208 [September, 



in the peat on some of the hillsides, remains of trees are found of the ancient 

 forests which succeeded the early post-glacial period. Oak and fir, in some cases of 

 large size, and hazrl are the commonest, but ash. walnut, hoUj, and black alder also 

 occur. There are likewise remains of an ancient submerged forest on the seashore 

 near Poolraish, oak, ash, and fir having been exposed at low tides after storms. 

 These ancient forests must have long ago disappeared— crtainly before historic 

 times. All evidence tends to show that in historic times trees have always been 

 very scarce in the Island. The oldest are some planted by Bishop Wilson at 

 Bishop's Court less than 200 years ago. Wood was always scarce for building 

 purposes, and until coal came into moi'e frequent use peat was the universal fuel. 

 In 1629 a statute was enacted entailing severe penalties for damaging any tree or 

 shrub. Trees play but little part in Manx folklore, and such superstitions connected 

 therewith may have been brought by the ancient Celtic wave of immigration from 

 forest covered lands, or in some cases to the later Norse influence. The Manx 

 place names are rarely connected with the presence of trees or woods ; there are 

 a {ew of Celtic origin, such as Glen Tramman (Eldertree Glen), Glen Darragh 

 (Oak Glen), and Glen Unjin (Ash Glen). Of the Scandinavian place names we 

 only have Dalliot (dalar-holt =Dale Wood) and Little London, supposed to be 

 a corruption of litill-lundr = Little Grove. Kirk Arbory at first sight suggests 

 trees, and in fact misled Governor Sacheverell, who, in " An Account of the Isle of 

 Man," 1702, explains that it was so called from the number of trees there formerly. 

 In reality it was called after Saint Carbery, the parish originally in Manx being 

 Skeeylley Carbre, Skeeylley being later on changed to Kirk, derived from the Scan- 

 dinavian " Kirkja," and the initial " C " being dropped in course of time. 



At the present time there are but 826 acres of woodland out of a total acreage 

 of 145,235. Some of the mountain slopes in the north near Ramsey are well 

 wooded, both with conifers and deciduous trees. On the Crown lands on South 

 Barrule and Greeba Mountains and at ArchoUagan there are some few hundred 

 acres of Scotch fir planted in recent years by the Insular Government. 



The sheltered sides of many of the glens are wooded, some, such as Glen 

 Rhenass and other pleasure resorts, having been planted in recent years. In the 

 neighbourhood of many of the larger farmhouses there are small plantations, chiefly 

 of ash — orchards as they are locally called— whilst i-ound every old cottage one 

 finds the trammon tree (elder) in accordance with the old belief in its powers of 

 warding off witchcraft from the inmates. What one misses in the landscape, as 

 compared with most English counties, is hedgerow timber, the boundary fences 

 usually consisting of stones, earth, and sod grown over with gorse and bramble, 

 whilst, owing to there being no very large estates with attendant parks, fox hunting 

 and game preserving, coverts for foxes and pheasants are not required. 



Ash is the prevailing tree in the Island, beech and sycamore are frequent in 

 the glens, oak, elm, and mountain ash being less frequent, whilst birch, hazel, and 

 poplar are rare. Large willows are to be met with near some of the rivers, together 

 with an occasional alder. In the curraghs there are numbers of sallow bushes. 

 Holly, blackthorn, hawthorn, wild cherry, bird-cherry, and crab-apple are present, 

 but not in any numbers. 



Whether Rhopalomesites tardyi, Curt., existed in the age of forests it is 



