LIST OF FOREST-TREES. 



119 



which the poorer inhabitants of Silesia 

 are said to use as a substitute for but- 

 ter. The nuts are sometimes roasted, 

 and used for coffee. This tree is a 

 native of the greater part of Europe, 

 but is not found so far north as the 

 northern provinces of Sweden. In 

 England it prevails most in the range 

 of chalk hills which run from Dorset- 

 shire, through Wiltshire, Hampshire, 

 Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, and more 

 partially in Berkshire, Buckingham- 

 shire, and Hertfordshire. It is not 

 uncommon also on the Cotswold Hills 

 in Gloucestershire, and in some parts 

 of Monmouth. In Scotland, where 

 its being indigenous is doubted, large 

 plantations have been made, particu- 

 larly by the Earl of Fife in Murray- 

 shire, and by George Ross, Esq., of 

 Cromarty. In certain cantons of Bel- 

 gium, particularly near the village of 

 St. Nicholas, between Ghent and Ant- 

 werp, very solid and elegant fences 

 are made by planting young beeches 

 seven or eight inches apart, and bent 

 in opposite directions, so as to cross 

 each other, and form a trellis. During 

 the first season they are bound toge- 

 ther by osiers at the points of inter- 

 section, and in time become grafted, 

 forming apertures of four or five inches 

 in diameter. 



The bark of the American white beech 

 is used for tanning leather, when there 

 is a scarcity of oak bark : the leather 

 made from it is white and durable, but 

 inferior in this last respect to that 

 tanned with oak bark. The purple 

 or broad-leaved American beech is 

 held in higher esteem in North Ame- 

 rica than the former. It is a hardier 

 and a larger-growing tree. The tim- 

 ber is described as being less compact 

 or solid than that of the English 

 beech ; planks of it, however, three 

 inches thick, are exported to England. 

 In summer, while the sap is in the 

 vessels of the wood, it is considered a 

 superior season for felling the beech 

 to that of winter ; and Michaux states 

 that experience has demonstrated the 

 fact, that the timber felled in the for- 

 mer season is greatly more durable 

 than that which is felled in winter. 



Timber or Forest Species. 

 Cupuli.fe.rce. Nat. Sys. 



BEECH-TREE. FAGUS. 



Moncecia Polyandria. Linn. 

 Common sylvdlica . . .Britain ... 70 



Species for Ornament, 8fc. 



BEECH-TREE. 



Native of Ft. 



Var. Purple purpurea . .Germany .30 



Golden stripe 1 ,..,- , 

 i T ffoLiis ciiims 



leaved y 



Copper-leaved .... cuprea 



Broad-leaved. . . . .fcrruginea .N.Amer.. .40 



White sijlvtstris . . . .... 30 



Fern-leaved comptonicefol, 



Cupuliferce. Nat. Sys. 



Eng. Name. 



CHESTNUT. 



Bot. Name. 



CASTANEA. 



Monoscia Polyandria. Linn. 



MALE FLOWER ament, naked; calyx. naked; 

 corolla, five petals ; stamina, ten to twenty. 

 FEMALE FLOWER calyx, five or six-leaved, 

 muricate, or covered with soft spines ; co- 

 rolla, none ; stigma, pencil-shaped ; seeds, 

 nuts, three, ovate, three-sided, enclosed in 

 a roundish capsule, covered with soft spines. 



Time of solving the seeds February. 

 Soil A rich sandy loam raises the 

 chestnut to the greatest perfection as a 

 timber-tree ; but it appears to come 

 to great maturity in clayey soils, if 

 free from stagnant moisture. It will 

 thrive also in gravel or sand, if not in 

 too bleak or exposed a situation. 

 Uses The timber of the castanea 

 vesca, or sweet chestnut (see page 9, 

 fig. e), is said to be equal to that of 

 the oak. For underwood or shelter, 

 in a favourable climate, there can 

 be no doubt of its great value, af- 

 fording a fall in every ten or twelve 

 years for hop-poles, hoops, &c. The 

 chestnut, if not originally a native 

 of Britain, has at least been long na- 

 turalized in the climate. The most 

 ancient tree of this species on record is 

 probably that mentioned by Bradley* 

 in Lord Ducie's park, at Totworth, 

 Gloucestershire. He states that, in 

 1150, it was styled the great chestnut 

 of Totworth; and that, in 1720, it 

 measured ' fifty-one feet in circum- 

 ference at six feet from the ground. 

 The same tree is mentioned, in 1791, 

 by Lysons, who etched two views of 

 it. This chestnut, it is highly probable, 

 had lived a thousand years, and hence 

 we may conclude its long duration 

 in the soil. At Buckland, the seat of 

 Robert Throckmorton, Esq., M.P., are 

 to be seen some remarkably fine speci- 

 mens of this tree ; in several places in 

 Kent, and on the banks of the Tamer, 



* Gentleman's Magazine for 1766, p. 321. See 

 also Martyu's Miller's Gard. Diet. 



