THE BEECH 157 



used in lamps. It is still burned in France to 

 some extent, and the thrifty French cook uses 

 it in food preparations much as we use cotton- 

 seed oil. Beechnut oil has a delicate flavor, and 

 is a splendid substitute for olive oil. The cake 

 which remains after the oil has been extracted 

 makes excellent food for the stock, when ground 

 into meal. 



In our trips to the woodland, through the 

 long summer, we find no tree more handsomely 

 gowned than the beech. The leaves are thin 

 and soft as silk. They are set alternately along 

 the branches in level, flat sprays, and are excep- 

 tionally straight veined. As the season ad- 

 vances the leaves thicken somewhat, thus afford- 

 ing deeper shade, but they yet remain the thin- 

 nest leaves in the forest. In the autumn they 

 are a glorious mass of golden and russet shades, 

 and later, when most of the woods are bare, 

 many of the beech leaves still cling to the tree 

 in curling bunches of rich, light brown, that 

 make pleasing bits of color in the winter land- 

 scape. 



Botanists class all the American beeches in 

 one species. But lumbermen find a difference 

 between the trees which keep their leaves and 

 those which shed them. The former are termed 

 the "red" beeches. They have a considerable 



