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XIII. 



THE rOEESTS OF THE COUNTIES OF THE LOWEE 

 SHANNON VALLEY. 



By THOMAS JOHNSON WESTEOPP, M.A. 



Read February 22. Ordered for Publication February 24. Published April 20, 1909. 



INDEX TO SECTIONS. 



Alder, 5 bis, 8, 13, 



Apple, 14, 16, 17, 18, 26. 



Arbutus, 10. 



Ash, 3, 4, 10, 12, 20. 



Beech, 5. 



"Bili," venerated tree, 7 bis, 10, 17, 19, 28. 



Birch, 4, 6, 7, 9, 19. 



Civil Survey (1655), 15, 26, and often. 



Clare, 1-15. 



Desmond Survey (1583), 20. 



Elder, 8. 



Elm, 5, 19. 



Fir, 4, 5, 8. 



Foxglove, 10. 



Furze, 13, 16. 



Garlic, 10. 



Gooseberry, 18. 



Hawk aeries, 24, 25. 



Hawthorn, 3, 4, 5, 18, 19. 



Hazel, 4, 5, 9, 11, 18. 



Holly, 4, 10, 16-18, 22, 24. 



Iron Works, 14, 24, 25. 



Ivy, 5, 9. 



Juniper, 3. 



Kerry Co., 28. 



Larch, 5, 11. 



Limerick Co., 16-27. 



Nettle, 22. 



Oak, 4-19, 21, 23, 25, 28. 



Oil Mills, 14. 



Osiers, 5, 6. 



Sallow, 25. 



Sloe, 0, 19. 



Tew, 3, 5, 10, 11, 13. 



"Wood, amount in 1655 — 



Clare, 15. Limerick, 27. 



( I ) At a time when all interested in forestry are looking with anxiety on 

 the destruction of trees in Ireland, especially on the estates sold under recent 

 Acts of Parliament, it may be of interest, and even of importance, to methodize 

 our knowledge of the forests that covered so much of the counties of the Lower 

 Shannon Valley, especially those of Limerick and Clare. Before the present 

 tendency arose to cut down whole plantations, there was a considerable 

 amount of land afforested, but nothing compared to that which, hardly three 

 centuries ago, covered the hills and thousands of acres of the plains in this 

 district. So far as we can reckon, there stood in 1653 at least 24,650 acres of 

 wood in Co. Clare, and 13,580 in Co. Limerick; and, in the latter case, the 

 Elizabethan Surveys, after the great Desmond Eebellion (1583-6), show how 

 much more abundant timber was two generations before the detailed Surveys 

 were compiled. 



