BEECH. 57 



never discovered that he penetrated into Sussex or Hamp- 

 shire, where the beech most abounds, or that he visited 

 Scotland, from whence we have transplanted the fir. The 

 beech seems to have been greatly admired by the an- 

 cients. Pliny says, " There was a little hill called Carne, 

 in the territory of Tusculum, not far from the city of 

 Rome, that was clad and beautified with a grove and 

 tufts of beech-trees, which were as even and round in the 

 head as if they had been curiously trimmed with garden 

 shears." He adds, " this grove was, in old times, conse- 

 crated to Diana, by the common consent of all the inha- 

 bitants of Latium, who paid their devotions there." To 

 one of these beech-trees, he says, " Passienus Crispus, 

 an excellent orator, who was twice consul, and afterwards 

 married the Empress Agrippina, was so much attached, 

 that he not only reposed under it, but sprinkled it plenti- 

 fully with wine, and would even embrace it." 



Manlius Curius protested with an oath, that of all the 

 booty and pillage taken from the enemy, he had reserved 

 nothing for himself but a cruet, or little ewer, made of 

 beech-wood, wherein he intended to sacrifice to the 

 gods. 



The beech, it will be observed, from the class in which 

 it is ranged, produces both male and female flowers on 

 the same tree. The fruit succeeds the latter blossoms, 

 which have a one-leafed empalement, cut into four parts, 

 but have no petals : the germen is fixed to the empale- 

 ment, which afterwards becomes a roundish capsule, 

 armed with soft pines opening in three cells, each con- 

 taining a triangular nut, called the beech mast. This nut 

 is palatable to the taste, but when eaten in great quanti- 

 ties occasions head-aches and giddiness ; nevertheless, 

 when dried and ground into meal, it makes a wholesome 

 bread. 



