334 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
will ordinarily have attained a height of about 
twenty feet. Its development continues for a 
further period of from fifty to seventy years; and 
though it generally grows for a much longer 
period, reaching not unfrequently an, age of a 
century and a half, it reaches its prime at from 
sixty to eighty years of age. In young Beeches 
Nature beautifully provides for the protection 
during winter of the autumn-formed buds, by 
retaining the previous years’ foliage on the boughs. 
Though the Holly will grow and even thrive in 
Beech woods, the neighbourhood of these Trees is 
unfriendly to other forest growths. They sur- 
mount all the surrounding Trees, and it is believed 
that when Oak and Beech have grown together the 
Beech has sometimes exterminated the Oak. The 
‘drip’ from the leaves is supposed to be detri- 
mental to vegetation. 
There are, however, two species of edible fungi 
—morels and truffles—which are found growing 
in Beech woods. 
The green wood of Beech is much heavier than 
the dry timber. It is indeed heavier when green 
than that of any other of our woodland Trees; but 
