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ARBORETUM AND fRUTICETUM.

I’ART 111.

more regular appearance, not start-ing off at right angles, but formingits shoots more acutely with theparent branch; neither does thespray of the elm shoot, like theash (fig. 1046. in p. 1222.), in re-gular pairs from the same knot,but in a kind of alternacy. It hasgenerally, at first, a flat appearance;but, as one year’s shoot is added toanother, it has not strength to support itself; and, as the tree grows old,it often becomes pendent also, like the ash: whereas the toughness andstrength of the oak enable it to stretch out its branches horizontally to thevery last twig.” {Ibid., p. 113.) As an ornamental tree, it is used, both inBritain and on the Continent, more especially in France and Holland , forplanting in avenues, particularly in public walks. For this purpose it is welladapted, from the comparative rapidity of its growth in any soil, the straight-ness of its trunk, the facility with which it bears lopping, the denseness ofits foliage, its hardiness, and its longevity. It has also the great advantageof requiring very little pruning, or care of any kind, after it has once beenplanted. There are many fine avenues of elms in France , particularly those inthe Champs Elysees and at Versailles ; and in Holland , at the Hague . InEngland, the principal public elm avenues are in St. James’s Park, and atOxford and Cambridge; but there are also some very fine ones at gentle-men’s seats, especially at White Knights, Littlecote Hall, and Strathfieldsaye.

Poetical and historical Allusions. The ancient poets frequently mention thistree, which, in common with many other barren trees, was devoted by themto the infernal gods. The Greeks and Romans considered all the trees whichproduced no fruit fit for human use as funereal trees. Homer alludes to thiswhen he tells us, in the Iliad , that Achilles raised a monument to the father ofAndromache in the midst of a grove of elms.

“ Jove’s sylvan daughters bade their elms bestowA barren shade, and in his honour grow.”

Ovid tells us that, when Orpheus returned to earth after his descent intothe infernal regions, his lamentations for the loss of Eurydice were so pathetic,that the earth, opened, and the elm and other trees sprang up to give himshade. Virgil , in his Georgies, mentions that the Roman husbandmen bent theyoung elms, while growing, into the proper shape for the hurts, or plough-tail. (See Georg, i. ver. 170.) The use, however, which the Romans made ofthe elm, as a prop to the vine, has given rise to the most numerous allusionsto the tree by poets, not only ancient, but modern. Ovid makes Vertumnusallude to it, when he is recommending matrimony to Pomona.

“ ‘ If that fair elm,’ be cried, ‘ alone should stand,

No grapes would glow with gold, and tempt the hand ;

Or if that vine without her elm should grow,

’Twould creep, a poor neglected shrub, below.’ ”

Milton, in describing the occupations of Adam and Eve in Paradise, says,—

-“ They led the vine '

To„wed her elm : she, spoused, about him twinesHer marriageable arms; and with her bringsHer dower, the adopted clusters, to adornHis barren leaves.”

Tasso has also alluded to this custom, in the beautiful lines beginning,“ Come olmo, a cui la pampinosa pianta,” in the 20th canto of La GerusalemiMLiberata.

In the early ages of Christianity , the hunters were accustomed to hang theskins of the wolves they had killed in the chase on the elms in the church-yards, as a kind of trophy.

Soil and Situation. “ Narrow-leaved English elms,” says Mitchell, “abhor