GRADE VI. 



The Beeches. 



" The Beeches are a very beautiful family of trees 

 growing in moist, rich soil. There are sixteen differ- 

 ent kinds of beech trees in the world, but only one in 

 Massachusetts. There are six different kinds that 

 grow on the Andes mountains in Chili. They grow 

 on the islands of Tierra del Fuego, New Zealand, 

 Van Diemen's I^and, and in the western part of 

 Asia, the northern part of Europe and America. But 

 the tallest are found in western Massachusetts and in 

 Ohio, growing there about one hundred feet high and 

 from two and a half to three feet thick. They also 

 grow along the banks of the Ohio river." 



The American Beech. 



"The Fagus ferruginea or American beech is a 

 very beautiful tree. The wood is of a reddish-brown 

 color near the pith, but near the bark it is much 

 lighter. It is quite heavy and is composed of very 

 fine fibers. The pith-rays are rather thick, and can 

 be seen only on two opposite sides. On the other 

 two sides the ends of them can be seen. The tree we 

 studied to-day is a little more than fifty years old, 

 and for that reason it is more red than a younger tree 



