Greetings to all,

While hiking on one of our 8 "Walking Through Autumn" fun Saturday morning walks sponsored by our local parks, we stopped to hear about the American Beech tree found in the eastern 1/3 of the USA and extreme southeastern portion of Canada.

You would know it as the thin skinned gray smooth bark where lovers like to carve hearts and initials for posterity.

Our early settlers in Ohio turned cattle and swine loose in the woods to graze as the land was yet to be cleared. The pigs especially found the nuts of the Beech Tree yummy while the settlers found the pigs to be equally yummie.  It seems the nuts of Beech Tree gave the hams and bacon a unique sweet taste.

That being so, Beechnut as a name is used in several business based on the reputation of the beech nut .  The Beech Tree and Beechnut names became synonomous with  QUALITY.

Have a stick of Beechnut Gum.  No the favor does not come from the bark of the Beech Tree.  The favor is quality and thus they use the name that denotes QUALITY.

Beechnut Foods began promoting  hams and bacon in the late 1800.  Their name spoke of QUALITY in the meat industry. As the years passed they changed products so that today we know them only as the QUALITY  baby food company. 

Welcome to Beech Nut Kennels.  Are they raising pigs, selling nuts?  Of course not they are a  dog kennel of QUALITY. Visit Beechnut raceway not located in a grove of Beech Trees.  You guessed it, they promote themselves as a  quality race way. 

Unfortuately, this idea is bady abused in the internet on business industry.  How many programs use words like 'millionaire', 'Mega' 'Cash' in the title. How many people have promoted a program to you and you consider their name and reputation while running not walking away from them.

So be like the beech nut tree, slow growing and producing good fruit.  As you work here, what quality posts will people see?  What reputation are you building with your name and business.  What QUALITY actions will they be witness to?  Is your name welcomed in the mail or will people hit the delete button?

"Actions speak louder than words".  Would Beechnut foods still be in business 100 years later if they did not maintain their QUALITY? You hope and trust the  stick of  Beechnut gum will taste as good as it did when you were a child. Watch for consistency and qualilty in all your dealings on the internet.

© Mary Hofstetter  aka panda picks   10-08

Mary,

That's great info.

Being an English gardener I am familiar with our European Beech which is a magnificent tre and is also used for heging as it retains its golden leaves all winter as a hedge. It does not have the fruiting merits of your tree, the nuts being small, however pigs have been fed on these.

Here is some info on the European Beech:

Beech Hedging (Fagus Sylvatica) |  Beech Hedging (Fagus Sylvatica) Beech (Fagus Sylvatica) Beech is not grown for its flowers or fruit but for its superb foliage of delicate fluttery leaves with wavy edges, initially a gentle soft golden green, then bright green and finally coppery. Strictly speaking, our native Beech is deciduous, but its crisp winter leaves, which stay on the plant until pushed off by the new bright green growth in spring, make it a great alternative to an evergreen hedge. It's relatively fast growing, at about 30-60cm p.a. so it does need to be trimmed in late summer/early autumn. The autumn clipping is essential for the leaf coverage to be retained throughout winter. Beech likes sun or partial shade and does well on almost any well-drained soil (acid or alkaline), but is not suitable for wet sites where Hornbeam is a more successful option. Though it is suitable for windy sites and is suitable as a dense windbreak hedge, it may not keep all of its winter leaves in very exposed (particularly coastal) positions. Beech forms a super formal hedge but its also a very good component in a native mixed hedge providing some winter colour and an important wildlife shelter when the remainder of the fully deciduous hedge loses its leaves.   No contest with the American Beech but still a beautiful tree and wood. I hope this was of interest. We all need to keep up standards. Roger

Hi Roger,  Great contribution here about reputation.  I see that the English Beech is called a tree but it looks more like a bush. They also come in many varieties, even a purple weeping beech.

The English Beech has its useful place in the  world of plants, and has its own brand of QUALITY.  Beechnut Lane, Beechnut Apartments, Beechnut wing (nursing home section).  What does it tell us?

Privacy, well cared for, valued and comfortable.  It also says, "requires  care" or it will grow out of control. Great name for showing those caring attributes.

Hi Mary,

The English beech actually makes a wonderful tree in fact on the hills near where I live they make wonderful Woodland. It is just that they make the greatest of decidous hedges including the red forms.

Roger

Hi Mary,

Your analogy is spot on! 

Have a great week,

Jen