The message
from "Shannie" contains these words:

Some years ago, on holiday in Connemara, we were walking in the hills
and in came across a hill top where the thin (~3 ft) layer of peat had
been badly eroded down to the underlying gravel. In the bottom 9" or so
of the peat, and spread all over the gravel were hundreds of
well-preserved tree roots. I picked up a couple and brought them home as
pieces of natural sculpture. They looked very much like pines of some
sort and it would be fascinating to know how old they were.

Well spotted Larry, it probably was. One thing I will tell you tho, it's
very expensive to buy, a small piece will cost well over fifty euro, so
take good care of your prize
The link below tells you it can be anything from 4000 to 7000 years old!
http://www.ipcc.ie/infobogwood.html

We used to dig up pine stumps all the time while cutting peat on the
Isle of Lewis. These particular ones tend to date to the time of Erik
the Red (End of tenth cent.) when he got so incensed about the Lewismen
harrying his raiders, and with superior galleys, that in a northerly
gale he set light to the woods at Ness, and burnt the island from stem
to stern.

Occasionally one comes across black bog oak. Now that *IS* worth
finding. We also used to find flint tools at the bottom of the peat: the
flint having been traded up the coast from Wales and from East Anglia.

--
Rusty Hinge http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/tqt.htm

Dark thoughts about the Wumpus concerto played with piano,
iron bar and two sledge hammers. (Wumpus, 15/11/03)

Shannie wrote:

snips...

Well spotted Larry, it probably was. One thing I will tell you tho, it's
very expensive to buy, a small piece will cost well over fifty euro, so
take good care of your prize
The link below tells you it can be anything from 4000 to 7000 years old!
http://www.ipcc.ie/infobogwood.html

Shannie(Ireland)

Well, being the sort of person who read all sorts of odds and ends, my
personal guess was 5,000 years, so that fits.

The two pieces are beautiful and sit on shelves in the front room. It
might sound odd but a good feel of them is the best way to appreciate
what they are!
--
Larry Stoter

Trees only grow on the highest mountain tops on the highest mountains in
Ireland. ;-)

All the rest of them were cut down many many years ago to build houses, for
firewood , etc.

wrote in message
om...
TV shows we see in the US show beautiful green Ireland, and we hear
about abundant rainfall, but see very few trees. Is the terrain,
clmate, etc. not suitable to trees or is it because animals chomp
them?

Jack

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 23:31:03 GMT, "Cereoid-UR12-"
wrote:

Trees only grow on the highest mountain tops on the highest mountains in
Ireland. ;-)

All the rest of them were cut down many many years ago to build houses, for
firewood , etc.

Understood, by why are no new seedlings popping up? Is it because of
grazing, mowing, browsing??

Jack

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 00:34:30 GMT, BroJack wrote:

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 23:31:03 GMT, "Cereoid-UR12-"
wrote:

Trees only grow on the highest mountain tops on the highest mountains in
Ireland. ;-)

All the rest of them were cut down many many years ago to build houses, for
firewood , etc.

Understood, by why are no new seedlings popping up? Is it because of
grazing, mowing, browsing??

More or less, yes. It's as simple as that.

Plus the fact that the seeds have to actually get there from somewhere
where there are trees that would grow there, and then survive being
grazed/mown/ploughed.
--
Tim.

If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would
be so simple that we couldn't.

"Cereoid-UR12-" wrote in message
. ..
Trees only grow on the highest mountain tops on the highest mountains in
Ireland. ;-)

All the rest of them were cut down many many years ago to build houses,
for
firewood , etc.

At risk of troll feeding here.
I live at or just above sea level on the coast and my house and many
others here are surrounded by mature trees. Any mountain (as opposed to
hill) tops I am aware of locally are totally bare of trees.
If you want to see wooded hills look at the Killarney lakes for one area.
--
Chris Thomas
West Cork
Ireland

"Cerumen" wrote in message
...

"Cereoid-UR12-" wrote in message
. ..
Trees only grow on the highest mountain tops on the highest mountains in
Ireland. ;-)

All the rest of them were cut down many many years ago to build houses,
for
firewood , etc.

At risk of troll feeding here.
I live at or just above sea level on the coast and my house and many
others here are surrounded by mature trees. Any mountain (as opposed to
hill) tops I am aware of locally are totally bare of trees.
If you want to see wooded hills look at the Killarney lakes for one area.

Ah Thomas, you ruined it for me, I thought I lived at the tip top of a
mountain and was super fit being able to walk up it several times daily
...lol...methinks your right ... due to lack of vegetation maybe we're
feeding hungry mountain trolls ;-)
--
Chris Thomas
West Cork
Ireland

"Shannie" wrote in message
...

"Cerumen" wrote in message
...

"Cereoid-UR12-" wrote in message
. ..
Trees only grow on the highest mountain tops on the highest mountains
in
Ireland. ;-)

All the rest of them were cut down many many years ago to build
houses,
for
firewood , etc.

At risk of troll feeding here.
I live at or just above sea level on the coast and my house and many
others here are surrounded by mature trees. Any mountain (as opposed to
hill) tops I am aware of locally are totally bare of trees.
If you want to see wooded hills look at the Killarney lakes for one
area.

Ah Thomas, you ruined it for me, I thought I lived at the tip top of a
mountain and was super fit being able to walk up it several times daily
..lol...methinks your right ... due to lack of vegetation maybe we're
feeding hungry mountain trolls ;-)
--
Chris Thomas
West Cork
Ireland
Ah Thomas, you ruined it for me, I thought I lived at the tip top of a
mountain and was super fit being able to walk up it several times daily
...lol...methinks your right ... due to lack of vegetation maybe we're
feeding hungry mountain trolls ;-)

Shannie (Ireland)

"Cerumen" wrote in message
...

"Cereoid-UR12-" wrote in message
. ..
Trees only grow on the highest mountain tops on the highest mountains in
Ireland. ;-)

All the rest of them were cut down many many years ago to build houses,
for
firewood , etc.

At risk of troll feeding here.
I live at or just above sea level on the coast and my house and many
others here are surrounded by mature trees. Any mountain (as opposed to
hill) tops I am aware of locally are totally bare of trees.
If you want to see wooded hills look at the Killarney lakes for one area.
--
Chris Thomas
West Cork
Ireland
Ah Chris, you ruined it for me, I thought I lived at the tiptop of a
mountain and was super fit being able to walk up it several times
daily..lol...methinks your right ... due to lack of vegetation maybe we're
feeding hungry mountain trolls ;-)

wrote in message
. ..
TV shows we see in the US show beautiful green Ireland, and we hear
about abundant rainfall, but see very few trees. Is the terrain,
clmate, etc. not suitable to trees or is it because animals chomp
them?


http://www.oconnors.com/info/info-geography.html

says that 6% of Ireland is forested.

http://www.chm.org.uk/library/ecosys/forest/for001.htm

gives figures for the UK, and England is also only 7%.
Standing woodland was (and probably is) a huge
resource which was exploited and over-exploited until
almost the only ancient woodlands remaining were royal parks.
Makes me wonder how we have the cheek to tell the brazilians
how to manage their forests.

Once a woodland is felled, the economic benefits of planting woodland in the
UK, and presumably in Ireland, are very low,
so the land continues to be used for other purposes. In the UK grazing
sheep is now sufficiently unrewarding that presumably some sheep-grazed
areas might yield a little more money if forested. However, non-native
conifers tend to yield more money, faster, than any native species, so
despite the recent
recognition that woodland has amenity value and biodiversity
value, we probably won't see a huge increase in 'proper'
woodland.

It's interesting, though, that seen from the air, even a lot of towns
seem to have some degree of tree cover becasue of trees in streets and
gardens.

--
Anton

In article , anton
writes
It's interesting, though, that seen from the air, even a lot of towns
seem to have some degree of tree cover becasue of trees in streets and
gardens.

But I fear this is set to change with the increasing concern over
subsidence, the higher building densities and reclamation of
'brownfield' sites, and increasing desire of people that a neighbour's
tree does not block sun from any part of their garden.
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:

In article , anton
writes
It's interesting, though, that seen from the air, even a lot of towns
seem to have some degree of tree cover becasue of trees in streets and
gardens.

But I fear this is set to change with the increasing concern over
subsidence, the higher building densities and reclamation of
'brownfield' sites, and increasing desire of people that a neighbour's
tree does not block sun from any part of their garden.

A few more years of skin-cancer increase and hot summers, and people
will start sueing tree-chopping neighbours for depriving them of shade
:-)

Janet.

The message
from Kay Easton contains these words:

In article , anton
writes
It's interesting, though, that seen from the air, even a lot of towns
seem to have some degree of tree cover becasue of trees in streets and
gardens.

But I fear this is set to change with the increasing concern over
subsidence, the higher building densities and reclamation of
'brownfield' sites, and increasing desire of people that a neighbour's
tree does not block sun from any part of their garden.

A few more years of skin-cancer increase and hot summers, and people
will start sueing tree-chopping neighbours for depriving them of shade
:-)

Janet.