8 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Another occurs at Hardwick, Bury St. Edmunds, the seat of G. M. Gibson 

 Cullum, Esq., which in 1904 was 11 feet 9 inches in girth, and about 80 to 90 feet 

 in height. Bunbury * considered this to be the finest purple beech in England, and 

 says it produces abundance of fruit, from which young trees have been raised. 



Var. cuprea, Loddiges, Copper Beech. This is only a sub -variety of the 

 purple beech, distinguished by its young shoots and leaves being of a paler colour. 

 The largest purple or copper beech which Elwes has seen is in the park at 

 Dunkeld, Perthshire, not far from the Cathedral. This measures 86 feet high, with 

 a girth of 1 5 feet 3 inches, and does not show any evidence of having been grafted. 

 There is a very fine one at Corsham Court, the seat of General Lord Methuen, 

 85 to 90 feet high, by 14 in girth, forking at about 10 feet. At Scampston Hall, 

 Yorkshire, Mr. Meade-Waldo tells us of two large spreading trees on their own roots, 

 II feet 6 inches and 10 feet 6 inches in girth respectively. At Beauport, Sussex, 

 the seat of Sir Archibald Lamb, Bart., a copper beech measured 12^ feet in 

 girth in 1904. At Syston Park, Lincolnshire, the seat of Sir John Thorold, Bart., 

 there is one nearly as large (12 feet 2 inches girth). A copper beech at Bell 

 Hall, York, which was planted in 1800, measured in 1894, 9 feet in girth, the 

 diameter of the spread of the branches being 74 feet. At Castle MacGarrett, 

 Claremorris, Ireland, the seat of Lord Oranmore, there is a beautiful copper 

 beech, which in 1904 was 70 feet high and 9 feet 10 inches in girth. In Over 

 Wallop Rectory grounds, in Hampshire, a copper beech measured 9 feet 4 inches 

 in 1880. 



Two fine trees occur at Clonbrock, in Co. Galway, the seat of Lord Clonbrock. 

 One measured in 1904 a length of 76 feet and a girth of 12 feet 9 inches. The 

 other was 7 feet 6 inches girth in 1871, and in 1880 it had increased to 8 feet 

 5 inches. 



The copper beech ^ is rarely used as a hedge, but there is one in the gardens of 

 Ashwellthorpe Hall, Norwich, which is 138 yards long, 8 feet high, and about 5 feet 

 through. It was planted about seventy years ago from seedlings by the Hon. and 

 Rev. R. Wilson. The colouring in spring is very beautiful. 



There is a sub-variety* of the copper beech in which the leaf is edged with 

 pink whilst young, but later in summer it becomes nearly like the type. This 

 variety has been called Fagus purpurea roseo-marginata, and it has been recom- 

 mended as a hedge-plant, to be clipped two or three times during summer so as to 

 obtain several crops of young shoots. 



Var. atropurpurea, The leaves in this are of a darker colour than in the 

 ordinary purple beech. 



Var. atropurpurea Rohani is quite different from the last, as the form of 

 the leaves is similar to that of the fern-leaved beech, but their colour is like that of 

 the copper beech. 



Var. purpurea pendula. This is a weeping form of the purple beech. It is of 

 slow growth. 



Arboretum Notes, p. 117. 



^ Garden, July 30, 1904, Answers to Correspondents. 

 ' Card. Chron. June 23, 1888, p. 779. 



