CHAP. CV. COHYLA'CE/E. FA N GUS. 1953 



trees. There is a specimen at Oriel Temple, in Ireland, 33ft. high, 

 diameter of the head -J4ft. The Rev. M. J. Berkeley informs us, 

 in a letter dated June 2. 1837, that in "one of the plantations 

 bordering Milton Park, the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam, in Northamp- 

 tonshire, there is a beautiful accidental weeping variety of the beech. 

 The trees have been cleared round it, and it is a very flour^hing 

 young tree. The branches are beautifully pendent, and even the 

 last six feet of the top bend down. Mr. Henderson, the very in- 

 telligent gardener, has propagated it by grafts. The height is 50 ft., 

 and the girt 3 ft. at 1 ft. from the base, by measurement just made 

 for the purpose." So splendid a variety will, we trust, soon find its 

 way into the public nurseries. 



Other British Varieties or Variations. In some beech woods, trees are 

 found with a rough and somewhat chapped bark ; and these are called the 

 hay beech by the woodmen in Buckinghamshire and Gloucestershire ; 

 but we have not heard of the kind having been propagated either by seeds 

 or grafting. There is also what joiners call the red, or the yellow, beech, 

 and the white beech ; the former having dark-coloured wood, and the latter 

 having the wood white. These two varieties are commonly considered as 

 being produced by the locality, the darker wood growing in the better soil. 

 According to Mathews, " the yellow beech grows faster and straighter, and 

 is cleaner and freer of black knots, and also more pleasantly worked than 

 the white; but it corrupts much sooner in the bark when cut down. This 

 variety of beech, when properly trained," he continues, " is, probably, the 

 most profitable hard wood that we can raise : when planked, it bends plea- 

 santly under the shipwright to the curvature of the vessel's side. The tree 

 is also much superior in size and grace of outline to the white." (On Nav. 

 Tim., p. 49.) This variety ought to be sought out in beech woods, or in 

 plantations, and the mast collected from it for propagation : it ought also 

 to be propagated by grafting or budding, as an experiment to try whether 

 the colour of wood can be continued without reference to the soil on which 

 the stock grows. Mitchell says there are two sorts of beech, the black and 

 the white wooded ; but he knows no sort of botanical distinction between 

 them. He never met, he adds, " with five trees of the black beech on any 

 estate," and, therefore, concludes that the colour of the wood is merely a 

 variation resulting from soil. 



It F. s. 8 amcricdna ; F. sylvestris Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 3., t. 107. ; white 

 Beech, Amer.; is generally considered by botanists as identical with the 

 common European beech. This it very probably is ; but, from the 

 figure in Michaux, and the description given by him of the wood, it 

 appears to us somewhat different from the species. In North Ame- 

 rica, it forms one of the tallest and most majestic trees of the forest, 

 abounding in the middle, western, and southern states; but most 

 abundant in the middle and western states, and composing large 

 masses in Genessee, Kentucky, and Tennessee, in deep moist soil, 

 and in a cool atmosphere. The trunks of the trees are frequently 

 8ft., 9ft., and 11 ft. in circumference, and more than 100ft. high. 

 The tree is less branchy than the 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. G in. in diameter. 

 The wood of the white beech is little valued in America, even for 

 fuel; and the bark is used for tanning, but is little esteemed; and, 

 therefore, in point of utility, the tree cannot be recommended for 

 culture in Europe : but, if it should prove distinct from the common 

 beech, it well deserves introduction as an ornamental variety. 



Description. The European beech is a handsome umbrageous tree, com- 

 bining magnificence with beauty; and being, as Mathews observes, at once 

 the Hercules and Adonis of our sylva. It has a smooth thin bark, which is 



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