The Beech is one of the same class of trees, but does not equal the Chestnut in magnitude.  It is distinguished by the beauty of its clean, smooth shaft, which is commonly ribbed or fluted in a perceptible degree; and in a wood, where there is an assemblage of these columns, rising without a branch to the height of thirty feet or more, they are singularly beautiful.  A peculiarity often observed in the Beech is a sort of double head of foliage.  This is produced by the habit of the tree of throwing out a whorl of imperfect branches just below the union of the main branches with the trunk.  The latter, taking more of an upward direction, cause an observable space a little below the middle of the height of the tree.  This double tier of branches and foliage has been noticed by painters in the European Beech.  I have observed it in several instances in the American tree.

Standard Beech-trees are not numerous in this part of the country; indeed, they are seldom seen except in a wood, or in clumps which have originated from the root of some tree that has perished.  I think they appear to better advantage in groups and small assemblages than when single, as there is nothing greatly attractive in the form of a standard Beech; but there is a peculiar sweep of the lateral branches, when they are standing in a group, which the student of trees cannot fail to admire.  They send out their branches more in right lines than most other trees, and, as their leaves and the extremities of their spray all have an upright tendency, they give a beautiful airy appearance to the edge of a wood.  The foliage of other deciduous trees, even when the branches tend upward, is mostly of a drooping character.  The Beech forms a pleasing exception to this habit, having leaves that point upward and outwardly, instead of hanging loosely.  In most other trees the foliage is so heavy and flowing, that the courses of their branches are concealed under their drapery of leaves; but in the Beech all the lines produced by the branches and foliage are harmonious, and may be distinctly traced.

By taking note of these peculiarities in their arborescent growth, one greatly magnifies his capacity for enjoying the beauties of trees.  Without this observation, their general appearance forms the chief object of his attention:  he observes them only as a person of taste who cannot distinguish tunes would listen to music.  He feels the agreeable sensation which their forms and aspects produce; but, like one who thinks without adequate language for his thoughts, his ideas are vague and indefinite.  The Beech is particularly worthy of study, as in many points it differs characteristically from most other trees.  I am acquainted with no tree in the forest that equals it, when disrobed of its foliage, in the gracefulness of its spray.  There is an airiness about its whole appearance, at all seasons, that gives an expression of cheerfulness to the scene it graces, whether it skirt the banks of a stream or spread out its courteous arms over a sunny knoll or little sequestered nook.