Fagus, Linn. The Beech. The Latin name of the genus (Fagus) supposed to be an equivalent of the Greek phegos, an oak, or it may be derived from phago, to eat; the nuts of this tree having been used as food by man in all ages and countries where it is a native. The modern English name, beech, was probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon bece or boc; in Dutch it is beuk; French, hetre; Icelandic, beyk; Danish, bog; Swedish, bok; German, buche or buoche; Russian, buk; Italian, faggio; Armenian, fao; and in Welsh ffawydd.

The beech belongs to the order CupuliferÆ, or oak family. The genus contains about fifteen species of handsome deciduous and evergreen trees, or shrubs, very widely distributed throughout the temperate and colder regions of both the northern and southern hemispheres. Male flowers are bell-shaped, in long-stalked drooping heads; calyx five to seven cleft, containing numerous stamens. Female flowers two to four in a cluster on the summit of the scaly-bracted peduncle; the inside scales uniting, forming a four-lobed involucre of imbricated bracts, the whole becoming at maturity a somewhat prickly, scaly bur, within which are found a pair of sharp-edged triangular nuts, containing a tender and sweet-flavored kernel.

History of the Beech.—The common beeches of both Europe and North America are so closely related that the two species may be considered as one for all practical purposes, such as propagation, cultivation, and value of the wood and nuts. It is true, however, that our native beech is not environed with ancient myths and stories of love and war, neither is it celebrated in poetry and song, yet it has, doubtless, played just as noble a part in human affairs among the pre-historic races of America as those recorded of its European contemporary. As the beech in Europe is found in the forests of Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, and southward to Constantinople, Palestine, Asia Minor and Armenia, it was well known and highly appreciated by all the early inhabitants of these countries, and is frequently referred to by the earlier writers of Greece and Rome who touch upon the rural affairs of their times. It is supposed that Theophrastus refers to the beech under the name of Oxua, and Dioscorides as Phegos, and the latter author places it among the oaks, in which he was not far out of the way, because the beech is a member of the oak family in our modern classification. Virgil and Pliny speak highly of the little triangular nuts, and the people of their times set considerable value upon beech-nuts as an article of food. Pliny also assures us that at the siege of Chios, the besieged inhabitants lived for some time entirely on these nuts. We are inclined to think, however, that both Virgil and Pliny are in error when they tell us that the beech was propagated by being grafted on the chestnut. They were probably led astray in this by some romancing gardener of their time, for we even have some of the same ilk with us at this day. Pliny refers to the beech several times in his writings, and places a much higher value upon this nut than he does upon the chestnut; in fact, speaks rather contemptuously of the latter, and seems to be surprised that nature should have taken such care of the nuts, which he calls "vilissima," as to enclose them with a prickly involucre or bur.

But my limited space will not allow of tracing the history of the beech from ancient to modern times, although it has always been esteemed as food for man, as well as for wild and domesticated animals. Swine fattened on beech and oak mast have for ages been noted for their excellent flesh, and the value of many an old estate in Great Britain was determined more upon the mast the forest produced, than the area or number of square miles they contained.

As a monumental tree the beech has no rival, for its smooth gray bark, perennial and almost unchangeable, has ever been a convenient place to register challenges to enemies, epitaphs, epithets, and probably more frequently than all, the initials of the name of some loved one, who might possibly pass that way and find her name engraved on the beechen tree. I doubt much if there is a beech grove in all Europe or in America, within a convenient distance of a city, country village or schoolhouse, on which the bark of the trees is not scarified by the knives of boys in recording the initials of their own names, and those of their favorites of the opposite sex. These living registers were long ago recognized by the poets, and more than eighteen centuries ago Virgil admits it in these lines:

"Or shall I rather the sad verse repeat,
Which on the beech's bark I lately writ."

In more modern times Tasso hints of the same habit, in Jerusalem Delivered, to wit:

"On the smooth beechen rind, the pensive dame
Carves in a thousand forms her Tancred's name."

That the Spanish youths were not oblivious to their opportunities for recording the names of their favorites we must assume to be true, from the lines of Don Luis de Gongora, who tells us that:

"Not a beech but bears some cipher,
Tender word, or amorous text.
If one vale sounds Angelina,
Angelina sounds the next."

Propagation of the Beech.—The beech, in all its species and varieties, may be propagated by the usual modes, viz.: By seed, layers, budding and grafting. The seeds, when gathered, should be mixed with clean, sharp, moist sand, placed in boxes, and then stored in a cool or cold place and carefully protected from mice, until the time arrives for sowing in spring. They may also be sown in the fall and lightly covered with leaf mold or other light soil, but unless coated with tar or some offensive poisonous substance, vermin of some form will be very likely to find them and leave few to grow. Seedlings are used for stocks upon which to work the many varieties in cultivation; but as I am not writing this for the encouragement of propagators of purely ornamental trees, I will omit giving any very extended description of the different modes of propagating the beech, further than to say that should remarkably fine varieties with extra-sized nuts be discovered or produced, they can be perpetuated and multiplied by the same processes adopted for other kinds of nut trees.

Soil and Location.—The beeches of Northern countries, in their many varieties, thrive best in a cool, moist soil, for their roots rarely penetrate very deeply, but spread out widely and near the surface, forming an intricate network, which will try the patience of the woodman who attempts to clear away a forest of beech and break up the ground. In this country, as well as in Europe, the beech thrives in calcareous soils, or what is usually termed limestone regions; consequently, when transplanted or raised in sandy soils, or on the red sandstone formation, light applications of lime are usually found very beneficial; but more than all, the beech requires moisture, and if not planted in a moist soil the surface over the roots should be kept constantly covered with some kind of mulch.

Species and Varieties of the Beech.—In the Dictionary of Gardening, edited by George Nicholson, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, the following species of Fagus are briefly described, viz:

F. antarctica.—Leaves ovate, blunt, glabrous, attenuated at the base, doubly dentate, alternate, petiolate, one and a half inches long. A small deciduous tree or shrub, with rugged, tortuous branches. Native of Tierra del Fuego, S. A.

F. betuloides (birch-like). Evergreen beech.—Leaves ovate, elliptic, obtuse crenulate, leathery, shining glabrous, round at the base or short footstalks. An evergreen tree, native of Tierra del Fuego, S. A.

F. ferruginea (rusty). American beech.—Leaves ovate, acuminate, thickly toothed, downy beneath, ciliate on the margin. A large deciduous tree, very closely resembling the common European species, from which it is distinguished by its longer, thinner and less shining leaves.

F. obliqua (oblique). Chile beech.—Leaves ovate, oblong, oblique, somewhat rhomboid, blunt, doubly serrated, entire at the base, attenuated into the petiole, and somewhat downy. A hardy deciduous tree, native of the cooler elevated regions of Chile, S. A.

F. sylvatica (sylvan). European beech.—Leaves oblong, ovate, obscurely toothed; margin ciliate. A well-known large deciduous tree, widely distributed in Europe from Norway southward to Asia Minor. From this species a large number of ornamental varieties have been produced, many of them merely accidental variations of the wild forms of the forests, while others have originated in the seedbeds of nurserymen. But so far as I am aware, no variety has ever been introduced bearing superior or improved forms of nuts.

Our American beech (F. ferruginea) is a widely distributed tree, extending from Nova Scotia in the north, south to Florida, and westward to Wisconsin and Missouri. Formerly it was exceedingly abundant, but like many other of our most valuable forest trees, it is disappearing before the axe of the woodman, who has always found a ready sale for beech timber. It is used in the manufacture of plane stocks, shoe lasts, handles for paring chisels, and hundreds of similar articles. Beech wood is hard, firm, and takes a good polish, but is not very flexible. It makes excellent fuel, and ranks next in value to hard maple and hickory for this purpose. In the more northern States and where the beech grows to its largest size, the heartwood is usually of a reddish color; but here in New Jersey and farther south, the wood is usually white almost to the center of the tree, no matter how large it may be. The color of the wood, however, does not in any way detract from its value, for fuel and many other purposes, although some European dendrologists have been deceived into supposing that the white beech was almost or quite worthless. Loudon, in Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, Vol. III, in referring to our beech, says: "The wood of the white beech is little valued in America, even for fuel; and the bark is used for tanning, but is little esteemed," etc. But if any one, in these later years, has had occasion to purchase beech timber for any purpose, he has probably learned, from the price charged, that it is esteemed, even for such base purposes as firewood.

I am not, however, attempting to extol the American beech as a timber tree, but ask that it be given a place among the select ornamental nut-bearing kinds. And I think every farmer who has a pasture lot could afford a place for at least one beech tree, and if there is a low, moist spot in the field, or a stony corner, this will be a suitable place for such a tree; and the horses, cattle or sheep out in pasture during hot days in summer will be very grateful for the shade which a wide-spreading specimen will give them. It may be that the owner of said pasture may recall the lines of Garcilaso:

"But in calm idlesse laid,
Supine in the cool shade
Of oak or ilex, beech or pendant pine,
Sees his flocks feeding stray,
Whitening a length of way,
Or numbers up his homeward-tending kine."

He may be sure of one thing, and that is, the beech-nuts produced by one or many trees will always be acceptable to the children, and of these hungry mortals there is likely to be a few, at least, roaming about in ages to come, as in times past.

The beech is not really a desirable tree to plant on a lawn or near one's dwelling, because of its persistent foliage, which clings to the twigs very late in winter, and the rustling of the wind through the dry leaves is not soothing to one's nerves, although not quite as dismal as the moaning pines. In summer, and until late in autumn, the American beech is a noble and graceful tree,—and if I may be allowed the expression, one of the cleanest of trees; its large, thin, bright-green and glossy leaves retain none of the dust and cast-off material of other trees which may be floating through the air, but are ever bright and pure. The tree has naturally wide-spreading and somewhat drooping branches, and should be given plenty of room for development when planted for the nuts or as an ornamental tree. Its leaves and the small slender branchlets (Fig. 9) are eaten with avidity by all kinds of farm animals; consequently, protection may be required until the trees have reached a hight to be safe from such depredators.

Beech seedlings do not usually come into bearing in less than twenty to thirty years, but as no one in this country has ever attempted to cultivate this tree for its nuts, or search our forests for precocious and superior varieties, we have to admit that the field remains unexplored, and as barren of results as it was when our ancestors first discovered America. Every hunter, woodman, farmer and botanist who has roamed through forests where the beech trees grow, is well aware of the fact that distinct varieties are not at all rare, some having nuts twice the size of others in the same woods or groves, and it is possible and probable that some nut culturist in the near future will find time to select these choice wild varieties for cultivation and propagation. It would not, in my opinion, be beneath the dignity of our national department of agriculture, or some of its numerous costly annexes, to occasionally take into consideration the natural products of this great country, and determine, by a series of experiments, whether or no they were not worthy of attention.

Insects Injurious to the Beech.—No disease has, as yet, been known to seriously affect the beech, and as for insect enemies, it probably has a less number than any other denizen of our forests. It is true that transplanted trees, and those left exposed by cutting away protecting neighbors, are sometimes attacked by borers in the stem, branches and twigs, but these enemies naturally follow in the train of debility, it being one of the immutable economic laws of nature to hasten the demise and decomposition of the half-starved or otherwise enfeebled members of both the animal and vegetable kingdom.

Isolated beech trees growing by the roadsides in parks and fields are occasionally attacked by a large grayish, long-horn beetle, the Goes pulverulenta. It is about one inch long, and a rather sturdy beetle of a light grayish color, and usually infests the branches, but may occasionally attack the main stem. It is not abundant, and has seldom been found infesting the beech. There are also two or three borers of the Buprestis family of beetles which occasionally attack beech trees. They are distinguished by the broad heads and flattened bodies of the grubs, and they work just beneath the bark in the sapwood, causing dead patches, mainly on the south side of the stem and larger branches. If the dead bark is removed and the wounds painted they will soon heal over, unless the tree is suffering for moisture and nutrients at the roots. A few twig borers, with an occasional colony of caterpillars on the leaves, embody about all the insect enemies of the beech calling for any special attention, but there are a host of different species and kinds ever ready to pounce upon a sickly or dead tree, whether found in the field or forest.

Properties and Uses.—The beechnut has been so long and favorably known that very little need be said here in regard to its properties and uses. In the forests it affords food for many kinds of birds, such as the wild turkey, partridge or grouse, and especially the pigeon, and immense flocks of these collect in the beech forests in autumn to feed upon the nuts. Deer are very fond of these nuts, and so are all of the squirrel family, and the little ground squirrel or chipmunk, Tamias striatus, of our Northern States, gives us a good practical lesson in the way of preserving the nuts over winter. These little rodents pack away the nuts in small pockets in their burrows and from two to three feet below the surface, where they are protected from excessive moisture and any considerable change of temperature. The chipmunk always stores the nuts in the ground, and not in hollow logs, as is sometimes asserted. The deer-mouse (Hesperomys leucopus), however, does select such places for putting away his winter's supply, but more frequently he chooses a hollow in the stem of some old tree, and several feet from the ground. Unlike the chipmunk, this mouse cleans the shells from the kernels, storing only the latter, and I have often found a quart or more when cutting down trees in winter. These kernels are usually so clean, bright, and free from odor, that it is to be feared the finder always confiscates them for his own use.

As the beechnut contains considerable oil, many schemes have been set on foot, in European countries, for its extraction and use as a salad oil. Early in the last century (1721) Aaron Hill, an English poet, proposed to pay off the national debt from the profits to be derived from the manufacture of beechnut oil; but his scheme fell through, like many others of its kind. It is also stated that Henry Fielding, so well known by his delightful stories of English society, once speculated rather largely on the manufacture of beechnut oil. In France, however, beechnut oil was formerly made in considerable quantities, and used in cooking fish and as a salad oil. In Silesia it is used by the country people instead of butter, and the cakes which remain from the pressure are given to fatten swine, oxen and poultry. The forests of Eu and of CrÉcy, in the department of the Oise, it is stated by Duhamel du Monceau, have yielded, in a single season, more than 2,000,000 bushels of mast, but probably this referred to all kinds of nuts, and not beech-nuts alone. Years later, or in 1779, Michaux states that the forests of CompiÈgne, near the Verberie department of the Somme, afforded oil enough to supply the wants of the district for more than half a century. In some parts of France beech-nuts are roasted and served as a substitute for coffee. Many of these old forests have disappeared, but other kinds of nut trees are still being planted in France, and the product is simply enormous, and a source of wealth to the peasant, as well as the owners of extensive forests and orchards.

The beechnut has never been an article of commerce in this country, and it is rarely seen on sale in either country villages or our larger cities, not because of its scarcity or want of demand, but all that the country boys and girls find time to gather are wanted for their own pleasure and use. Picking up beech-nuts among the leaves in a forest, or even after raking off the leaves and then whipping the trees, is, at best, slow and rather tedious work, as I know full well from experience, and only once do I remember of having secured a rounded half bushel as the sum total of many raids on the beech trees in the neighborhood. But as the beechnut is the diamond among the larger and less precious gems of our forests, we should set a higher value upon it because small and rather difficult to obtain.