26 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



able beeches are mentioned, of which one at Edenbarnet in the parish of Old 

 Kilpatrick, Dumbartonshire, is said to be 140 feet high ; but the measurements of 

 many of the trees in this compilation are so unreliable that I cannot believe them 

 without confirmation. 



J. Kay, in Scottish Arb. Soc. Transactions, ix. p. 75, mentions a tree in the Beech 

 Walk at Mount Stuart in Bute, which in 1881 was 120 feet by 11 feet 9 inches, with a 

 clean bole 60 feet high, and contained 450 feet of timber. 



In Ireland the beech is probably not a native tree. According to Hayes* it 

 was first introduced at Shelton, near Arklow, where, in 1794, there were beech 

 trees as much as 15 feet in girth, and many carrying a girth of 10 feet for more than 

 40 feet high. Another growing at Tiny Park was 16 feet 3 inches in girth, and 

 continued nearly of that girth for 36 feet. Hayes also mentions, as an instance of 

 the rapid growth of the beech in Ireland, "several at Avondale, which were trans- 

 planted within thirty years on a swelling ground at that time much exposed to 

 storm, are now (1793) from 7 feet 6 inches to 6 feet 6 inches at a foot from the 

 ground, and continue nearly of that size from 8 to 20 feet in height. Of two which 

 were planted in a richer soil near the river, and are now (1793) just fifty-four years 

 from the mast, one measures 9 feet round, the other 9 feet 6 inches." 



The finest beeches in Ireland, probably, are those occurring at Woodstock (Co. 

 Kilkenny), the seat of E. K. B. Tighe, Esq. a property which is remarkable all 

 round for magnificent trees of many kinds, and which is in the possession of a family 

 that for generations has been deeply interested in forestry and arboriculture. The 

 measurements of many trees have been taken periodically for nearly a century. 

 The best beeches on this beautiful property occur in the meadow land by the River 

 Nore, close to the village of Inistioge. The following table gives an interesting 

 series of measurements of these beeches : 



The measurements up to 1901 are from the foresters' records; those of 1904 

 were taken by Henry. The beech Aj, has a great bole, dividing into three limbs 

 at 18 feet up, and is a very wide-spreading tree. Cj is pressed on each side by two 

 lime trees, and is narrow in shape. The most remarkable of all is B^, which is 

 probably the tallest beech in Ireland. 



' Hayes, A Practical Treatise on Planting (1794), pp. 109, 1 18. 



