CHAPTER X 

 THE EUROPEAN BEECH 



Gardens may boast a tempting show 

 Of nectarines, grapes, and peaches. 



But daintiest truffles lurk below 

 The boughs of Burnham Beeches. 



AMONG the familiar trees of the northern 

 forests none is more stately or beautiful 

 than the Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica). 

 A cleanly looking tree and the epitome of vigour this 

 Beech has been aptly termed the Hercules and Adonis 

 of European forests. There is something peculiarly 

 attractive about the tree at all seasons. In winter 

 the pale gray, smooth bark and the delicate tracery of 

 the myriad branches suggest a light white mist hov- 

 ering in and about the trees; in spring, the clear 

 green mantle of foliage is exquisitely delicate but 

 soon assumes a darker hue and forms a dense and 

 cooling shade in the summer heat, and in autumn the 

 warm yellow- to russet-brown tints, and the long 

 persistence of the dead leaves on the branches — all 

 have peculiar charms. Further, the ground beneath 



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