the trees of great britain & ireland - Facsimile Books & other digitally ...

2,6 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
able beeches are mentioned, of which one at Edenbarnet in the parish of Old
Kilpatrick, Dumbartonshire, is said to be 140 feet high ; but the measurements of
many of the trees in this compilation are so unreliable that I cannot believe them
without confirmation.
J. Kay, in Scottish Arb. Soc. Transactions, ix. p. 75, mentions a tree in the Beech
Walk at Mount Stuart in Bute, which in 1881 was 120 feet by u feet 9 inches, with a
clean bole 60 feet high, and contained 450 feet of timber.
In Ireland the beech is probably not a native tree. According to Hayes 1 it
was first introduced at Shelton, near Arklow, where, in 1794, there were beech
trees as much as 15 feet in girth, and many carrying a girth of 10 feet for more than
40 feet high. Another growing at Tiny Park was 16 feet 3 inches in girth, and
continued nearly of that girth for 36 feet. Hayes also mentions, as an instance of
the rapid growth of the beech in Ireland, " several at Avondale, which were trans
planted within thirty years on a swelling ground at that time much exposed to
storm, are now (1793) from 7 feet 6 inches to 6 feet 6 inches at a foot from the
ground, and continue nearly of that size from 8 to 20 feet in height. Of two which
were planted in a richer soil near the river, and are now (1793) just fifty-four years
from the mast, one measures 9 feet round, the other 9 feet 6 inches."
The finest beeches in Ireland, probably, are those occurring at Woodstock (Co.
Kilkenny), the seat of E. K. B. Tighe, Esq. a property which is remarkable all
round for magnificent trees of many kinds, and which is in the possession of a family
that for generations has been deeply interested in forestry and arboriculture. The
measurements of many trees have been taken periodically for nearly a century.
The best beeches on this beautiful property occur in the meadow land by the River
Nore, close to the village of Inistioge. The following table gives an interesting
series of measurements of these beeches :
N~
A3
C7
Eg
B5
BU
B.,
Bu
B8
1825.
ft. in.
10 9
...
...
12 I
II IO
ii 4
II O
ii 9
. . .
1830.
ft. in.
II I
...
...
12 IO
12 3
II II
ii 6
...
1834.
ft. in.
ii 6
...
...
14 4
13 8
12 10
12 7
12 9
9 S
GIRTH.
1846.
ft. in.
12 6
12 7
12 5
IS 4
14 10
i3 8
13 8
14 o
10 I
1901.
ft. in.
20 6
'7 3
14 o
18 9
17 9
IS 8
16 6
16 7
12 3
1904.
ft. in.
20 7
i? 9
...
18 10
...
16 4
...
...
. . .
1901.
Si
97
9i
"3
1 08
112
106
I2O
IOO
HEIGHT.
The measurements up to 1901 are from the foresters' records ; those of 1904
were taken by Henry. The beech A3 has a great bole, dividing into three limbs
at 18 feet up, and is a very wide-spreading tree. C7 is pressed on each side by two
lime trees, and is narrow in shape. The most remarkable of all is B 5, which is
probably the tallest beech in Ireland.
1 Ilayes, A Practical Treatise on Planting ( 1794), pp. 109, 118.
1904.
86
99
...
"7
...
109
...
...
. . .
Fagus 2,7
As showing the rale of growth of the beech in Co. Galway, a beech
measured by Lord Clonbrock at Clonbrock was n feet 3 inches in girth in 1871, and
15 feet in 1903. A beech hedge at Kilruddery, Co. Wicklow, the seat of Lord
Meath, said to be 300 years old, was measured by Henry in 1904, when it was
18 feet through and 29 feet high. It is clipped regularly, and forms a dense,
impenetrable mass.
BEECH Coccus
We are indebted to Mr. R. Newstead of the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, for
particulars of the coccus which in some seasons, and in certain parts of England,
has been of late years very injurious to the beech. A fuller account of this insect
has been written by him in Journ. R. Hort. Soc. 1 900, vol. xxiii. p. 249, and in
a leaflet recently published by the Board of Agriculture. From this we take the
following precis :
The trunks and, less frequently, the main branches of good-sized beech trees
are often covered, to a greater or less extent, with irregular spots of a white cottony
substance. The latter is really the covering of white felted wax fibres secreted by
the felted beech coccus (Cryptococcus fagi, Barensprung), a minute, hemispherical,
lemon-yellow insect, about one twenty-fifth of an inch long, without legs, but fur
nished on the underside with a well-developed beak, which it buries in the bark for
the purpose of sucking up the juices of the tree. When once a tree is attacked the
number of individuals of the pest becomes in time so great that it is doubtful whether
a badly-infected tree ever recovers unless active measures be taken against the
insect. The waxy covering of the latter is sufficient to protect it against the effects of
any of the insecticides usually applied by spraying, and its habit of preferring the
deepest part of the fissures in the bark makes it difficult to remove with certainty.
The only remedy at all likely to succeed is that of thoroughly scrubbing the bark
with a stiff brush and soap and water, the latter mixed in the proportion of half a
pound of soft soap to each gallon of water ; and the success of this treatment depends
for the most part on the amount of care taken to dislodge the insects by means
of the brush.
TIMBER
The timber of the beech is not valued so highly in England as abroad, where
it is considered as the best fuel in general use, and is little used in carpentry or
building, as it is hard, brittle, and liable to be attacked by beetles. It weighs when
green about 65 Ibs. to the cube foot, when dry about 50. Its durability is said to
be increased by seasoning it in water, and it is more durable when entirely under
water than most timbers, being highly recommended by Matthews and Laslett for
planking the sides and bottoms of ships. In France it is used, when creosoted,
for railway sleepers, but requires more than twice as much creosote to preserve it
as oak does, and is not used in England, so far as I know, for this purpose. It is
also used for tool handles, rollers, butchers' blocks, brush heads, planes, and general
turnery, but decays rapidly when exposed to the weather.