chap. ci.

t/XMA'CEiE. f/LMUS.

1381

is well known that our Saxon ancestors called all the places where therewere salt springs wich or wych (such as Droitwieh, Nantwich , &e.), hence,probably, originated the name of wych elm, which was originally applied toall the British kinds, as well as to U. montana. ( See Hunters Evelyn, i. p. 114.)As fuel, the wood of the elm is to that of the beech as 1259 to 1540; and, ascharcoal, as 1407 is to 1600. ( Hartig .) The ashes of the elm are rich inalkaline salts; and among the ashes of 73 sorts of trees, the properties ofwhich have been tried, it occupies the tenth place. (Wernec/c). The leavesand young shoots were used by the Romans to feed cattle, and they are stillso employed in many parts of France . They have in some places been givento silkworms; and, in both France and Norway , they are boiled to serve asfood for pigs. In Russia , the leaves of U. c. parvifolia are used for tea. Thebark, is used, in some places, as an astringent medicine ; and the inner bark, likethat of the lime, for making bast mats and ropes. It is said that both the leavesand bark contain a considerable proportion of glue. Young deer are very fondof this bark; and in Norway they kiln-dry it, and grind it with corn to makeflour for bread. The elm was planted by the Romans for the purpose ofsupporting the vine; and it is still so employed, along with the Lombardy'poplar, in the south of Italy . Columella informs us that vineyards, with elmtrees as props, were named arbusta, the vines themselves being called arbus-tivffi vites, to distinguish them from others raised in more confined situations.Once in two years, the elms were carefully pruned, to prevent their leavesfrom overshadowing the grapes; and this operation being deemed of greatimportance, Corydon is reproached by Virgil, for the double neglect of suf-fering both his elms and vines to remain unpruned.

Semiputata tibi frondosa vitis in ulmo est.” ;

Your vine half-pruned upon the leafy elm.

As a picturesque tree, “ the elm,” Gilpin observes, “ has not so distinct acharacter as either the oak or the ash. It partakes so much of the oak, that,when it is rough and old, it may easily, at a little distance, be mistaken forone; though the oak (I mean such an oak as is strongly marked with itspeculiar character) can never be mistaken for the elm. This is certainly adefect in the elm; for strong characters are a great source of picturesquebeauty. This defect, however, appears chiefly in the skeleton of the elm :m full foliage, its character is more marked. No tree is better adapted toreceive grand masses of light. In this respect it is superior both to the oakand the ash. Nor is its foliage, shadowing as it is, of the heavy kind. Itsleaves are small; and this gives it a natural lightness: it commonly hangsloosely, and is, in general, very picturesque. The elm naturally grows upright,and, when it meets with a soil it loves, rises higher than the generality of trees;and, after it has assumed the dignity and hoary roughness of age, few of itsforest brethren (though, properly speaking, it is not a forester) excel it in gran-deur and beauty. The elm is the first tree that salutes the early spring with itslight and cheerful green; a tint which contrasts agreeably with the oak,whose early leaf has generally more of the olive cast. We see them some-nnes m fine harmony together, about the end of April and the beginning ofhr °^ ten ’ a ^ so ’ see *-h e elm planted with the Scotch pine. In the spring,i s light green is very discordant with the gloomy hue of its companion; but,^ hi/ ea - r ac ^ vances > the elm leaf takes a darker tint, and unites in harmonywith the pine. In autumn, also, the yellow leaf of the elm mixes as kindly withe orange of the beech, the ochre of the oak, and many of the other fadingU f S k™ 6 . wo °h-” ( Gilpin’s Forest Scenery, vol. i. p. 43.) “ The elm throws

° u a beautiful bloom, in the form of a spicated ball, about the bigness of au meg, °f a, d a rk crimson colour. This bloom sometimes appears in suchP o usion as to thicken and enrich the spray exceedingly, even to the fulness^ most of foliage.” (/iid., p. 114.) “The branch of the elm has neither them ei ?®. aor .*-he various abrupt twistings of the oak; nor does it shoot soUc in horizontal directions. Such, also, is the spray, {fig- 1232.) It has a

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