The Garden Magazine, April, 1920 



117 



FINEST WEEPING BEECH IN AMERICA AND REMINISCENT OF AN EARLY NURSERY 

 This magnificent tree, in its youth one of the specimens of the old Parsons Nursery which occupied thissection, 

 stands on what is now Washington Place, Flushing, Long Island — and is worthy a long pilgrimage to see 



joining parts of Szechuan the three species grow together, though 

 F. longipetiolata is the more common and occurs at the lowest 

 altitude. 



These three Beeches sorely puzzled me (though really they 

 are as distinct as they possibly could be) and it was not until 

 the eleventh and last year of my travels in China that I was able 

 clearly to distinguish them. They were successfully transported 

 to the Arnold Arboretum, and I am happy to say they are all 

 growing there to-day. The Formosan Beech (F. Hayatae) is 

 known only from a mountain in the heart of the savage coun- 

 try, where I was not allowed to visit. No Beech has been 

 found on the vast Himalayan range, and this is rather curious 

 since so many Chinese types find their western limits in 

 Sikkim and Nepal. The tenth and last species known — F. 

 orientalis — is found on the Caucasus, in Asia Minor and in north 

 Persia, the Caucasus being its centre of distribution. Of these 

 ten Beeches Fagus multinervis of Dagelet Island and Fagus 

 Hayatae, the Formosan species, are the only ones not growing in 

 the Arnold Arboretum. 



The Common Beech is the only kind whose merit as a planted 

 tree is properly known, and this is one of the very few European 

 trees that thrives in eastern North America. It will grow on 

 almost any soil except pure peat and heavy wet clay, but prefers 

 dry soil and attains its greatest perfection on calcareous land 

 or on deep sandy loam. On light sandy soil the bark often splits 

 longitudinally and the trunks singularly resemble those of 

 Hornbeam (Carpinusj. At its best it is a magnificent tree a 

 hundred and more feet tall with a trunk full twenty feet in 

 girth. When grown close together the trunks are straight and 

 free of branches for 30 to 50 feet from the ground or even more, 

 but commonly the unbranched trunk is not more than 20 feet 



high. On old trees, and especially on those that have been 

 pollarded as in Epping forest or the famous Burnham Beeches, 

 huge gnarled burrs develop on the trunk and arrest attention. 

 It is a gregarious species and its branches are so numerous and 

 dense that few plants will grow beneath its shade. 



WHEN the Beech is planted to form pure groves the effect 

 is perfect. It is an excellent avenue tree also provided it 

 be planted thickly; but it is perhaps best of all as a screen tree. 

 Owing to its dense branching habit it makes a splendid tall nar- 

 row hedge, an additional advantage being that it carries its 

 leaves, whose russet brown gives a sense of warmth, through the 

 winter. Properly clipped, Beech hedges last for centuries, are 

 impenetrable to man and beast, and the finest of windbreaks. 



In Europe, and especially in Belgium and England, Beech 

 hedges are common. The most famous, however, is probably 

 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 eighteen inches apart on centres and now almost 

 touching at their base. The average height is about 95 feet 

 and it is branched from the ground up. This hedge is cut 

 periodically, the work being done by men standing on a long 

 ladder from which they are able to reach with shears to about 

 60 ft. 



There is also a beech-hedge at Achnacarry, on the estate of 

 Cameron of Lochiel, whose history is even more remarkable. 

 Here in 171 5 the trees were laid in slantingly preparatory to 

 planting when the men were called away to take part in the 



