The Beech is a common tree in all our woods, where it is distinguished
by the length and size of its smooth clean shaft, which is often
perceptibly ribbed or fluted. In dense assemblages these columns, rising
to the height of sixty or seventy feet, are very striking, and the more
so when the land is covered entirely with Beech timber. The suckering
habit of this tree and its vigorous constitution are the important cause
of its predominance in any tract that is occupied by it, and the close
matting of leaves that covers the ground under a beechen wood prevents
any abundance of undergrowth. The same inconvenient habit is the cause
of its rareness in dressed grounds. George Barnard says of the English
Beech: “In no tree are the decaying hues of autumn more beautiful than
in the Golden Beech, its foliage changing from green to the brightest
orange, then to glowing red, and eventually to a russet brown, in which
state the leaves remain on the tree through the winter.” The leaf of the
American Beech, on the contrary, is remarkably dull in its autumnal
tints. It turns to a rusty yellow in the autumn, gradually fades to a
leather-color, and drops from the tree near midwinter.
The style and spray of the Beech, as observed in its denuded state, are
worthy of particular study. The lower branches of the tree are generally
very long and rather slender. They take an almost horizontal direction
when they start from the tree, but soon make a curvature by turning
regularly upwards, and causing a peculiar primness in their general
appearance. Every small twig also turns upwards, pointed with elongated
leaf-buds, resembling so many little spears. The terminal branches,
forming the spray, are very numerous and slender, and remarkably
beautiful. The Beech, when in full leaf, is seen to the best advantage
where it skirts the edge of a wood, if it has grown up there since the
original clearing. In that situation we perceive the elegant sweep of
its branches, and the upright character of its leaves, each leaf
pointing obliquely upwards in the direction of the spray, instead of
hanging loosely in all ways, like the foliage of the large-leaved
poplars. Deciduous trees have generally a drooping foliage, and the want
of this habit in the Beech gives it a very lively appearance. The
heaviness attributed by Gilpin to the English tree is not observed in
the American Beech; on the contrary, it is remarkable for a certain
airiness, seldom putting forth its branches in masses, but in such a
manner that every spray may be traced by the long upright rows of
leaves.
I should hesitate in saying that on cultivated ground, and as a
standard, the Beech would display those qualities which are most
admired. It is chiefly interesting by the woodside, or skirting the
banks of a stream. The stiffness of its foliage renders it ungraceful as
a solitary standard. It may be remarked, in its favor, that it differs
so widely in its ramification from other deciduous trees as to add a
pleasing variety to any miscellaneous assemblage of species. I can
easily believe that it is not a favorite resort for birds; for its
branches are too long and slender for their convenience, and its foliage
too thin to give them a feeling of seclusion. If I were to plant a grove
of beeches, I would select the crumbling banks of watercourses, where
the trees would bind the fragile soil with their roots and cover the
banks and the hillside with a beautiful wood and an agreeable shade.
The tendency of the Beech to produce mosses and lichens upon its trunk
and branches has been observed by the earliest writers. It is also a
matter of common observation among woodmen. No such growth, however, is
seen upon beeches that stand alone or in an open grove. These parasites
are generated by the dampness of a thick forest; and they attach
themselves equally to the bark of other trees in the same damp
situations, but cannot adhere to it if it be rough or scaly. The smooth
bark of the Beech, and of the red maple while it is young, permits such
plants to foster themselves upon it, and adhere to it without
disturbance.