1^ 



HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TREES. 



PART I. 



seventy or eighty oranges taken off one tree in the Rt. Hon. 

 the Lord Kingston's garden at Mitchelstown, as good as any I 

 have seen brought hither from Spain or the West Indies: so 

 you see what a prolific and fertile soil we live in, where the 

 most exotic plants might, by a little care and industry, flourish. 



" Peach tree, in gardens ; pear tree ; pine tree ; rose ; savin, in 

 gardens, wild in one of the islands of Lough Lane, Kerry ; 

 colutea, in gardens, I have seen it flourishing in Mr. Robert 

 Fenneli's garden near Mitchelstown; abrotanum ; tamarisk, in 

 gardens ; vine tree, in some gardens : walnut tree, in walks, 

 parks, and fields." 



A nobleman, whose father was one of the greatest planters 

 in Ireland, to whom we were recommended to apply for au- 

 thentic information, sent us the following statement : — ■ " The 

 gardens of greatest interest in Ireland, as having been the first 

 to introduce exotic trees and shrubs, and as having contained 

 the greatest variety, were those of Lord Moira, at Moira, in 

 Down [noticed p. 48.]; and of Lord Clanbrassiil, at Dundalk, in 

 Louth ; and Tollymore Park, in Down. Sir Robert Bateson, 

 M. P. for the county of Derry, is proprietor of Moira ; and 

 the Earl of Roden, of Dundalk and Tollymore. Moira is dis- 

 mantled, though some of the trees and shrubs may possibly 

 remain. Dundalk is also dismantled, but Tollymore is kept up. 

 Lord Farnham introduced many foreign trees and shrubs to 

 Newton Barry, and may have lately done so at Farnham. 

 {February, 1835.)" 



Mr. Mackay, the very intelligent curator of the Trinity Col- 

 lege Botanic Garden, Dublin, in a letter dated February, 1835, 

 says : — " The late Lord Oriel and the late Earl of Clanbrassill 

 were the persons who introduced by far the greater number of 

 trees into Ireland during the last century. I think they com- 

 menced doing so about 1 770, or perhaps a few years before that 

 period ; the former, Lord Oriel (then Mr. Foster), planted them 

 in his demesne at Collon, in the county of Louth ; and the latter, 

 in his fine demesne at Tollymore Park, in the county of Down." 

 Our friend Mr. Murphy, in the Irish Farm, and Gard. Mag. 

 (vol. ii. p. 89.), states that Lord Viscount Ferrard, the son of 

 Lord Oriel, possesses more foreign trees and shrubs than any 

 other individual in Ireland. Mr. Mackay also states that John 

 Templeton, Esq., about the same time as the two noblemen 

 above mentioned, introduced many fine American trees and 

 shrubs into his grounds at Malone, near Belfast, where the samg 

 family still reside. 



The greatest number of species planted in the 18th century, 

 in any one demesne, is at Oriel Temple, and many of these 

 appear to have grown with very great rapidity. A tulip tree, 

 40 years planted, has attained the height of 43 ft. ; an ^^cer 



