Under these conditions it is necessary to resort to artificial stocking, and here lies the difficulty, for the beech is by no means a tree which lends itself to rapid establishment. Whether such is best performed by the sowing of seed, planting of seedlings, or of nursery trees of more advanced age, is a question for foresters. Again, is it well to plant pure and close together, or to plant with Scots pine, larch, or other trees? Opinions vary, and no decisive advice seems requisite.
As a natural seedling the beech will find its way through almost any tangle and force its way to the light, hindered only by the thick canopy of the parent, but as a transplant its vigour is defective.
The beech may be divided into two classes—the beautiful wide-spreading tree of the park, with its branches sweeping the sward; and the tall, straight column, topped with a canopy of lovely green—branchless for, perhaps, fifty feet and more.
It is to the latter that the merchant looks for his supply of timber, and to which the owner looks for his revenue. The former, through its charm, lends to the estate a value by no means inconsiderable; but the latter, under favourable conditions, yields so regular a return that it may be reduced to a yearly revenue. Under proper management there should be a continual cutting and a continuous and progressive growth: there should be no periods of vacancy.
If some of the schemes for the planting of waste lands—many of them wild and impractical—should reach ripeness, it is to be hoped the beech will be planted on soils suitable to its development—and these are calcareous loams resting on a rocky bottom—because there is likely to be a demand at a fair price, this class of timber not being much affected by foreign imports.
Beech reaches a useful and commercial value in from forty to sixty years when growing naturally close together, and under proper and judicious thinning; but if such be left until decay sets in, the value per cubic foot is greatly diminished. Trees will, of course, live and grow for a much longer period; but after, say, eighty years, it is doubtful economy to let them stand.
Another feature in the beech is that when decay once sets in it is rapid in its progress, and the tree dies as a whole. The oak will live for centuries in a decayed and dying condition, but not so the beech; and it is only when the timber is sound that the best price can be obtained. It is, too, a timber which soon stains if exposed, so that conversion should follow cutting.
What is necessary for the successful growing of beech may be summed up in a few words: A suitable soil, close contact, felling when commercially ripe, and speedy conversion.
C. E. Curtis.