Tree Study 



745 



THE AMERICAN ELM 



Teacher's Story 



LTHOUGH the American elm loves moist woods, 

 it is one of those trees that enjoys gadding; and 

 without knowing just>how it has managed to do 

 it, we can see plainly that it has planted its seeds 

 along fence corners, and many elms now grace 

 our fields on sites of fences long ago laid low. 

 Because of its beautiful form and its rapid 

 growth, the elm has been from earliest times a 

 favorite shade tree in the Eastern and Middle 

 States. Thirty years after being planted, the 

 elms on the Cornell Campus clasped branches 

 across 



the avenues; and the beauty of 

 many a village and city is due 

 chiefly to these graceful trees of 

 bounteous shade. Moreover the 

 elm is at no time more beautiful 

 than when it traces its flowing 

 lines against the background of 

 snow and gray horizon. Whether 

 the tree be shaped like a vase or 

 a fountain, the trunk divides 

 into great uplifting branches, 

 which in turn divide into 

 spray that oftentimes droops 

 gracefully, as if it were made pur- 

 posely to sustain from its fine tips 

 the woven pocket-nest of the 

 oriole. No wonder this bird so 

 often chooses the elm for its roof- 

 tree! 



In winter, the dark, coarsely- 

 ridged bark and the peculiar, 

 wiry, thick spray, as well as the 

 characteristic shape of the tree 

 reveal to us its identity; it also 



The elm in winter. 



