SOME REMARKS ON BRITISH FOREST HISTORY. IQI 



the wasting of the woods of the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, 

 they were clearly dubious of the possibility of carrying out the 

 proposal and wished the Lord Deputy were better provided with 

 men for the purpose.^ The greatest enemy of the woods of 

 Ireland appears to have been the export trade. In the sixteenth 

 century there was an export trade in ships' timber and building 

 timber with Scotland,- which continued in the seventeenth cen- 

 tury.^ This was a small affair, but very early in the seventeenth 

 century the pipe-stave industry assumed great dimensions, and 

 large quantities of pipe-staves, as well as other timber, were ex- 

 ported to England and the Continent.'* Sir William Petty, writing 

 towards the end of the century, stated that the industry had 

 been for the most part in the hands of the English : '' but it seems 

 dubious whether this was true at an earlier period.** Whoseso- 

 ever were the hands responsible, the felling of timber for this 

 purpose alarmed the Government, for however ready they might 

 be to destroy the harbourage of rebels in time of civil war, they 

 were genuinely anxious to conserve the natural resources of the 

 country, if only as a source of supply for the royal navy.' It 

 was frequently proposed to reserve timber for the service of the 

 crown, and something was done in this direction.^ The use of 

 timber for pipe-staves and their export were from time to time 

 prohibited,' but the prohibition had little effect: the Lord 

 Deputy stated quite frankly the trade was so profitable to the 

 owners of woodlands that no proclamation would restrain them,!*^ 

 and he shrank from the only practicable course open to him, the 

 seizure of the pipe-staves when brought down to the ports and 

 awaiting shipment, fearing that such a course would beget much 



1 Cal. Stale Papers {Ireland), 1606-S, p. 287. 



'^ Ibid., 1601-3, p. 667. 



^ Ibid., 161 1-4, p. 225 ; 1660-62, p. 166. 



* Ibid., 1606-8, pp. 88, 370, 422, 530; 161 1-4, pp. 64, 65, 67, 224, 227 J 

 Coke MSS. (Hist. MSS. Commn.), i. 119, 224, 251, 477: Boate, op. cit., 

 pp. 120-1. 



•^ Treatise of Ireland, Economic Writings, p. 595. 



^ Cal. State Papers {Ireland), i6o8-IO, p. 349; 1615-25, p. 48; and 

 references under n. 4 above. 



" Ibid., 1608-10, p. 461 ; 1611-4, pp. I, 19, 64, 192, 369. 



^ Ibid., 1608-10, pp. 174, 370, 422 ; 161 1-4, pp. 64, 65, 105, 147 ; 1625-32,. 

 p. 682. 



'■'Ibid., 1611-4, pp. I, 64, 65, 67 ; 1615-25, pp. 48, 91; 1625-32, p. 66;. 

 1633-43. PP- 250, 294. 



>" Ibid., 1608-10, pp. 370, 422. 



