262 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



AMERICAN EI.M IN WINTER 



It is easy to identify the elm in winter. This is tlie winter form of the 

 feathered type of the white or American elm. 



difficult to Split. Oliver Wendell Holmes graphically 

 describes this quality of elm wood in "The Wonderful 

 One-Hoss Shay:" 



"The hubs of logs from the settler's ellum, 

 Last of its timber — they couldn't sell 'em ; 

 Never an axe had seen their chips. 

 And the wedges flew from between their lips, 

 Their blunt ends frizzled like celery tips." 



The wood of the elm is easily recognized by the pecu- 

 liar wavy arrangement of the fibers when a smooth cut is 

 made across the ring of annual growth. 



American elm grows in almost any soil but prefers 

 deep rich loam. It has been little used in planting for 

 forestry purposes. But in reforesting soils too wet for 

 farming it will undoubtedly prove valuable in many 

 localities. Young elms sometimes grow an inch in diam- 

 eter in two or three years, but ten or twelve years to an 

 inch is nearer the average growth. As an ornamental and 

 street tree the American elm is unsurpassed, but it is sub- 

 ject to so many insect enemies that it cannot be recom- 

 mended for planting in New England. It is a favorite 

 food of the gypsy moth, leopard moth, brown-tail moth, 

 and the elm-leaf beetle is its special destructive pest. The 

 beetle and its larvae feed on the elm leaves from May to 

 August, and by preventing the growth of new foliage, 

 exhaust and kill the tree. The remedy is to spray lib- 

 erally with an arsenical solution as soon as the insect 

 begins its work, and spray again after a ten days' 

 interval, to destroy young larvae that hatch after first 

 application. 



On account of the toughness of its wood it is little 

 injured by storms, but in a smoky atmosphere this tree 

 does not thrive because its leaf surfaces become thickly 

 coated with soot. Because of its fibrous, shallow root sys- 

 tem, the elm is easily transplanted and even very large 

 trees may be successfully moved. The roots run out to a 

 great distance from the tree and will clog the drain pipes 

 if the joints of the pipes are not thoroughly closed. 



Too little attention is given to arousing public interest 

 in the splendid elms or other notable trees which exist 

 in most localities. Trees prized because of large size, 

 perfect form or historical associations should be known 

 and enjoyed by all, and should be carefully preserved for 

 the benefit of future generations. Passers-by would be 

 glad to know the life-stories of famous trees, and public- 

 spirited citizens and associations might well make system- 

 atic efforts to have appropriate tablets erected, giving the 

 liistorv of everv noted tree in the communitv. 



Commercial Uses of the White Elm 



THOUGH the white elm has long been held in es- 

 teem as an ornament, it has been in use a still 

 longer time. In some regions, in early times, the 

 bark was more valuable than the wood, because it could 

 be stripped from the trunk during most of the year and 

 could be separated into strands of which cordage was 

 made. The Iroquois Indians in western New York were 

 able to make serviceable canoes of elm bark. Such 

 canoes were all one piece, not many pieces sewed to- 

 gether, as when canoes were made of birch bark. An 

 elm trunk 20 feet or more in length was peeled, the 



bark turned inside out, the ends rolled up and tied, the 

 central part spread wide and secured by thwarts, and the 

 canoe was ready for service. It is recorded that Cap- 

 tain Blacksnake (an Indian) once visited Pittsburg in 

 such a canoe which he made on the head of the Alle- 

 gheny River; and Peter Kalm long before that described 

 the process by which the Mohawk Indians made them. 



Ropes of elm bark appear to have been in pretty gen- 

 eral use. They were common in New England, New 

 York, and North Carolina, ^^'ith such ropes the In- 

 dians dragged their canoes, tied their tent poles, hung up 



