818 FAGUS. 



pruning, can only end in producing- an unsightly ill-con- 

 ditioned object ; under these circumstances, all that can, 

 or ought to be done, is to remove, during youth, super- 

 numerary leaders, or curtail branches of too exuberant a 

 growth. The excision of large branches of the Beech, 

 close by the bole, is always attended by bad effects, as 

 decay is certain to extend rapidly downwards, and commu- 

 nicate its taint to the main body of the tree, and no branch 

 much thicker than the arm should ever undergo close am- 

 putation. 



Of the varieties of this tree, that with the deep purplish 

 red foliage, the Fag. S. purpurea of the " Hort. Kew., - " is 

 one of the most remarkable and best worth cultivation, and 

 which, when distributed sparingly and with judgement in 

 our pleasure grounds, produces a very striking effect, from 

 the contrast of its colour with the surrounding foliage. 

 The original tree, which is said to be still living, was first 

 discovered in a wood in Germany, some seventy or eighty 

 years ago, and from it all the Purple Beeches now growing 

 in Europe have been propagated, either by grafts or from 

 seeds. The latter, though they frequently come true to 

 the parent in point of colour, have also given rise to 

 subordinate varieties, differing in the shade and intensity 

 of the red or purple tinge, and to that more marked 

 deviation which has received the name of the Copper- 

 coloured Beech (F. S. cuprea). In England there are 

 now fine specimens of the Purple Beech, and Loudon 

 mentions one as the handsomest, now growing at Enville, 

 and which, in 1831, was between sixty and seventy feet 

 high, clothed with branches to the ground, where it ex- 

 tended over a space above sixty feet in diameter. There 

 is also a variety with variegated, and another with laci- 

 niated leaves, both more curious than beautiful, and not 



