The principal centres for beechwood furniture in England are at High Wycombe, and Newport Pagnell in Bucks, and the price of clean trunks in these districts is from 1s. to 1s. 6d. per cube foot standing, according to the situation. Beechwood is also used largely for making saddle-trees, and in consequence of the great demand for these during the South African war, went up to a very high price in 1901, when I was offered 1s. 4d. a foot standing for beech trees which in ordinary times would not be worth more than 8d. or 9d. a foot. Being easy to split it is, where there is a demand for firewood, easier to dispose of the branches and rough parts of the tree for this purpose, but the amount of waste is much greater in the beech than in some other trees, unless grown in thick woods. For more minute particulars of the characters and uses of this timber. Stone's Timbers of Commerce, p. 231, and Loudon, pp. 1959–64, may be consulted with advantage. (H.J.E.)
