1966

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART HI.

supposed the shade of the beech to be as wholesome, as that of the walnutwas the reverse.

The purple .beech, and the other varieties, are trees of singularity, whichproduce a striking effect when judiciously introduced among other scenescomposed of foreign trees, and mark in an especial manner, wherever they areseen, the hand of art and refinement.

For the picturesque Properties of the Beech, we shall resort to our usual au-thority,Gilpin. “After timber trees,”this author observes, “the beech deservesour notice. Some, indeed, rank the beech among timber trees; but, 1 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 notinclined 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. Itstrunk, we allow, is often highly picturesque. It is studded with bold knobsand projections, and has sometimes a sort of irregular fluting about it, whichis very characteristic. It has another peculiarity, also, which is sometimespleasing,—.that of a number of stems arising from the root. The bark, too,wears often a pleasing hue. It is naturally of a dingy olive; but it is alwaysoverspread, in patches, with a variety of mosses and lichens, which are com-monly of a lighter tint in the upper parts, and of a deep velvet green towardsthe root. Its smoothness, also, contrasts agreeably with those rougher appen-dages. No bark tempts the lover so much to make it the depository of hismistress’s name. It conveys a happy emblem : — ‘ Crescent ill®; crescetisamores.’ In a chequered grove, we sometimes see very beautiful effects pro-duced 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 awk-wardly among each other, and running often into long unvaried lines, withoutany of that strength and firmness which W'e admire in the oak, or of that easysimplicity which pleases us in the ash: in short, we rarely see a beech wellramified. In full leaf, it is equally unpleasing: it has the appearance of anovergrown bush. Virgil, 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 ‘ patulas sub tegmine fagi.’ This bushiness gives a greatheaviness to the tree, which is always a deformity. What lightness it hasdisgusts. You will sometimes see a light branch issuing from a heavy mass;and, though such pendent branches are often beautiful in themselves, they areseldom in harmony with the tree. They distinguish, however, its character,which will be seen best by comparing it with the elm. The elm forms arounder, the beech a more pointed, foliage; but the former is always in har-mony with itself. Sometimes, however, we see in beeches of happy com-position the foliage falling in large flocks, or layers, elegantly determined;between which the shadows have a very forcible effect, especially when thetree is strongly illumined. On the whole, however, the massy, full-grown,luxuriant beech is rather a displeasing tree. It is made up of littlenesses,seldom exhibiting those tufted cups, or hollow dark recesses, which disport inthe several grand branches of the beautiful kind of trees. Contrary to thegeneral nature of trees, the beech is most pleasing in its juvenile state, as ithas not yet acquired that heaviness which is its most faulty distinction. Alight, airy, young beech, with its spiry branches hanging, as I have just de-scribed them, in easy forms, is often beautiful. I have seen, also, the forestbeech, in a dry hungry soil, preserve the lightness of youth in the maturity ofage. After all, however, we mean not to repudiate even the heavy luxuriantbeech in picturesque composition. It has sometimes its beauty, and oftenerits use. In distance, it preserves the depth of the forest; and even on thespot, in contrast, it is frequently a choice accompaniment. We call a forestdeep when we cannot see through it; so that, at a distance, a thin wood otbeeches 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