19.54 AUBOUETL'M AND IKUTICETUJM, PART HI. 



wliitc when fully exposed to the air. The leaves are shiiiiiii,', thin, changing 

 to a brown or russet colour in autumn; and, on soil somewhat moist, or in 

 wet autumns, remaining on the tree throuj,diout the winter. On young trees, 

 and on trees planted in hedgerows and pruned, the leaves are more certain 

 of remaining on during the winter, than on large, old, and detached trees. 

 The head of the beech is, in general, so dense, that plants do not readily grow 

 imder it ; which is also partly owing to the leaves requiring a long time to 

 decay after they fall. The branches of the beech, whether in old or young 

 trees, generally take an upright direction, and form acute angles with the 

 stem; though, in old trees, the lower branches are often horizontal, and some- 

 times bent down in the middle, and curving upwards at the extremity. The 

 branches are very numerous, and the smaller shoots much divided ; but the 

 direction both of the branches and spray is always more or less straight, as 

 compared with that of the branches and spray of the oak, the ash, and some 

 other trees. The roots do not descend deeply into the soil, but extend to a 

 considerable distance close under the surface. The rootlets and fibres are 

 not nearly so numerous as in the ash and the elm. The barren flowers are 

 in round, stalketl, droo[)ing heads, or catkins, of a ligiit brown colour, 

 and 3 or 4 in each head. The fertile ones are placed above them on the 

 branch, and are solitary, and on stouter stalks than the Uiale catkins. The 

 calyx of the fruit is 4-clcft, clothed with simple {)liant jiricklcs. The 

 stigmas are 3 in each flower; spreading, acute, and downy. Nuts 2, with 3 

 equal very sharj) angles, and crowned with the inner calyx. The flowers 

 appear in May, and the fruit ripens in (October. The fruit, when ripe, opens 

 at the upper extremity, in four divisions ; and, after a short time, the nuts 

 frequently drop out, leaving the calyx, or cup, which contained them, attached 

 to the tree. The nut contains a while oleaginous substance, agreeable to eat. 

 The seedlings of this tree, Sir J. E. Smith observes, when newly sprung up, 

 with their pale cotyledons, look not unlike some kinds of fungus. The 

 plants, under nursery culture, do not grow so rapidly as those of the ash and 

 the elm ; but, under favourable circumstances, they will attain the height of 

 10 ft. in 5 years, and 20 ft. or 25 ft. in 10 years. The height of the tree, when 

 full grown, and in a situation where it is allowed to spread, may be considered 

 as from GO ft. to 80 ft. In Germany, according to Willdenow, it is from 50 ft. 

 to GO ft. ; but, when drawn up by otJier lofty-growing trees, it sometimes 

 attains the height of from 100 ft. to 120 ft., as may be seen in the figures of the 

 King and Queen Beeches, at Ashridge, given in our Sfafisfirs, in a future page. 

 A spreading beech, at Studlcy Park, of which fig. 1878. is a portrait to a 

 scale of 30 ft. to 1 in. (draw n for us by TI. W. Jukes, Esq., by the permission 

 Mrs. Lawrence), is 114 ft. high, and exhibits, in respect to general form 

 and ran)ification, the common character of the tree when growing detached 

 from all others. The life of the beech tree, in its native habitats in Ger- 

 many, according to Willdenow, extends to 200 years, and ui)wards. The 

 oldest beech tree in England is probably that in Windsor Forest, which 

 is supjjosed to have been in existence before the Norman Conquest, and 

 w'ill be hereafter figured and described. In general, the tree attains its 

 full growth, in England, in GO or 80 years, when it is fit to be cut down for 

 timber purposes; and, on good soils, it is more than doubtful whether it will 

 live much more than 100 or 150 years. When the tree is cut, the wounds 

 heal (juickly over, so as to leave but very slight scars; and, when branches are 

 cut off close to the trunk, it is not liable to throw out fresh shoots. Accord- 

 ing to German authors, the beech, when treated as coppice-wood, will continue 

 to send up shoots till it has attained the age of 30 or 40 years, but seldom to 

 a greater age; and, hence, it is not well adapted cither for copj)ice or under- 

 wood. The tree, when under a course of nursery culture, and before it is 

 removed to its final destination, suffers severely from the removal of any of its 

 branches ; but, when once established as a hedge, it bears pruning as well as 

 any other tree. The branches of the beech, particularly in w oods, being much 

 crowded, and having a smooth bark, are particularly liable to cross and grow 



