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IRISH GARDENING. 



"IRISH GARDENING. 



AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY. 



Offices-53 Upper Saokville Street, Dublin. 



Preservation of Hedgerow 

 Timber and Shelter Belts. 



By A. C. Forbes, Director, Departmental Forestry 

 Statioir, .\vondaie. 



OF tlie mauv results of recent land legislation in 

 Ireland the rapid decrease of a g^reat deal of 

 timber on agricultural land is frequently deplored 

 by those who regard the land of the country as some- 

 thing more than the raw material out ot which beef, 

 oats and potatoes are manufactured. Rural economists 

 assert that hedgerow timber is a mistake, that it spoils 

 the crops and hedges beneath and around it, robs the 

 ground of its natural and artificial fertility, harbours 

 birds, and renders hay-making, harvesting and other 

 agricultural operations more difficult. No doubt all 

 these charges are true, and in a country cultivated and 

 tilled from the sea to the mountain top the removal of 

 hedgerow timber would not only be justifiable on 

 economic grounds, but a very necessary step iit 

 any process of land improvement. But when the 

 actual atid prospective condition of a very large 

 proportion of Irish land is considered, the layman is 

 often inclined to ask how hedgerow trees inlerfere with 

 the utility of the land to a greater extent than gorse, 

 bracken, brainbles, thorns, and various other forms of 

 what may be scientifically termed " matter in the wrong 

 place." .-^gain, an an.xiety for the welfare of hedges 

 may be regarded as superfluous wheti the "hedges" 

 themselves are little more than broken lines of thorn, 

 hazel and coppice wood, as little able to keep back a 

 cow as a notice board on a post, and brought into that 

 condition through years of neglect and maltreatment. 

 As a matter of fact, hedgerow trees have done, and 

 are still capable of doitig, a certain amount of harm, 

 especially when they belong to such species as beech, 

 or possibly ash, near arable land ; but, apart from two 

 or three unsuitable species, it cannot be proved that 

 hedgerow trees in moderate numbers, and consisting of 

 such species as English elm, poplar, cherry, Scotch 

 pine, and in some cases oak, ash, larch, or silver fir, do 

 any more damage than that caused by the mismanage- 

 ment of the land in numerotis ways well known to ever\' 

 farmer. More especially does this hold good when the 

 trees are growing on those high, broad banks, with deep 

 ditches on either side, which are so common in manv 

 parts of the country, and which cannot be used for any 

 other purpose than tree growitig, unless it be the grazing 

 of a .goat. The little harm such trees do, however, is 



often more than balanced bj- the efl'ect they produce 

 upon the landscape, and the shade and shelter they 

 afford throughout the year. 



.Much the same arguments as the above can be used 

 for and against the small shelter belts and clumps which 

 have been planted at various times on or amongst agri- 

 cultural land in Ireland, although with these many of the 

 objections applying to hedgerow trees do not hold good. 

 It is apparent, however, that both classes of timber are 

 sharing the same fate, and in a few years time entire 

 districts will be as destitute of anything deserving the 

 name of *' tree " as many' parts of the west of Ireland, 

 where reasons of a different nature maybe found for the 

 absence of timber. 



The regrettable feature connected with the cutting of 

 a great deal of belt and hedgerow timber, however, is 

 the fact that it is conducted on the most reckless and 

 itiiprovident lines. Landlords complain that the value 

 of timber which e.xists on farms sold to the tenants under 

 the Land Act is not regarded in fixing the price, as it is 

 not considered safe security for the sums advanced. 

 Public opinioti and local feeling are against this timber 

 being cut previous to the transfer of ownership ; yet, 

 w heti the holding is vested in the new owner, no restric- 

 tions are placed upon his cutting down every tree in 

 the course of a year or two, although he has paid 

 nothing for the right to do so. The usual method 

 adopted, although exceptions ma)' prove the rule, is 

 that of calling in a local timber merchant, and selling 

 him everything that he will take away at so much a 

 tree — the immature sapling and the picturesque veteran 

 sharing alike the same fate. Whether full value 

 is paid for the timber or not is an open question, but 

 there can be no difference of opinion about the effect this 

 transaction produces upon the holding itself. I-\gly 

 stumps are left standing at varying heights above the 

 surface of the ground or along the line of unkempt and 

 useless hedges, in which the gaps caused by trees being 

 cut are frequently filled up with brushwood in the most 

 slovenly manner possible, the owner probably coinforting 

 himself with the reflection that it will be a convenient 

 place to get a dr}' stick for the fire later on. In removing 

 the timber, drains, ditches and banks are broken through, 

 gates and gate posts broken down, and turf ploughed 

 up into deep ruts which form muddv pools in wet and 

 hard-baked ridges in dry weather. The " intensive " cul- 

 tivation which forms the nominal excuse for such a 

 clearance of timber is usually long in coming, and 

 seldom extends beyond the breaking up of a small grass 

 field, the margins and headlands of which are left un- 

 touched to grow a stronger crop of brambles and 

 bracken than before the cuttitig of the timber. 



That the above picture is not exaggerated in any way 

 atiyone who goes through many parts of Ireland at the 

 present tiine can see for himself. Whether it is operating 

 for the good of the country the future alone can telL But 

 no rational individual can doubt the expediency of devis- 

 ing some means of regulating the felling and destruction 

 of timber which, until the Land Purchase annuities ate 

 paid off, is practically public property, and constitutes 

 as great a feature in the country-side as its soil, hills 

 and streams, thanks to the labour and enterprise of an 

 earlier generation. Of course the regulation of tiinber 

 cutting on thousands of small holdings is no light task, 



