Trees — The Character, Structure, Sec. 37 



during the autumn and winter months, so that the antiseptic 

 applied may soak into the wounds, this it fails to do if applied in 

 spring or summer. 



Sylviculture deals Avith the .growth of trees in dense masses 

 in order to produce timber of high techiu'cal quality for knotty or 

 crooked trees cannot produce good timber. The trained 

 forester knows that tall cylindrical trees, comparatively free 

 from knots, can only be obtained in dense forests. Under such 

 a condition the lower branches are prevented from thriving, and 

 so the size and number of knots are reduced when the timber is 

 cut into boards. It is the dense type of woods we want to see in 

 Ireland, not the open woods for sporting purposes as in the past. 

 Sometimes trees are grown in pure forests, consisting of one 

 species only, or in mixed woods of two or more species which is 

 more complex. Although trees must have a certain amount of 

 light, they differ in their requirements. The forester takes 

 advantage of this, and divides trees into light-demanding species 

 and shade-])earing species, and mixes accordingly, as for instance, 

 Oak with Beech, Larch with Beech or Silver Fir, Scots Pine 

 with Spruce, according to the soil and climate. Mixed woods 

 should always contain shade-bearing species which protect the 

 soil and kill out weeds ; especially is this necessary on thin 

 exposed or peaty soils, or places swept by winds. It is interesting 

 to note that those trees having a smooth thin bark are usually 

 shade enduring species, as is the case with Beech, Hornbeam, 

 Spruce, and Silver Fir, while those species that early in life 

 acquire a rough bark are usually light demanding, such as Oak, 

 Pine, Ash, Sycamore, Poplar, Alder, and Willows. 



The great difference betAveen the Ireland of to-day and the 

 Ireland before the Christian era lies in the amount of forest. 

 Although good progress has been made in afforestation in Ireland 

 under the Department of Agriculture, she is, comparatively 

 speaking, a woodless country noAV, and yet, Ireland is by nature 

 an ideal country and well adapted with her temperate and 

 humid climate for growing timber trees. Instead of producing 



