404 
charcoal. The ashes of beech wood contain 11°72 
per cent. of the carbonate of potash, 12°37 of the 
carbonate of soda, 3°49 of the sulphate of potash, 
49°54 of the carbonate of lime, 7°74 of magnesia, 
3°32 of the phosphate of lime, 2°92 of the phos- 
phate of magnesia, 0°76 of the phosphate of iron, 
1°51 of the phosphate of alumina, 1°59 of the phos- 
phate of manganese, and 2°46 of silica; and the 
ashes of beech bark contain 3:02 per cent. of the 
carbonates of potash and soda and the sulphate 
of potash, 64°76 of carbonate of lime, 16:9 of mag- 
nesia, 271 of phosphate of lime, 0°66 of phosphate 
of magnesia, 0°46 of phosphate of iron, 0°84 of 
phosphate of alumina, and 9:04 of silica. 
The beech succeeds best upon dry, chalky, or 
limestone heights; it attains a great size on or- 
dinary soils in any sheltered situation; and it, at 
the same time, offers a very sturdy and triumph- 
ant resistance to westerly gales. It greatly pre- 
vails throughout the range of chalk hills, which 
extends from Dorsetshire, through Wiltshire, 
Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, and partly 
' into Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hertford- 
| or about 25 tons of timber, 
shire; and it is also comparatively abundant on 
the Cotswold hills in Gloucestershire, and in 
some districts of Monmouthshire. It usually has 
a very flourishing condition, in particular, on the 
| hills of Surrey and Kent, upon the declivities of 
the Cotswold and Stroudwater hills, and on the 
banks of the river Wye. It thrives on the thin- 
soiled schistose hills of Devonshire, and on the 
granitic heights of the Scottish Highlands; and 
it has been planted, in large quantities, by the 
| Harl of Fife in Morayshire, and by George Ross, 
Hsq., of Cromarty. 
Some very noble specimens of beech exist, or 
were but recently destroyed, in various parts of 
Great Britain. A beech tree at Prestonhall, in 
Mid-Lothian, has a girth of 17 feet 3 inches at 
one foot from the ground, of 14 feet 7 inches at 
3 feet, and of 14 feet 6 inches at four feet. A 
beech at Newbattle Abbey, in Mid-Lothian, sup- 
posed to have been planted about the middle of 
the 16th century, and blown down early in the 
present century, measured 17 feet in girth, and 
contained upwards of 1,000 measurable feet 
A beech at Ormis- 
ton Hall, in Haddingtonshire, in 1762, measured 
18 feet 10 inches in girth, and had been artifi- 
| cially made hollow, so as to serve for a small 
| solid timber. 
shelter-house. 
Mid-Lothian, in 1763, measured 19} feet in girth 
at 3 feet from the ground. A thriving beech at 
Harlsmill in Morayshire, in 1812, measured about 
20 feet in girth at the ground, and 15 feet in 
girth at 3 feet from the ground. A magnificent 
beech at Korole Park, in Kent, measures 24 feet 
in circumference at 3 feet from the ground, and 
ten feet in circumference at 27 feet; it rises to 
the height of 105 feet; it spreads its boughs to 
the extent of 123 feet; and it contains 498 feet of 
A beech in the Roy Wood at Cas- 
tle-Howard, measures 15 feet 2 inches in girth at 
peas I 
A beech near Oxenford Castle, in | 
3 feet from the ground, and rises to the height of | 
90 feet. The largest tree ina grove of beeches 
at Woburn Abbey, has a height of 100 feet, and 
contains 400 feet of solid timber. 
The beech is propagated from seeds. Evelyn 
says that the treatment in the nursery is the 
BEECH. 
i 
same as for the ash, and the treatment in the . 
wood the same as for the oak; and he adds that 
“the masts are to be sown in autumn or later, 
even after January, or rather nearer the spring, to 
preserve them from vermin, which are very great 
devourers of them. But they are likewise to be 
planted of young seedlings, to be drawn out of 
the places where the fruitful trees abound.” 
Miller says, “'The season for sowing the mast is 
any time from October to February, only observ- 
ing to secure the seeds from vermin when early 
sown, which if carefully done, the sooner they 
are sown the better, after they are fuliy ripe.” 
Hanbury gives nearly the same instructions as 
Hvelyn, but orders the masts to be gathered in 
September, dried for six days in an airy place on 
mats, and preserved in bags till the time of sow- 
ing. The masts should be sown an inch deep, in 
well prepared beds; and the young plants, after 
having stood two years in the beds, should be 
removed to the nursery, and left there till wanted | 
for final planting. 
The transplanting of beech trees of large size 
can be effected with little risk; and a good me- 
thod of doing this was recorded, at least 50 years 
“The best way of | 
ago, by Lord Caernarvon. 
planting large beech trees,” says he, “is to cut in 
the lateral branches not close to the body, in the | 
beginning of February; and, in the autumn fol- 
lowing, or even in the same spring, to cut round 
the roots, and fill the earth in, letting it stand | 
till the succeeding autumn or longer, by which 
time the tree will have made young branches and 
young roots, and be in vigour, and fit, upon re- | 
moval, to push immediate roots. It should be 
taken up without cutting the roots much more 
and put into a hole with the earth in mud, filled 
in and well staked. The young roots will imme- 
diately strike, and the young branches shoot 
Planting in earth made thick with mud is an ex- 
cellent way. The tree should be planted level 
with the ground; it suffers, if sunk below the level 
of the ground. The top or leading branch of a 
beech, indeed of any tree, should not be cut off.” 
The purple beech, Lagus sylvatica purpurea, is 
a well-known and very ornamental variety of the 
common beech. It has been regarded by some 
cultivators as a distinct species; but though a 
few plants raised from its seeds partake of its own 
peculiarities, the great majority completely revert 
to the common or normal character. The purple 
beech is supposed by some botanists to have been 
obtained from Germany; but it is really of un- 
known origin. Its grand peculiarity is the con- 
stant brilliant purple colour of its leaves; and 
this renders the tree everywhere conspicuous 
and arresting, whether grown as a shrub, in the 
