i6 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Bock Elm. 



Vlrtms racemosa — Thomas. 

 This variety of elm was first discovered 

 or classified in the forests of western New 

 York state by David Thomas. From the fact 

 that it bears its flowers and fruit in racemes 

 he called the species racemosa. However, 

 some time later it was found that one of the 

 European varieties of the elm family is so 

 designated, whereupon Sargent re- 

 christened the tree Tlwmasi after 

 the botanist, so that it is now 

 known to authorities by either or 

 both names. 



The range of growth of rock elm 

 is from Quebec through Ontario, 

 southward through northwestern 

 New Hampshire to southern Ver- 

 mont j westward through northern 

 New York, southern Michigan and 

 Wisconsin to northeastern Nebraska, 

 southeastern Missouri and central 

 Tennessee. 



It is known as rock elm in Rhode 

 Island, West Virginia, Kentucky, 

 Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, 

 Michigan, Nebraska and Ontario; as 

 cork elm in Vermont, Massachusetts, 

 Rhode Island, New York, New Jer- 

 sey, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, 

 Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and 

 Iowa; as hickory elm in Missouri, 

 Illinois, Indiana and Iowa; as white 

 elm in Ontario; as Thomas elm in 

 Tennessee ; as northern cork-barked 

 elm in Tennessee; as corkbark elm 

 in New York; as northern cork elm 

 in Vermont; as Wahoo in Ohio; as 

 Cliff elm in Wisconsin ; as corky 

 white elm in several of the above 

 localities. 



The flowers of this tree grow on 

 elongated slender pedicels, often half 

 an inch long, the main stem length- 

 ening out until the spray becomes a 

 long, graceful raceme. They bloom 

 in March or April. The fruit ripens 

 when the leaves are about half ma- 

 tured, and consists of a round, flat 

 seed in a dull yellow samara; the 

 margins of its wings are fringed 

 and are glabrous excepting over the 

 kernel. 



The leaves of rock elm are very 

 similar to those of other species of 

 this family, coarsely serrate, oblong- 

 oval, and narrowing into short, broad 

 points; they are thick and firm, 

 smooth and dark above, paler and hairy be- 

 low, particularly on the midrib and have 

 numerous straight veins running toward the 

 teeth. In autumn they turn bright yellow. 



The bark of rock elm is three-quarters to 

 an inch thick, gray slightly tinged with red, 

 corky, velvety to the touch, and with wide, 

 irregular fissures which divide it into broad, 

 flat sections, broken into large, irregularly- 

 shaped scales on the surface. The bark of 



FIFTY-EIGHTH PAPER. 



the mature tree approaches in roughness tliat 

 of the shell-bark hickory. 



The heart wood is light brown, having a 

 reddish cast in many cases, while the sap- 

 wood is yellowish white, and the two are not 

 particularly well defined. Its weight is about 

 forty-five pounds to the cubic foot. It is 

 heavy, hard, very strong, tough, diflieult to 

 split, and capable of taking a high polish. 



TY1'IC.\L FOUEST GROWTH ROCK. KL.M, 

 NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 



showing a handsome grain. It is very com- 

 pact in structure and the name "rock" is 

 peculiarly applicable. In fact, rock elm is 

 considered the best timber of all its family, 

 for its elasticity and toughness make it well 

 adapted to heavy agricultural implement 

 work, wheel-stocks, hames, railway tics, sills, 

 bridge timbers and axe handles. 



It is especially esteemed in shipbuilding, 

 and its value is greatly appreciated by for- 



eign boatbiiilders, who. have to a very large 

 extent, exhausted the best growth of this 

 wood in the chief producing sections. For 

 years before general lumber operations pene- 

 trated into the northern portions of Michi- 

 gan and Wisconsin, agents for English 

 houses contracted for many million feet of 

 rock elm on the stump, and by long and 

 laborious processes cut the timber and hauled 

 it out to lines of transportation 

 and to the ports of the Great Lakes, 

 wliere it was shipped to Quebec and 

 from there to European markets. 



In general appearance this spe- 

 cies varies from other members of 

 the genus Vlmus in having shaggy 

 stout limbs like some members of 

 the oak family, and less of the 

 graceful but stately aspect of the 

 species americana and fulva. It 

 grows from seventy to ninety feet 

 in height, and two to three in diam- 

 eter, reaching its highest develop- 

 ment in southern Ontario and Mich- 

 igan. It will flourish either on low 

 ground where there is a heavy clay 

 soil, or on gravelly ridges and along 

 high bluffs. It is a very slow-grow- 

 ing tree, and this combined with ut- 

 ter neglect in replanting is threat- 

 ening it with extinction. In north- 

 ern Michigan and Wisconsin and 

 southern Ontario most of the large, 

 typical specimens have been razed. 



At the present time Michigan and 

 Wisconsin are the chief sources of 

 supply of rock elm, but the annual 

 cut of these states is getting to be 

 comparatively small. The recent re- 

 ]iort made by the Michigan Hard- 

 wood Manufacturers ' Association 

 shows that there was a total of less 

 than 1,000,000 feet of the wood 

 in the hands of manufacturers of 

 that state on July 1 last, of which 

 quantity 600,000 feet were sold. The 

 stock on hand in Wisconsin is prob- 

 alily considerably less than the 

 quantity in Michigan. 



It is unfortunate that so valuable 

 and useful a commercial wood as 

 rock elm should reach a point so 

 near exhaustion, and that no at- 

 tempt is made to perpetuate it by 

 replanting. The wood has never 

 been of prolific growth, and is a 

 very slow-growing type, but its 

 characteristics are such as to war- 

 rant the time and expense of replanting. 

 Rock elm thrives best in a mixed forest 

 and the finest specimens of the tree are found 

 among soft elm^ hemlock, maple and birch 

 growth — never in a pure stand. 



The large picture illustrating this article 

 was made on one of the properties of Cum- 

 mer, Diggins & Co., near Cadillac, Mich. It 

 is not a large specimen of the tree, but is 

 typical of its growth and characteristics. 



