1964 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART IIe 
tourteaux from this oil, which are too hard and husky to be eaten, are used 
for making torches; and hence the name of ftourteau, which is generally 
applied to a torch, or link, in France. In those districts of England where 
the beech tree abounds in natural forests, it might, perhaps, be worth while 
to make beech oil for private use, both as a substitute for olive oil, and for 
lamp oil. By steeping the mast in water for several hours, and afterwards 
kiln-drying them, both the outer husk and inner skin would probably be easily 
removed in a common flour-mill, or in some coarse portable mill; and the 
kernels might be ground in a finer mill previously to expressing the oil from 
them. To prevent disappointment, however, as to the quantity of oil pro- 
duced, it must be recollected that the summers of England are less favourable 
to the oleaginous secretions of plants than those of France. 
For useful Plantations, the beech is not highly prized; the tree not being of 
much value when young, not forming a permanent coppice-wood, and the 
bark being of little value. Beech of small size, or of short and crooked stem, 
Mathew observes, is the least valuable of all timber. On dry chalky soils, it 
may be planted as a timber tree; but here, as in many other cases where a 
straight clean trunk is wanted, the plants require to be drawn up, either b 
other trees of their own species, or by trees of a different species, whic 
advance at nearly the same rate of growth; such, for example, as the sweet 
chestnut. The beech, however, succeeds best in plantations by itself; and, 
perhaps, there is no membranaceous-leaved tree which, in a wild state in 
forests, is found so little intermixed with other species. It is one of the 
worst of all trees for hedgerows, not only injuring the fence and the adjoining 
crops by the density of its shade; but its trunk, when grown in this situation, 
being neither long, clean, nor straight, is of little value except for fuel. 
Another disadvantage attending the beech, in hedgerows, is, that it does not 
resist the sea breeze ; though, after a certain period of time, the beech tree, like 
most others in which the head has grown all to one side, has the power of 
throwing out branches on the opposite side; as has been beautifully illustrated 
by Mr. Davis of Portway, in the Gardener’s Magazine, vol, ii. p. 256.; and 
the rationale of the process will be found generalised in our Encyclopedia of 
Arboriculture. In Normandy, Bosc informs us, it was formerly the custom to 
plant the beech round villages, in order to shelter them from storms; the 
tree, from the upright tendency of its branches, affording less leverage to the 
wind, and, by the bulk and compactness of its head, opposing a greater body 
to its progress, and thus producing more shelter. 
As Undergrowth, the beech is not of long duration, seldom pushing from 
the stools after 40 or 50 years ; owing, as it is supposed, to the extreme hard- 
ness which the bark acquires during that period. Even to preserve a beech 
coppice in vigour for any length of time, it is necessary to cut it more fre- 
quently than in the case of almost any other tree. In Buckinghamshire, 
which is almost the only county in England where there are extensive beech 
coppices, they are cut every sixth or seventh year, and the wood burned into 
charcoal, which is sold to the gunpowder manufacturers. In Germany, M. 
Hartig has found that the beech does not push nearly so well from the stool in 
rich as in poor soil; which, he conjectures, may be owing to the extraordinary 
thickness and hardness of the bark, produced by the exuberance of sap, which, 
as it were, prevents the bud formed by the germ from penetrating through it ; 
in the same manner as aseed, when sown, if covered by a lump of hard soil, 
is prevented from coming up. For this reason, Hartig recommends beech 
coppices, on rich soils, to be cut when the sap is in motion; because the quan- 
tity of sap being diminished by the loss that is then sustained, the stool becomes 
more marly in the situation which it would be in if growing in a poor soil. 
For Hedgerows for Shelter, and especially for those lofty narrow hedges 
which were formerly much in use for enclosing and sheltering gardens, or- 
chards, and small fields for affording early grass, the beech has no equal 
among deciduous trees; for, as Boutcher observes, by retaining its withered 
leaves all the winter, it affords the same protection as an evergreen. A beech 
