166 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



plains of Italy we had seen nothing to resemble the green sward of a British lawn. 

 What was our agreeable surprise then, when on emerging from the upper boundary 

 of those forests of chestnuts and other trees which cover the declivities of the moun- 

 tains, we entered at last on a beautiful sloping and undulating lawn, composed of 

 shaven turf of the richest possible verdure, everywhere surrounded by fine spreading 

 beeches, running into the open ground in irregular promontories, and receding in 

 bays, in which the velvet surface of the pasture stole gi^adually into the cool shade ! 

 The whole was like a scene of magic. It was like a perfect and well-kept English 

 park ; and this produced by the enchanting hand of Nature, on the summit of the 

 Appenines. We selected the most pleasing spot we could find on the very top ; and 

 there, under the umbrageous cover of one of the largest trees, we ate our well-earned 

 meal, where the boundless prospect gave to our wondering and delighted eyes the 

 view of the waters of the Mediterranean on the one side, and those of the Adriatic on 

 the other. We must confess that we have hardly ever seen a beech tree since without 

 its bringing to our recollection the enjoyments of that most celestial day ; and the 

 reader will easily be able to trace the combination of pleasing associations which 

 made it so." 



The beech Avas known both to the Greeks and Romans. Pliny writes of it, and 

 Virgil tells us that the beech was grafted on the chestnut. PHny mentions a grove 

 of beech trees at Jerusalem, which in old times was consecrated to Diana, and one of 

 these trees was of such surpassing beauty that Papienus Cuspus, a celebrated orator, 

 who was twice consul, and afterwards married the Empress Agrippina, was so fond 

 of it that he not only delighted to repose beneath its shade, but frequently poured 

 wine on the roots, and used often to embrace it, Beechen cups were used by the 

 Latin shepherds, and this custom is frequently alluded to by the poets. The oldest 

 writers on British rural afiairs mention the beech as one of the four indigenous timber 

 trees of England. The wood of the beech is very close-grained, hard, and heavy. It 

 lasts well if kept dry, or constantly submerged ; but if exposed to the alternations of 

 drought and moisture, it soon decays. It is therefore not fit either for house or ship- 

 building, and is considered inferior timber to that of the oak, the ash, or the elm. 

 The uses of the wood, notwithstanding all its faults, are very extensive. The keels 

 of vessels are often made of it, and the planks for the sides and bottoms of ships. It 

 is in great demand for cheap fui^niture, mill- work, screws, and wooden machinery of 

 all kinds, and for the various articles manufactured by the cooper and turner. Its 

 durability under water renders it peculiarly applicable for piles, weirs, sluices, and 

 similar work intended to be constantly wet. The same quality recommends it for 

 the wooden soles of shoes and pattens, while in France it is preferred to any other 

 wood for making sabots, being not only durable when wet, but little likely to absorb 

 moisture. The consumption of sabots in the mountainovis districts of France, accord- 

 ing to Bose, is immense. They are made of the green wood of the beech, and then 

 smoked with the burned chips formed in their construction. This smoke, containing 

 a great deal of moisture, docs not crack them, while the pp'oligneoiis acid and creosote 

 which are given out in large quantities, penetrate the sabots, and i-enders them durable 

 and less liable to be attacked by insects. The sabots so treated are always of a 

 brownish colour, the effects of this process. In Germany thin slices of beech-wood 

 are used by the bookbinders instead of pasteboard, for forming sides to thick volumes, 

 which, from the German name of this wood, hucli, were originally called books. 



As fuel, the wood of the beecb is superior to any other. It yields a large amount of 

 heat, bums more clearly and brightly, and Avith less smoke, than almost any other. 

 As it contains but one- tenth its weight of water, it may be consumed in the green 



