THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



The fruit of the Beech is a stalked capsule clothed 

 with simple, pliant prickles, and when ripe it opens 

 at the apex into four divisions and sheds the two 

 nuts each contains. The nut is sharply 3-angled, is 

 rich in oil and of pleasant flavour. In France, and 

 more especially in former times, the oil is expressed 

 and used for culinary and illuminating purposes. 

 The nuts are greedily eaten by wild pigeons and other 

 birds, and by squirrels, deer, wild pig, and other ani- 

 mals. 



The Common Morel (Morchella escidenta), a mush- 

 room-like fungus much used in culinary art for flav- 

 ouring, grows in Beech woods. It is always found in 

 the spring, and in France and Germany the gathering 

 of morels is quite an industry among the peasantry. 

 But more esteemed by the gourmet is the Truffle 

 {Tuber cibarium) which grows on the roots of the 

 Beech. This fungus is subterranean in habit and 

 never appears above the ground. It is black, of 

 irregular shape, about the size of a hen's egg, covered 

 with warty excrescences, and possesses a very strong 

 but agreeable odour. It matures in the month of 

 October, and the flesh is brown veined with white. 

 It is generally found by pigs and dogs trained to 

 search for it. Though by no means confined thereto 

 France supplies commercially the bulk of the truffles 

 of the world. 



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