304 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



the same practice is still the most general in France." — Lou- 

 don's Arboretum., Vol. Ill, p. 1383. 



In England, trees are planted without being headed down, 

 but on the Continent, from the greater warmth of the summers, 

 they are apt to be killed, when transplanted with their branches, 

 in consequence of the great evaporation from their leaves. Our 

 summers are even hotter than those of the Continent of Eu- 

 rope, and the practice which has been so long found perfectly- 

 successful there, will be likely to be better suited to our climate 

 than the English mode. 



A practice recommended by Evelyn, (Discourse, p. 127,) is 

 still in use abroad, and may, in some cases, be very convenient. 

 When, as is often the case in this country, no suckers spring up 

 round the tree, "bare some of the master-roots of a vigorous 

 tree within a foot of the trunk, or thereabouts, and with your 

 axe make several chops, putting a small stone into every cleft, 

 to hinder the closure, and give access to the wet; then cover 

 Ihem with three or four inches of earth, and thus they will send 

 forth suckers in abundance; I assure you, one single elm, thus 

 well ordered, is a fair nursery, which, after two or three years, 

 you may separate and plant in the ulmarium,, or place designed 

 for them ; and which, if it be in plumps, as they call them, 

 within ten or twelve feet of each other, or in hedge-rows, it will 

 be better ; for the elm is a tree of consort, sociable, and so af- 

 fecting to grow in company, that the very best which I have 

 ever seen, do almost touch one another : this also protects them 

 from the winds, and causes them to shoot of an extraordinary 

 height, so as, in little more than forty years, they arrive to a 

 load of timber, provided they be sedulously and carefully culti- 

 vated, and the soil propitious ; for an elm does not thrive so 

 well in the forest, as where it may enjoy scope for the roots to 

 dilate and spread at the sides, as in hedge-rows and avenues, 

 where they have the air likewise free." 



I have been thus particular in regard to the English Elm, 

 because of its great beauty and rapid growth, and the value of 

 its timber, in which last particulars it is doubtless superior to 

 the American Elm, as, in the others, it is little if at all inferior. 



