speedily accomplished. This spirit, however, acts only as a stimulating anti-spasmodic, enabling the vessels to overcome the spasm formed on their extremities. An application of Goulard-water, or a cold saturnine poultice, would produce a similar effect.
Another simple remedy, equally efficacious and expeditious, is a solution of indigo in water; speedily applied to the injured part.
Honey and olive oil may also be occasionally substituted with advantage; but their application should be repeated till the pain ceases.
BEECH-TREE, or the Fagus, L. a plant of which there are three species, viz. 1. The sylvatica, or beech-tree, which rises sixty or seventy feet high; 2. The castanea, or chesnut-tree; 3. The pumila, or dwarf chesnut-tree; and 4. The Americana, or American chesnut-tree. At present, we shall confine our account, consistently with the alphabetical order, to the first-mentioned species.
This tree is easily raised from the mast, or seeds. If intended for woods, it requires the same management as the oak; in nurseries, it should be treated like the ash; by sowing the mast in autumn, or even as late as January, to preserve it from vermin. Hanbury recommends, that a sufficient quantity of mast be gathered about the middle of September, when it begins to fall; it should be spread upon a mat in an airy place to dry, after which it may either be sown immediately, or preserved in bags till the spring: the latter, method, however, is preferable. It must be sown about an inch deep, in beds properly prepared. Several of the young plants will appear early in spring, but others will not come up till the spring following. After having remained two years in this state, they ought to be transplanted to the nursery.
In the year 1791, John Holliday, Esq. of Dillorn, Staffordshire, planted 113,500 trees of different kinds; among these, the principal were ninety-four thousand beech. His method of planting was, to make a round hole about the diameter of two spades; to preserve the best turf, and place it on the south-west side, which, by experience, has been found to answer two useful purposes, namely, that of protecting the young plant from the storms of winter, and shedding the best soil in the bed of the hole, both winter and summer. It is but justice to observe, that this gentleman received the honorary reward of the gold medal from the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.
The beech is the most beautiful tree our island produces. In stateliness and grandeur of outline, it vies with the oak. Its foliage is peculiarly delicate and pleasing to the eye, and therefore preferable to the lime, for ornamental plantations, particularly in parks, where the mast in fruitful years wiil be serviceable to the deer: its branches are numerous and spreading, and its stem grows to a great size. The bark is extremely smooth and silvery, which, together with the elegance of its foliage, gives a pleasing neatness and delicacy to its general appearance. Beeches thrive best on calcareous hills, and abound on the bed of chalk which runs from Dorsetshire, through Wiltshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent; though they may also be met with in almost every county in England.
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