BEECHES.
The small, triangular nut that is borne in pairs in the prickly, four-parted husk of the beech tree has small claim to the attention of the dealer in commercial nuts. But you and I know that it is sweet and rich, once you get it out of its shell. Its chief limitation is its diminutive size. In a good year, the crop will furnish the best of past urage for fattening pigs. In the old days, the settlers counted on turning their swine into the woods to get into condition for the finest bacon and hams. This fact gives significance to a pop ular trademark.
Beechnuts in Europe have, from ancient times, been used as an article of human food. Beech nut oil, refined, is as sweet as olive oil. It is used as a cooking oil, and in crude form for illumi nation.
The botanical name of the tree, Fagus, comes from a Greek word that means, "good to eat." The foliage of beech trees, silky and beautiful as it turns to yellow in the fall, serves a number of useful purposes. In Switzerland the stable lofts
are stuffed with the leaves of beech and linden, which cattle eat as winter fodder. Mattresses are stuffed with the fragrant leaves which are credited with sleep-inducing powers.
The wood of beech is one of the important hardwoods of Europe. It has the distinction of being used for the leaves of the first books made.
The word book goes back to the same root as beech. The smoothest bark in the woods was naturally chosen when tribal chiefs sent the first messages, written in crude hieroglyphics, to each other. Unfortunately the tendency to carve on beech bark persists. It is impossible to find a well-grown tree in park or near a high road that has not been scarred with jack-knife monograms, and meaningless symbols.