122 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



applied, is in the manufacture of an oil, scarcely inferior to 

 olive oil. This is produced from the mast of the beech for- 

 ests in the department of Oise, France, in immense quantities ; 

 more than a million of sacks of the nuts having been col- 

 lected in that department in a single season. They are re- 

 duced, when perfectly ripe, to a fine paste, and the oil is ex- 

 tracted by a gradual pressure. The product of oil, compared 

 with the crushed nuts, is about sixteen per cent. {Michaux, 

 N. American Sylva.) 



In Europe, the wood of the beech is much used in the man- 

 ufacture of various utensils ; but here, where our forests abound 

 in woods vastly superior in strength, durability, and firm- 

 ness, that of the beech is but little esteemed. 



For ornamental purposes, the beech, from its comparative- 

 ly slow growth, and its abundance in various parts of the 

 country, does not command the admiration here which it 

 does in Europe. Campbell, the poet, has produced so elo- 

 quent and beautiful an appeal in favour of an old denizen of 

 the forest, entitled the " Beech tree's Petition," that we gladly 

 quote it, Roping it may perchance stay the hand of some soi- 

 disaiit improver, who would despoil our native woods of their 

 proudest glories : 



" Oh, leave this barren spot to me ! 

 Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree ! 

 Though bud and floweret never grow 

 My dark, unwarning shade below ; 

 Nor summer bud perfume the dew 

 Of rosy blush or yellow hue. 

 Nor fruits of autumn, blossom born, 

 My green and glossy leaves adorn ; 

 Nor murmuring tribes from me derive 

 The ambrosial amber of the hive; 

 Yet leave this barren spot to me — 

 Spare, woodman, spare the beechen tree ! 



