28 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



The principal centres for beechwood furniture in England are at High Wycombe, 

 and Newport Pagnell in Bucks, and the price of clean trunks in these districts is 

 from IS. to IS. 6d. per cube foot standing, according to the situation. Beechwood is 

 also used largely for making saddle-trees, and in consequence of the great demand 

 for these during the South African war, went up to a very high price in 1901, when 

 I was offered is. 4d. a foot standing for beech trees which in ordinary times would 

 not be worth more than 8d. or gd. a foot. Being easy to split it is, where there is a 

 demand for firewood, easier to dispose of the branches and rough parts of the tree 

 for this purpose, but the amount of waste is much greater in the beech than in 

 some other trees, unless grown in thick woods. For more minute particulars of the 

 characters and uses of this timber. Stone's Timbers of Commerce, p. 231, and 

 Loudon, pp. 1959-64, may be consulted with advantage. (H. J. E.) 



J 



