294 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



towns, it is much used for making large ships' blocks. As it is 

 very difficult to work, these are not made, like the smaller ones 

 which are of ash, of a single thick piece, but of several pieces 

 of plank pinned together. From the peculiarity of the grain, 

 these cannot be planed lengthwise, but must be wrought cross- 

 wise. By the ship-builder, it is used in the flat of ships' floors. 

 For blocks and hubs, it is said, by those who have tried both, 

 that English elm is decidedly superior. 



Formerly, the bark of the elm was used to make chair bot- 

 toms. It has considerable tenacity, and when macerated in 

 water and rendered supple by pounding, may be twisted into a 

 pretty strong cord. 



The elm may be very easily propagated by seed, by suckers, 

 or by layers. The seed is ripe in May or early in June; and in 

 August and September, I have seen thousands of young elms 

 springing from them in the paths or sandy walks beneath, or 

 near the tree. The seed should be sown immediately after it 

 has fallen, on soft, sandy loam, and covered lightly to the depth 

 of one eighth or one fourth of an inch. The plants will appear 

 in a few weeks, and may be transplanted to a nursery the same 

 autumn. In from five to ten years, they will be large enough 

 to be planted where they are permanently to stand. There is 

 so great a similarity in the habits of this and the English elm, 

 that it might doubtless be propagated by suckers and layers, 

 i:i the same manner as directed for that tree. — See pp. 302 — 3. 



The elm is transplanted from the forest, of every size, from 

 five or six feet to thirty or more ; and it is so tenacious of life 

 that it bears beheading and dismemberment in an astonishing 

 manner. Far more pains in the transplantation would be well 

 rewarded. By a little attention to the habit of the young trees, 

 those might be selected which would push up to an ample height 

 before ramifying : and those numerous varieties which strike 

 us by their beauty, when seen standing as they were left on 

 the clearing up of the woods, might be secured by examining 

 the tendencies of the trees in particular situations. 



I have measurements of very many large elms from various 

 parts of this State. For many of them, I am indebted to the 



