370 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



property in Co. Cork must have been 135 feet in height, as he measured them lying on 

 the ground 1 20 feet to the small end, where they had been cut ofFat 6 inches diameter. 

 There are still trees as large growing on the same property. Attempts have been 

 made to plant pure larch on peat-bogs ; but even when the bogs have been well- 

 drained and good soil has been added to the pits at the time of planting, the trees 

 have not grown. In such cases a preliminary plantation of Scots pine, or in localities 

 with a mild climate the maritime pine, will prepare the bog for larch, which after a few 

 years can be planted in amongst the pines. The conditions for success in bog-plant- 

 ing are delicate, depending apparently on moderate drainage, as when the bogs are 

 quite dry the trees are starved for want of water, and when they are too wet, trees 

 will hardly grow at all. Mr. Richards, forester at Penrhyn, who has had great ex- 

 perience, is confident that good larch can be grown on peat-bogs ; and isolated trees 

 doing well on peat have been seen by Henry in various parts of Ireland. Experi- 

 ments with larch and various mixtures of trees that will grow easily on bogs should 

 be attempted. The American larch has never been tried, and possibly might 

 succeed better than the common species, as it is a swamp-loving tree. 



The most remarkable old larches in Ireland are at Doneraile Court in Cork, the 

 seat of Lord Castletown. The history of these trees, which were seen by Henry in 

 February 1907, is obscure, but there is a tradition that they were sent in the eighteenth 

 century to Doneraile by the Duke of AthoU. Five trees out of six originally planted 

 now remain, all of peculiar habit, with numerous more or less weeping branches, the 

 lowermost of which spread over the ground to a great distance, and in one tree are 

 layering. This tree is about 70 feet high, and is 1 2 feet 7 inches in girth at 5 feet 

 from the ground, the base of the tree below 4 feet being much swollen and covered 

 with very thick bark, like that of old trees in the Alps. On one side the branches 

 spread to 70 feet distance, and on the other side, where there was less room on account 

 of other trees, to 30 feet. Another tree, 10 feet 10 inches in girth, has a spread of 

 91 feet in diameter. None of them attain more than a moderate height, which is 

 difficult to explain, as ordinary larch grows very tall in the neighbourhood. From 

 the seed of the old trees, sown in 1890, plants were raised, which were put out in 

 1893 on a hillside, seven acres in extent, and with good soil. This small plantation 

 is now remarkably healthy, though the trees are very dense on the ground, and, at 

 seventeen years old from seed, they average 37 feet in height and 20 inches in 

 girth. 



At Carton Park, the seat of the Duke of Leinster, there is a curious tree 

 with the trunk inclined and pendulous branches, which was in 1903 60 feet 

 high and 9 feet in girth. It is considered to be one of the original importations 

 from Scotland in the i8th century. A fine tree in the same place with a 

 straight stem measured 98 feet by lOj^ feet. At Abbeyleix House, the seat 

 of Viscount de Vesci, a tree is growing on the lawn similar to those at Doneraile 

 in having weeping branches, some of which are layering. At Dartrey Castle, 

 Co. Monaghan, the seat of the Earl of Dartrey, there are three very old trees, 

 also with more or less pendent branches, which were in 1903 13 feet 10 inches, 

 13 feet 8 inches, and 11 feet 7 inches in girth respectively. At Emo Park, Queen's 



