THE HORNBEAM 
i5> 
THE GREATER TREES OF THE 
NORTHERN FOREST.— No. 27. 
THE HORNBEAM [Carpmus Betu- 
lus). 
This beautiful tree is one of the ne- 
glected children of the woods. Com- 
pared with some countries we have a 
very limited tree-flora, and it is there- 
fore remarkable that any of our own 
trees should be so completely neglected 
by planters as the Hornbeam is. Perhaps 
one reason is the misusage it has under- 
gone at the hands of continental gar- 
deners, who have trimmed and cut it 
into all kinds of absurd shapes. We 
flrst saw it in a very leprous state at 
Versailles, and also in some Austrian 
gardens, where the only trees admitted 
were those that owing to their texture 
and close foliage could be clipped into 
walls. Even in Loudon, a book so full 
of information about trees, the account 
of this tree is mostly taken up with 
puerilities as to the ways of forming these 
absurd hedges, not a word being said 
about its natural growth and effect. 
The Hornbeam is a native of the 
southern parts of England but not of 
Ireland or the north, and it inhabits a 
vast region in central and northern Eu- j 
rope and Asia. It is more limited in its | 
northern area than the Beech, though | 
it reaches as far north as Denmark, and j 
is also found in the Crimea, the Cau- ! 
casus, Persia, and Asia Minor, though ' 
not in Africa or the warmer parts of 
southern Europe. It is said in books 
to like a clay soil, but from our own 
experience, and judging also by its rarity 
in the heavy wealden country south of 
London, it does not seem to like a com- 
pact soil, while it is abundant at Epping, 
on more open soil. Some coolness of 
soil is no doubt necessary to it. Free 
sandy loams suit it better than the com- 
pact soils of the Weald, nor does it care 
for very hot ground, any more than for 
marsh lands, or those of a turfy nature. 
A tree of the plains and low hills, it 
never rises much above i 
500 
feet 
m 
Hornbeam— Form of Isolated Tree. 
the North of Europe, and only to about 
3,000 feet in the extreme south of its 
area. 
The Hornbeam is not a long-lived 
tree, rarely lasting more than 100 years, 
while its limit appears to be about 150 
years. The finest trees seldom exceed 
70 feet in height, with about the same 
spread of branch and a stem of 6 to 8 feet 
round ; the natural form of the tree is 
often spoiled by pollarding. The bark 
is thin and smooth, peeling off in shreds 
and changing from brownish-grey or 
