548 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



under-planting other forest trees which rob the soil of its 

 fertility. It is a shade-enduring tree and will grow un- 

 der the canopy of other trees. It produces enormous 

 quantities of leaves which, upon falling to the ground, 

 form a leaf-nuilch on the forest floor that in time develops 

 into humus and becomes available as tree food for sub- 

 sequent forest crops. 



No other tree is prized so highly as a soil builder and 

 soil conserver as the European Beech. It is not found 

 in every part of continental Europe, but locally it is a 

 big factor in forest crop production. Just as it is the 



all been developed from the European Beech. They can 

 readily be identified either by their copper color, by their 

 weeping habit, or deep-cut leaves. 



There is only one kind of Beech native to the United 

 .States. It is, therefore, a simple matter to deal with the 

 P>eech tree in this country, for it stands alone. It has no 

 nearer relatives than the Chestnuts, Chinquapins, and 

 the Oaks. 



Our native Beech prefers rich, moist, bottom lands, 

 but it also thrives on the rich, gravelly, and moist up- 

 lands. It is found from Nova Scotia to Ontario, and 



EUROPEAN FORESTERS TELL US THAT BEECH IS THE MOTItKK OF FORKST SOILS. IT IS USED EXTENSIVELY TO UNDER- 

 PLANT OLD STANDS OF SCOTCH PINE, EUROPEAN LARCH AND NORWAY SPRUCE 



leading species in the Sihlwald of Switzerland, so it is 

 the foremost tree in the Odenwald of Germkny. There 

 is no other tree that can take its place. It has character- 

 istics peculiar only to itself, and supplies products of a 

 kind and quality not produced by any other tree. 



The European Beech may be distinguished quite read- 

 ily from our common American Beech. Its head is more 

 oval than our native tree, and its bark is darker gray. 

 Its leaf is glossy, dark-green above, paler beneath; and 

 it is smaller than the leaf of our .American Beech. The 

 cultivated ornamental varieties of Beech have practically 



Wisconsin, and south to Florida and Texas. It often 

 attains a height of 90 to 100 feet, and it is not unusual 

 to find specimens with a diameter of from two to four 

 feet. 



The name "beech" has come down from ancient times. 

 It is one of the oldest tree names in use. It is said that 

 the word originated among the old Aryan tribes of Asia, , 

 who were among the oldest inhabitants upon the face of 

 the earth that used the written language. For the want 

 of better material, they cut letters on beech bark, and a 

 piece of such writing was called "boc." It was but a step 



