no THE FRUITS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 



localities. Provided only the substratum be dry and well 

 drained the tree thrives well on most soils, and especially 

 if the position be somewhat high. ^ We have seen 

 magnificent beeches on the chalk at Deepdene, in Surrey, 

 and others as fine on the sand at Haslemere, in the same 

 country. The finest beech-trees are said to grow in 

 Hampshire, though the Buckinghamshire people dissent 

 from this view in favour of their own county. We have 

 seen magnificent specimens in Kent and in St. Leonard's 

 Forest, Sussex. The cottagers of the Forest have a belief 

 that the great saint himself, St. Leonard, sleeping in these 

 umbrageous recesses, was inhospitably disturbed by the 

 vipers, and his repose broken by the singing of the 

 nightingales. Ordinary folks would have to put up with 

 such inconveniences or go, but such saintly men as St. 

 Patrick or St. Leonard require the inconveniences to go 

 instead, and so ever since his visit 



The viper has ne'er been krovvn to sting, 

 Or the nightingale e'er been heard to sing. 



It is generally considered that the beech is one of our 



indigenous trees. Cassar, it is true, specifically declares 



that it is not ; affirming in his writings that the trees of 



Gaul and of Britain are alike, except that the latter has 



neither beech nor fir ; but after all his opportunities of 



observation were not so absolutely far-reaching that we 



need feel that his simple statement settles the question, 



as it is proverbially difficult to prove a negative. 



' This Tree grows plentifully in Gravelly, Stony, and Sandy Land : 

 great Beechen-woods I have seen on the driest, barren sandy Lands : they 

 delight on the sides and tops of high Hills, and chalky Mountains : they will 

 strangely insinuate their Roots into the bowels of those seemingly 

 impenetrable places. — Systema Agriculture, 1675. 



