January 23 



common prefix denoting anything large or coarse, 

 such as horse-mushroom, horse-radish, horse-parsley ; 

 and so it may have been applied to this tree, which 

 grows vigorously and has large leaves. One writer, 

 however, explains the name as being a corruption of 

 the word ' harsh/ as the horse-chestnut fruit is harsh 

 and austere, compared with the sweet chestnut with 

 its eatable nuts. There remains the third deriva- 

 tion, arising from the curious mimicry we find in 

 the twigs and branches, which seem to be quite a 

 likely reason for bestowing a name alluding to the 

 fact. 



A little ingenuity in neatly cutting and trimming 

 the mimic horse's leg will result in a woodland 

 curio which will surprise those who have never 

 happened to notice the shapes which horse-chestnut 



HORNBEAM 



Some Hornbeam trees are attacked by a kind 

 of parasitic fungus (Exoascus carpini), which so 

 seriously interferes with the flow of the sap that 

 a multitude of small interlacing shoots are the result. 

 These give to the tree in winter the effect of being 

 laden with birds' nests. 



Each year these tufts increase in size, until the 

 branches become weighed down with their unnatural 

 burden. These ' witches' brooms,' as they are popu- 

 larly called, occur also upon the birch and several 

 species of pines, larches, and spruce firs. 



It is still, I believe, a moot question whether 

 these unusual growths may not be the work of a 



