Samuel Hayes

Samuel Hayes' Practical Treatise on Trees

In 1794 Samuel Hayes – Irish MP, barrister, amateur architect and draughtsman and passionate planter of trees – wrote the first book on trees in Ireland: A Practical Treatise on Planting and the Management of Woods and Coppices. He was the man who designed and planted Avondale, the estate made famous as the home of Charles Stewart Parnell. Planting trees at Avondale was Samuel Hayes' passion, his Practical Treatise the culmination of his work. Commissioned by members of hte Dublin Society (now the RDS) to write a simple guidebook, he said he wanted to do more than merely instruct people how to plant and manage trees. He wanted to inspire his countrymen to love trees. His death in 1795, only a year after the book was published, came early in his task, yet today the oldest trees at Avondale, beech, oak, larch and two gigantic silver firs by the river, are those planted by Hayes. Since its original publication in 1794, Hayes' book has become a rare and valuable collector's item. Now, for the first time in two hundred years, his Practical Treatise has been re-published. Not only a practical guide, it is also a celebration of the trees of the Irish countryside and its great demesnes. With a foreword by Thomas Pakenham, this pioneering book, with elegant illustrations by Hayes himself, engraved by William Esdall, will be a revelation for a new generation of tree enthusiasts. Supported by the Irish Tree Society.