THE EUROPEAN BEECH 



variants call for detailed notice but first a few words 

 on the usefulness of the typical form are necessary. 

 The Common Beech is an excellent avenue tree pro- 

 vided it be planted thickly but is perhaps best as a 

 screen, tree, and when planted to form pure groves 

 the effect is perfect. Owing to its dense branching 

 habit it is splendid for forming tall, narrow hedges. 

 Under such conditions it carries its leaves, whose 

 russet-brown give a sense of warmth, through the 

 winter. Properly clipped. Beech hedges last for cen- 

 turies, are impenetrable to man or beast, and form the 

 finest of windbreaks. In Europe, and especially in 

 Belgium and England, they are common. The 

 most famous Beech hedge, probably, is that of 

 Meikleour, in Perthshire, Scotland. It is claimed 

 that this hedge was planted in 1745, and that the 

 men who were planting it left their work to fight at 

 the battle of Culloden, hiding their tools under the 

 hedge, and never returned to claim them. It is 580 

 yards' long and is composed of tall, straight stems set 

 about 18 inches apart and now almost touching 

 at their base. The average height is about 95 feet 

 and branched from the ground up. This hedge is 

 cut periodically, the work being done by men stand- 

 ing on a long ladder from which they are able to 

 reach with shears to about 60 feet. There is also a 

 Beech hedge at Achnacarry, on the estate of Cam- 



163 



