DODECANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. Castanea. 577 
■' 1 ------Mi-|—T iMwfgrT —VTt 
(CASTA'NEA.* B. and F. flowers on the-same plant: Bloss « 
none. 
Whilst young it is apt to suffer from exposure. It is difficult to transplant. It retains 
its old leaves through the winter, (and in young plants till pushed off by the new ones 
in spring. E.) It bears lopping well, and (planted in palisade, E.) may be trained to form 
very lofty hedges, (for skreens, little inferior to the Hornbeam, or Dutch Elm. E.) The 
wood is brittle; soon decays in the air, but endures long under water, (and by 
maceration may be rendered less susceptible of injury from exposure. E.) It is formed 
into tool handles, planes, large screws, sounding boards of musical instruments, mallets, 
chairs, coffins, and bedsteads, (but does not make lasting utensils or furniture, being the 
favourite nidus for the larvae of Ptinus pectinicornis, whose eggs are deposited on the 
surface, when the worms eat their way in. In their holes they turn into pupa, and come 
forth winged in July, eating through whatever obstructs their passage. E.) Split 
into thin layers it is used to make scabbards for swords, (band boxes, and in the black-letter 
age, book covers. Floats for nets, instead of cork, are made of the bark. E.) It is 
excellent fuel, and when burnt affords a large quantity of pot-ash. (It produces a clear, 
lively fire, fit for chambers. The ‘ Bois cVAndelle ’ burnt in the genteelest houses in Paris, 
is almost entirely Beech. The leaves, gathered in autumn, before they are much injured by 
the frosts, make better mattresses than straw or chaff, and last for seven or eight years. 
The nuts, or mast, as they are called, when eaten raw, occasion giddiness and head-ach ; 
but when well dried and powdered make wholesome bread. They are sometimes roasted 
and substituted for coffee* They fatten swine (and deer, but the fat so produced boils 
away, unless hardened by some other food, E.) and are greedily devoured by mice, 
squirrels, and birds, (attracting innumerable flocks of wood pigeons, &c. E.) The poor 
people in Silesia use the expressed oil instead of butter; (it is also fit for lamps. E.) 
Sheep and goats eat the leaves. (Mr. Oade Roberts reports that much less permanent 
injury is done to this timber by lopping with the axe, than with the saw. E.) 
(On the inferior surface of the leaves of Beech may be frequently observed in summer, 
Erineum fagineum; Grev. Scot. Crypt. 250. “ Hypophyllous, spot-like, somewhat 
immersed, granulose, dense, at first white, at length rich brown; peridia clavate, turbi¬ 
nate.” On the branches in spring Stilbospora profusa; Grev. Scot. Crypt. 212. “ Heaps 
rather large, the sporidia extremely minute, nearly equally two-celled.” See likewise 
a further illustration in Journ. Nat. (Pi. v. f.4.) where several minute parasites are cited as 
instances wherein these weak instruments are made use of to accelerate the decay and 
dispersion even of vegetable giants. E.) Phalcena Populi , Coryli, pudebunda , Cur- 
culio Eagiy Scarahaus Melolonthn , Aphis Fagi , feed upon this and the Chesnut. Linn. 
In some parts of Hertfordshire, where the soil is a strong clay full of flints, Beech trees 
grow to a very large size, and are of extreme beauty. They do not relish a light soil. 
No tree is more beautiful when standing singly in parks or pleasure grounds than the 
Beech, as it throws out its branches very regularly, and feathers almost to the ground. 
In woods or groves it grows clear of branches to a great height. Mr. Woodward. (The 
beautiful variety with blood red or purple foliage may be propagated by engrafting on the 
common stock, and is highly ornamental in the shrubbery. In respect to the Beech we 
cannot but differ from the most classical authority on forest scenery, who would degrade 
both the appearance and utility of this tree. We must in truth agree with another writer 
that in stateliness and grandeur of outline, the Beech vies with the Oak. Its foliage is 
peculiarly soft and pleasing to the eye, (in early spring pre-eminently so both in colour and 
texture); its branches are numerous and spreading, here aspiring in airy lightness above 
the general mass, and there gracefully feathering to the ground ; its stem waxes to a great 
size, nor, for picturesque effect, covered with moss, (the favourite haunt of the dormouse), 
does any other tree 
— .- i( Writhe its old fantastic roots so high.” 
And in studying the Beech tree, we have occasionally observed, not merely an extraordi- 
* From Kaaravt;, a town in Thessaly, the neighbourhood of which abounds with these 
trees. In Latin, Castanea ; Italian, Castagno; Spanish, Castano; French, Chatagnier i 
and English, (in declension, and by the more ancient orthography) Chestnut . E.) 
VOL. II. 3 P 
