LXX. CORYLA^CEiE: FAMOUS. 



907 



lfi95. 



. americana. 



It F. 5. 8 americfinn. F, sylvestris Michx. N. 

 Amer. Si//, t. 107. ; white Beech, Amer. 

 (Our Jig. 1695.) Generally considered 

 by botanists as identical with the common 

 European beech. In North America, it 

 forms one of the tallest and most majestic 

 trees of the forest, abounding in the middle, 

 western, and southern states, in deep 

 moist soil, and in a cool atmosphere. The 

 trunks of the trees are frequently 8 ft., 9 ft., 

 and 1 1 ft. in circumference, and more than 

 100 ft. high. The tree is less branchy than 

 F. ferruginea, or red beech of America ; 

 and the perfect wood bears but a small 

 proportion to the sap, frequently occupying 

 only 3 in. in a trunk 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter. 



The European beech is a handsome umbrageous tree, combining magni- 

 ficence with beauty ; and being, as Mathews observes, at once the Hercules 

 and Adonis of our sylva. The roots do not descend deeply into the soil, 

 but extend to a considerable distance close under the surface. The rootlets 

 and fibres are not nearly so numerous as in the asii and the elm. The plants, 

 under nursery culture, do not grow so rapidly as those of the ash and the 

 elm; but, under favourable circumstances, they will attain the height of 

 10 ft. in 5 years, and 20 or 25 feet in 10 years. In general, the tree attains its 

 full growth, in England, in 60 or 80 years, when it is fit to be cut down for 

 timber purposes ; and, on good soils, it is more than doubtful whether it will 

 live much more than 100 or 150 years. The wood, which, when green, is 

 harder than that of any of our British timber trees, weighs, when in this 

 state, 65 lb. 13 oz. per cubic foot ; half-dry, it weighs 56 lb. 6 oz. ; and quite 

 dry, 50 lb. 3 oz. The wood, when the tree has grown in good soil, and on 

 plains, has a somewhat reddish tinge ; but in poor soils, and on mountains, it 

 is whitish. The durability of the wood is said to be increased by steeping 

 it in water ; and, according to seme, by disbarking the tree while standing. 

 In England, at the present time, the beech is principally employed in making 

 bedsteads and chairs ; and it is also in great demand for panels for carriages, and 

 for various purposes in joinery, cabinet-making, and turnery. Screws, wooden 

 shovels, peels for bakers' ovens, and rims for sieves, are also made of it, and 

 in France sabots. As fuel, the wood of the beech is superior to that of most 

 other trees, and the green wood is generally preferred to that which is dry, be- 

 cause it burns slower, though it does not give out so much heat ; and hence, 

 in many places in France, the tree is frequently cut down in the summer 

 season. The beech, burnt green, produces heat and light relatively to the 

 beech burnt dry, as 1 181 is to 1540. For useful plantations, the beech is not 

 highly prized ; the tree not being of much value when young, nor forming a 

 permanent coppice wood, and the bark being of little value. Beech of small 

 size, or of short and crooked stem, is the least valuable of ail timber. On dry 

 chalky soils, it may be planted as a timber tree ; but here, as in many other 

 cases where a straight clean trunk is wanted, the plants require to be drawn 

 up, either by other trees of their own species, or by trees of a different species, 

 which advance at nearly the same rate of growth ; such, for example, as the 

 sweet chestnut. The beech succeeds best in plantations by itself ; and, 

 perhaps, there is no membranaceous-leaved tree which, in a wild state in 

 forests, is found Svj little intermixed with other species. It is one of the 

 worst of all trees for hedgerows, not only injuring the fence and the adjoining 

 crops by the density of its shade, but its trunk, when grown m this situation, 

 being neither long, clean, nor straight, is of little value except for fuel. As 

 undergrowth, the beech is not of long duration, seldom pushing from the 

 stools after 40 or 50 years. For hedgerows for shelter, and especially for 

 those lofty narrow hedges which were formerly much in use for enclosin": and 



