though unfortunately most of the barley is made into whiskey. In the
more northernly parts the general employment is fishing.

[Illustration]

Ireland is a much warmer and more fertile island; it is celebrated, in
point of industry, for its wool, butter, beef, hides, tallow, cows,
horses, pigs, sheep, potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, and linen. Linen
is the chief manufacture. There are numerous mines, from which are
obtained gold, silver, iron, copper, and lead; all very useful metals,
I think.

There are also quarries of marble, slate, and freestone; and in
various parts are found coal and turf. In Ireland, turf is the
principal fuel used. The brewing of stout, and a strong bittered beer,
for exportation; and the distilling of whiskey, another strong but
spirituous drink, are other branches of Irish industry.

Fishing is an important occupation with those peasants who live on the
sea-shore, and near the rivers or lakes. The making of roads, draining
bogs, and improving the land, now employ thousands of poor labourers,
who formerly used to be without any occupation.

The Irish dairies are well-managed and are generally extensive; many
counties in the south part of the island are occupied almost entirely
by dairy farms. As many as thirty or forty cows are kept on some of
them, for butter is the chief produce, and this is sent into England,
Portugal, and the East and West Indies. Some of the nice butter you
eat on your bread and rolls comes from Ireland. Sheep and cattle are
fed in great quantities on large pieces of land devoted to the