642 7 he y oiLvnal of Forestry . 



from the above that ring-shake or coult in trees is not always 

 attribiitahle to the soil, but often to the formation of the tree itself ; 

 hence the absolute necessity of cutting off during the earlier stages of 

 the tree's growth all badly placed limbs likely to interfere with the 

 leader or the proper balance of the head of the tree, as by so doing 

 we would not only grow a sounder class of timber, but would also be 

 the means of prolonging the life of many of our forest monarchs. 

 Perhaps at a convenient time I may give you the dimensions, &c., of 

 some trees of this description growing upon this estate, which are 

 much larger than the one I have here described, [Please do. — Ed.] 



The Trees ix Sackyille Street, Dublin. — Aneut those forlorn specimens 

 of plant life, " A Member of tlie late Botanic Committee of the Royal Dublin 

 Society" writes: — "Now, as the trees in Sackville Street are about to be 

 replanted by [the great liberality of Mr. Niven, of Drumcondra, it might be 

 well to consider the cause of the failure of the present ti'ees. I told my friend 

 Mr. Niven that I believed the chief cause was the position in which they were 

 planted outside the edge of the flags — in fact, in a regular drain, as all the 

 water and mud which runs along this drain pours down into the holes in which 

 the trees are planted, keeping the roots in constant puddle and wet, and thus 

 killing them. This was foreseen by many from the first. Now it is clear that 

 they should be planted on the flagway — the trees planted along Wellington 

 Road and the roads in the neighbourhood, as also in Leeson Park, and on the 

 Thames Embankment in London, are all planted on the pathway; and they 

 will fail again if not so planted. The other mistake was those huge heavy 

 iron cribs that surround the trees in Sackville Street. Some iron merchant 

 must have had a voice in the matter, who thought there was nothing like 

 leather; their very weight helped to kill the trees. In all the places men- 

 tioned above, where the trees have prospered so well, wooden cribs have been 

 used." Iron guards are generally used in the London metropolis, and their 

 weight does not kill the trees, because, indeed, they exert no pressure upon 

 either the stems or roots, from the manner in which they are placed. These 

 trees are bedded in good soil; and if the Sackville Street trees were properly 

 placed and bedded in good soil, and not nourished with street mud, they would 

 be in a healthy state. — Irisli Builder. 



