120 TREE ANCESTORS 



There are four existing species of Fagus in the North Temperate 

 Zone. Two of these occur in the coastal region of eastern Asia. 

 The American beech, formerly much utilized in the manufacture 

 of charcoal, is now largely lumbered for a wide range of special 

 commercial uses such as wooden and laundry ware, handles, clothes 

 pins, shoes, etc., since the wood is hard, tough and strong and does 

 not decay or soften under water. The tree ranges from Nova Scotia 

 westward through Ontario to Wisconsin and southward to western 

 Florida and Texas. It frequents rich uplands and mountain 

 slopes in the northern part of its range and bottom lands in the 

 South, reaching its maximum development in the lower valley of 

 the Ohio and on the slopes of the southern Alleghanies. 



Beech was abundant nearly everywhere in Colonial America, 

 but the wood was hard to spHt and decayed quickly upon exposure 

 to weather, so that the pioneers, with a fence rail point of view, 

 had a very small opinion of it. They soon discovered, however, 

 that it did not decay or soften under water, so that quite early 

 they utihzed it for water wheels, and especially for gudgeons and 

 bearings, in their grist and saw mills. 



The charcoal burners early learned to utilize beech and we find 

 Peter Kalm, that quaint botanist and explorer whose name is 

 immortalized in the genus Kalmia for the mountain laurel, writing 

 in 1749 that, next to black pine the best charcoal for smithing 

 purposes is made from beech. The wood is difficult to work in 

 carpenter shops, but it finds a large use where freedom from taste 

 is desirable as in butchers, blocks, cutting boards, skewers, ice 

 cream paddles, tubs and pails for butter and lard, and hogsheads 

 for sugar and molasses. Picnic plates are now made by the mil- 

 lions of beech wood, which also takes an important place in the 

 manufacture of kitchen and laundry appliances, blocks, agricultural 

 impliments, furniture, flooring and fixtures. 



The fourth existing species is the European beech and its horti- 

 cultural varieties. It is one of the common forest trees of temper- 

 ate Europe from southern Norway and Sweden to the Mediterran- 

 ean, ascending to elevations of five thousand feet in the Swiss 

 Alps. It is common in southern Russia and throughout Asia 

 Minor to northern Persia. 



