From the following extract of a letter from Mr. Kincaid of Dublin, who was Lord Palmerston’s Commissioner, it is interesting to know that the experiment was entirely satisfactory, proving that the Pinus maritima major is well adapted to the climate of the coasts of the British Isles:—
“The Mullaghmore plantations extend to about 200 acres. About eighty of these were planted twenty-five years ago. Some of the trees are thirty feet in height, and vary from that height to about twenty or twenty-five feet. The remainder were planted ten years ago, and are making fair progress. All the pine plantations from opposite Newtown Cliffony to Mullaghmore are in a most healthy condition, the trees making growths of from twelve to twenty inches each year. The storms have no bad effect on the south side of the great sand hill, but on its summit, and towards the west side, the spray and gales of the Atlantic will not allow the young trees to make any progress.”
NIGHT SIGNAL LAMPS.
In a report to the Trustees for improving the Queensferry passage, made in 1811, Mr. Stevenson proposes a set of signals as described in the following extract, his proposal being, in fact, the signal now in use on all British railways:—
“Upon the supposition of its being the intention of this Honourable Trust to have an establishment on the south side of the Firth similar to that which is now proposed for the north side, the reporter takes the liberty of observing that much advantage, as the Trustees know, might be derived by the public from a few simple and well appointed signals, both for night and day.
“Those intended for the day may be constructed upon a modified scale, after the common telegraphic method; while the night signals can be rendered extremely simple and effective by interposing at pleasure between the observer and the reflector a shade of coloured glass. By connecting these partial obscurations of colouring the light with an index that shall be understood on both sides of the passage, orders may be communicated in a very expeditious manner.”
CAUSE OF HEAVY SEAS IN IRISH CHANNEL.
In a report to the Right Honourable Viscount Cathcart, Commander of His Majesty’s Forces, made on Portpatrick harbour in 1812, he gives the following explanation of the well-known rough sea between Portpatrick and Donaghadee:—
“In describing the harbour of Portpatrick, it may be noticed that although the coast on which it is situated is not directly exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, yet the opposing tides of the north and south channels meet there and separate to flow up the Clyde and Solway Firths, which, independent of storms, must occasion a very considerable commotion in the waters of the channel between Portpatrick and Donaghadee.
“Accordingly we find that the sea has made a great impression upon the coast of Wigtonshire; and though the shores between Loch Ryan and the Bay of Glenluce consist chiefly of whinstone (the greenstone of mineralogists), which is one of the most indestructible rocks we have, yet the figure of the coast is indented with many small cuts or creeks, and rocks are all along the shore found jutting into the sea. At the head of one of these creeks, which is about a hundred fathoms in length, and thirty fathoms in breadth, the harbour of Portpatrick is situated between two insulated rocks, upon one of which the piers are built, the harbour being formed by an excavation, chiefly in the solid rock.”