Part 6

1. Beech Tree in Autumn 2. Leaf Spray 3. Bud 4. Buds in Winter 5. Seed Flower 6. Stamen Flower 7. Fruit 8. Fruit when Ripe]

The wood of an Oak tree lasts very long: there are Oak beams in houses which are known to be seven hundred years old, and which are as good as the day they were cut. For centuries our ships were built of Oak, the wooden walls of old England, hearts of Oak, as they have often been called, because Oak wood does not readily splinter when struck by a cannon ball. And Oak wood will not quickly rot: we know of piles which have been driven into river beds centuries ago and are still sound and strong. In pulling down an old building lately in London, which was built six hundred and fifty years ago, the workmen found many oak piles in the foundations, and these were still quite sound.

PLATE II

THE BEECH

In the south of England there lived a holy hermit named St. Leonard whose hut was surrounded by a glade of noble Beech trees. The saint loved the beautiful trees, but by day he could not sit under their shady branches because of the vipers which swarmed about the roots, and by night the songs of many nightingales disturbed his rest. So he prayed that both the serpents and the birds might be taken away, and from that day no viper has stung and no nightingale has warbled in the Hampshire forests. So we read in the old story books. There are many such legends connected with the Beech tree. It has grown in this country as far back as we have any history, and it is often called the mother of the forest, because its thickly covered branches give shelter and protection to younger trees which are struggling to live.

The Beech is a cousin of the Oak. It is a large, handsome tree, with a noble trunk and widely spreading branches which sweep downward to the ground, and in summer every branch and twig is densely covered with leaves. No other tree gives such shade as the Beech, and in a hot summer day how tempting it is to lie underneath the branches and watch the squirrels glancing in and out among the rustling leaves and tearing the young bark.

In early spring you will recognise the Beech tree (1) by its smooth olive-grey trunk. Only the Beech tree has such a smooth trunk when it is fully grown, and in consequence, every boy with a new knife tries to cut his name on its bark. In summer the young bud (3) of next year’s leaf is formed where each leaf joins the stem. All winter time you can see slender-pointed buds (4) growing at the end of every twig, and when April comes each of these pointed buds has become a loose bunch of silky brown scales. Inside these protecting scales is hidden the young leaf bud, and soon the winter coverings unclose. For a short time they hang like a fringe round the base of the leaf stalk, but they quickly fall off and strew the ground beneath. The young leaves inside are folded like a fan, and they have soft silky hairs along the edges. How lovely they are when open! Each leaf (2) is oval, with a blunted point at the end, and the edges are slightly waved.

At first the leaf colour is a clear pale green, through which the light seems to shine; and there is nothing more lovely than a Beech tree wood in early May when the young leaves are glistening against the clear blue sky. But as summer comes nearer the leaf colour darkens, and by July it is a deep, glossy green. You can then see very distinctly the veins which run from the centre to the edge of every leaf. These leaves grow so thickly that no stems or branches can be seen when the tree is in full foliage; and they are beautiful at all seasons. When autumn comes, bringing cold winds and a touch of frost, then the Beech tree leaves change colour: they seem to give us back again all the sunshine they have been storing up during summer, for they blaze like the sunset sky in myriad shades of gold, and red, and orange. In windy open places, these beautiful leaves soon strew the ground with a thick carpet that whirls and rustles in every breeze. But in sheltered glades, and especially in hedges, the leaves will hang all winter till they are pushed off by the new spring buds, and they glow russet red in the December sunshine, like the breast of the robin that is singing on the twig.

At every stage the Beech tree is a thing of beauty, and it is one of England’s most precious possessions.

The young flowers appear about the same time as the leaves, and, like many other trees, the Beech has two kinds of flowers. The stamen flower (6) has a long, drooping stalk, from the end of which hangs a loose covering of fine brown scales, with pointed ends. Beyond this scaly covering hangs a tassel of purplish brown stamens, eight or twelve, or more, each with a yellow head.

On the same twig, not very far distant, you find the seed flower (5). This grows upright on a short stout stalk which bears at the end a bristly oval ball (7). At the top of this bristly ball you see six slender threads waving in the air. These rise from two seeds which are enclosed in the bristly covering. By and by the ball opens at the top and forms a cup with four prickly brown sides, each lined with silky green down. Inside the cup are two triangular green nuts which are the fruit (8). These nuts become dark brown when they ripen, and on windy days they are blown in thousands from their coverings and fall to the ground, where they lie hidden among the rustling brown leaves.

THE BIRCH

1. Birch Tree in Autumn 2. Leaf Spray 3. Seed Catkin 4. Stamen Catkin 5. Winged Seed enlarged 5A. Winged Seed natural size]

In old times people called these Beech nuts Beech-mast or food, and herds of pigs were taken to the Beech woods to feed on the nuts, which are said to contain oil. But pigs prefer to eat acorns, and nowadays the Beech nuts are left to fatten the squirrels and dormice, and the thrushes and deer, except those which children gather to string into necklaces.

No grass or plant will grow below the Beech tree branches: the leaves are too close together to let the sunshine reach the ground; also the roots are greedy, and are said to use up all the nourishment.

About a hundred years ago a Beech tree was found in Germany whose young leaves were dark purple red, and never became green. Young plants from this strange tree were much sought after, and now in many parts of the country you see red or copper beeches, as we usually call them.

Beech wood is used in various ways. In France the peasants make it into shoes--wooden shoes called sabots, which keep out the damp better than those made of any other wood. It is also used in ship-building and for making cheap furniture; but Beech wood is not nearly so valuable as that of the Oak, or Ash, or Elm.

PLATE III

THE BIRCH

“Sweet bird of the meadow, soft be thy nest, Thy mother will wake thee at morn from thy rest: She has made a soft nest, little redbreast, for thee, Of the leaves of the birch, and the moss of the tree.”

--Leyden.

The Birch tree is the daintiest and most fairy-like of all our forest trees, and, strange to say, it is one of the hardiest. Who would believe that the delicate tracery of purple twigs and branches, which looks like fairy fretwork against the grey wintry sky, could thrive in places where the sturdy Oak tree dies?

In the far, far north, in Lapland, where the ground is snow-covered all the year, the Birch tree flourishes, and many are the uses to which it is put in that dreary land.

Look at the Birch tree (1) early in the year before the sun has awakened the trees, and flowers, and seeds from their long winter sleep. It is easy to recognise, because no other tree has such delicate twigs and branches, and the colour of the trunk is peculiarly its own. Most tree trunks are grey, or grey-green, or brown, but the trunk of the Birch is covered with a silvery white bark that glistens like satin. In many places this bark is marked with dark bands which crack across the tree trunk on the silvery surface.

This silver bark is a wonderful thing. It peels off readily in large flakes which resemble tissue paper, and which look very easy to destroy, but are wonderfully tough and lasting. It burns readily, but in almost no other way can it be destroyed. If a Birch tree is blown down and left lying on the damp ground for many years, all the wood inside the silvery bark will decay, but the outside of the trunk remains unchanged. Stand on it, and you find that what you took to be a solid tree is nothing but a hollow tube of bark.

In North America the Indians cover their canoes with Birch bark, and in some snow-covered countries the people use it for tiles with which to roof their houses. Some time ago, when men were digging in the peat-bogs of Lancashire, they found the remains of Birch trees which must have been there for a thousand years. The wood had turned into stone, but the bark was still the same as when it grew on the tree.

In April the young leaves (2) cover the tree like a green mist. They are very tiny, the smallest and most fairy-like of all our tree leaves. Each leaf is oval in shape, with a glossy surface, and has a double row of teeth, first a large tooth, then a smaller one, cut unequally all round the edge. The leaf stalk is very slender and wiry, and the twig to which it is attached is very little stouter, so that the leaves dance and rustle in the slightest breath of wind. Sometimes the back of a Birch leaf is covered with fine yellow powder. This powder is really a tiny plant which has made its home on the Birch tree leaf and feeds on it, just as the ivy and mistletoe do on larger trees. In autumn these leaves turn pale yellow, and the moss and heather are strewn with their flakes of gold.

There is another stranger makes its home on some of the Birch trees. In spring, before the leaves come, you may often notice curious bunches of twigs that look like crows’ nests high up among the branches. These are caused by a tiny insect which has come to stay on the Birch tree, and, in some way which we do not understand, it makes all the twigs crowd together in that curious manner. “Witches’ Knots” they are called in Scotland.