Among all the trees of British woodland none excels the beech in grace, vigour, and hardihood. It is not indigenous to Scotland; indeed, it is only in recent years that it has been recognised as a true native of southern Britain, its remains having been identified in post-tertiary beds at Southampton, Cromer, and some other places in East Anglia. Previous to that discovery, botanists had accepted Julius Caesar's assurance that the tree he called "fagus" did not grow in Britain (_Bellum Gallicum_, v. 12). But popular names for plants are never to be relied on, and although it is certain that Pliny (_Nat. Hist._ xvi. 6) described the beech under the name "fagus," it seems equally clear that Virgil (_Georgics_, ii. 71) applied it to the sweet chestnut. The confusion arose, no doubt, from the application of a Greek word signifying food to two species of tree very different from each other, but each producing edible fruit.
Although the beech (_Fagus sylvatica_, Linn.) cannot be reckoned as an aboriginal native of Scotland, it is long since it received letters of naturalisation in that country, and has taken so kindly to the northern soil and climate that it may no longer be considered an alien. Indeed, it is in Scotland that the mightiest beech in the United Kingdom, perhaps in the world, is to be seen; not the loftiest, but one containing the largest amount of timber. This is the famous tree at Newbattle Abbey, near Dalkeith. Eighty years ago the indefatigable John Loudon measured it, and found it to be 88 feet high. In 1906 the equally indefatigable Mr. H. J. Elwes took its dimensions, and ascertained them to be as follows:
Ft. Ins. Height 105 0 Girth of bole, at the ground 43 8 Do., at 1 foot up 37 0 Do., at 2½ feet up 27 8 Do., at 3 feet up 25 9½ Do., at 4 feet up 23 1½ Do., at 4½ feet up 21 11½ Do., at 5 feet up 20 3½ Do., at 6 feet up 19 7½
Truly an amazing edifice of sound timber; how long has it taken in the building? Normally, the beech is not long-lived compared with the oak, the yew, the Corsican pine, and some other trees grown in British woodland. Its "expectation of life" does not exceed 200 years. When it gets near that age it sometimes dies in a night, so to speak, expiring suddenly while apparently in full vigour. At other times it gets stag-headed, a sure sign of flagging vitality, and becomes infested with parasites, especially the felted beech-scale (_Cryptococcus fagi_), which administer the _coup de grâce_.