4SS ULMUS CAMPESTRIS. 



tain," or " tall olm," (Ulmus atinia.) wliicli corresponds to tlic Ulmns camposfris; 

 the "(Jaulic clin;"' llic " elm of Italy," which had its leaves in tiilts ; and the 

 " wiltl ehn."' 



In Mntain. the elm has been planted from time immemorial, or, at least, 

 from the era of the possession of that island by the Kumans; prohably, having 

 been brought over, as was conjectnrcd by Dr. Walker, dining tlie Crnsades. The 

 oldest trees on record are, -perhaps, a beanlifnl gronp at Mongewcll, in ()xf(trd- 

 shire, which were celebrated in the time of Leland, in the reign of Unecn 101 iza- 

 beih. The largest of these trees, according to Mr. London, is scveniy-nijie feet 

 high, fonrteen leet in circnmfcrcnce at three feet above the gromid, with a head 

 sixty-live feet in diameter. There are, donbtless, mnch older trees in England ; 

 for the elm, being of much less national iinjxirtance than the oak, has never pos- 

 sessed the same attractions for antiqnaries. Evelyn, to ])rovc that the elm attains 

 a "prodigious growth in less than a person's age," mentions a tree, which he had 

 seen "planted by the hand of a countess, living not long since, which was near 

 twelve feet compass, and of a height proportionable." ***** " Mine own 

 liands," he adds, " measnred a table more than once, of about five feet in breadth, 

 nine and a half feet in length, and six inches thick, all entire and clear. This, cut 

 out of a tree felled by my father's order, was made a pastry board. ***** The 

 incomparable walks at the royal palaces, in the neighbourliood of Madrid, were 

 planted with this majestic tree." These elms are said to have been the first that 

 were planted in Spain; and Baron Dillon tells ns that, when he saw them, about 

 the end of the last century, they were six feet in diameter, and in a healthy state. 

 Several of these trees were still in existence, as lately as 1833. The plants were 

 taken from Britain, by Philip II., who had married Mary Tudor, daughter of 

 Henry VIIL, and queen of England. In Scotland, the English elm was hardly 

 known before the union of the two kingdoms. Dr. Walker mentions it, in 1780, 

 as being nowhere found in that country of a large size ; but, as promising to 

 afford a much greater quantity of wood than the Scotch elm, in the same space 

 of time. He particularizes a tree planted in 1771, which, in 1799, was thirty-five 

 feet high. In Ireland, the English, or narrow-leaved elm, is said, in Mackay's 

 "Flora Hibernica," to be abundant, but scarcely indigenous. 



Among the recorded trees of this species, in Britain, perhaps there are none 

 more remarkable than the "Crawley Elm," which has been figured by Strutt, in 

 his "Sylva Britannica, as well as by Loudon, in his "Arboretum Britannicum," 

 and stands on the high road from London to Brighton. According to the last- 

 named gentleman, it is seventy feet high, with a trunk, which is hollow, sixty- 

 one feet in circumference on the exterior, at the ground, and thirty-five feet round 

 the inside, at two feet from the base. There is a regular door to the cavity of 

 this tree, the key of which is kept by the lord of the manor ; but it is opened on 

 particular occasions, when the neighbours meet to regale themselves in its inte- 

 rior, where there is a room, with a floor paved with bricks, sufficiently capacious 

 to contain a party of twelve or more persons. Madame de Genlis says, a poor 

 woman gave birth to an infant in the hollow of this tree, where she afterwards 

 resided for a long time. 



At Coombe Abbey, in Warwickshire, there is an Ulmus campestris one hun- 

 dred and fifty feet high, with a trunk nine and a half feet in diameter, and an 

 ambitus or spread of branches of seventy-four feet. It is estimated to be over two 

 hundred years of age. 



The principal public avenues of elms, in England, are in St. James' Park, and 

 at Cambridge and Oxford ; and there are also some very fine ones on private 

 gentlemen's seats, especially at White Knights, near Reading, at Littlecote Hall, 

 and at Strathfieldsaye. 



One of the largest trees of this species in Scotland, is at Wemyss CastlC; in 



