X. 1. THE AMERICAN ELM. 289 



periors, the maples, the ashes, the birches, the beeches, and 

 even of the lordly oak itself. 



But the elm bears pruning better, and requires it less than 

 almost any tree, for it usually throws out no branches below a 

 height of twelve to twenty or thirty feet. It grows, too, with 

 great rapidity, for its roots run, just beneath the surface, to a 

 great distance, and thus get the best of the soil. 



The flowers are in numerous clusters of from eight to twen- 

 ty in a cluster, on the sides of the terminal branches. Each 

 flower is supported on a green, slender, membranous thread, from 

 one fifth to half an inch long, and consists of a brown cup, parted 

 into seven or eight divisions, rounded at the border, and con- 

 taining about eight brown stamens, and a long, compressed 

 ovary, surmounted by two short styles. This ripens into a 

 flattened seed-vessel, called a samara, which is winged on every 

 side, with a thin, ciliated or fringed border. The flowers appear 

 early in April or even in March, and the samarae are mature 

 before the full expansion of the leaves. 



The leaves are on very short footstalks, broad ovate, heart- 

 shaped, rounded or rarely acute at base, acuminate, conspicu- 

 ously doubly serrate ; divided by the mid-rib into very unequal 

 parts, of which the upper is larger ; somewhat tomentose when 

 young, afterwards roughish on both surfaces, particularly the 

 upper ; usually from two to four or five inches long, and one 

 and a half to two and a half broad, but varying extremely in 

 size. The rich green of the leaves turns, in autumn, to a sober 

 brown, which is sometimes touched with a bright golden yellow. 



The elder Michaux found the elm as far north, in Canada, 

 as 48° 20'. According to Hooker, it is found from Saskatch- 

 awan to York Factory, on Hudson's Bay. The younger Mi- 

 chaux traced it from Nova Scotia to Georgia, and says that it 

 is found in the extreme western part of the country. He con- 

 siders the country between the 42° and 46° of latitude as most 

 favorable to its growth. To this, probably, no part, considering 

 the soil, is better adapted than Massachusetts. This tree grows 

 in almost any soil, but never attains its loftiest elevation ex- 

 cept in rich, moist ground, such as is found on the banks of our 

 larger rivers. In such situations, it has so rapid a growth, that 

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