OR, PLAIN 



variety of mosses, lichens, and fungi, 

 which are commonly of a lighter 

 tint in the upper parts, and of a 

 deep velvet green towards the 

 roots. The branches are fantas- 

 tically wreathed, twining awk- 

 wardly among each other, and 

 running often into long unvaried 

 lines, without that strength and 

 firmness which we observe in the 

 oak ; and in full leaf the tree 

 presents the appearance of an 

 overgrown bush. But no tree 

 throws so complete and delightful 

 a shade. In distance it preserves 

 the depth of the forest, and often 

 becomes beautiful by contrast. 

 The autumnal hues of the beech 

 are often beautiful. Sometimes 

 it is dressed in modest brown, 

 but generally in glowing orange ; 

 and in both dresses its harmony 

 with the grove is pleasing. About 

 the end of September, when the 

 leaf begins to change, it makes a 

 happy contrast with the oak, 

 whose foliage is yet green. Some 

 of the finest contrasts of tint 

 which the forest can furnish, 

 arise from the union of the oak 

 and the beech. 



There is an interesting fact to 

 be observed in connection with 

 the beech : it is this, that the 

 branches, from their number, and 

 proximity, and liability to cross 

 each other, frequently unite and 

 grow together. It is said that 

 this curious fact first suggested 

 the operation of grafting trees, 

 which has proved of so much 

 value to horticulture. 



The uses of beech wood are 

 chiefly of a domestic character. 

 When the tree has grown in £ood 

 soil, the wood has somewhat of 



TEACHING. 213 



a reddish tinge ; but in poor soils 

 it is whitish. It is employed in 

 making bedsteads and chairs, 

 panels for carriages, screws, sho- 

 vels, peels for bakers' ovens, rims 

 for sieves, dishes, trays, bads, 

 timber for buckets, trenchers, dres- 

 ser-boards, and many other useful 

 articles. As fuel, the wood of 

 the beech is superior to that of 

 most other trees. 



The nuts, 3, begin to drop from 

 the husks in the months of Octo- 

 ber and November. These nuts, 

 called also mast, are an excellent 

 food for swine, and other animals ; 

 and they are also capable of 

 yielding a good oil for lamps ; 

 but they are said to occasion 

 giddiness and headache when 

 eaten by man. In Switzerland, 

 very excellent mattresses are 

 made of the dried leaves, which 

 are gathered about the fall, be- 

 fore they become frost-bitten. 



Comparatively few insects at- 

 tack the beech, and those which 

 do are principally of the order 

 Lepidoptera, 180, in the caterpillar 

 stt te. One of the gall flies at- 

 tacks the leaves of the common 

 beech, causing galls upon them ; 

 and the white flakes of woolly 

 substance frequently seen upon 

 the leaves, will be found to con- 

 tain the larvce or pupce of an in- 

 sect, * the parent of which de- 

 posits its eggs in this downy 

 covering. 



The walnut, 1 — the name of 

 which comes from the Saxon 

 walh foreign, and knuta nut, 

 means a foreign nut, and not as 

 its name appears to imply a wall- 

 nut — belongs to the botanical 



* Jufflans r< tjhis- 



