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Beeches don't crop very often.  I think the legend goes, a big crop every 7 years.  We had a big crop here about that long ago.  I swept them up on the road with a broom, and took them home to roast.  When they do crop, you're supposed to rake up the leaves, and the nuts tend to stay on the ground, I forget. Or you can just burn the leaves, and pick out the roasted beechnuts.  This handy roasting technique would also pop the shells.  I don't know if trees in a well watered and well fertilized area would crop better, but I'll bet if there aren't 2 or more to X pollinate, you never will find any nuts there. Were there any empty shells?  We see some of those every year, not any quantity, probably the squirrels get most of the nuts out of them.   Donna