CORYLIDEÆ. HORNBEAM TREE. CARPINUS. MONCIA POLYANDRIA. Carpinus from carpere, to crop.-French, charme, charmille; Italian, carpino; English, hornbeam, hardbeam, horse-beech, hornbeech, wych-hazel, or witch-hazel, and yoke-elm. THE leaf of the Hornbeam, Carpinus betulus, is very similar to that of the elm (in which genus old Gerarde would fain have it placed): it begins to appear about the end of March, and by the middle of April the tree is in full leaf; towards the end of that month, it is in full blossom also. It retains the old leaves till driven off by the new. This tree is very common in many parts of England, but is so constantly pollarded by the country people, that it is seldom suffered to attain a handsome growth. When they escape the hands of these executioners, they will grow, especially in a stiff clayey soil, to a height of seventy feet, with large noble stems, perfectly straight and sound. Fawkes alludes to the regular growth of the Hornbeam hedge, in his Bramham Park : "Here spiry firs extend their lengthened ranks, Here hornbeam hedges regularly grow, There hawthorn whitens, and wild roses blow." Martyn observes, that of late years this tree has only been cultivated "for underwood in the country, and in the nurseries to form hedges after the French taste; for in most of their great gardens, their cabinets, &c. are formed of these trees, as are their trellises and hedges which surround the plantations. But since these sort of ornaments have been banished from the English gardens, there has been little demand for these trees in the nurseries." The Eastern Hornbeam, Carpinus orientalis, is of humbler growth, and has smaller leaves. The Hop Hornbeam, so named from the form of its fruit, was first observed in Italy, is very common in Germany, and is said to grow in abundance in many parts of North America. It is of quicker growth than the common Hornbeam, and sheds its leaves with the generality of deciduous trees. The Virginian Flowing Hornbeam, Carpinus Americana, is of quicker growth than either of the former sorts: it sheds its leaves in autumn, about the same time with the elm, and during the season of its verdure has a handsome appearance, being well clothed with leaves, which are of a deep green colour, similar to those of the longleaved elm. The other kinds are, in this country, commonly budded on the Common Hornbeam; which, however, is the best for cultivation, as it will grow to a larger size, and also will thrive upon cold, exposed, and barren hills, and resist violent winds better than most trees. The timber is tough and flexible, and when suffered to grow large, may be converted to many useful purposes. Hitherto it has been used chiefly for turnery ware, tool-handles, yokes, &c. It is also an excellent fuel. Gerarde says, it was used to yoke oxen, as well by the Romans in old times, as in his own time and country; therefore, and from the form of the leaf, he calls it the Yoke Elm. He recommends the wood for arrows and shafts, and observes that it grows so hard and tough with age as to be more like horn than wood, and that for this reason it was called Hornbeam or Hardbeam. Evelyn says, it was termed Horse-beech, from the resemblance of the leaf to that of the beech tree; from which, however, it is different. The beech leaf narrows, somevery what like an egg, towards the foot-stalk; whereas the leaves of the Hornbeam and of the elm are broader towards that end than the other. There is otherwise much similarity in all these leaves, as also in the birch leaf, but that it is smaller. The name of Witch-hazel is peculiar to Essex; the tree commonly called by that name is the broad-leaved Elm, also named Wych Elm. The German husbandman has a peculiar mode of erecting a fence of Hornbeam; he plants the young trees in such a manner as that every two may be brought to intersect each other in the form of a St. Andrew's cross; in the part where they cross, he scrapes off the bark, and binds them closely together with straw; the two plants thus connected form a sort of indissoluble knot, and push from thence horizontal slanting shoots which form a living palisado a rural fortification, as Dr. Hunter terms it. These hedges being annually and skilfully pruned, will in a few years become a fence impenetrable in every part. It is not uncommon to see high roads in Germany thus fenced for miles together. Evelyn observes, that before the entries of many of the great towns in Germany they plant clumps of these trees," to which they apply timber frames for the convenience of the people to sit and solace in." This delightful author occasionally indulges in such eloquent raptures in speaking of the works of nature, that it were difficult to forbear quoting. “That admirable espalier hedge in the long middle walk of the Luxembourg Garden at Paris, than which there is nothing more graceful, is planted of this tree; and so is that cradle or close walk, with that perplexed canopy, which lately covered the seat in his Majesty's garden at Hampton Court, and as now I hear, they are planted in perfection at New Park, the delicious villa of the noble Earl of Rochester, belonging once to a near kinsman of mine, who parted with it to King Charles the First, of blessed memory. An oblong square palisaded with this plant or the Flemish ornus, as is that I am going to describe, and may be seen in that inexhaustible magazine at Brompton Park (cultivated by those two industrious fellow gardeners, Mr. London and Mr. Wise), affords such an umbraculum frondium, the most natural proper station and convenience for the protection of our orange trees, myrtles, and other rare perennials and exotics, from the scorching darts of the sun, and heat of summer: they are so ranged and disposed as to adorn a noble area of a most magnificent Paradisian dining-room, to the top of hortulan pomp and bliss, superior to all the artificial furniture of the greatest prince's court. Here are the Indian narcissus, tuberoses, Japan lilies, jasmines, jonquils, periclimena, roses, carnations, with all the pride of the parterre; intermixt between the tree cases, flowering vases, busts, and statues, entertain the eye, and breathe their redolent odours and perfumes to the smell. The golden fruit, the apples of the Hesperides, together with the delicious ananas, gratify the taste, while the cheerful ditties of canorous birds, recording their innocent amours to the murmurs of the bubbling fountain, delight the ear. At the same time the charming accents of the fair and virtuous sex, preferable to all the admired composures of the most skilful musicians, join in concert with hymns and halleluiahs to the bountiful and glorious Creator, who has left none of the senses which he has not gratified at once with their most agreeable and proper objects." The wood of the Hornbeam is very inflammable, and will burn like a candle, for which purpose it was formerly used. In the north of Europe, the inner bark is used to dye yellow. |