nn 
BEECH. 
hedge, or on the lawn; but it occurs in consider- 
able diversity of depth and shade, and might be 
made the characteristic of several subvarieties. 
A number of purple beeches, both in Great 
Britain and North America, have grown to the 
height of about 30 feet; and trees of it are sup- 
posed to be capable of regularly attaining twice 
that height; yet those only which retain their 
purple colour from seed acquire full altitude, 
those which are produced by grafting on the 
common beech attain medium size, and all those 
which are obtained by layering are dwarfed, and 
ean be treated only as shrubs or mere mimic 
trees.—The other best known varieties of the 
common species are the copper beech, Magus syl- 
| vatica cuprea, growing to the height of 70 feet ; 
| the various-leaved beech, /. s. heterophylla, grow- 
| ing to the height of 40 feet; the crested-leaved 
| beech, J. s. cristata, growing to the height of 30 
feet ; the dark-red-leaved beech, F’. s. atrorubens, 
| growing to the height of 30 feet; the cut-leaved 
beech, /. s. ¢ncisa, growing to the height of 10 
feet; the silver variegated leaved beech, Js. fo- 
| lits argentets; the gold variegated leaved beech, 
F, s. foliis aureis; and the pendulous or weeping 
beech, /”. s. pendula. 
The American or red beech, Fagus ferruginea, 
grows indigenously in Canada, New Brunswick, 
Nova Scotia, and the north-eastern parts of the 
United States, and was introduced to Great Bri- 
tain in 1766. It is named, not from the colour 
of its leaves, but from that of its timber; and it 
possesses none of the distinguishing characters 
of the purple and the copper beeches. It usually 
attains a height of about 30 feet, ramifies near 
the ground, and has a massive outline and a 
tufted summit. Its leaves are smooth, shining, 
serrated, and somewhat large and thick; and its 
timber has sufficient strength, solidity, and tough- 
ness to be occasionally used as a substitute for 
oak. Michaux says that “the European beech 
bears so strict an analogy to the red beech, that 
it may be useful to notice its properties, its uses, 
and the means by which its duration is secured 
in Important structures. Experience has demon- 
strated the advantages of felling the (red) beech 
in the summer, while the sap is in full circula- 
tion: cut at this season, it is very durable; but 
felled in the winter, it decays in a few years. 
The logs are left several months in the shade be- 
fore they are hewn, care being taken that they 
after which: they are fashioned according to the 
use for which they are destined, and laid in water 
for three or four months.” The very singular 
circuinstance that the red beech does best to be 
felled in summer, seems to indicate that the 
juices of the tree possess some peculiar, though 
hitherto unknown chemical principle—An orna- 
mental variety of the red beech is the Carolinian 
beech, Fagus ferruginea caroliniana. 
The white beech, Fagus sylvestris, like the pre- 
ceding species, is a native of North America, and 
BEER. 405 
takes its name from the colour of its timber. It 
abounds in the middle and western states of 
America; and occurs, in its finest condition, on 
the banks of the Ohio, between Gallipolis and 
Marietta. Specimens of it were measured by 
Michaux, 11 feet in girth, and upwards of 100 
feet in height. Its roots form a boid, decurrent 
net-work on the surface of the forest ground ; its 
head is more slender and less ramified than that 
of the red beech; its outline is very imposing ; 
and its foliage consists of oval-acuminate, smooth, 
and shining leaves, and is quite superb. Its 
duramen or perfect wood bears a remarkably 
small proportion to its alburnum, and frequently 
occupies but three inches in a trunk of 18 inches 
in diameter. The bark of old trees is smooth, 
thick, entire, and of a grey colour; and is some- 
times used by tanners as a substitute for oak- 
bark. 
The fern-leaved beech, Fagus Oomptoniefolia, 
is a curious though puny plant, and may be con- 
sidered as rather a variety than a species.—The 
birch-like beech, Magus betuloides,—sometimes 
mistakenly called Magus antarctica,—is a hardy, 
ornamental evergreen tree of the country around 
the Straits of Magellan, grows to the height of 
50 feet, and was introduced to Great Britain in 
1830. Station Island, on the east coast of Terra 
del Fuego, is covered with woods to the very 
summit of its hills; and the birch-like beech is a 
principal element in these woods, and makes the 
island appear as if covered with perpetual ver- 
dure.—The antarctic beech, Magus antarcivca, 
grows to the same height as the preceding, is a 
‘native of the same country, and was introduced 
to Great Britain in the same year; but while the | 
other is evergreen, this is deciduous.—Gilpin’s 
forest Scenery.—Strutt’s Sylva Britannica—WNic- 
ol’s Planter’s Kalendar.— Museum Rusticum.—Lou- 
dows Hortus Britannicus.—Marshall on Planting. 
—Miller’s Dictionary. —Lnebig’s Chemistry of Agr. 
— Useful and Ornamental Planting.— Bath Papers. 
—Gardener’s Magazine.—Doyle’s Husbandry. 
BEER. The fermented infusion of malted bar- 
ley, flavoured with hops, and used as a general 
beverage. The name of beer is also applied—but 
improperly—to several other beverages made from 
‘saccharine liquors, subjected to-a partial fermen- 
‘tation, and flavoured with different substances, 
‘for instance, spruce-beer, ginger-beer, molasses- 
beer. 
do not repose immediately upon the ground ; | 
The main ingredients of beer are, besides 
-water: alcohol, the bitter principle (lupuline or 
lupulite), and aromatic volatile oil of hops, gum, 
sugar, empyreumatic principle from the malt, 
when kiln-dried, small quantities of nitrogenized 
substances (gluten), brown extractive, a small 
portion of tannin: (hops), and carbonic acid. The 
sugar, gum, and other solid ingredients, which 
remain on evaporation, are generally comprised 
under the name of malt-extract ; on its quantity 
depends the body of the beer, while by its strength 
is generally meant its content of alcohol. Its in- 
