£20 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ March 18, 1873. 



has been conolnded that the Beech is not a native of England, 

 because CsDsar iu his "Commentaries" states that "timber of 

 every kind, the same as in Gaul, except the Beech and Fir," 

 are iu Britain. If he had prefixed to that sentence " I saw," 

 he would have truly recordeil the extent of his knowledge ; but 

 he was not justified in writing so comprehensively, inasmuch 

 as that he never penetrated into what are now our midland 

 counties, and only into a very small portion of our seabord. 

 He never advanced as far as that district which the Romans' 

 successors — the Anglo-Saxons — named Buckingham, which, 

 using Camden's words, " is given to bring forth Beech trees 

 plentifully, which the English Saxons in elder times called 

 Bucken." As early as the times of Edward the Confessor, 

 more than eight hundred years ago, the woods of Burnbam in 

 that county afforded pannage for six hundred hogs. Pannage 

 was the old legal term for the right to the food afforded to 

 Bwine by the mast of the Beech and Oak. I believe that the 

 still-celebrated Euruham Beeches, a few of which are portraited 

 in the annexed illustration, were then iu existence. There 

 is a tradition that they were pollarded in the time of Canute, 

 eight and a half centuries since. The Beech has a peculiar 



I mode of revivification. Its trunk may be hollow — the wood 

 j entirely decayed — but one branch remaining vigorous thrusts 

 down to the earth, along one side within the hoUow, a slender 

 stem, which roots and becomes another trunk. 



The poet Gray obsei'ved that " There U a character about 

 the Burnham Beeches distinct from all others. They are not 

 lofty, for they appear to have been headed-down at some time 

 or other, but they are of enormous size, and the pruning of the 

 heads seems to have thrown a superfluous amount of vigour 

 into the trunks. Nowhere else do the trunks of Beeches, as a 

 rule, burst into such strange forms, or so wreath their old 

 fantastic roots on high. Every second Beech trunk here is a 

 study for a painter." They are still all that Gray described 

 nearly a century and a half ago. 



I consider the Beech one of tbe most beautiful of our forest 

 trees ; and although the most fault-finding of critics, Gilpin, is 

 adverse, I will quote his admissions in support of my estimate : 

 " Its trunks are often highly picturesque. It is studded with 

 bold knobs and projections, and has sometimes a sort of 

 irregular fluting about it, which is very characteristic. It has 

 another peculiarity also, which is sometimes pleasing, that of 







Fig. B-i.— SCRHHAM BEBCH£3. 



a number of stems arising from the root. The bark, too, wears 

 often a pleasant hue. It is naturally of a dingy olive ; but it 

 is always overspread in patches with a variety of Mosses and 

 Lichens, which are commonly of a lighter tint in the upper 

 parts and of a deep velvet green towards the roots. Its 

 smoothness also contrasts agreeably with these rougher 

 appendages. No bark tempts the lover so much to make it the 

 depository of his mistress's name. It conveys a happy emblem — 



' crescent illfe: cre^cetiK amores.' 



(As tbey increase; tbe lovca increase.) 



" Virgil was right in choosing the Beech for its shade. No 

 tree forms so complete a loof. If you wish either for shade or 

 shelter you will find it best 



' patulffi tub tegmine Fagi.' 



(Under the cover of a spreading Beech.) 



" Sometimes we see in Beeches of happy composition the 

 foliage falling in large flakes or layers, between which the 

 shadows have a forcible effect when the tree is strongly illu- 

 mined. 



" Contrary to the general nature of trees, the Beech is most 

 pleasing in its juvenile state, as it has not yet acquired that 

 heaviness which is its most faulty distinction. A light, airy, 

 young Beech, with its epiry branches hanging, as I have just 

 described them, in easy forms, is often beautiful. I have seen 

 also the forest Beech in a dry hungry soil preserve the lightness 

 of youth in the maturity of age." 



The surface of the soil beneath that shade is bare. The 

 Lesser Periwinkle (Vinca minor), and a few Orchidaceous 

 plants, such as Gymnadenia bifolia, sometimes livo in the 

 snadow, and the Morel and Truffle are fostered by it. 



The Beech is one of the most useful of trees. In Switzer- 

 land mattresses are stuffed with its leaves. Its nuts yield an 

 oil useful either as olive or lamp oil ; and the cake which 

 remains after the expression is a good food for fowls and pigs. 

 The wooden shoes, sabots, worn by the French peasants are 

 made of the wood ; it is excellent for fuel, and vinegar (pyro- 

 ligneous acid) is distilled from it. Turners form of it trenchers, 

 bowls, and other utensils. Joiners and cabinet-makers employ 

 it for furniture. If kept constantly under water it is as durable 

 there as the wood of the Elm. The exterior rings of the wood 

 are used for forming band-boxes. The millwright uses it for 

 the cogs of wheels, and the wheelwright for spokes. In the coal 

 mines it is used under the name of " Newcastle railing." Like 

 the wood of the Lime it is used for piano sounding-boards. 

 Tool-makers employ it for handles, and cask staves for dry 

 goods are made of it. — G. 



AitBOR Day in Nebraska. — The project of tree-planting in 

 Nebraska, and the idea of devoting one day in the year ex- 

 c'usively, known as Arbor D.iy, for the entire population to in- 

 dulge in planting, originated with J. Sterling Morton of Ne- 

 braska city. The first Arbor Dav was held in tbe spring of 

 1871, when 2,000,000 trees were planted. In 1872 and 1873 

 Arbor Day was not cdebrated, but it was recommended to 

 the farmers to choose for themselves a day in April, and set it 

 aport for tree-planting. This year, however, the State Board 

 of Agriculture has determined to go back to the original plan. 

 It has been resolved that Arbor Day shall be the second 

 Wednesday iu April, and the State Legislature is to be asked 

 to make the day a legal holiday. Each owner of laud ia 



