24 FAMILIAR TREES 



bufferings of the wind, it is largely used for 

 this purpose in nurseries of seedling forest trees, 

 and elsewhere where shelter is required, and 

 was formerly employed in mazes and other 

 geometrical devices. Evelyn ranks it foremost 

 among deciduous trees for this purpose, reserving 

 the claims of his favourite evergreen, the Holly. 

 Flourishing, too, on soil too stiff for many kinds of 

 trees, the Hornbeam is useful as a nurse to other 

 species, and as cover for game. Deer will not touch 

 it, but hares, rabbits, and especially field-mice, are 

 very fond of its young leaf-shoots and foliage. 



The decrepit specimens in Epping Forest, that 

 have been ruthlessly and repeatedly polled, are 

 merely grotesque, for such masses of disease cannot 

 justly be regarded as beautiful. When felled, their 

 wood is stained of a black colour, and is of inferior 

 quality ; and when, as during the last few years, 

 no longer lopped, they send up long ungainly 

 branches, which, from the crowding, take a vertical 

 direction, bearing only a few leaves at the top. 

 When, on the other hand, they have been judiciously 

 thinned, their boughs sweep down gracefully to the 

 ground, well covered with leaves, with nearly 

 as much beauty as those of Lime or Beech. 

 Such trees, once pollarded, can never entirely 

 regain the charm of the naturally round, compact 

 head ; but their feathery sprays, reaching to the 

 very turf, form a decidedly desirable feature in the 

 woodland glade or wild shrubbery. A row of fine 

 trees of this species may be seen in Richmond 

 Park between Pembroke Lodge and Ham Cross. 



