APPLICATION OF THE METHOD. 63 



found somewhat widely distributed in temperate 

 regions, chiefly prefers clayey soils, but still does 

 well in free soils that retain their moisture at a 

 slight depth below the surface ; it is met with in the 

 plains as well as on hilly ground. While avoiding 

 great heat, the hornbeam appears to require rather 

 a strong light ; it is capable of withstanding frost to 

 a remarkable degree. 



The hornbeam is a species that becomes fertile 

 while still young and bears fruit nearly every year. 

 Its seed, furnished with a leafy bract, is borne to a 

 considerable distance by the wind, but it does not 

 germinate until the second spring after its fall. The 

 tree has a thick cover, and the young seedling though 

 not injured by frost, is exceedingly sensitive of the 

 drying up of the soil, owing to its roots being very 

 short at that age ; as the plant grows up, the roots 

 are more apt to spread out laterally than to descend 

 vertically, and do not go deeper than twenty inches. 

 The hornbeam shoots up very freely from the stool 

 up to an advanced age, and also throws up suckers. 



This tree is always a slow grower, and, as we have 

 already said, attains only a medium size. Its stem 

 being more or less fluted, the wood cannot be used as 

 timber, and all the more so, that it cannot with- 

 stand the alternations of the weather; but it is valued 

 for wheelwrightry, and all parts of machinery exposed 

 to friction ; it is one of our best fuel woods, and it 

 yields most excellent charcoal. 



KOTATION. This should always be chosen so as 

 to obtain the most useful produce from the oak. 



PEIMARY CUTTING. To keep the soil in good con- 



