274 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



of the American elm growing with it gained but six inches 

 in sixty-five years. 



Never a common tree, the rock elm is fast disappearing 

 from even those parts of the country where formerly it was 

 the most abundant; and steps should at once be taken to 

 propagate and plant what must be considered, in spite of its 

 slow growth, one of the most valuable of American timber- 

 trees. I cannot learn that the rock elm has ever been culti- 

 vated, except in the new Arboretum of Harvard University, 

 where seedlings three or four years old are perfectly hardy, 

 and are growing about half as fast as American elms of an 

 equal age.^ 



The methods employed to propagate and cultivate the 

 American elm will be found equally successful with the 

 rock elm, which will, I am confident, find itself at home in 

 any part of the United States, and in any situation where the 

 American elm will thrive. The cultivation of the rock elm 

 cannot, however, be recommended in those portions of the 

 country infested with the canker-worm, which will doubtless 

 attack indiscriminately the foliage of all the North American 

 elms. 



The Allan thus (^Ailanthus glandulosa, Desf.). 



It is probable that no tree has been at once the subject of 

 so much undeserved praise and of such ignorant and foolish 

 abuse as has been bestowed on the ailanthus by its friends 

 and enemies in the United States during the last fifty years. 

 At one time more popular as a shade-tree in this country 

 than any other native or foreign tree has ever been, its very 

 name soon became a term of reproach; and in recent years 

 its rare advocates in American journals, reflecting the opin- 

 ion that has of late been formed in regard to this tree in 

 Europe, have been read with entire indifference, if not with 

 positive contempt. A careful examination of the serious 

 objections to the ailanthus, and of whatever merits it may 

 be found to possess, will perhaps lead to a more just appre- 

 ciation of its real character and proper uses. 



1 Since writing the above, I have learned from Dr. S. H. Wright of Penn 

 Yan, N.Y., that Ulmus raccmoxa has been occasionally planted in that town, 

 and that its rate of growth is not slower than that of American elms of the 

 same age, and growing under similar conditions. 



