BEECH 1 1 1 



The roots of the beech extend far and wide, but are 

 always rather near to the surface of the ground, so that 

 when a forest giant is uprooted in a heavy gale one is 

 surprised at the great bulk of root that is torn up, and 

 the very flattened mass that it presents, the whole being 

 a great disk of roots and earth, yards in diameter, and yet 

 scarcely a yard in depth. One result of this large mass 

 of roots so near to the surface is that scarcely anything 

 will grow beneath a beech-tree, further reasons for this 

 very marked absence of vegetation being the dense shade, 

 and the thick carpet of fallen leaves. 



The leaves of the beech are arranged, as our illustration, 

 Plate XVI., shows, singly on the stem. They are ovate in 

 form, having their outlines wavy, and fringed in their 

 younger days with delicate hairs. They are also very 

 deeply veined, strong lines, as we see, passing from mid-rib 

 to margin. Throughout the summer they are a strong rich 

 green in colour, but in the Autumn this changes to a deep 

 orange-red The Autumnal beauty of all other trees fades 

 before the glowing splendour, the gold and amber of 

 the beech ; and to see on some glorious September day 

 the woods aflame is a revelation ; the trees attired in this 

 robe of glowing colour, the thick carpeting of leaves 

 beneath them purple in the shadow and pure golden-orange 

 in the sunshine. We have enjoyed many such days in the 

 great beech forest of Savernake, and the memory of them 

 endures. On such occasions a colour box is a mockery, 

 for no pigment of man's devising can touch the splendour 

 of the scene. 



The foliage is sometimes riddled with holes by a species 

 of weevil, but comparatively few insects attack it as com- 



