BEECH FAMILY 



redbreast alighted on our lawn. Willows glow in green and 

 yellow long before any other indication of quickening life ap- 

 pears, the last year's wood of the Lombardy Poplars becomes 

 tawny and shining, and the Beech tree fairly challenges the 

 snow on its limbs by the frosty white of its smaller branches 

 and twigs. 



It is surprising since our trees are leafless one-half of the 

 year, that so little attention is paid to planting for winter 

 beauty. A great success is awaiting the artist who can 

 achieve this planting, and in the mean time a small but ever 

 increasing number of persons are appreciating the grace and 

 beauty of the leafless trees. The winter beauty of the Beech 

 is only equalled not surpassed by that of the elm. Then the 

 sinewy strength of its trunk is most evident, the white of its 

 bark is the clearest, the structure of its noble head is most 

 apparent, and the fine spray of its delicate branches stands 

 clear cut in exquisite tracery against the sky. 



It is no less charming in early spring, when the half-opened 

 leaves clinging to the branches make a shimmering mist of 

 soft green and pearly white. In midsummer, because of the 

 lateral arrangement of the branches, the foliage lies in great 

 shelving masses and as the leaves are short petioled they 

 have little independent motion but sway with the branch. 

 In autumn, the head becomes a glowing sphere of golden yel- 

 low touched with russet, and as the last leaf flutters to the 

 ground it marks the close of a cycle of unequalled beauty. 



Lumbermen have always insisted upon two species of 

 Beech, the Red and the White, distinguished by the color of 

 their wood. There are no botanical characters by which such 

 trees can be distinguished, and the reason for the difference 

 is unknown. 



The Beech is gregarious and often forms pure forests of 

 considerable extent. In the first place, it is a tree that suck- 

 ers ; in the second, it makes a shade so dense that it is diffi- 

 cult for the young of other trees to flourish near. Further- 

 more, it readily adapts itself to environment, flourishes on the 

 bottom lands and climbs the mountain slopes. 



382 



