Beech nut

“ It is a beautiful tree and where it is hardy there is no reason why it should not be used as a street tree, a tree in home grounds, in parks, or any other place where deciduous trees are needed. It is raised extensively in some nurseries, while the other hickories are raised very sparingly, and some not at all.
The Beech
Some would consider the beech the most beautiful of all nut trees. Its comparatively smooth, bluish-gray bark makes it a distinctive tree at all seasons. Its branches, spreading straight out from the trunk, give it an appearance of strength. ”

“ It is inconceivable however, that a tree can vary in every particular except in the fruit and it is believed that it only requires sufficient searching to find large fruited varieties. There are difficulties, however, in the way of finding unusual beeches which do not occur with walnuts, chestnuts and hickories, which are trees where the nuts have such merit that they are usually spared even if in the middle of a cultivated field, while the beech is usually a forest tree. A nut contest brings hundreds and thousands of walnuts and hickories but only very few beechnuts. ”

“ The beechnut, Fagus ferruginea, belonging to the oak family, is one of the giants of the forest, growing to great size and age. Even very old beech trees have smooth bark and this, in earlier and more rustic days, was much used for the romantic carving of lovers' names, as scars still visible on such ancient trees testify. The wood itself is dense and hard, even more so than hard maple, and is considered good lumber. Beechnut is one of the few nut trees with a more shallow and ramified root system as contrasted with that of most, which, as in the oak, walnut and hickory, is a tap root system. ”

“ A hatchet would be a rather clumsy tool for us to use in opening a nut, but these birds have a convenient, ever-ready one in their long, stout, sharply pointed bills with which they hack apart the small thin-shelled nuts like beech nuts and hazel nuts, chinquapins and chestnuts, kernels of corn and sunflower seeds. ”

“ It was thought that there might be a large fruited species of beech growing in some part of the world as is the case with the chestnut, walnut, hickory and hazel, and that it would only be necessary to import it to get what was needed, or at least to make a good start in getting what was needed. ”

“ We do not know much about getting revenue from our trees as we use all our nuts in the family. A pound of nuts I raise myself is worth much more to me than a pound I would buy in the grocery store because of the fun I get in growing them.
I have chestnuts that have escaped the blight so far. They say the Japanese variety is very hardy and very resistant to blight. As to the nuts, I do not know much about them.
Another nut tree that we do not often think of is the beech tree. I have never seen a beech tree that had nuts on big enough to amount to anything. ”

“ In spite of its thick shell, the flavor of the butternut is preferred by many people to that of any other nut on the market. It is our most hardy species of nut tree. It grows as far north as Maine and Nova Scotia. Two or three recognized varieties are being propagated. Probably those which will soonest be available for dissemination to the public are the Aiken from New Hampshire and the Deming from Connecticut.
One of our most decorative native trees is the American beech. As fine a specimen as is often seen is this one not far from Easton, Maryland photographed during the past summer. ”

“ The writer has seen it in the bottoms of southwestern Georgia, in common with the magnolia, growing to a height of from seventy-five to one hundred feet and with trunks of two feet in diameter extending upward in a manner which, with regard to height and uniformity of size, compared favorably with the long-leafed Georgia pine. The nuts of the beech are rich in quality and of excellent flavor, but owing to their small size and the great difficulty attending the extraction of the kernels, they are not ranked as being of direct importance for human food. ”

“ Irrespective of the possible value of their crops, fruit trees of most species are both too small and too short-lived to be suitable for highway planting. With nut trees, the situation is entirely different. The native walnuts, most species of hickories and the American beech are large-growing and long-lived trees. In addition, they are capable of withstanding severe temperatures; they are tough and strong and not liable to injury by storm or while being climbed by ordinary persons ”

“ That we have such a wealth of varieties of the beech valuable as ornamental trees and none valuable for the large nuts they bear, certainly suggests that the tree varies in every way except in the size of the nuts it bears, but this is not believed to be so. The growing of ornamental trees is an old industry. There are hundreds of nurserymen today growing ornamentals and only few in comparison growing nut trees. ”

“ The fruit grower in every part of the country has his special species and pomological varieties from which to choose. The foresters and landscape gardeners have their species and botanical varieties or improved strains to pick from.
Among the important purposes for which trees are planted the production of native nuts is singularly behind. The leading species of native nut-bearing trees include the hickories, the walnuts, the chestnuts, the pines, and the beech. ”

“ It soon bursts the walls of its house, and the two seed-leaves which we call cotyledons, expand. The little stem which we call the radicle, pushes up and supports them, while from the opposite end the root begins to grow. I think if you will look carefully under that beech-tree, you will find some beech-nuts which have just sprouted. I used to gather them when I was a little girl; the crisp seed-leaves are very palatable. ”

“ Beech-wood is especially good for fuel. Only the sycamore, the Scotch pine, and the ash give out more heat and light when they burn. Beech-nuts—or beech-mast, as it is called—are eaten by many animals. Pigs, deer, poultry, &c., are turned into beech-woods to fatten on the mast. Squirrels and dormice delight in it. In France it is used to make beech-oil. This oil is used both for cooking and burning, and for the latter purpose has the valuable property of having no nasty smell.
Of the beauty of the beech as a forest-tree—let artists rave! ”

“ The parent tree bore a heavy crop of nuts, but the nut on the sucker was smaller and less perfectly developed than those on the parent tree.
In order to make a perfect proof I should have cut a
A tiny beech growth from a root bearing nut burs. small piece from the surface of the root to which the twig was attached, but I did not think of doing so until too late.
This unusual growth may possibly be of interest to the nature lovers who read the “Nature and Science” department of St. Nicholas. ”

“ European engineers employ it to a considerable extent in construction, but it is seldom used in America save for indoor finish, furniture, handles, flooring, and the like. The small edible nuts, known as beech-mast, are pressed abroad for a fixed oil, resembling and used in place of that from the olive. They are seldom gathered in this country, but are devoured by animals. Beech-trees have smooth, light-colored bark, and are very attractive in their winter appearance. They may be recognized earlier in the season by their small prickly burrs, each containing two triangular, sharp-edged nuts. ”

“ Least of all the nuts good to eat that grow in our mixed woods is the fruit of the grey-trunked beeches. In nutting time the beech tree’s crown of green is almost as clean and bright as in midsummer. The silky leaves are little torn by the wind. They turn to a beautiful pale yellow, and become thin and papery as the green pulp is drawn back into the twigs. Few people see the spiny green burs on the ends of side twigs in summer, even though the crop of nuts be heavy. In the autumn the brown spiny husks open. ”

“ It has been pointed out above that nuts are storage organs, and the food materials required to grow and fill them must be made in the leaves. When too many nuts are set and carried through to the filling period, in proportion to the number of leaves or the leaf area of the tree, it is not possible for the leaves to synthesize the large amount of food materials required to fill the nuts. In pecans, for example, it has been shown that six to eight leaves are required normally to fill a nut properly and 10 or more leaves per nut if the tree is to flower and set a crop the following year. ”

“ The oak whose acorns probably made the pig what he is, is almost neglected in America; yet for ages the Indians of the Pacific coast have made their bread from acorns of two species of oak, one of which is now gathered by the farmers of California, put into their barns and [Pg 34] bought and sold as stock food. The beechnut and the hickory nut are rich and much prized swine food.
Legumes, of which there are many species, can be grown between nut-yielding trees to maintain the fertility of the soil through the nitrogen gathering nodules upon their roots. ”

“ Beechnuts make excellent food for poultry and certain kinds of livestock. To convert the crop into cash is largely a matter of using the land under the trees for the right sort of grazing. In European countries beechnuts are highly valued as a source of salad oil. Mr. Bixby of this association is taking steps to procure trees bearing as large sized nuts as possible with a view to subsequent breeding. ”

“ Quite apart from utilitarian considerations, we should be very sorry to lose the Beech, with its towering, massive shaft clad in smooth grey bark, its spreading roots above the soil, and the dense shade of its fine foliage. Fortunately for the lover of natural beauty, it is this luxuriant growth of leaves and the shade it gives that are the redeeming virtues of the Beech [Pg 21] in the eye of the forester. Its drip destroys most of the soil-exhausting weeds, its shade protects the soil from over-evaporation, and the heavy crop of leaves enriches it by their decomposition. ”

“ These grafted portions in the top of these trees under poor conditions—our soil is poor at Beltsville—set tremendously heavy crops, but the nuts are smaller in size than normal, and therefore the crop is not as desirable as it would be if it were grown under good conditions. The point is that those varieties bear even under poor conditions. Bearing is a variety characteristic, and wherever it grows it will bear though it may not produce a good-sized nut. ”

“ Professor Craig: I think that point is well taken.
President Morris: There is no doubt about that. In that same connection—I would choose nuts for seed purposes of a mean type, for the reason that nature is all the while establishing a mean. The big pecan is a freak. If you plant big or small nuts, you don't get big or small nuts in return. You get both big and little seeking a mean.
Mr. Roper: The large nut will give a better tree. ”

“ If they get the nuts in the fall they may either plant them in the fall or stratify them over winter and then plant them in the rows in the spring. If they get them in the spring, they soak them for a day or two days in water before planting. Perhaps the dry nut is slow in taking up moisture direct from the soil, and they are primarily interested in getting a uniform stand of trees so that they handle it in such a manner that all the nuts will grow at the same time. ”

“ I have yet to see a tree growing in the Rochester area bearing as large a nut as those grown in the southeast, and all the large nuts I have tasted did not seem to be as sweet as ours. Probably the old saying "the smaller the nut, the sweeter the nut" is true. Of course these are all seedling trees, but by this time we should know whether size of nut and sweetness of kernel are determined by climate or individual trees.
Our largest trees are eleven-year old seedlings of unknown origin. One is, I believe, outstanding. ”

“ One mistake we must not make is not to be too sure of the value of a nut because it is large, thin-shelled and has a fine flavor but is a poor cropper. The nut that produces a very heavy crop is the valuable nut. Thus McAllister hican and the Stabler black are worthless because of their extremely thin crop.
Another nut that looks large and excellent on the tree is the Ohio black walnut, whose huge dirty hull and small nut condemns it. I like thin-hulled nuts that come out clean. ”

“ It has borne nuts since it was six years of age and this year has a very heavy crop. Some of the first crop of nuts were planted and these in turn have developed into trees which have produced nuts. Nuts from the second generation have been planted and will likely make trees which will yield nuts in a few years. An interesting feature of the original planting is the great variation in the size, shape of nut, thickness of shell and yield. Some are large, some are small, some are round and others are pear-shaped. The majority of the trees yield well but a few, however, are light croppers. ”

“ Their seedlings exhibit much variability in characters of trees and nuts. Some are much less hardy than others under our conditions. Not all are as large fruited as their seed parents (and some of the parent trees bore small nuts) . Though many have smoother shells than Mayette or Franquette, there is also much variation in shape, thickness, and color of shells. Color and flavor of kernel vary from tree to tree. The season of nut maturity, though variable, is generally early enough in locations where the trees are winter hardy. ”

“ In most of the states there are fruit extension specialists but only an occasional landscape extension specialist; so I try to interest the fruit men in the planting of nut trees, and a few of them are doing this, particularly in Indiana, where the fruit extension specialist has been interested in having pecan and English walnut trees planted in school yards. It seems difficult to get people to comprehend and practice nut tree growing and to understand the various uses of nut trees. We can judge from the small audience at this meeting that there are not enough people interested in nut growing. ”