28 MOSSES AND LICHENS. 



appear to great advantage. The beech has been 

 called the Hercules and Adonis of our woods. 

 Except perhaps those at Knowle and Burnham, 

 there are few places where so many fine beeches 

 are to be met with as in the Park and enclosures 

 of Windsor.* They will amply repay the search 

 necessary to find them out in many secluded 

 haunts ; 



In Windsor's groves your easy hours employ. 



The lovers of woodland scenery, and especially 

 the admirers of this my favourite tree, will not 

 find my descriptions exaggerated. Mr. White, of 

 Selborne, calls them (e the most lovely of forest 

 trees/' and other writers have dwelt on their 

 grace and beauty. Many of the trunks are studded 

 with projecting knobs and other excrescences, 

 and sometimes appear fluted or grooved. There 

 is something also in the bark, which is favour- 

 able to the growth of various mosses and lich- 

 ens, which contrast well with the colour of the 

 bark. The roots of the trees, too, are thrown 

 out with great boldness, and when they appear 

 above the ground, are generally covered with 

 mosses of a beautiful soft green, differing in shade 

 from those on the stem. When in this state they 



* In Sir John Filmer's estate, near Sittingbourne, in Kent; 

 near Cuffnells, in the New Forest ; and at Rose-Hill Park, near 

 Winchester, are some Beech trees of magnificent size and great 

 beauty. 



