50 TREE-PLANTING. 



being considered not profitable to retain it standing- 

 longer than seventy or eighty years, for the value of 

 its timber. It is found growing in masses in the 

 chalky districts of Kent, Surrey, Hampshire, and 

 Sussex, as well as on the Cotswold Hills of Glou- 

 cestershire, in Buckinghamshire, and Hertfordshire. 



No tree puts on such a diversified appearance as 

 the beech. When the rays of the sun strike upon the 

 leaves of a beech tree which have been wetted by 

 the gentle showers of early summer, the action of the 

 light upon the leaves has a most beautiful effect. 

 The buds break out into soft silky folds, covering 

 each separate spray with a coating of light green 

 verdure, which, as the season advances, changes into 

 a bright dark green. It puts on its best appearance, 

 perhaps, when planted on a sandy loam, or on the 

 slope of hills where there is a calcareous bottom, 

 where it assumes somewhat of the graceful appearance 

 of the birch. 



The beech can be made to give a large amount of 

 shelter, and deserves on this account to be much more 

 generally planted than it is, where shelter is needed. 

 Tall fences can be converted out of beech trees to 

 stand from twenty to thirty feet high, affording shade 

 in summer and warmth in winter; for if the soil is not 

 naturally rich wherein the hedge of beech is planted, 

 by manuring well, the dead leaves will be retained 

 hanging to their stems throughout the winter. These 

 hedges may occasionally be seen, in rare instances, 

 close and thick, of the height of eight and ten feet 

 where they have been regularly kept under the 

 shears, while the topmost boughs have been allowed 

 to take their course. In certain cases it has been 



