308 



FAGUS. 



they are also greedily devoured by ring-doves, wood- 

 pigeons, and pheasants. In France an excellent oil is 

 expressed from the nuts, which, is not only used for the 

 lamp, but for culinary purposes. When carefully pre- 

 pared, for which approved directions will be found in the 

 " Arboretum Britannicum,' 1 it is said to be scarcely inferior 

 to the best olive oil, and has that further advantage, that 

 it produces no unpleasant smell in burning. In England, 

 the only advantage derived from the mast is as a food 

 for swine and poultry. 



The roots of the Beech extend to a great distance, and 

 run near to the surface, contributing, with the drip and 

 shade of the tree, to the barrenness of the soil within their 

 circuit. 



For the first few years after planting, the Beech is of 

 slow growth, but when once firmly rooted makes rapid 

 progress, and in the course of seventy or eighty years, 

 at which age it is considered to have attained its prime, 

 is frequently from seventy to ninety, or even a hundred 

 feet high, with a trunk as much as twelve or even sixteen 

 feet in circumference. It continues to thrive for more than 

 a century afterwards, and then begins to decay, which 

 process goes on at a rapid rate, as the wood is of a more 

 perishable nature than that of the oak and some other 

 trees. 



The Beech is generally allowed to be indigenous to 

 England, and our oldest writers mention it as one of the 

 four aboriginal timber trees of the island. Its limit, how- 

 ever, as a native, seems to be confined to the dry cal- 

 careous districts of the central parts of England, or that 

 great ridge of chalk hills which occupies a large portion 

 of several midland counties. In these it frequently occu- 

 pies extensive tracts as a natural forest, to the exclusion 



