IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME III. 



No. 31 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



SEPTEMBER 



The Re-affbrestation of Ireland. 



Some of its Aspects. 



By A. C. FORBES, Director Forestry Station, Avondale. 



THE term comprised in the first four words 

 of the above headings is famihar to most 

 who take any interest in rural pursuits in 

 Ireland, and recent events have probably 

 broug'ht the subject still more prominently to 

 the notice of the av'erage citizen. Possibly 

 few realise, however, that the problem thus 

 presented is one far larger than is capable 

 of solution in the manner imag^ined by a 

 very large section of the Irish public. 

 Centuries ago Ireland probably possessed very 

 large tracts of land under timber trees, and 

 there is good reason to suppose that the present 

 scarcity of woods in many parts of the country 

 has been brought about mainly by neglect, and 

 to a certain extent by wilful destruction, of 

 timber trees at all stages of growth. Ancient 

 traditions and the more conclusive evidence 

 afforded by peat bogs indicate that woods 

 existed within the last four or five centuries in 

 districts which are now practically treeless, and 

 the natural inference drawn by the average in- 

 dividual is that such districts only require 

 planting to become once more afforested as in 

 times of old. But attractive as this idea may 

 be to many, a little attention devoted to ways 

 and means quickly convinces one that physical 

 and economic difficulties exist to-day which 

 were unknown when Ireland was a heavily 

 timbered country. Take, for instance, examples 

 of ancient forest growth, which, on account of 

 their remains being actually visible at the pre- 

 sent day, appeal more strongly to the forestry 

 enthusiast than traditional instances of lost 

 forests of a different character. The examples 

 referred to are the stumps of Scots pine found 

 on the summits and higher slopes of moun- 

 tains on the western coast line and oak in 

 almost every inland bog from which the peat 

 has been cut out. Here we might apparently 

 argue, with a good show of reason, are sites 

 which have grown trees in the past, and con- 

 sequently should grow them equally well in the 



future, and planting would appear to be the 

 only step that need be taken to reinstate the 

 original crop. Yet when attempts have been 

 made to bring this desirable state of matters 

 about they have, in the large majority of cases, 

 ended in partial or complete failure. To what 

 is this due ? There is little or no reason to 

 suppose that the climate has materially altered 

 within the last thousand years, and although 

 tree-remains in the deeper bogs may date 

 back further than such a period, it is doubtful 

 if the stumps found on hill-sides go back so far. 

 At any rate, there is nothing to suggest climate 

 as the cause, first, of their disappearance ; 

 second, of their refusal to grow when planted 

 again ; and the only reasonable conclusion to 

 which one can come is that the physical and 

 chemical condition of the surface has changed, 

 and that time and artificial treatment are neces- 

 sary to restore it to its original fertility. One 

 consequence of this is, therefore, that a very 

 large area of land partially or entirely covered 

 with timber in early times, and which could be 

 easily spared for growing it again, is rendered 

 useless for that purpose by changes which are 

 not always easily accounted for by every day 

 theories, whether of an empirical or scientific 

 nature. 



But a greater obstacle to reafforestation 

 than the physical one alluded to is the economic 

 changes in the utilisation and ownership of land. 

 In place of large tracts of land owned by a few 

 individuals, and used for the feeding of scattered 

 flocks and herds, we now find the country split 

 up into farms and holdings of a few acres each, 

 and only in the poorest districts is it possible 

 to secure areas of several hundred acres with- 

 out great difficulty and expense. Many forget 

 that the finer and more valuable forests, the 

 disappearance of which they deplore, w^ere 

 standing on land of great natural fertility, and 

 now forming the richest agricultural land in the 

 country. To reafforest this, even on the most 



