CATKIN-BEARING TEIBE 179 



mast. The nuts are very oily, and in France an oil, scarcely inferior to that 

 of the olive, is expressed from them, and forms a very important article of 

 domestic use, being fitted both for cookery and for burning in lamps. In 

 some French provinces the mast {La Fainc of the French) is roasted for 

 coffee. Du Hamel says that the forests of Eu and of Crecy, in the depart- 

 ment of the Oise, have yielded in a single season more than two million 

 bushels of mast; and Michaux mentions that in 1770 the forests of Com- 

 piegne, near Verberie, furnished oil enough to supply the wants of the 

 district for half a century. Beech-nuts are said to cause headache, if eaten 

 in too great numbers. 



Some of our best writers on forest trees consider the Beech as a tree 

 which is not very picturesque ; to us it seems beautiful. Its tall thick trunk, 

 covered with smooth dark grey rind, its innumerable boughs, often bending 

 downwaiTls, and clad in summer with glossy green foliage, which in autumn 

 is most richly tinted with russet yellow, render it attracti^^e. Often innumer- 

 able stems arise from one root ; and no tree has its tint of trunk and bough 

 more varied by mosses, lichens, and handsome species of fungus. The 

 youngling Beech keeps its shrivelled leaves through the winter ; and the 

 bole of the older tree often exhibits knobs about as large as a hazel-nut, 

 which fall off at a blow. 



We have, perhaps, no native tree which has so great a variety of uses as 

 the Beech, though its wood is not well fitted for house or ship building. It 

 is very useful, however, for keels of vessels, floodgates, piles, and other 

 waterworks ; and much household furniture is made of it, especially in con- 

 tinental countries — it being often stained to represent mahogany or ebony. 

 Sabots are often cut of this wood, and the chips of Beech are much used in 

 clarifying wine ; while, in Scotland, the branches are valued for the pyro- 

 ligneous acid which is procured from them. One interesting fact respecting 

 this tree is, that to its German name, BucJie, we owe our English word " book " 

 — the sides of thick books having been made of beech-boards. The wood is 

 said to make the very best oars for galleys ; and, in France, small boats are 

 formed of the hollowed trunk of this tree. In Germany, where Avood is so 

 much used for fires, a large amount of Beech is consumed as fuel. Beech- 

 hedges, formed of several trees placed near together and kept cut, are also 

 often to be seen in Beech countries. 



Classic readers will readily recall references made by ancient poets to the 

 " Beechen bowl ;" and Milton, Cowley, and others of our English bards, 

 allude to it. In the words of the latter : — 



" He sings the Bacchus, iiatron of the vine, 

 The Beechen bowl foams with a flood of wine." 



And, in another place, he says :— 



" If thou, without a sigh or gokkn wish, 

 Canst look upon the Beechen bowl and dish ; 

 If in thy mind such power and greatness be, 

 The Persian king's a slave compared with thee." 



Beech-leaves make an excellent material for filling mattresses ; and it is 



23—2 



