are frequently dug up from bogs. Mr. Mackay has sent us an account received by him from Mr. Charles Hamilton, Honorary Secretary to the Horticultural Society of Ireland, of one dug up in Queen's County, the rings of annual increase of which indicated a growth of 545 years. The greatest diameter of the trunk of this tree was only 19 in.! The growth appeared to be very slow during the last 300 years, for near the circumference there were about 100 rings within the space of an inch. The root and bark were quite sound, and the stem from which the section was taken was about 12 ft. long, and of tolerably even thickness throughout. Mr. Mackay says that he saw a yew tree in the Island of Innisfallen, on the lower lake of Killarney, which must have been as old as that mentioned by Mr. Hamilton; and which, when he measured it about thirty years ago, was nearly double the dimensions. If the Irish yew be a distinct species, Ireland may claim this fine tree as her own. Our own opinion is, that this yew is nothing more than a variety of the common species. The largest specimens of this tree, the Táxus hibérnica of Mackay, are in a garden at the village of Cumber, near Belfast: they are about 25 ft. in height, and have, at a distance, the appearance of cypresses. They are supposed to have been planted about 50 years, but their history is unknown.

From information procured for us through the kindness of Lord Viscount Ferrard, we find that there is an upright or Irish yew in a garden at Mayland, near Antrim, 130 years old, 25 ft. high; the diameter of the space covered by the branches, 10 ft.; and the diameter of the trunk close to the ground, 3 ft. This tree, and three others in the town, are supposed to have been planted by the Refords, when they first settled in Mayland in 1712. "An upright yew, probably the parent of the above trees, and of all others in this country, grew in Mr. Ferguson's garden. It was cut down about 16 or 17 years ago, by the late Mr. Ledlie; and his son, now in Antrim, has several pieces of furniture which were made from it. In the panel 1 ft. broad, of one of these a wardrobe, I can count about 100 annual concentric layers, and as the tree, it is said, was 2 ft. in diameter, this would give 200 years, and 40 or 50 years more might probaby be added for the time when scarcely any enlargement took place." L. F. Antrim Castle, March 24. 1835.

If the arbutus be not indigenous to Ireland, it is at least completely naturalised there, being found, as the yew is in England, in places completely inaccessible to a planter, and where the seeds must have been carried by birds. One of the largest specimens stood in Rough Island, on the lower lake of Killarney, in 1805; it was measured in that year by Mr. Mackay, and the trunk found, at a foot from the ground, to be 9 ft. in

girt. It formed rather an immense bush than a tree, and consisted of four limbs, the branches of which extended from the root to the length of 36 ft. There is one equally large at Powerscourt, Wicklow, which was planted about 90 years ago; and one, of similar size and age, at Newton Mount Kennedy, was blown down in 1804. The Erica mediterranea was found growing, by Mr. Mackay, in Cunnemara, on the western coast. (See Gard. Mag., vol. vii. p. 230. and the forthcoming Irish Flora of Mr. Mackay.) Erica mediterrànea has not only been found on the side of Errisbeg mountain, covering a space of three acres, but in the wild district of Erris, in the county of Mayo, in the greatest profusion. It is a distinct variety from the plant of the same name in gardens, and is considered by Dr. Greville to be the same as that found in the Western Pyrenees.

We have not been able to procure much information respecting the dates of the introduction of foreign trees and shrubs into Ireland, though we have looked over numerous books, and entered into an extensive correspondence for that purpose. On the whole, there appears to have been comparatively few foreign trees planted in Ireland previously to the middle of the 18th century; except fruit trees, and probably some ornamental shrubs, as the arbutus, &c., in the gardens of the monastic institutions, and other religious establishments.

A work, entitled Botanologia Universalis Hibernica, by J. K'Eogh, A. B., chaplain to Lord Kingston, published in 1735, appears to contain the names of all the foreign trees and shrubs that were in Ireland at that time.

In the preface to this work, the author says: "When I was writing on this subject, I had the advantage daily of viewing the gardens belonging to the Rt. Hon. James Lord Baron of Kingston, wherein were contained near 200 different species of herbs and trees. I was not acquainted with any garden which could show so many. This was no small advantage or conveniency to forward this undertaking." The trees and shrubs enumerated in K'Eogh's work are the following:

"Abele, about mansion-houses, for shelter; arbutus, wild in Kerry, and is manured in gardens; great bay; box; chestnut, frequently planted in gardens and parks; cypress tree, in gardens, for its pleasant verdure; fig tree; jasminum, planted in gardens; lemon tree, to be seen in the gardens of Mitchelstown, belonging to the Rt. Hon. Lord Kingston; medlar tree, in gardens; myrtle tree, it grows in my Lord Kingston's greenhouse, Mitchelstown, and there are also hedges of it in the Lord Inchiquin's gardens at Rostillon; mulberry tree, in gardens.

"Orange trees; of late years they had been transplanted here, which now, by the industry and cultivation of curious gentlemen, are in some gardens brought to perfection. I have seen about

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 Fennell'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 authentic 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 Clanbrassill, 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 dismantled, 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 College 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 commenced doing so about 1770, 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 same 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 Acer

rùbrum, of the same age, 44 ft.; a Pàvia flàva, of the same age, 31 ft.; a Sophòra japónica, 50 years planted, 35 ft.; an Aristotèlia Mácqui, 20 years planted, upwards of 16 ft., though on a strong clayey soil; the Arbutus Andráchne seems to grow at the rate of 1 ft. a year; the Portugal laurel, 50 years planted, has attained the height of 35 ft., and its branches cover a space the diameter of which is 45 ft.; the common laurel, of the same age, is 40 ft. high, and its branches cover a space of 36 ft. in diameter; Populus canadensis, 40 years planted, is 72 ft. high: Alnus laciniata, 34 years planted, is 44 ft. high; Quércus palustris, 50 years planted, is 41 ft. high; and Q. fastigiata, of the same age, is 54 ft. high; Q. exoniénsis, 60 years planted, is 67 ft. high; and Q. Egilops, of the same age, is 55 ft. high; the purple beech, 55 years planted, is 54 ft. high; and that beautiful variety of the common beech, Fagus sylvática péndula, at 35 years' growth, is 33 ft. high; the arbor vitæ, 30 years planted, is 30 ft. high; the Pinus Cembra, of the same age, 34 ft. high; the hemlock spruce, 35 years planted, 32 ft. high; the Cunninghamia lanceolata, in 12 years, 7 ft. high; the Làrix péndula, in 55 years, 62 ft.; the cedar of Lebanon, in 35 years, 33 ft.; and that singularly picturesque, and yet elegant, tree, the cedar of Goa (Cupressus lusitánica), 32 ft. high, the branches covering a space of 35 ft. in diameter, in 24 years. This cedar was originally brought from the Portuguese settlement at Goa, in the East Indies, to Portugal; and the seeds were brought from that country to Ireland by Lord Ferrard in 1809; and, being sown, produced abundantly. The plants were first kept in a greenhouse; but, on some of them being transplanted into the open air from want of room, they were found to grow so vigorously, that in three seasons any one branch surpassed in size the entire plant contained in the green-house. A Rhododendron pónticum, at 60 years of age, is 16 ft. high, and the diameter of the space covered by its branches is 38 ft. There was a tree pæony here of extraordinary dimensions. It was 12 ft. high, and was protected during winter by a glass case. About the year 1827 this case was left off, to try to inure the plant to stand without covering, but the winter unfortunately proving severe, it was killed.

At Antrim Castle, also the seat of Lord Ferrard, are some remarkably fine trees and shrubs. There is a yew tree, estimated at 200 years old, which is 35 ft. high; the diameter of the trunk, at 1 ft. from the ground, is 2 ft. 9 in.; and the diameter of the space covered by its branches, 33 ft. There is a Portugal laurel 150 years planted, which is only 18 ft. high: but the diameter of its trunk, at 1 ft. from the ground, is 3 ft. 7 in.; and that of the space covered by its branches, 36 ft. There are an evergreen oak 100 years old and 25 ft. high; and a variegated holly of the same age, 20 ft. high. There are a juniper 18 ft., at 90 years of age; and an arbor vitæ 24 ft. high, at the same age.

At Tollymore Park, in the county of Down, planted by the Earl of Clanbrassill, and now the seat of the Earl of Roden, there are some very fine trees. The soil and situation, the first ridge of the Mourne Mountains, appear to be particularly suited to the larch and silver fir. From a considerable number, of almost equal magnitude, measured for us by desire of Lord Roden, we select one silver fir, planted 60 years ago, which is 84 ft. high; the diameter, at 1 ft. from the ground, 5 ft. 2 in.; at 10 ft., 4 ft.; and at 24 ft., 3 ft. 3 in.; it is beautifully and evenly clothed with branches, the lower tiers of which are pendent to the ground, and the circumference of the space which they cover is 160 ft. The larch of Tollymore Park is in much estimation for its great tenacity, and it supplies masts of from 50 ft. to 60 ft. in length. As a selection from a great number, we take one tree, which, at 80 years of age, is 84 ft. high; the diameter, at 1 ft. from the ground, 2 ft. 8 in.; and 10 ft. from the ground, 2 ft. 3 in. : another tree, at 60 years of age, is 66 ft. high; the diameter, at 1 ft. from the ground, being 3 ft; and at 10 ft., 2 ft. 3 in. Among numerous fine specimens of shrubs introduced by the late Lord Clanbrassill, there is a Rhododendron ponticum, which, at 50 years of age, is 10 ft. high, and covers, with its unbroken, mass of foliage, a space the circumference of which is 90 ft. The larch at Tollymore Park is grown on the side of a steep hill facing the north, on a stiff gravelly substratum, which corresponds with the natural situation in which the larch is found in Switzerland, as stated by Decandolle in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, vol. v. p. 403.; and with the situations in the neighbourhood of Dunkeld, where the best larch is grown by the Duke of Athol, as stated in the account of these plantations in the Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland, vol. xi. p. 165. to p. 219. Monteath, the Scotch forester, we are informed by Lord Roden, and also by another correspondent, considers the Tollymore larch as very superior in quality to the generality of the Scotch or Welch larch. Lord Roden states that he uses it for all purposes whatever, and that for forming utensils it is found an excellent substitute for ash. The trees are generally felled at the age of 70 years. The rhododendrons are scattered through the woods; they are found fully as hardy as the common laurel, and many of them have attained a large size. There are many specimens of Abies excélsa var. Clanbrassilliana, but none of them remarkable.

At Dundalk, also the property of the Earl of Roden, there is a Magnòlia acuminata 27 ft. high; the circumference of the stem, at 1 ft. from the ground, is 5 ft.; and at 3 ft. from the ground, 4 ft. 6 in.; and the branches cover a space measuring 84 ft. in circumference. There is an oak in the park 60 ft. high; the circumference of the trunk, at 1 ft. from the ground, is 15 ft.;