1 66 



IRISH GARDENING. 



NOVEMBER 



Arbor Day. 



THE Irish Forestry Society at a meeting held last 

 month ill the Mansion House, Dublin, resolved 

 that Monday, the ist of November, be fixed upon 

 as the commencement of "Arbor Day" week for 

 Ireland, and that the Irish Forestry Society do what it 

 can to promote its celebrations. Mr. O. H. Braddel] 

 presided. There was a good attendance, and several 

 speakers addressed the meeting, including Mr. F. \V. 

 Moore, Mr. James .^dams, M.A., Mr. Gray, and Mr. 

 O'Nowlan, M.A. During the course of his address 



Weeping Beech .\t SrRAnBRCOK H.\ll, Blackrock, Co. Dlblin 



The fine specimen weeping beec'i. Fagus sylv.ltica p, 

 grounds of Stradbrook Hall, Blackrcck. Co. Dublin, the re 

 informed by Mr. Pirn, planted well on for a hundred years 

 Arms It is tall for a weeper, being 43 feet high, and the ' 

 of 79 feet. Once entering the perfect canopy of foliage the sc 

 remarkable, one in particular sweeping out and around in se 



Mr. Moore drew attention to the present alarming rale 

 of denudation of timber throughout the country, and of 

 the "shameful" absence of systematic replanting, and 

 stronglv urged the necessity of intelligently directed 

 reafforestation. Forestry, the speaker declared, while 

 it called for assistance, enthusiasm, and encourage- 

 ment, demanded above all education — education as to 

 what forestry really meant to the material prosperity of there was scarcely a tree of the temperate region of 



Proceeding, the speaker dwelt upon the importance of 

 selecting suitable trees for .\rbor Day planting, men- 

 tioning sycamore and ash as vigorous growers, and 

 strongly recommending the common hawthorn and 

 apple or pear for town planting. In conclusion, Mr. 

 Moore pointed out that one of the main objects of the 

 Irish Forestry Society was to inculcate in all Irishmen 

 the necessity of meeting the waste of timber that was 

 taking place at present, and to do their utmost to 

 awaken the public to a sense of the criminality of ruth- 

 lesslv and unnecessarily destroying trees, and to make 

 the people replace the timber they cut down. Further- 

 more, the people must throughout all their labours learn 



to rely more on themselves 



and on their own initiative 

 and independence, and less 

 upon "spoon-feeding" if they 

 were to succeed in making 

 their country a verdant land, 

 and the growing of timber a 

 commercial success as a 

 branch of agriculture. Mr. 

 James .Adams, M.A., urged 

 the importance of making a 

 study o^ the particular kinds 

 of trees that formed the 

 ancient forests of Ireland, 

 cmarking upon the preva- 

 ence of Scotch pine (Pin us 

 vk'esfris) throughout our 

 leat bogs (the speaker estima- 

 >'d the age of one of these 

 in an Antrim bog at 250 years). 

 He believed that both Scotch 

 pine and birch would readily 

 yrow on slightly drained bog 

 land. The speaker also re- 

 ferred to the fact that forests 

 used to exist in situations at 

 present denuded oftrees, and 

 instanced the case of the 

 Wicklow mountains, that for- 

 merly supported a crop of 

 timber up to an altitude of 

 1,700 to 2,ooc feet, while at 

 present there was no tree 

 growth beyond the 1,200 feet limit, and again, along the 

 wind-swept western sea-board, now bare of trees, was 

 at one time wooded right up to the edge <}{ the 

 .Atlantic. Mr. O'Nowlan, following up the remarks of 

 Mr. .•\dams, stated that the chief native trees of Ire- 

 land were the ash, Scotch pine, oak, yew, hollv, 

 hazel, alder, elder, and juniper, but declared that 



ndula, near the entrance to the p'easure 

 iidence of Richard Pim, Esq , was, we arc 

 aso by Sir William, then Ulster King at 

 ^hole tree has a diametrical branch-spread 

 mewhat peculiar growth of the chief limbs is 

 micircular form for a length of 50 feet. 



the country, and in this relation we must begin w-ilh the 

 child, and he recognised in the Arbor Day movement a 

 great educational instrument by which children would 

 be taught to respect trees as living things, and be 

 impressed with the wickedness of hacking the bark, 

 breaking the branches, and otherwise mutilating them. 

 .\t present little or no respect was paid to trees by 

 young people, unfortunately there was no public opinion 

 demanding their protection in open spaces in Ireland. 



the earth that would not flourish in the soil and 

 climate of Ireland. 



Before the conclusion of the meeting it was agreed 

 that Mr. Moore's speech should be printed as a " leaflet," 

 and circulated as widely as possible by the Society. [A 

 copy of the speech from a verbatim report published in 

 The Fanners' Gazette of Octctber 16 may be had on 

 application to The Secretary, Irish Forestry Society, 

 12 College Green, Dublin.] 



