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the brisk fire it makes and the great heat it casts out. It is in chimneys where 

 the smoke of beech-wood continually ascends that the Hampshire people cure 

 their excellent hams; and in Hampshire, since the introduction of coal fires, 

 places have been made on purpose for smoking bacon with the smoke of 

 beech-wood — a sort of kilns. 



Thus coal, and iron, and earthenware have ousted the beech from most of 

 its former uses. Its use may be gone. Its beauty remains. It is, and always 

 must be, one of the greatest ornaments of the landscape. As such in Here- 

 fordshire we must certainly regard it. I cannot understand the objections 

 th.it Gilpin brings against this tree. He does not even allow it to be a timber 

 tree at all. He calls it an overgrown bush. He says it is "heavy," and 

 lumpish, and " disproportioned." He compares it to the elm only to condemn 

 it by the contrast. Now, surely this is very unfair. The beech is not an elm 

 any more than the elm is an oak. It has a character of its own ; less stately, 

 doubtless, and less aspiring, but far more flowing and graceful. 



Its long pendulous branches sway in the wind, casting a broad and plea- 

 sant shade. Its smooth trunk sometimes rises to a great height, unbroken by 

 branches, more commonly it sends off long slender limbs. Its foliage is 

 glossy, seldom attacked by insects, of a tender green in spring, and in autumn 

 varied with many tints of golden brown. 



An old beech tree, especially if on an exposed spot, attains the same 

 sort of picturesqueness as the oak itself. Its limbs are broken, and stand 

 out boldly towards the sky. Parts of its foliage become compact and lean 

 away from the direction of the prevailing wind ; giving an irregularity of out* 

 line which is far better than the formal and balanced harmony of the elm Or 

 the lime tree. 



Many trees have but little beauty when they are young. Young oaks 

 especially have a cramped ungraceful mode of growth, angular and ill-balanced, 

 or else shapeless and bushy. 



With the chestnut the case is much the same. But a young beech is one 

 of the most beautiful of trees. In its airy lightness it almost rivals the birch 

 itself, and the flowing curves of its lower branches are particularly graceful. 



Not that every beech is alike. On the contrary, no one can notice a 

 group of beeches without seeing individuality of character among them. One 

 is more stiff in its growth, another more bending ; one has foliage of a lighter 

 shade, another of a darker, and so on. And these differences are still more 

 marked in spring and autumn than at this season. One beech tree may be in 

 the full freshness of its first leaf, when another close by, in the same soil and 

 situation, is still much what it was at Christmas. Some shed their leaves early, 

 others retain them far on into the winter. This is especially the case with trees 

 that are cut or clipped. Beech hedges are not in vogue in Herefordshire ; but 

 they, like the hornbeam, form a very effective screen, and always look neat. 

 They are particularly well adapted for sheltering gardens from cold winds— less 



