BEECH. 205 



being sometimes almost straight and at other 

 times more or less wavy. 



Speaking of the beauty of the autumnal hues of 

 the Beech Grilpin says : ( Sometimes it is dressed 

 in modest brown, but generally in glowing orange ; 

 and, in both dresses, its harmony with the grove 

 is pleasing. About the end of September, when 

 the leaf begins to change, it makes a happy con- 

 trast with the Oak, whose foliage is yet verdant. 

 Some of the finest oppositions of tint, which per- 

 haps the forest can furnish, arise from the union 

 of Oak and Beech. We often see a wonderful effect 

 from this combination. And yet, accommodating 

 as its leaf is in landscape, on handling it feels as 

 if it were fabricated with metallic rigour. In its 

 autumnal state it always crackles : li Leni cre- 

 pitabat bractea vento " (the light metal crackled 

 in the wind). For this reason, I suppose, as its 

 rigour gives it an elastic quality, the common 

 people in France and Switzerland use it for their 

 beds.' 



Perhaps there are no forest leaves better adapted 

 in every way for couches than those of Fagus syl- 

 vatica on account of the dryness as well as the 



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