If nuts be put into earthen pots and well closed, and afterwards buried eighteen inches or two feet deep in the earth, they may be kept sound through the winter.
In many parts of the country hazels are planted in coppices and hedge-rows for several useful purposes; but particularly to be cut down, periodically, for charcoal, for poles, fishing-rods, &c. Being extremely tough and flexible, the branches of the hazel are used for making hurdles, crates, withs or bands, and springles to fasten down thatch. They are formed into spars, handles for implements of husbandry; and, when split, are bent into hoops for casks. Charcoal made from hazel is much in request for forges; and, when prepared in a particular manner, is used by painters and engravers to draw their outlines.
In countries where yeast is scarce, it is not unusual to twist loosely together the slender branches of this shrub, and to steep them in ale-yeast during its fermentation. They are then hung up to dry; and, at the next brewing, are put into the wort instead of yeast. The roots are used by cabinet makers for veneering: and, in Italy, the chips of hazel are sometimes put into turbid wine for the purpose of fining it.
242. The HORNBEAM (Carpinus betulus, Fig. 73) is a forest tree which grows to the height of sixty or seventy feet, yet seldom exceeds fifteen or eighteen inches in diameter, has smooth white bark, marked with grey spots, and leaves about three inches long and two broad, oval, pointed, and serrated.
As a timber-tree the hornbeam is more esteemed on the Continent than in this country. It grows readily in stiff soils, particularly on the sides of hills; and is easily transplanted. The wood, which is white, hard, and tough, is used by turners; and is wrought into cogs for mill-wheels, screw-presses, the heads of beetles, handles of working tools, and other instruments and machinery in which great strength is required. As fuel it is preferred, on account of its readier inflammability, to most other kinds of wood. The inner bark is used, in some countries, for dyeing yellow.
From the foliage of the hornbeam being luxuriant, and admitting of being clipped, without injury, into any of those forms which the old French garden style required, this tree was formerly much more planted in England than it is at present. It preserves a great portion of its withered leaves through the winter; and, if properly planted as a hedge, it forms an excellent fence. The German husbandman, when he erects a fence of hornbeam, throws up a parapet of earth, with a ditch on each side, and plants his sets (which he raises from layers) in such a manner that every two plants may be brought to intersect each other, in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. In that part where the plants cross, he scrapes off the bark, and bends them closely together with straw. In consequence of this operation the two plants consolidate into a sort of indissoluble knot, and push, from the place of junction, horizontal slanting shoots, which form a living palisado or chevaux de frise; so that such a protection may be called a rural fortification. These hedges, being annually and carefully pruned, will, in a few years, become impenetrable in every part. It is not uncommon in Germany, to see the high roads thus guarded for many miles together; and great advantage might be derived from adopting the same plan in many parts of our own kingdom.
243. The PLANE-TREE (Platanus orientalis, Fig. 71) is distinguished by having broad leaves, each with about five principal divisions, and these subdivided into smaller ones.
By the ancient Greeks and Romans the plane-tree was highly valued, on account of its grateful shade; and the latter were much delighted by training it in such manner as to admit of their sitting beneath its branches. Wherever they built their magnificent colleges for the exercise of youth, in the gymnastic arts, as riding, wrestling, running, leaping, throwing the discus, &c. and where also the gravest philosophers met to converse together and improve their studies, they planted avenues and walks of plane trees for refreshment and shade.
Though now frequently planted in parks and pleasure grounds, the sycamore ([122]) is, in many instances, preferred to it. The plane, though a native of Asia and the southern parts of Europe, is very hardy, grows rapidly, and will flourish in any common soil, and in any aspect.
Its wood, at a certain age, becomes much veined; and, consequently, is valuable for many kinds of domestic furniture, but particularly for tables.