Mr Strutt observes that

"While, however, curved lines are sufficient to express the general peculiarity of the outline of the oak, as well as the darker masses of its foliage, when we come to examine the tree more closely and in detail, we find that a greater variety of line must be adopted to display its single proportions, so indicative of energy and boldness. The trunk and limbs are characterised by their amazing strength, and by their comparative shortness and crookedness, and the branches by their numerous contortions and abrupt angles, and by the great variety which they exhibit of straight and crooked lines, and by their frequent tendency to a horizontal direction. These striking peculiarities are exhibited below."

The important subject of oak plantations leads Mr Loudon to discuss the question whether, in forming them, oak plants or acorns ought to be used :

"This," he observes, "is a question respecting the answer to which planters are not fully agreed; though, upon the whole, we believe plants are preferred. A doubt, it is probable, would never have been raised on the subject, had it not been found that under ordinary circumstances the oak suffers more by transplanting than the elm, the ash, the beech, and other similar trees; which is partly owing to its natural delicacy, and partly to its depending, when young, chiefly on its taproot, and from its not producing, for some years, many lateral roots, unless forced to do so by art. When, however, the oak has been two or three times transplanted in the nursery before its final removal, it will produce a sufficient number of lateral roots to insure its growth, if carefully removed; and for this reason we should, in almost every case, prefer using strong transplanted plants to acorns. We have already remarked that oaks, after they have attained a certain size, are more successfully transplanted than seedlings of one or two years; a fact which will be found to hold good with all

trees whatever which have taproots of extraordinary dimensions when young. One reason which some give for preferring acorns is the alleged injury which oak plants sustain by the loss of the taproot, which, it is said, they never regain. This opinion, however, is well known to be erroneous; it being as natural, in the case of seedling oaks, for that part of the plant which is under ground to reproduce a leading or taproot when that has been cut off, as it is for the part above ground to reproduce a leading shoot after that has been removed. It is also equally well known that the taproot is only found in oak and other trees when in a young state; and that no oak or other tree, when cut down, was ever found to have anything like a perpendicularly descending mainroot in any way comparable to the perpendicularly ascending trunk of the tree above ground. The consequence of sowing an acorn where it is to remain, and not cutting through the taproot, is, that it remains a longer period before putting out any lateral roots; but whether these lateral roots are put out sooner or later, can have very little influence on the growth of the tree under ordinary circumstances, and certainly none on the value of the timber it produces. It is easy to conceive that, if the surface soil on which an acorn is planted is much richer than the subsoil, something in rapidity of growth will be gained by cutting off the taproot, so as to force the plant to send out lateral roots sooner than it otherwise would do; but though something is gained by this, something also will be lost, because the supply of water, so essential to all plants which have naturally taproots in a very young state, will be considerably diminished. In warm climates, therefore, and in all cases where a saving of first cost is an object, we should prefer acorns to plants; but in tolerably moist climates, and in deep alluvial or marly soils, or where the surface soil is rich, and where the object is to produce oak trees as soon as possible, we should recommend strong plants."

66 THE BEECH.

"As an ornamental tree for the park and the lawn, especially near the mansion, the beech has many important advantages. Though its head is more compact and lumpish than that of the oak, the elm, or the ash, yet its lower branches hang down to the ground in more pliant and graceful forms than those of any of these trees. The points of these branches turn up with a curve, which, though not picturesque, has a character of its own which will be found generally pleasing. The leaves are beautiful in every period of their existence; nothing can be finer than their transparent delicacy when expanding, and for some weeks afterwards. In summer their smooth texture, and their deep yet lively green, are highly gratifying to the eye; and the warmth of their umber tint, when they hang on the trees during the winter season, as contrasted with the deep and solemn green of pines and firs, has a rich, striking, and most agreeable effect in landscape. Hence, a few beech trees are very desirable on the margin of pine and fir woods, or among evergreens generally; more especially when the soil is somewhat good and moist; under which circumstances alone will full grown beech trees retain their leaves during the winter. So desirable is the effect produced by the beech

with its leaves on in the winter season, that when the trees, from age, or any other cause, drop their leaves in autumn, we would recommend the substituting of young trees, which seldom fail to retain their leaves during winter, till they approach towards a timber size. It is certain, however, that some individual beeches are much more apt to retain their leaves through the winter than others; for which reason a sufficient number of young trees ought to be planted, to allow of the rooting out of those which do not answer the end in view. Beech trees under thirty or forty years' growth, when cut to the ground, push up again; and the leaves on the shoots so produced seldom fail to remain on during the winter. Low growths of this sort will, in many cases, produce the desired effect as well as trees; a circumstance which may afford a useful hint to the possessors of grounds of limited extent.

eaten, either by insects The first circumstance

"The leaves of the beech are less liable to be or by cattle, than those of almost any other tree. renders the beech very desirable for situations near the eye, and for avenues and hedges; and the second renders it one of the best park trees, sinse its branches, though they are injured by cattle, are far less so than those of the oak and elm. Two other circumstances which render this an excellent park tree are, the food which its mast affords to deer and squirrels, to peacocks and other ornamental poultry, and to pigeons, thrushes, blackbirds, and other birds. The density of its head makes it an excellent nightly shelter for singing birds. The smoothness and light colour of the bark, and the circumstance of the trunk being clothed with branches to within a short distance of the ground, render it a desirable tree to place a seat under; the eye feeling the light colour of the smooth bark to be more enlivening than the dark, rough-furrowed bark of the oak or English elm, the dark, smooth, gloomy bark of the Scotch elm, the lichen-covered hoary bark of the ash, or the reddish-brown, cracked, and scaly bark of the Scotch pine. The only tree which can be compared to the beech, as one to sit under, is the platanus; but the shade of this last tree is much less dense. The ancients supposed the shade of the beech to be as wholesome as that of the walnut was the reverse.

"The purple beech and the other varieties are trees of singularity, which produce a striking effect when judiciously introduced among other scenes composed of foreign trees, and mark, in an especial manner, wherever they are seen, the hand of art and refinement.

"For the picturesque properties of the Beech we shall resort to our usual authority, Gilpin. After timber trees,' this author observes, 'the beech deserves our notice. Some, indeed, rank the beech among timber trees; but, I believe, in general it does not find that respect, as its wood is of a soft, spongy nature, sappy and alluring to the worm. In point of picturesque beauty, I am not inclined to rank the beech much higher than in point of utility. Its skeleton, compared with that of the trees we have just examined, is very deficient. Its trunk, we allow, is often highly picturesque. It is studded with bold knots and projections, and has sometimes a sort of irregular fluting about it which is very characteristic. It has another peculiarity also, which is sometimes pleasing-that of a number of stems arising from the root. The bark, too, wears often a pleas

ing hue. It is naturally of a dingy olive, but it is always overspread, in
patches, with a variety of mosses and lichen, which are commonly of a
lighter tint in the upper parts, and of deep velvet green towards the
root. Its smoothness, also, contrasts agreeably with those rougher ap-
pendages. No bark tempts the lover so much to make it the depository
of his mistress's name. It conveys a happy emblem,-" Crescent illæ;
crescetis amores." In a chequered grove we sometimes see very beautiful
effects produced by the brilliant sparkling lights which are caught by
the stems of beeches; but, having praised the trunk, we can praise no
other part of the skeleton. The branches are fantastically wreathed and
disproportioned, twining awkwardly among each other, and running often
into long unvaried lines, without any of that strength and firmness which
we admire in the oak, or of that easy simplicity which pleases us in the
ash: in short, we rarely see a beech well ramified. In full leaf it is
equally unpleasing-it has the appearance of an overgrown bush. Vir-
gil, indeed, was right in choosing the beech for its shade, no tree forms
so complete a roof. If you wish either for shade or shelter, you will find
it best-patulæ sub tegmine fagi.' This bushiness gives a great heavi-
ness to the tree which is always a deformity. What lightness it has dis-
gusts. You will sometimes see a light branch issuing from a heavy mass;
and though such pendant branches are often beautiful in themselves, they
are seldom in harmony with the tree. They distinguish, however, its
character, which will be seen best by comparing it with the elm. The
elm forms a rounder, the beech a more pointed, foliage; but the former
is always in harmony with itself. Sometimes, however, we see in beeches
of happy composition the foliage falling in large flocks, or layers, elegantly
determined; between which the shadows have a very forcible effect,
especially when the tree is strongly illumined. On the whole, however,
the massy, full-grown, luxuriant beech is rather a displeasing tree.
is made up of littlenesses, seldom exhibiting those tufted cups, or hollow
dark recesses, which disport in the several grand branches of the beautiful
kind of trees. Contrary to the general nature of trees, the beech is most
pleasing in its juvenile state, as it has not yet acquired that heaviness.
which is its most faulty distinction. A light, airy, young beech, with its
spiry branches hanging, as I have just described them, in easy forms, is
often beautiful. I have seen, also, the forest beech, in a dry, hungry
soil, preserve the lightness of youth in the maturity of age. After all,
however, we mean not to repudiate even the heavy luxuriant beech in
picturesque composition. It has sometimes its beauty, and oftener its

use.

In distance, it preserves the depth of the forest; and even on the spot, in contrast, it is frequently a choice accompaniment. We call a forest deep when we cannot see through it; so that at a distance, a thin wood of beeches will have the effect of a large one. In the corner of a landscape, when we want a thick heavy tree, or a part of one at least, which is often necessary, nothing answers our purpose like the beech. But at present we are not considering the beech in composition, but only as an individual; and in this light it is in which we chiefly conceive it as an object of disapprobation.

"We should not conclude our remarks on the beech without mentioning its autumnal hues. In this respect it is often beautiful. Sometimes

VOL. XXXV. No. II.

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it is dressed in modest brown, but generally in glowing orange; and in both dresses its harmony with the grove is pleasing. About the end of September, when the leaf begins to change, it makes a happy contrast with the oak, whose foliage is yet verdant. Some of the finest oppositions of tint which perhaps the forest can furnish arise from the union of oak and beech. We often see a wonderful effect from this combination; and yet, accommodating as its leaf is in landscape, on handling it feels as if it were fabricated with metallic vigour.'"-Gilp. For. Scen. vol. i, p. 50.

The branches of the beech, from their number, proximity, and liability to cross each other, may occasionally be found inosculated; and a remarkable example of this occurs in a wood called West Hay, between Cliff and Stamford, belonging to the Marquis of Exeter, for drawings of which Mr Loudon is indebted to the lady of the Rev. M. J. Berkeley.

Fig. 1881 is to the usual scale for full grown trees adopted in the work of 1 in. to 12 ft., and fig. 1884, which shows a portion of the trunk of the same tree, is to a scale of 2 ft. 6 in. to 1 in.