FAG 



FAG 



and triangular, containing one or two angu- 

 lar seeds. It is a native of the greater part" of 

 Europe, &:e. 



Martyn remarks that some suppose there are 

 two species of this tree, the Mountain Beech 

 and the IV'dd Beech ; " the first of which has a 

 whiter wood than the second; but that this dif- 

 ference arises only from the soil." 



In the nurseries there are two varieties, one 

 with yellow, and the other with white-striped 

 leaves. And in Germany there is another va- 

 riety with dark red leaves, which is called the 

 Purple Beech. In woods there is likewise a 

 sort with a rougher bark, which is termed Ilaij 

 Beech by woodmen. 



The second species grows to a very great size, 

 and spreads its branches finely on every side 

 where it has room ; but, planted closely, shoots 

 up straight to a great height. The leaves are 

 large, of a lucid green colour, ending in a long 

 very taper point, and the serratures terminate in 

 a kind ot tender prickle; the leaves are about 

 tour or live inches long, and two wide, some- 

 what wrinkled, having several transverse veins, 

 prominent on the under surface, and proceeding 

 from a strong midrib. The aments or catkins 

 of the nude flowers are pendulous at the ends of 

 the branches, very long, and resemble those of the 

 walnut. They have a strong spermatic smell; 

 the flowers are collected in remote little balls, 

 and are sessile. The proportion of male flowers 

 to the females is prodigious. The stamens are 

 about nine in number (live to eighteen). In 

 the female flowers the number of styles varies 

 from four to seven, but six is the most com- 

 mon. The calyx becomes an echinate capsule 

 of four valves, of a silky smoothness on the inside, 

 containing two nuts, sometimes three, or only 

 one. It is naturalized to most parts of Europe. 



There is a variety cultivated with gold-striped 

 leaves. 



The third seldom grows above twelve or four- 

 teen feet high, but produces great plenty of 

 nuts, which are, for the most part, single in 

 each capsule. It is very hardy, and will resist 

 the severest of our winters in the open ground, 

 but is very apt to decay in summer, especially 

 in a dry soil. And, though it delights in 

 moisture, yet, if the wet continues long upon 

 the ground in winter, it frequently destroys it. 

 It is very common in the woods of America. 



Cull ure. — These trees may be increased with- 

 out much difficulty. 



Culture hi the Beech kind. — These are raised 

 by sowing the well -ripened seed or mast, on 

 heds of fine mould prepared for the purpose, 

 either in the early autumn or spring season, in 

 slight drills or broadcast, covering them well in 



by raking. When the plants come up they 

 should be kept perfectly clear from weeds, and 

 alter two years growth be planted out in nur- 

 sery rows, two feet or two feet and a half 

 apart, and from a foot to eighteen or twenty 

 inches distant in the rows ; in which situation 

 they should be kept properly cleared from weeds, 

 and have the intervals of the ground well dug 

 over annually, in the autumn or very early 

 spring. Some advise cutting the roots under 

 with a sharp spade at the depth of four or five 

 inches once or twice while in the seed-bed. 

 When they have attained the growth of four or 

 five feet in height, they are proper for being 

 planted out in plantations, shrubberies, and 

 other places, where they are to grow for orna- 

 ment or timber. The varieties with striped 

 leaves are to be continued by budding or graft- 

 ing on common beech stocks, taking care not 

 to plant them where the soil is of the rich kind. 

 Culture in the Chesnut kind. — These trees 

 may be increased by sowing or planting the nuts, 

 which have been well ripened here, or such as 

 have been brought from abroad, without being 

 dried in kilns, in the early spring, on beds of 

 fresh earth in drills two or three inches deep, 

 and about a foot asunder, placing them three or 

 four inches distant, and covering them well" in. 

 When the plants appear, they should be kept 

 clear from weeds, and, after they have had two 

 years growth in these beds, they should be re- 

 moved into nursery rows in the beginning of 

 autumn, being planted two feet and an half 

 from row to row, and from one to two feet 

 distant in the rows, great care being taken not 

 to injure their roots in taking them up, unless they 

 happen to have tap roots, which must be cut oft". 

 After they have remained in this nursery 

 four or five years, and been kept perfect- 

 ly free from weeds, by hoeing or slightly 

 digging over the intervals between the rows, 

 they will be in a proper state for being finally 

 planted out as ornamental fruit- or forest-trees. 

 When they are intended to be planted for the 

 fruit, they should be more frequently trans- 

 planted before they are finally set where they 

 are to grow; but they are not of much im- 

 portance in this view, as the fruit does not 

 always ripen well in this climate. 



The varieties with variegated or blotched 

 leaves must be continued by budding or in- 

 arching them on stocks of the common kind. 



The third sort may be raised in the same 

 manner from nuts brought in sand from Ame- 

 rica, and have the same method of culture af- 

 terwards. 



The first sort is frequently made use of as 

 timber-trees and in forming hedges, and the 



