DECIDUOUS TREES. 
325 
deep shady bower of novel beauty. In our Chapter XIV, on Arti¬ 
ficial Adaptations of Trees and Shrubs, are some suggestions on this 
subject, to which in this connection the reader’s attention is invited. 
The Camperdown Elm so nearly resembles the Scamston, that 
some persons consider them the same. Sargent believes them 
different, and notes that the former has a growth a little more open 
than the latter. From the fact that pretty good observers mistake 
one for the other, we may infer that the difference is not material. 
THE BEECH. Fagus. 
“ * * * who shall grave, as was the wont 
Of simple pastoral ages, on the rind 
Of my smooth beeches, some beloved name?” 
Bryant. 
The beech is one of the grandest forest trees of both Europe 
and America. On both continents vast tracts of land are covered 
with it, to the exclusion of other trees, which cannot thrive in 
the dense shade it creates. Its smooth gray bark, never furrowing 
with age, but spotted in old trees with horizontal belts or patches 
of light-gray, makes a beech tree trunk an attractive and cheerful 
object among other trees, as well as a convenient surface on 
which to carve or write. Attaining great size, and forming deep 
shadows, it is, nevertheless, at all times a cleanly, cheerful-look¬ 
ing tree ; and in winter the great number and light color of its 
radiating branches and abundant spray is a pleasant characteristic. 
The play of light and shade in the foliage of the beech is pe¬ 
culiar. The lights are sharply-defined, and thin; and the shadows 
proportionally strong, and disposed horizontally in layers or strata, 
like those of the pine and spruce families, notwithstanding the 
branches, when bare of leaves, radiate at acute rather than right 
angles from the trunk. 
The form of the tree is usually ovate, but with more variety of 
outline in different specimens than is found among maples or 
horse-chestnuts, varying from oblate to conical forms, with sky out¬ 
lines occasionally quite broken and spirited. 
