154 
PLOt^A AND SVLVA 
brownish-green in young trees to a 
uniform grey when older. The tree 
grows with a thickly-branched spread- 
ing crown, evenly rounded and with no 
leading shoot. It seeds early and at 
times so freely that the pale-green leafy 
bracts to which the seeds are attached 
are more conspicuous than the olive- 
green foliage ; after one of these heavy 
crops the trees will often rest for two 
Leak, Flowers, and Fruit of Horndeam. 
or three seasons. The seeds ripen in 
October and are like tiny angular nuts, 
which are very hard and germinate only 
in the second year, growing best when 
stratified and sown in April. The tree 
is almost free from insect pests, resists 
the roughest winds, yields a grateful 
shade in summer, and is so hardy as 
not to fear the sharpest spring frosts. In 
northern Europe the Hornbeam is com- 
monly found fringing the great Beech 
forests, in low-lying land where that tree 
is hardly secure in early spring. The 
leaves are in great demand as fodder 
for cattle, whether green or dry, being 
valued as highly as the choicest forage. 
The trees should never be cut for this 
purpose early in the season, else they 
bleed so freely as to seriously weaken 
them, but from the middle of July when 
other food becomes scarce, the clip- 
pings of Hornbeam are much sought, 
and are eaten greedily by the animals. 
The leaves hang late and often persist all 
winter, giving valuable shelter, hedges 
of 20 to 30 feet high being sometimes 
planted for this purpose in exposed 
places. Its distribution in Britain is 
somewhat local, reaching from south- 
east to north-west and avoiding the 
west-country almost entirely (in 
^ common with the west of Europe) 
though fairly abundant, especially in 
coppices, in Essex, Herts, Norfolk, 
and Lancashire. 
^ ^ The wood of the Hornbeam 
is of uniform yellow-white 
colour, close grained, with minute pores 
and strongly marked rays. It is hard, 
very tough, of moderate weight, and 
with no perceptible sap, yet is not much 
esteemed owing to its irregular grain and 
! difficulty of working. The trunks of 
large trees are commonly so twisted and 
gnarled from the irregular deposition of 
the annual layers, that they look like 
several stems run into one, and while 
the timber is very difficult to split, it is 
just as hard to work or to make smooth. 
: This cross-grained character, its refusal 
to polish, and its want of durability, pre- 
vents its use except for tools, agricul- 
tural implements, and minor uses re- 
quiring resistance to prolonged strain 
or the wear of machinery. For machine 
cogs and pins, for tools such as planes 
and mallets, the making of lasts, yokes, 
