632 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



that I see anything specially like them in Donegal, although some 

 of the flats elsewhere may possibly have once been "beaver 

 meadows." Under any circumstances, none of the cases in the 

 county Donegal above enumerated could be due to such a cause. 



From the places in which timber grew, and other circumstances, 

 it is evident that before the advent of the bogs, Donegal must at 

 one time have had a climate very similar to that now existing in 

 the neighbourhood of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada ; and in 

 connection with such a climate there must have been snow and ice, 

 and during the thaws great slides of drift, which may have dammed 

 up the lakes, as is the case in the present day in the province of 

 Quebec and elsewhere in the Dominions. Some such solution 

 might be suggested for the roots (corkers) of deal and oak being 

 now found in situ in places from which, since the bogs began to 

 grow till the present time, there has been no natural outlet for 

 the drainage. 



In connection with this subject the peculiarities of the timber 

 found in Cloncarn bog, north of Treantagh, may be recorded. In 

 Donegal, as seems to be usual elsewhere in the province of Ulster, 

 the bogs are not at once cut to their full depth, but are " gone- 

 over" in breasts of banks about three or four feet deep ; so that in 

 accordance with the depth of the peat accumulation the bog may 

 be " gone-over" two, three, or more times before the final cutting 

 that bottoms the bog. The upper cuttings or " gone-overs" of the 

 Cloncarn bog are things of the past ; but now they are bottoming 

 out the bog, and the last cutting has given an appearance to it, 

 similar to a bush-clearing in Canada — each tree stem standing 

 three or four feet high. In Canada and the States, when clearing 

 the bush, they cut off the tree between three and four feet from the 

 ground, as a man can cut more trees in a day if he stands upright 

 than if he stoops ; while subsequently, after the land is tilled, it is 

 easier to remove the roots, if they have a stem to act as a lever, 

 than if they are cut close to the root. It can scarcely be supposed 

 that the trees in the Cloncarn bog were similarly treated to those 

 in a Canadian bush- clearing, as it seems evident that their present 

 height is due to the floor of the last cutting-over of the bog, all 

 sticks over that floor having been cut off. But even allowing this, 

 they are peculiar as in general timber, that is, " bog stick," are 

 found broken off and lying horizontal — the breaking off usually 



