ugh they are not unknown
here; but I saw no new ones going up, save in immediate connection with
the Railroads, in either section. If Government, Society and Ideas are
to remain as they have been, the country may be considered absolutely
finished, with nothing more to do but decay. I trust, however, that a
new leaf is about to be turned over; still, it is mournful to pass
through so fine a country and see how the hand of death has transfixed
it. Even Limerick, at the head of ship navigation on the glorious
estuary of the Shannon, with steamboat navigation through the heart of
this populous kingdom for sixty or eighty miles above it, shows scarcely a
recent building except the Railroad Depot and the Union Poor-House, while
its general aspect is that of stagnation, decline and decay. The smaller
towns between it and Dublin have a like gloomy appearance--Kildare, with
with its deserted "Curragh" and its towering ruins, looking most dreary
of all. Happy is the Irishman who, in a new land and amid the activities
and hopes which it inspires, is spared the daily contemplation of his
country's ruin.

And yet there are brighter shades to the picture. Nature, ever buoyant
and imperative, does her best to remedy the ills created by "Man's
inhumanity to Man." The South of Ireland seems far better wooded than
either the North or West, and thrifty young forests and tree plantations
soften the gloom which unroofed and ruinous cabins would naturally
suggest. Though the Railroad runs wholly through a tame, dull level
sweeping ranges of hills appear at intervals on either side, exhibiting
a lovely alternation of cultivation, grass and forest, to the delighted
traveler. The Hay crop is badly saved so far, and some that has been cut
several days is still under the weather, while a good deal, though long
ripe, remains uncut; the Wheat looks to me thin and uneven; Oats (the
principal grain here) are short and generally poor; but I never saw the
Potato more luxuriant or promising, and the area covered with this noble
root is most extensive. The poor have a fashion of planting in _beds_
three to six feet wide, with narrow alleys between; which, though
involving extra labor, must insure a large yield, and presents a most
luxuriant appearance. Little Rye was sown, but that little is very good;
Barley is suffering from the stormy weather, but is quite thrifty. Yet
there is much arable land either wholly neglected or only yielding a
little grass,