" ed. 2, p. 365. C. Carpinizza, Host., "Flora Austriaca,"
ii., p. 626. C. intermedia. Wierbitzsky in Reichb Ic. fl. Germ. et
Helvet., xxii. fig. 1297.]

[Illustration: CARPINUS AMERICANA.]

Few trees bear cutting so well as the hornbeam, and for this reason,
during the reign of the topiarist, it was held in high repute for the
formation of the "close alleys," "covert alleys," or the
"thick-pleached alleys," frequently mentioned in Shakespeare and in
the works of other authors about three centuries ago. In the sixteenth
century the topiary art had reached its highest point of development,
and was looked upon as the perfection of gardening; the hornbeam--and
indeed almost every other tree--was cut and tortured into every
imaginable shape. The "picturesque style," however, soon drove the
topiarist and his art out of the field, yet even now places still
remain in England where the old and once much-belauded fashion still
exists on a large scale--a fact by no means to be deplored from an
archaeological point of view. Dense, quaintly-shaped hornbeam hedges
are not unfrequent in the gardens of many old English mansions, and in
some old country farmhouses the sixteenth century craze is still
perpetuated on a smaller scale.

[Illustration: CARPINUS BETULUS, LEAF, CATKINS, AND FRUIT.]

Sir J.E. Smith, in his "English Flora," after enumerating the virtues
of the hornbeam as a hedge plant, gives it as his opinion that "when
standing by itself and allowed to take its natural form, the hornbeam
makes a much more handsome tree than most people are aware of." Those
who are familiar with the fine specimens which exist at Studley Park
and elsewhere will have no hesitation in confirming Sir J.E. Smith's
statement. The Hornbeam Walk in Richmond Park, from Pembroke Lodge
toward the Ham Gate, will recur to many Southerners as a good instance
of the fitness of the hornbeam for avenues. In the walk in question
there are many fine trees, which afford a thorough and agreeable shade
during the summer months.

[Illustration: CARPINUS VIMINEA.]

In any soil or position the hornbeam will grow readily, except
exceedingly dry or too marshy spots. On chalky hillsides it does not
grow so freely as on clayey plains. Under the latter conditions,
however, the wood is not so good. In mountainous regions the hornbeam
occupies a zone lower than that appropriated by the beech, rarely
ascending more than 1,200 yards above sea level. It is not injured