COMMON BEECH. 315 



old Evelyn speaks of them in Switzerland, where, he says, 

 " I have sometimes lain on them to my great refreshment ; w 

 and Sir T. Dick Lauder, after quoting the passage from 

 Evelyn, and speaking of the excellence of the beds in Italy, 

 made of mattresses filled with the elastic spathe of the 

 Indian corn, adds, " but the beds made of Beech leaves 

 are really no whit behind them in their qualities, whilst 

 the fragrant smell of green tea which the leaves retain 

 is most gratifying." 



As coppice or undergrowth the Beech is not of long- 

 duration, as the shoots generally cease to push after forty 

 or fifty years, and Buckinghamshire appears to be the 

 only county in which coppice Beech prevails to any ex- 

 tent. As a hedgerow tree, we have already stated strong- 

 objections to its use, both on account of the general infe- 

 riority of its timber so situated, and the injurious quality 

 of its shade ; but for narrow upright hedges, to divide or 

 enclose nursery grounds, gardens, or even small fields, the 

 Beech is superior to the hornbeam, or any other deciduous 

 tree, as it not only bears the shears equally well, and may 

 be trained to as great a height, but retains the leaves 

 during winter, thus affording additional shelter and warmth, 

 and giving a richness of appearance the others do not 

 possess. The natural soil of the Beech appears to be such 

 as is of a dry nature, either calcareous or when mixed with 

 sand and gravel, though it also thrives well and attains 

 a large size upon clayey loam : indeed, provided the sub- 

 stratum be dry, the Beech will thrive and attain respect- 

 able dimensions upon most variety of soils. At Knowle, 

 in Kent, where a celebrated Beech is now growing, the 

 soil is a pure sand ; and at Panmure, in Forfarshire, in 

 a clayey loam, Sang mentions Beeches ninety feet in 

 height, with clean trunks of fifty feet. At Twizell, upon 



