FAGUS. 
ceflion of trees fit to cut. The price which fire-wood or 
billet fetches in Buckinghamfhire is near fourpence ihe 
foot folid meafure. The poles and better fluff for g'un- 
flocks, wedges, &c. fell for fivepence the foot. 'Ihe 
larged trees formill-wriglits, &rc. fell at fixpence or feven- 
pence the foot. Stackwood is fifteen or fixteen thillingsthe 
load ; and faggots fifteen or fixteen fhillingsthehundred. 
Whatever may have been the cafe with refpeft to' our 
ifland in CsTar’s time, the beech is now no uncommon 
tree in many confiderable trafts of if, particularly on that 
great ridge of chalk hills which runs from Dorfetfhire, 
through Wiltfhire, Hampftiire, Surrey, Suflex, and Kent, 
branching out into Berkfhire, Buckinghamfhire, and Hert- 
fordfhire. On the declivities of the Cotfwold and Stroud- 
water hills of Gloucefterfhire, and on the bleak banks of 
the Wye, in the counties of Hereford and Monmouth. 
It is indeed to be found in almofl every county ot Eng¬ 
land. Some plantations of it have been lately made by 
the earl of Fife, in the county of Murray, where his lord- 
fliip has planted neartwo hundred thoufund of tliefe trees. 
George Rofs, efq. has alfo fet thirteen thoufand of them 
in Cromarty. In England, John Sneyd, efq. has planted 
above fourteen thoufand at Belmont in Stafford (lure, be¬ 
tween the years 1784 and 1786. And the biihop of I.lan- 
daff, two thoufand at Amblefide, in the year 1788. 
There are fome planters who fuppofe that there are two 
fpecies of this tree, the mountain beech, and the wild 
beech; the firft of which has a whiter wood than the 
fecond ; but this difference arifes only from the foil. 
There are alfo feeds of a beech brought from North Ame¬ 
rica by the name of broad-leaved beech ; but the plants 
raifed from them proved to be the common fort. There 
are two varieties in the nurferies, one with yellow and 
the other with wjtite ftripes. In Germany they have ano¬ 
ther variety with dark red leaves, which is called the 
purple beech. There are alfo fome trees in our woods with 
a rougher bark, which the woodmen call hay beech. 
4. Fagus ferruginea, or American beech-tree : leaves 
ovate-oblong, rtmotely and acutely ferrate, acuminate, 
tomentofe underneath. Native of North America ; and 
introduced in 1766, by Meffrs. Kennedy and Lee. 
5. Fagus Cochin-chinenfis, or Cochin-china beech- 
tree : leaves ovate, crowded ; capfules three-celled, three- 
valved. This is a fmall tree, about five feet high, with 
branches afeending a little. It is doubtful whether it be 
fpecifioally different from the common beech. Native of 
Cochin-china. 
Propagation and Culture. The cheflnut-tree is propa¬ 
gated by planting the nuts in February, in beds of frefb 
tindunged earth. The bell nuts for fowing, are fuch as 
are brought from Portugal and Spain, and are commonly 
fold in winter for eating, provided they are not kiln-dried, 
which is generally the cafe of mod of thofe brought from 
abroad, which is done to prevent their fprouting or {hoot¬ 
ing in their palfage ; therefore, if they cannot be procured 
frefh from the tree, it will be much better to life thofe of 
the growth of England, which are full as good to low for 
timber or beauty as any of the foreign nuts, though their 
fruit is much fmaller ; thefe fliould be preferved until the 
feafon for fowing, which is the beginning of March, iu 
land, where mice or other vermin cannot come to them, 
otherwife they will loon deftroy them : before you fet 
them, it will be proper to put them into water to try 
their goodnefs, which is known by their weight; thofe 
that fwim upon the furface of the water fhould berejefted 
as good for nothing ; but fuch as fink to the bottom, you 
may be Cure, are good. In fetting thefe feeds or nuts, the 
bed way is, to make a drill with a hoe, as is commonly 
praftifed -in fetting kidney-beans, about four inches deep, 
in which you diould place the nuts, at about four or fix 
inches didance, with their eye uppermod ; then draw the 
earth over “them with a rake, and make a fecond drill at 
about a foot didance from the former, proceeding as be¬ 
fore, allowing three or four rows in a bed, with an alley 
Vol. VII. No. 416, 
l6l 
between, three feet broad, for a conveniency of clearing 
the beds, &c. When you have finifhed your plantation, 
you muft be careful that it is not dedroyed by mice, or 
other vermin ; which is very often the cale, it they are 
not prevented by traps, or other means. 
In April thefe nuts willappear above ground ; you mud 
therefore obferve to keep them clear from weeds, efpe- 
cially while young : in thefe beds they may remain tor 
two years, when you diould remove them into a nurfery, 
at a wider didance. The bed feafon for tranfplanting 
thefe trees, is either in Oftoberorat the end of February ; 
but October is the bed feafon : the didance thefe diouM 
have in thenurfery, is three feet row from row, and one 
foot or eighteen inches in the rows ; you mud be careful 
in tranfplanting thefe trees, to take them up without in¬ 
juring their roots, nor fhould they remain long out ot the 
ground ; but, if they have a downright tap-root, it fliould 
be cut off, efpecially if they are intended to be removed 
again ; this will occafion their putting out lateral roots, 
and render them lefs fubjecl to mifCarry when they are re¬ 
moved for good. 
The time generally allowed them in this nurfery, is 
three or four years, according to their growth ; but the 
younger they are tranfplanted, if defigned for timber, the 
better they w ill fucceed ; during which time you diouid 
he careful to keep them clear from weeds, obferving alfo 
to prune off lateral branches, which would retard' their 
upright growth ; and where you find any that are difpoled 
to grow crooked, either by their upper bud being hurt, 
or from any other accident, you may, the year after plant¬ 
ing, in March, cut them down to the lowermod eye next 
the furface of the ground, which will caufe them to make 
one drong upright fhoot, and they may be afterwards 
trained into good draight trees : but this fliould not be 
praftifed, unlefs the plants have abfolutely lod their lead¬ 
ing fhoot; for, although the dems of the trees diould be 
very crooked, as is generally the cafe with them when 
young, yet when they are tranfplanted out, and have room, 
to grow,- as they increafe in bulk, they will grow more 
upright, and their dems will become draight. Thefe 
trees require no other manure than their own leaves, 
which diould be differed to rot upon the ground ; and 
in the fpring of the year, the ground diould have a 
lliglit digging, when thefe fhould be buried between their 
roots, but not too clofe to the trees, which might be in¬ 
jurious to their young fibres. 
After having remained three or four years in the nur- 
fery, they will be fit for tranfplanting, either in rows to 
grow for timber, or in quarters for wildernefs plantations, 
avenues, clumps, or the orchard ; but if you intend them 
for timber, it is by much the better method to fow them 
in furrows, as is praftifed for oaks, &c. and let them re¬ 
main unremoved ; for thefe trees are apt to have a down¬ 
right tap-root, which, being hurt by tranfplanting, is 
often a check to their upright growth, and caufes them 
to dioot out into lateral branches, as is the cafe with the 
oak, walnut, Sec. But where thermit of them is more 
fought after, then it is certainly the better way to trans¬ 
plant them ; for, as tranfplanting is a check to the luxu¬ 
riant growtli of trees, fo it is a promoter of their fruftifi- 
cation, as may be evinced by obferving low fhrubby oaks, 
walnuts, See. which generally have a greater plenty of 
fruit than any of tlie larger and more vigorous trees ; and 
the fruit of inch trees is much fuperior in fade, though 
the feeds of vigorous trees are vadly preferable for planta¬ 
tions of timber. 
If you defign a large plantation of thefe trees for timber, 
after having two or three times ploughed the ground, the 
better to dedroy the roots of weeds, you fhould make your 
furrow’s about fix feet didance from each other, in which 
you diould lay the nuts about ten inches apart, covering 
them with earth about three inches deep ; and when they 
come up, you mud carefully clear them from weeds : the 
didance allowed between each row is for the ufe of the 
T t liorlft 
