The timber of these trees, in point of ac- 

 tual use, follows next to the oak and the ash, 

 and is little inferior to the elm for water pipes. 

 Between the years 1790 and 1800, when John 

 Aldredge, Esq. of New Lodge, St. Leonard's 

 Forest, was causing fish-ponds to be dug in 

 that neighbourhood, the workmen found 

 scantlings of beech timber, and trunks of 

 these trees, squared out, which were supposed 

 to have been buried in the earth since the i 

 time of the Romans, as there is no record 

 mentioning that part of the forest having 

 been either cleared, or ponds made since. 

 Beech-timber is subject to worms when ex- 

 posed to the air without paint. It is used 

 by wheelwrights and chairmakers, and also 

 by turners for making domestic wooden ware, 

 such as bowls, shovels, &c. Bedsteads and 

 other furniture are often made with this tim- 

 ber ; and no wood splits so fine, or holds so 

 well together, as beech, so that boxes, sword- 

 sheaths, and a variety of other things, are 

 made from it. When the art of splitting this 

 wood was first known in England, the parties 

 who used it kept the method a profound se- 

 cret for many years. 



