RED BEECIL 
15 
that they do not rest immediately upon the ground ; after which they 
are fashioned according to the use to which they are destined, and laid in 
water for three or four months. They are said to be rendered in this way 
inaccessible to worms. 
The Beech is very durable when preserved from humidity, and incor- 
ruptible when constantly in the water ; but it rapidly decays when exposed 
to alternations of dryness and moisture. 
In Europe, where there are not as many trees as in North America with 
durable and elegant wood, such as the Birches and the Maples, we are 
dependent upon the Beech for a greater variety of uses. It is employed 
for tables and bedsteads, for screws, rollers, pestles, dishes, wooden shoes, 
corn shovels, etc. ; in the north of France it is taken for the fellies of 
wheels, and it was formerly used, instead of pasteboard, in book-binding. 
In the valley of Saint- Jean-pied-de-port, in the Pyrenees, oars are made 
of it to supply the neighbouring ports of the ocean. While the wood 
retains a portion of its sap, they are pliant and elastic ; but for this use no 
tree can stand in competition with the Black Ash of the United States. 
Though the Beech is rapidly consumed, it is highly esteemed as a combus- 
tible, and its ashes are rich in alkali. 
In certain cantons of Belgium, particularly near the village of St. Nich- 
olas, between Ghent and Antwerp, very solid and elegant hedges are made 
with young Beeches, placed 7 or 8 inches apart and bent in opposite direc- 
tions so as to cross each other and form a trellis, with apertures 5 or 6 
inches in diameter. During the first year they should be bound with osier 
at the points of intersection, where they finally become grafted and grow 
together. As the Beech does not suffer in pruning, and sprouts less luxu- 
riantly than most other trees, it is perfectly adapted to this object. In the 
compendium at the close of my work will be found a more particular 
description of these hedges, which are highly interesting to the farmers of 
the Northern and Middle States. In the country of Qaux and in other parts 
of Normandy, the farms and noblemen’s seats are surrounded with Beeches, 
and curtains of foliage are here and there seen diversifying the landscape 
which always enclose a human habitation. Planted in a straight line, and 
breathing an unconfined air, they grow with greater rapidity, and form a 
lofty and superb trunk. 
The young Beech delights in shady situations and requires a soil unin- 
cumbered with herbage. 
In France and Germany an oil is extracted from the beech-nut which is 
next in fineness to that of the olive. The forests of Eu and of Crécy in the 
Department of the Oise have yielded in a single season more than a million 
sacks* of this fruit, and in 1779 the forests of Compiegne, near Verberie, 
* A sack contains about two bushels. 
