NATURAL RESOURCES The equable climate and naturally fertile limestone soil of Southern Ireland are unquestionably the country's great assets agriculturally, but the lack of natural fuels has been a serious detriment to industrial development. The coal and peat beds appear to offer only very limited fields for profitable exploitation and Irish forests were denuded in earlier centuries, so that both coal and timber are now essential imports. Under the circumstances the development of hydroelectric power by utilizing the rivers has appealed to the country as a major possibility in providing power for industrial purposes, even though the question of such development has been more than ordinarily complicated in Ireland by the problem of imperfect natural drainage. The Shannon, Erne, Bann, and Liffey Rivers had been the subject of various proposals for more than a decade, but the Shannon was selected for the Free State's initial venture. The large construction project now under way in connection with the Shannon electrification scheme is outlined in detail in a separate chapter. MINERALS PEAT About one-seventh of the Free State is covered with peat bogs, the depth of which actually exceeds 45 feet in places and which are estimated to contain in the neighborhood of 4,000,000,000 tons of airdried peat containing 25 per cent moisture. Probably 6,000,000 tons are now dug annually, all of which is cut by hand and constitutes the only fuel consumed on farms in the immediate neighborhood of the worked bogs. Irish industries do not use peat, and the results of experiments made during the British coal stoppage with machine-cut and macerated fuel, which is more uniformly combustible and less friable than the hand-dried article, seem to have provided no very encouraging indications of its possibilities as a competitor with coal. In addition to the difficulty of manipulating the heavy cutting machines on undrained bogs, production costs by this method appear to be too high to permit the addition of any considerable transportation charge, so that general use in normal periods appears to be nearly as restricted as the use of hand-dried peat. The thermal content of machine-cut peat is variously estimated at around 7,000 B. t. u. per ton as compared with an average figure of around 11,500 for the coal supplied to the Irish market. The Irish Peat Inquiry Committee put the calorific value of native peat as compared with coal in the ratio of 2 to 3, and in consideration of this differential the estimated cost of landing the macerated fuel on the Dublin market, 32 shillings per ton, seems conclusive evidence against its extensive utilization until cheaper production methods are worked out. COAL It is generally accepted that the Free State can never produce sufficient coal for its own needs. In County Kilkenny between 80,000 and 100,000 metric tons of coal are produced annually, and about 2,000,000 tons are imported to satisfy the remainder of the Free State's requirements. Coal resources in Free State territory (the Kilkenny, Arigna, and Tipperary fields) are conservatively estimated at 170,000,000 metric tons, made up of deposits of semibituminous. and anthracite located in thin seams, much of which can not be worked economically. The other mineral deposits of the Free State are almost wholly undeveloped. Copper ores are found in the counties of Cork, King's, Waterford, and Wicklow. A very limited exploitation is now in progress in Cork, and the commercial production is almost negligible. Lead and zinc ores occur in various parts of Wicklow and Tipperary. The copper, lead, and zinc deposits of County Wicklow and the molybdenite deposits of Galway are the principal resources considered worthy of the attention of those interested in development. A variety of nonmetallic substances exist. Barytes occurs in Cork and Sligo, and a deposit is at present being worked in the latter county, while a gypsum deposit in County Monaghan is also being developed. Exploitation of the ocher deposits of Wicklow is seriously considered in connection with the foundation of a domestic paint industry. A wide range of calcareous marbles is to be found in Cork and Connemara, but commercial competition with Belgian and Italian marbles is considered dubious. The presence of excellent glass sands in certain parts of the country suggests the possibility of a domestic glassware industry. Cement-making materials occur, and the import of 150,000 tons annually of this commodity gives rise to the suggestion that a small plant for cement manufacture might be included among the new industries of the Free State. Slate, stone, and clay are abundant, FORESTS Originally a country with large forests, only 1 per cent of the Irish Free State to-day is covered with woods-something over 200,000 acres in all-and probably not more than half of the consumption of wood for various purposes is supplied from domestic resources. The scarcity of softwoods is increasing; fuel wood is also becoming more valuable, owing to the high cost of coal and the gradual exhaustion of peat deposits in many districts. The Government decided, in 1926, on a reforestation program, to include the planting of 5,000 acres a year for 10 years, and budget appropriations in connection with this program amounted in 1926-27 to £37,467 and in 1927-28 to £57,040. The State's forest properties now comprise a total of about 30,000 acres. Trees planted during the 1925-26 season numbered over 5,670,000 and consisted mainly of coniferous species such as Douglas fir, Scotch and Corsican pines, common and Sitka spruce, larch, and silver fir. The operation of the land acts is increasing the number of small woods and plantations passing out of the hands of large estate owners, with consequent wholesale clearing of trees for tillage and pasture. The difficulty has been the replacing, at a reasonable cost, the supervision formerly exercised by large estate owners by that of some public authority. Privately owned woods comprise about 84 per cent of the total woodland area of the country. FISHERIES Neither fishing as a means of livelihood nor the eating of fish is popular with the Irish people, the amount of fish consumed being only 14 pounds per capita in the Irish Free State, as compared with 40 pounds in Great Britain-a rather extraordinary situation for an island people. Hence, the number of men and vessels engaged is small compared with similar figures for Scotland and England. There are only 3,600 men devoting their full time to fishing, but, as an evidence of intention to make fishing a major pursuit, the Government has established a Department of Fisheries, and various measures are being taken to develop the fisheries of the country. The same depressing factors which affected deep-sea fishing on the coasts of Great Britain in the period subsequent to the war were operative in the Irish fishing industry. However, there has been a steady improvement in the last three years in the total quantity and value of fish landed and a rise in the number of men and vessels engaged. The value of fish landed was as follows: In 1924, £326,485; in 1925, £413,236; and in 1926, £353,123 (estimated), of which herring and mackerel accounted for 48 per cent. The herring catch, a large part of which is sold through Leith and other Scottish ports, is still well below pre-war levels on account of the failure of Russian purchasers to take their one-time allotment of 60 to 65 per cent of the Irish catch. There was a falling off in landings of mackerel for pickling in 1926 largely because the American market, the principal destination of Irish exports of mackerel, has been taking larger quantities of American-caught fish instead. Considerable quantities of lobsters, crawfish, and oysters are caught yearly, but this branch of the industry is not intensively worked by Irish fishermen. By far the most important fish in the list of the Irish catch is the salmon. In 1912 it was estimated that the total catch of salmon for the whole island was valued at about £1,000,000; the Free State's present exports amount to about £250,000 and the estimated home consumption to £150,000. Tourist anglers who visit the broad rivers of Ireland add substantially to the general business of the country. AGRICULTURE A glance at the topographic map of Ireland on page 2 is sufficient to establish the physical characteristics of the country, which are reflected in its agriculture. Much of the central plain, particularly the valley of the Shannon above Lough Derg, is low and boggy, and the abundant rainfall and slow drainage make cultivation in a great many areas difficult and uncertain. At the same time, the luxuriant natural herbage is capable of maintaining a great number of livestock and accounts for the predominance of cattle raising and dairy farming in the Free State's agriculture. Some sections, particularly in the east and south central districts, are remarkably fertile and support an important acreage in mixed crops. The natural advantages accruing from the distribution of these more workable areas is responsible for some differences in the major activities of the four Provinces, although there are few counties in which the proportion of tillage to pasturage is not distinctly weighted in favor of the latter. Leinster, with the exception of Wicklow County, which is principally mountainous, is a Province of large holdings, used mainly for the grazing and fattening of cattle. Meath and parts of the neighboring counties contain some of the richest pasture lands in Europe. Mixed tillage and dairying are carried on in southern Kilkenny, Carlow, King's, and Queen's Counties. Wexford is devoted mainly to tillage. Munster and Leinster are important in their domestic production of cereals and green crops, but Munster is chiefly given to dairying. The holdings are of two classes: (1) Pastoral dairying in the richer parts of Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, and Cork, and (2) mixed tillage and dairying, the tillage being subservient to the dairying, in the poorer parts of Cork and Kerry. Clare is largely pastoral. Connaught, with the exception of eastern Galway, Roscommon, and the plains of Mayo, is a Province of small and poor holdings, chiefly used for rough grazing and tilled where possible. Roscommon and eastern Galway are largely devoted to the grazing of store cattle and act as feeders to the fattening farmers of Leinster. Donegal, with the hilly character of Northern Ireland, has numerous lakes and in some parts stiff clay soil which is difficult to work. The land is chiefly under grazing. DECLINE IN TILLAGE The British market for foodstuffs is the first factor of importance in Irish farm economy. Bound up with this is the general question of efficiency of production, which has become increasingly prominent under the stress of postwar competitive conditions, but the Irish farmer has always produced for the British market and is likely to continue to do so for some time to come. When the British freetrade policy came into being with the repeal of the corn laws in 1846, the production of cereal crops on Irish farms became unprofitable. From that date tillage declined, while pasturage and the |