276 BRITISH FOREST TREES 



able degree of shade, more particularly on a good, fresh soil. 

 On shallower ground, however, and on poorer localities 

 mainly dependent on rainfall for their supply of moisture, 

 the want of free enjoyment of light and air is more rapidly 

 felt ; its development under such circumstances suffers 

 considerably, and its yield in cubic contents is of course 

 much diminished. Under the more favourable circumstances 

 it can yield good returns when grown as coppice, with or 

 without standards, and as such is often allied with the 

 beech, which, however, on the whole ranks higher as a 

 shade-bearer than the hornbeam. 



Attainment of Maturity and Reproductive Capacity. 

 From about its thirtieth year the hornbeam bears seed 

 almost annually, even when nearly suppressed in growth by 

 standards. The seed, which ripens in October, and of 

 which about 14,000 to 16,000 go to a pound, has a germ- 

 inative capacity of about 70 per cent, (according to Gayer ; 

 Ney gives 50 per cent as satisfactory), lies over one year, 

 and only germinates during the second spring, but retains 

 its germinative power for from two to three years. In the 

 reproduction of stems and of branches it likewise possesses 

 a recuperative faculty of the highest power. It coppices 

 freely, and maintains 1 its reproductive power for sixty or 

 even eighty-five years like the oak, whilst on soils of the 

 best classes it also sends out root-suckers when the stem is 

 felled close to the ground. It is well adapted for pollarding, 

 and for the formation of live hedges. Pollarded hornbeams 

 may attain the age of a hundred and fifty to two hundred 

 years. 



Liability to Suffer from External Dangers. Thanks to its 

 strong recuperative power, the hornbeam suffers little from 

 external dangers. When once it has taken good root, it can 

 bid defiance to attacks of all sorts ; as coppice it maintains 



1 According to recent experiments conducted by M. Bartet at Nancy. 





