I 2 



IRISH (;ARI)i;MN(i 



JANUARY 



Irish Timber. 



Lithiasis of Pear. 



I~^lll! l»>lK^wiiij; p.i^saj^o I'l'iiiis ill .in .iiticli' on 

 liisli TimbiM""' in tlio lit'lj'ast Monthly Mngn- 

 'tc lor J.-iniiary, 1811. Aliliouirh wiiiti'n a 

 huiulu- ! Nfars a)fo I bolievo it is worth roprotiiioiiii; 

 and will. I fancy, be new to many \>i llu- roaiii-is \^'i 

 Irish CiARI'KNIXi; : — 



"Aiul nolwiilistamlinir the many arg-iinu'nts wiiii.-li 

 li.no boon .nlvanooil to tlic contrary, the lollowinif 

 inst.moos soom to provo satisfactorily, that Ireland is 

 capable of producing- laryfc timber. In the year 1793 

 iheio w.is cut down on the estate of W'lii llocy, I'sii.. 

 .at DunvT-mstown. three chest- 

 nuts, \>\\^ of which measiireil 

 sixteen feet six inches, another 

 fifteen feet, and .a third fourteen 

 feet three inches in yirt ; the 

 leng-th of one was twcnty-fonr 

 feet, and tiie other thirty-six. 

 A'. I'virtmore I'aik, on the shore 

 oi Loiijfh Neagh, in the county 

 of Antrim, there was an oak 

 griwinif within the memor}- of 

 son>e persons yet alive tiiai 

 may stand in comparison with 

 the before-mentioned cele- 

 br;ited trees of England. The 

 trunk of this tree was for ly-lwo 

 feet girth and twenty-fi\e feel 

 long to the first branch. One 

 of the branches made into ;in 

 axle-tiee for a bleach mill sold 

 at /"g. the remainder of till' lops 

 nearly built a lighter calletl ihe 

 Royal Oak, which carried forty 

 tons ; this was sold for £.1,0. 

 Oak timber at that time sold 

 for IS. 6d. per foot. Our cor- 

 respondent informs us the tim- 

 ber brought ;£r97, but the bark 

 being sold with other bark o\ 

 the park, what it brought is 

 not exactly known. Were more LiriiiAsi; 



instances necessary to prove 



that the climate of Ireland seems peculiarly favourable 

 to the growth of large timber, it would be easy to 

 produce them." 



Is there any instance on record of a larger tree than 

 this having grown in Ireland? As a confirmation of 

 the accuracy of the following account it may be worth 

 noting that two villages in the neighbuurhood o'i 

 Portmore bear the names of Ballinderry (the town of 

 the Oak Wood), and Derrymore (the great Oak Wood). 

 I have also been informed that there is a buried forest 

 extending for miles along the shore of Lough Xeagh 

 at this place. A specimen of this wood (which is oak) 

 is in my possession. J. Adams. 



t^ t^ c^ 



Im glad to lie on a sack of leaves 



By a wasted fire and take my ease. 



For the wind would strip me bare as a tree — 



The wind would blow old age upon me. 



— Pddraic Colum. 



T 



111-; accompanying illusli;it 

 graph i>l oni' i^l .1 number 

 h.iniled lo me by Sir I liar 

 1 which h.iil been grown at 

 lybeg.s. Co. Donegal. Tl 

 touch, and on its surfaci 



is from ; 

 jiears wli 



pholo- 



h were 



Ball this autumn, 



at his residence, near 



fruit was rather hard to 



,ere a tnimber of pit-like 



mwto 6\] 



depressions, lined with a whitish material, as the figure 

 shows. At first sight the indications suggest .some 

 fungus as the cause oi the trouble, but closer investi- 

 gation with a strong pocket lens and with the micro- 

 scope show th.it the whitish material does not consist 

 oi fiMigus spawn or mycelium, 

 i)ul oi dead cells derivetl from 

 the tissues of the fruil, ihe 

 whiteness being largely due to 

 the presence of air in the inter- 

 stices between the cells. 



Every one who has eaten a 

 pear knows that in the flesh and 

 skin of it certain hard, gritty 

 particles are met with. These 

 consist of little groups or nests 

 of thick-walled elements known 

 technically as sclerotic cells. 

 Sometimes their presence is 

 scarcely perceptible, liut the}- 

 are nevertheless always there 

 in pears; indeed, thi- presence 

 of such cells is one of the ana- 

 loinical characters which dis- 

 tinguish these fruits from apples 

 in which they are always absent. 

 The degree of development of 

 those cells appears to depend 

 to some extent on weather con- 

 ilitions, and in very dr}- seasons 

 they may be more than usually 

 in eviilence. 



It is to a secondary dexelop- 

 ment of such sclerotic cells that 

 the disease here illustrated is 

 due. Sections through the pits 

 show that the tissue beneath 

 them consists of very thick-walled, hard, sclerotic cells, 

 and that the whitish material, which to the naked eye 

 might be taken for fungus mycelium, consist of dead cells 

 of the tissues which formerly filled the pit. These groups 

 of sclerotic cells are produced from a kind of cambium 

 much in the same way as corky tissues are developed. 



The trouble appears to be limited to certain varieties, 

 and it would be very interesting if a list of such varieties 

 as have been observed suffering from this disease could 

 be prepared for this country. The cause seems to lie in 

 the lack of a proper supply of water to the plant. This 

 may, of course, be due to soil or to season, or both 

 combined. It has also been suggested that it is due in 

 some cases to the grafting of too vigorously growing 

 scions on feeble stocks, the small root development of 

 the latter being insufficient to supply a well-developed 

 crown with sufficient water for its needs. 



Owing to the extra stoniness developed in such fruits 

 the trouble is known as lithiasis. G. H. P. 



IN Pi-:.\K 



