166 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
plains of Italy we had seen nothing to resemble the green sward of a British lawn. 
What was our agreeable surprise then, when on emerging from the upper boundary 
of those forests of chestnuts and other trees which cover the declivities of the moun- 
tains, we entered at last on a beautiful sloping and undulating lawn, composed of 
shaven turf of the richest possible verdure, everywhere surrounded by fine spreading 
beeches, running into the open ground in irregular promontories, and receding in 
bays, in which the velvet surface of the pasture stole gradually into the cool shade! 
The whole was like a scene of magic. It was like a perfect and weli-kept English 
park ; and this produced by the enchanting hand of Nature, on the summit of the 
Appenines. We selected the most pleasing spot we could find on the very top ; and 
there, under the umbrageous cover of one of the largest trees, we ate our well-earned 
meal, where the boundless prospect gave to our wondering and delighted eyes the 
view of the waters of the Mediterranean on the one side, and those of the Adriatic on 
the other. We must confess that we have hardly ever seen a beech tree since without 
its bringing to our recollection the enjoyments of that most celestial day ; and the 
reader will easily be able to trace the combination of pleasing associations which 
made it so.” 
The beech was known both to the Greeks and Romans. Pliny writes of it, and 
Virgil tells us that the beech was grafted on the chestnut. Pliny mentions a grove 
of beech trees at Jerusalem, which in old times was consecrated to Diana, and one of 
these trees was of such surpassing beauty that Papienus Cuspus, a celebrated orator, 
who was twice consul, and afterwards married the Empress Agrippina, was so fond 
of it that he not only delighted to repose beneath its shade, but frequently poured 
wine on the roots, and used often to embrace it. Beechen cups were used by the 
Latin shepherds, and this custom is frequently alluded to by the poets. The oldest 
writers on British rural affairs mention the beech as one of the four indigenous timber 
trees of England. The wood of the beech is very close-grained, hard, and heavy. It 
lasts well if kept dry, or constantly submerged ; but if exposed to the alternations of 
drought and moisture, it soon decays. It is therefore not fit either for house or ship- 
building, and is considered inferior timber to that of the oak, the ash, or the elm, 
The uses of the wood, notwithstanding all its faults, are very extensive. The keels 
of vessels are often made of it, and the planks for the sides and bottoms of ships. It 
is in great demand for cheap furniture, mill-work, screws, and wooden machinery of 
all kinds, and for the various articles manufactured by the cooper and turner. Its 
durability under water renders it peculiarly applicable for piles, weirs, slnices, and 
similar work intended to be constantly wet. The same quality recommends it for 
the wooden soles of shoes and pattens, while in France it is preferred to any other 
wood for making sabots, being not only durable when wet, but little likely to absorb 
moisture. The consumption of sabots in the mountainous districts of France, accord- 
ing to Bose, is immense. They are made of the green wood of the beech, and then 
smoked with the burned chips formed in their construction. This smoke, containing 
a great deal of moisture, does not crack them, while the pyroligneous acid and creosote 
which are given out in large quantities, penetrate the sabots, and renders them durable 
and less liable to be attacked by insects. The sabots so treated are always of a 
brownish colour, the effects of this process. In Germany thin slices of beech-wood 
are used by the bookbinders instead of pasteboard, for forming sides to thick volumes, 
which, from the German name of this wood, buch, were originally called Looks. 
As fuel, the wood of the beech is superior to any other. It yields a large amount of 
heat, burns more clearly and brightly, and with less smoke, than almost any other. 
As it contains but one-tenth its weight of water, it may be consumed in the green 
