the south of Bearhaven. Native copper is common in most of the districts where the ore is found, and in many places large quantities of copper are collected from the streams by precipitation on iron. In 1854 the quantity of copper raised in Ireland was 12,171 tons, value "104,882. Since 1874 the industry has been on the decline, as may be seen from Table III. Other Minerals. There is a lirge lode of pyrites asso ciated with the iron ore at Ovoca, county Wicklow, and native sulphur is found in the limestone in various dis tricts as well as in some of the copper-mines. The pro duce of the sulphur mines of Wicklow amounted in 1860 to 99,259 tons, in 1870 to 38,634 tons, and in 1879 to only 8262 tons. Tin stone has been found in a leaden lode at Dalkey, county Dublin, and also in the auri ferous soil of Wicklow, but no lodes or workable de posits have been discovered. Salt is found at Carrick- fergus and Larne in Antrim, and gypsum suitable for manure in the same districts. Molybdenite is found in a vein of granite near Eoundstone in county Galway. Antimony, arsenic, sulphate of barytes, cobalt, magnesia, alum, and steatite, all occur in several districts. Clays suitable for porcelain, as well as those used for coarse pottery, are not uncommon, and there are a great many quarries for building stone, flags, and slate, and also some for granite and marble. Lime is of course plentiful almost everywhere. Mineral springs, chiefly chalybeate, exist in the Upper Limestone in many parts of the country, the principal being Mallow in Cork, Ballynahinch in Down, Swanlinbar in Cavan, Castleconnel near Limerick, and Lucan near Dublin. Climate. The climate of Ireland is more equable than that of Great Britain, both as regards temperature and rainfall. N"o district in Ireland has a rainfall rising so high as that of large portions of the Highlands of Scot land, or falling so low as that of several large districts in the east of Great Britain. In January the mean tempera ture rises but little above 37 over the larger portion of the eastern slope of Great Britain, whereas in the same month it scarcely falls below 40 in any part of Ireland ; and in July, whilst in Great Britain the extremes in the mean temperature are 64 in the London district and 54 in Shetland, the extremes in Ireland are 59 in the north and 62 in Kilkenny. Latitude accounts only for a part of these differences, which are mainly occasioned by the physical configuration of the surface in its relations to the prevailing moist W.S.W. winds. Ireland presents to these winds no unbroken mountain ridge running north and south, which would result in two climates as distinct as those of the east and the west of Ross-shire ; but it presents instead only a series of isolated groups, with the result that it is only a few limited districts which enjoy climates approach ing in dryness the climates of the whole of the eastern side of Great Britain. Agriculture. In wet years the excessive moisture is very prejudicial to cereal crops, especially in the southern and western parts of the island. Probably the returns either of corn or of green crop would in exceptional cases be very deficient under any mode of culture, and they might on the average, in the south-western district, be less remunerative than those of grass ; but undoubtedly, if tillage were more practised on pasturage farms, the rearing and feeding of cattle would be more satisfac torily performed. Moreover, the soil in many cases is such that most kinds of crops thrive in the moist climate, and much might be done by drainage to procure a drier atmosphere and to mitigate the prejudicial influences of
