26 THE WOODLANDS. 



Tacitus informs us, used to divine and foretell things 

 to come by the whinnying and neighing of their 

 horses." 



The BEECH 1 is a very common English tree, and 

 equally common in a dwarf condition for hedges. It 

 is easily known from other trees in a park by its 

 smooth bark, and light green leaves. The latter are 

 ovate, and scarcely perceptibly toothed at the margin, 

 smooth, with the veins parallel to each other, and 

 proceeding direct to the edge of the leaf. When 

 quite young a delicate silky fringe can be distinctly 

 seen surrounding the margin, but this almost vanishes 

 from old leaves. Very often the dead leaves of the 

 beech may be seen still clinging to the branches in 

 the depth of winter, and this is especially the case in 

 beech hedges. Old trees do not exhibit this pecu- 

 liarity. It may usually be observed that the ground 

 beneath beeches is very bare, few herbs or grasses 

 caring to grow under its shadow. The triangular, 

 sharp-cornered nuts of the beech are enclosed within 

 a hard, tough involucre, which divides into four 

 -spreading lobes, which diverge, and allow the seeds 

 to escape. 



The finest beeches in Britain are said to grow in 

 Hampshire, and there is a curious legend of those in 

 the Forest of St. Leonard. This forest, which was 

 the abode of St. Leonard, abounds in noble beeches, 

 and the saint was particularly fond of reposing under 

 their shade, 



"Tityre, t.u, patulae recubans sub tegmine fagi." 

 Fagus sylvatica. 



