IN THE BEECHWOODS 133 



natural and most agreeable Canopy all the Summer ; 

 being gathered about the fall, and somewhat before 

 they are much frost-bitten, afford the best and 

 easiest mattresses in the world to lay under our 

 quilts instead of straw; because, besides their 

 tenderness and loose lying together, they continue 

 sweet for seven or eight years long ; before which 

 time straw becomes musty, and hard. They are 

 thus used by divers persons of duality in Dauphine, 

 and in Switzerland I have sometimes lain on them 

 to my great refreshment. 1 Throughout France 

 and Germany beech is still the principal fuel used 

 for domestic purposes, as its heating power sur- 

 passes that of almost any of our other woods. 



The beech grows well on most kinds of soil 

 that are of a fresh and light description, or on 

 sandy soils resting on a subsoil of a loamy or 

 marly nature ; but its finest growth is attained 

 on a limy soil. The chalks and marls of the 

 ridges and spurs of the limestone hills forming 

 the backbone of the southern counties of Eng- 

 land still retain in many parts the remnants of 

 their original covering of beechwoods ; and though 

 good returns are being obtained from such lands, 

 there can be little doubt that the closer applica- 



