CHAP. CV.

CORYLa'cEjE. ca'rpinus.

2009

Fawkes, also, mentions them in his Bramham Park : —

** Here hornbeam hedges regularly grow,

There hawthorn whitens, and wild roses blow.”

Properties and Uses. The wood of the hornbeam is white, hard, heavy,tenacious, and very close-grained; but it will not take a good polish. Ac-cording to Yarennes de Fenille, it shrinks a great deal in drying, and losesconsiderably in its weight. Some German authors, however, deny that itloses either more bulk or more weight in drying than the oak. According tothe table given in the Dictionnaire des Eamx et Forets, it weighs, when green,64* lb.; half-dry, 57 lb.; and quite dry, 51 lb. It is very seldom used in con-struction ; partly because it is seldom found of proper dimensions, and partlybecause, when the tree attains a large size, the wood is apt to become shaky,like that of the chestnut. On this subject, Varennes de Fenille observes:“ The trunk is rarely well shaped, being scarcely ever round; the arrangementof the fibres is singular, the annual layers never showing a regular circularline, like the layers of other trees, but being undulated and zigzag; and thetransverse fibres, or medullary rays, stronger and wider apart than in mostother trees. It is consequently very difficult to work : it is what theworkmen call cross-grained, and is apt to rise in splinters under the work-man’s tool, peeling off in flakes, and rendering it very difficult to obtain asmooth section.” These objections do not apply to the hornbeam in itsyoung state. Its toughness and hardness (though the latter quality makesit difficult to work) render it excellent for all sorts of wheelwright’s work,and other kinds of rural carpentry ; particularly for the yokes of cattle, towhich use the wood was applied (as we have already seen) by the Romans,and, since their time, in almost every country of which the tree is a native.It is particularly well adapted for mill-cogs, for which, according to Evelyn,“it excels either yew or crab.” It is exceedingly strong; a piece 2 in.square, and 7 ft. 8 in. long, having supported 228 lb.; while a similar beam ofash broke under 200 lb.; one of birch, under 190 lb.; of oak, 185 lb.; of beech,165 lb.; and of all other -woods, very much less. Notwithstanding its powersof resistance, the hornbeam has very little flexibility; it having bent, before itbroke, only 10°; while the ash bent 21°, the birch 19°, the oak 12°, &c.Linnasus observes that the wood is very white and tough, harder than haw-thorn, and capable of supporting great weights.

As Fuel , the wood of the hornbeam should be placed in the highest rank.In France , it is preferred to every other for apartments, as it lights easily, andmakes a bright flame, which burns equally, continues a long time, and givesout abundance of heat; but, though its value in this respect surpasses that ofthe beech in the proportion of 1655 to 1540, yet the shape of the logs ofhornbeam is so irregular, that a cord of it, measured as they measure willows(see p. 1470.), is not worth more, in Paris , in proportion to a cord of beech,than 1486 to 1540. In England, the hornbeam is considered to make lastingfirewood ; and, according to Boutcher, it burns as clear as a candle. ( Treat.,&c., p. 58.), Evelyn, also, says “ it makes good firewood, where it burns likea candle; and was of old so employed: ‘ Carpinus taedas fissa facesque dabit.’ ”And Miller speaks of it as excellent fuel. Its charcoal is highly esteemed,and, in France and Switzerland , it is preferred to most others, not only forforges and for cooking by, but for making gunpowder; the workmen at thegreat gunpowder manufactory at Berne rarely using any other. The innerbark, according to Linnasus, is used for dyeing yellow. The leaves, whendried in the sun, are used in France as fodder; and, when wanted for use inwinter, the young branches are cut off in the middle of summer, between thefirst and second growth, and strewed or spread out in some place which iscompletely sheltered from the rain, to dry, without the tree being in theslightest degree injured by the operation. (Sec Diet, des Eaux et Forets, art.Charme.)

For a Nurse Plant, and for Hedges , the hornbeam is particularly welladapted. The real “ excellency of the hornbeam,” says Marshall, “ lies in its