March :3, 1S70. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



165 



suppose Mr. Taylor will send the Dunbar Regent and the other 

 two. My Potatoes are so good that I cannot see how they can 

 be improved. By continually selecting seed of uniform shape 

 I have my samples of Hero, Taylor's Hybrid, Pebble White, 

 and Lapstone (which came in all forms when I first had them) 

 perfectly uniform in shape. Never plant malformed seed. 

 " Similia shiiilibus parantur." I dislike the terin " they will 

 do for seed." — W. F. Radclytfe. 



P.S. — Since writing the above I have received from Messrs. 

 Hooper the tuber referred to. It is 1 lb. weight and very fine, 

 a flattened oval, with eyes sufficiently prominent. It is called 

 Monk, and evidently an American. I will do my best with it. 



THE ELMS OF OUR WOODLANDS. 



In the near neighbourhood of London, north, east, south, 

 and west, the English Elm (Ulmus eampestris), abounds in 

 every hedgerow bordering the market gardens and fields. The 

 trees are for the most part ugly only because they are pruned 

 so unmercifully, so that their umbrella-like heads seem to be 

 stuck on bare poles. This variety of Elm bears seed rarely, 

 but occasionally, if the trees be suffered to grow as nature dic- 

 tates ; still it is seldom or never perfect, and is sparingly pro- 

 duced, leading one to suppose that this variety is not indigenous, 

 although by suckers from its roots it peoples every hedge if the 

 soil be good. This variety must be the Elm of " Science 

 Gossip," which in places where it suckers abundantly, " seldom 

 shows any sign3 of fruiting at all ; " but if detached trees are 

 iound growing near trees of Ulmus glabra, they often bear seed 

 perfect enough to produce young trees. 



In the country to the north-east, south-east, and east of Lon- 

 don the Elms of our woodlands are of a different race. They 

 commence to show themselves some ten or twelve miles from 

 the city, often growing with the English Elm ; in the east of 

 Hertfordshire they abound in all the parks and hedgerows; 

 also in the north of Essex and eastern Suffolk, nearly to the 

 coast, the so-called English Elm (Ulmus eampestris), being 

 comparatively rare. This variety is the smooth-leaved Wych 

 Elm of Loudon, and is remarkable for bearing seeds in abund- 

 anse in some seasons, so that the parks and fields are strewn 

 with them, and the parts of the country in which the trees 

 abound would, apparently, in a few years become forests of 

 Elms ; the young plants are, however, so delicate in their tex- 

 ture as to be greedily devoured by sheep, so that in parks like 

 those of Pishobury and Gilston, both near this place (Saw- 

 bridgeworth), in which the trees are large and often bear from 

 three to four bushels of seed, it is rare to find young seedling 

 trees making their way. 



This seed is very capricious, for in some seasons it is diffi- 

 cult to find a tree bearing perfect seels, although the trees^nay 

 be crowded with their Hop-like burden — for when strewed on the 

 ground they are much like dried Hops. At other times trees 

 may be found not so thickly crowded with seed, in which some 

 thirty to fifty per cent, are perfect, and if sown within a few 

 days after being gathered they vegetate quickly, and if the soil 

 be rich they make young trees some 2 feet in height before 

 October. The seel ripens in June. 



I have always been inclined to hold that this is an indi- 

 genous Elm, the Eodish Elm par excellence, and I used to 

 have some pleasant disputes with dear old London — 

 " Alas ! we ne'er shall look upon his like again — " 

 And my strong ground of argument was its seed-bearing ten- 

 dency, in contrast with Ulmus eampestris, which is so loth 

 to give seeds, and so unlike in that respect our native trees — 

 the Ash, the Beech, the Oak, and many others ; and I have 

 always urged that hundreds of thousands of Ulmus glabra may- 

 be raised from seed without finding one like our dark-foliaged, 

 compact-growing tree, the English Elm, or even approaching 

 it in habit. I say this from experience, for in years long 

 passed some ten or twenty sacks of seed were sown here when 

 a favourable Elm seed season occurred, which was and is about 

 twice in five years, rarely more frequently. 



The difference in the appearance of the Elms in Middlesex 

 and those of Hertfordshire is most remarkable, even to the 

 least observant ; the former with leaves dense and dark, the 

 latter with light green and often sparse foliage, and in many trees 

 the twigs are graceful and pendulous. When the trees are old 

 and inclined to be«r seed freely, they are often ungainly objects, 

 for if their blossoms are abundant, even if seed does not follow, 

 the leaf-buds are destroyed, and others remain bare of foliage 

 taU the middle of July ; so that in the hedgerow of my neigh- 



bour, where there are some tre6S of the English Elm growing 

 near those of Ulmus glabra, the smooth-leaved Wych Elm — or 

 as it is called here, the Hertfordshire Elm — it looks strange to 

 see in Juno the Eoglish Elm (Ulmus eampestris), in its full 

 summer foliage, while its near neighbours, the Hertfordshire 

 Elms, are as bare of leaves as at Christmas. To this species 

 (Ulmus glabra), we owe most of our numerous varieties of 

 Elms, from Ulraus microphylla to the Huntingdon Elm, with 

 its large leaves and vigorous growth. 



Anyone travelling from Dunkirk to Lille by the old diligence 

 road, would feel interested in the Elms, their stems are so 

 smooth and so light in colour, and their leaves large and of 

 a pale green. They are everywhere — in the hedgerows, in 

 coppices, and in detached groups. By those who know Elms 

 they will be recognised as the variety called in England the 

 Huntingdon Elm, growing with great luxuriance in the rich, 

 deep alluvial soil. It is quite probable that this variety was 

 brought over by the Earl of Sandwich about the middle of the 

 last century, and the trees planted in his park, near Hunting- 

 don, hence its English origin. The same variety may be seen 

 in Bushy Park, where there are avenues of it leading from the 

 northern entrance. Were they imported by " Dutch William ?" 

 Ulmus americana has a strong resemblance to Ulmus glabra; 

 its leaves are of the same light green, and it bears seed freely. 

 It is usually more pendulous than the generality of our smooth- 

 leaved Wych Elm3, but its resemblance to them is very striking. 



The Scotch Elm (Ulmus montana), is a species, if such s. 

 thing as a species exists, for although millions of this tree are 

 raised from seed annually, no such variation in habit is ever 

 found as with Ulmus glabra. It is true that we have pen- 

 dulous trees of this sort, and also upright varieties, but there 

 is, as far as I have seen, no material variation, as they all have 

 those rough, large, hairy, dark green leaves, so characteristic 

 of the sort. Why seedlings raised from this Elm should be so 

 constant in their characters, while those of Ulmus glabra, which 

 seems to be equally indigenous to the eastern parts of Eng- 

 land, should vary to the extent they do is a mystery, for in a 

 thousand seedlings of Ulmus glabra no two trees can be found 

 alike. Some have very small leaves, some cork-like bark, some 

 are pendulous, and others scrubby and dwarf in habit. We do not 

 find this variation in other seedling forest trees, the Beech and 

 the Ash but rarely vary ; and so, perhaps, as some authority, I 

 think, has asserted, there is but one well-defined species of 

 Elm in the northern hemisphere — the Ulmus montana, and 

 that all our numerous species (so-called) and varieties have in 

 the course of ages and changes in site and climat9 been origi- 

 nated from it. The question is full of interest. 



Since writing the above some remarkable specimens of 

 Ulmus glabra growing in the park at Pishobury, opposite to 

 my residence, came to my recollection. They were planted 

 at the end of the seventeenth century or very early in the last, 

 and form a portion of a grand avenue. This park, although 

 not extensive, once possessed four avenues — one of Ulmus 

 glabra, one of Oaks now seven centuries old, one of Limes, and 

 one of Ulmus eampestris, the latter two planted at the same 

 period as that of Ulmus glabra. About the year 1780 that 

 avenue-destroyer " Capability Brown," then in great fashion, 

 was called in to improve the park. His improvement, as usual 

 with him, consisted in destroying three of the avenues, forming 

 the trees into clump3, planting clumps of mixed trees in the 

 park, and making a belt nearly round it. An idea occurred to 

 me that these old specimens of Ulmus glabra much resembled 

 in their habit the Scotch Elm, Ulmus montana ; and so to-day 

 I refreshed my memory by a close examination of them, and I 

 found them, as compared with Ulmus eampestris, to be of less 

 altitude, and inclined to throw out horizontal arms of enor- 

 mous size, near the ground ; one, in bulk a good-sized tree, only 

 7 feet from the ground, measuring 45 feet from the bole. In 

 appearance they much resemble the Scotch Elm, which in this 

 part of the country is a spreading tree rarely attaining any 

 considerable height. The young shoots of this kind of Ulmus 

 glabra have a reddish tinge, thus differing from those of the 

 Scotch Elm, which are grey. The most remarkable character- 

 istic is, however, its foliage, which is equal in volume to that 

 of the Scotch Elm, but perfectly glabrous. This sort bears 

 seeds in abundance. The trees are now loaded with blossom 

 buds. 



It is, however, curious to note that seedlings raised from 

 these very old trees do not reproduce the variety, but at once 

 diverge into varieties with comparatively narrow leaves, and 

 in habit exactly resemble our common hedge Elms, the Smooth- 

 leaved Wych. These old and very remarkable Elms lead one 



