CHAP. CV. 



FA'GUS. 



1981 



is somewhat red, or of a rusty hue, when mature; whence the name. A trunk 

 of this species, 1 ft. Sin. or 1 ft. 6 in. in diameter, commonly consists of Sin. 

 or 4- in. of sap, and 1 ft. 1 in. or 1 ft. 2 in. of heart wood ; the inverse of which 

 proportion is commonly found in the wood of the white beech. The distribu- 

 tion of this tree in the United States is almost 1917 

 exclusively confined to the north-eastern pro- 

 vinces, and Canada, Nova Scotia, and New 

 Brunswick. In the district of Maine, and in the 

 states of New Hampshire and Vermont, it is so 

 abundant, as often to constitute extensive forests, 

 the finest of which grow on fertile, level, or gently 

 sloping lands, which are proper for the cultivation 

 of corn. The wood of this species is considered 

 stronger, tougher, and more compact than that 

 of the American white beech; and, in the district 

 of Maine and in British America, where the oak 

 is rare, it is employed with the sugar maple and 

 yellow birch, or 2?etula excelsa, for the lower! 

 part of the frame of vessels. As it is extremely 

 liable to injury from worms, and speedily decays when exposed to alternate 

 dryness and moisture, it is seldom used in the construction of houses ; but, 

 where nothing better can be procured, it is selected for making hoops. Shoe- 

 lasts are made of it, and other minor articles ; because, when perfectly sea- 

 soned, it is not liable to warp. On the whole, the wood is inferior in compact- 

 ness and solidity to the European beech, though planks of it, about 3 in. 

 thick, are sometimes exported to Britain. The tree was introduced into 

 England by Messrs. Lee and Kennedy ; and its foliage makes a very fine 

 appearance, both in the Hammersmith Nursery and at Messrs. Loddiges's. 

 Though the leaves do not differ materially from those of the common beech 

 during summer, yet, in autumn, they become decidedly darker, and die off of 

 a rusty green, approaching, in F. f. caroliniana, to black. In America, this 

 species is subject to the attacks of Phalae v na tessellaris (Abb. and Smith Ins., ii. 

 t. 75. ; and our fig. 1918.), the cream-barred, or beech, tussock moth, which 

 devours the leaves. The caterpillar of this insect is brown, and the imago 

 pale buff: it is most common in Georgia. On the whole, both the species and 

 its varieties well deserve culture as ornamental trees of the middle size. They 



1918 



are propagated by layers and grafting ; and plants, in the London nurseries, 

 are 5s. each ; at New York, 25 cents. 



