Some early economic and other developments in Eire, and their effect on forestry conditions.

Abstract

Two assertions are frequently made regarding the extent of Irish forests in the past and present respectively. One is that the entire country was at one time covered with trees, apart from mountain tops, and similar unpromising sites. The other assertion is that the present area under woods is lower, calculated on a percentage basis, than in any part of Europe other than Ireland. There is no reason to doubt these statements as founded on fact, but the interval of time which elapsed between the two extremes is almost invariably overlooked. This interval must be calculated in thousands of years, and not in three or four hundred as is often done, and the omission to do this throws the whole question out of perspective...