An anonymous writer on agriculture, says, that "great care should be taken to remove the beech from woods, that oaks may thrive: without this precaution oak-forests have become of less value by several hundred pounds, from the intrusion of the beech."
In Hereford and Monmouthshire, the beech is converted into charcoal; and, in several counties, its leaves are used for beds, instead of feathers. They certainly have this advantage over feathers, that they may often be changed at a trifling expence.
The wood of this tree is almost as necessary to the cabinet-makers and turners of the metropolis, as oak is to the ship-builder; it is, however, very liable to be attacked by a worm which soon destroys it: this worm is supposed to feed on the sap that remains in the wood, consequently, the best method of preserving it, is to extract the food on which the worm subsists.—For this purpose, scantlings of beech, when large, should be laid to soak in a pond for several weeks, according to the size of the timber, and the season of the year. In the heat of summer this effect is more speedily produced. As the planks or boards are in danger of warping, they should be exposed to dry, but sheltered from the sun and rain; laths ought to be placed between the boards, to prevent their contact, and the whole pressed by a considerable weight. If they are large pieces for beams, joists, &c. they need only be left to dry gradually under sheds.
By the first of these methods, the timber, when applied to use, will be found as good and durable as elm. It is, however, advisable, when beech is used, to prepare that part of the timber which touches the brick-work, with a thick coat of pitch, to guard it against the effects of moisture. It should be felled in the heat of summer, when full of sap, which may then be more readily extracted from the wood than in winter.
Beams and thick planks should remain about twenty weeks in water; joists and rafters, about twelve weeks; and the thinner boards, about two months; but afterwards they should all be gradually dried.
When this wood is intended for small work, such as chairs, or turnery, it is recommended to erect a large copper, sufficient to hold two hogsheads, in which the wood may be boiled for two or three hours. This mode of preparing it extracts all the sap, makes it work more smoothly, and renders it more beautiful and durable.
BEECH-NUT or, as it is more generally called, Beech-Mast, is the seed or fruit of the beech-tree, and is recommended for feeding and fattening hogs. These animals may be secured from the gargut, by moistening some pease or beans with water, sprinkling them with powdered antimony, and repeating this medicine every other day, for a fortnight. The same precaution should be used when hogs are fed upon acorns. In Hertfordshire, where beech trees grow spontaneously, swine are kept upon the mast only, and turned out about the middle of October, or sometimes sooner. On this food they thrive very fast, and generally afford fine meat. When a hog is intended to be killed for pickling, it should be previously taken home for a month, or five weeks, and fed with pollard, barley meal, or pease. It has, however, been remarked,
