February 10, 18711. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND OOTTAQE GARDENER. 



113 



kept growing freely they Boon beoome infested with green fly. 

 When under glass they ehoiild have thorough ventilation. 

 They are all easily increased by seeds and division.— Veritas. 



THE ELM. 



Some writers think that the Elm (Ulmus oampestris) is not 

 a native of this country, but they have no reasonable grounds 

 on which to found such an opinion. The name EUm is 

 Anglo-Saxon, and ap- 

 pears to be derived from 

 a root-word indicating 

 height and strength. As 

 corroborative evidence, 

 justly cited by Dr. 

 Hunter are nearly forty 

 places in England, most- 

 ly mentioned in Domes- 

 day Book, which have 

 their names compound- 

 ed with the name of 

 Elm. 



Whenever any plant 

 has associated with the 

 times of its leafing or 

 flowering the seasons for 

 performing garden ope- 

 rations, that is a cer- 

 tain indication that the 

 plant was in England, 

 as lawyers say, " before 

 the memory of man run- 

 neth to the contrary." 

 The Elm is one of those 

 guide plants accepted by 

 gardeners in the olden 

 time, and they had this 

 rhymed kalendarial 

 warning; — 



"When Elm leaves are as big 



as a shilliog 

 Plant Kidney Beans if to plant 



'em you're willing. 

 ■\Vhen Elm leaves areas big as 



a penny 

 You must plant Kidney Beans 



if you mean to have any." 



Nor were our country- 

 men the earliest to de- 

 duct indications from 

 those leaves, for YirgU 

 wrote that 



" Each trembling leaf with 

 some light vision teems." 



Miller states that 

 " Queen Elizabeth is 

 said to have planted an 

 Elm with her own hand 

 at Chelsea. It went by 

 her name, and I remem- 

 ber it a stately flourish- 

 ing tree, except that the 

 top was decayed. It stood 

 nt the upper end of the 

 church, and marked the 

 boundary of the parish 

 on the north side. It 

 was felled on the 11th of 



November, 1745, and sold for a guinea to Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. , 

 lord of the manor. It was 13 feet in circumference at the bottom, 

 and 110 feet high." But Gilpin tells of one far larger that was 

 felled in 1674 on Sir Walter Bagot's Staffordshire estate. Two 

 men were five days in felling it. It was 120 feet high, the stool 

 47 feet in circumference ; lUO naves for wheels, and 8G60 feet 

 of boards were cut from it, and the whole tree was computed 

 to weigh 97 tons. 



No tree is better adapted for the formation of an avenue, 

 and not one is more used for the purpose. The most striking 

 example we remember is that at Strathfieldsaye, a mile in 

 length. The fitness of Elms for avenues arises from their 

 branches crossing at a pleasing angle, growing pendant in age, 

 and far above the heads of the passers beneath. Gilpin truly 

 observes that no tree ia better adapted to receive grand 



Fig. 30.— Ulmus campestkis. 



masses of light, nor is its foUage, shadowing as it is, heavy in 

 effect. Its leaves are small, commonly hang loosely, and the 

 forms picturesque. It is the lirst tree that salutes the spring 

 with its light and cheerful green, a tint contrasting agreeably 

 with that of the Oak, the early leaf of which has usually an 

 oUve oast. In autumn also the yellow leaf of the Elm mixes 

 as kindly with the orange of the Beech, the ochro of the Oak, 

 and other hues of the fading wood. 

 It was of the common Elm that Hood sang — 



"The tall abounding Elm 



that grows 

 In hedgerows up and down, 

 In 0old and homestead, gro^e 



and park, 

 And in the peopled town ; 

 With colonies of noiwy rooks 

 That nestle in its crown." 



These lines are faith- 

 fully descriptive of this 

 Elm, for as a park, hedge- 

 row, and homestead tree 

 it is very familiar, and 

 few trees are more im- 

 posing. It is also true 

 that the rooks have a 

 great partiality to the 

 Elm , and it is of its twigs 

 principally that they 

 build their nests. It is 

 not, however, a tree well 

 adapted to the "peopled 

 town." In the country it 

 is majestic as the avenue 

 noticed, and the grand 

 trees at Windsor and 

 other places attest, but 

 in smoky towns Elms are 

 seldom long-lived, and 

 furthermore their pecu- 

 liarity of suddenly part- 

 ing with limbs in storm 

 or in calm render them 

 unsafe. It is a singular 

 fact, and not clearly ac- 

 counted for, that in calm , 

 still, sultry days the huge 

 branches are prone to fall 

 with a crash without a 

 note of warning. On that 

 account it is not suitable 

 for towns, nor yet for vil- 

 lage greens where " men 

 do congregate." The 

 Plane is the tree of trees 

 for towns, and for village 

 greens the Chestnut is 

 of free growth, and af- 

 fords luxurious shade. 

 Who can think of plant- 

 ing village trees with- 

 out calling to mind the 

 rural warblinga of Long- 

 fellow in the well-known 

 song — nay, is it not a 

 hymn '! 



"Under the spreading Chest- 

 nut tree the village smithy 

 stands." 



Our advice is, therefore, that Elms be planted only in parks, 

 hedgerows, or avenues in rural districts, and not in towns or 

 villages. .„ ^ .. , ,, 



That only applies to the subject of our illustration, for there 

 are other varieties of the Elm singularly ornamental and per- 

 fectly safe. Drooping Elms are particularly efiective as lawn 

 trees. They are quick growers, and their outline is graceful, 

 speedily forming natural bowers it a little care is taken to train 

 their pendant branches ; and the gold and silver variegated 

 sorts afford a fine relief to the dense greenery pervading land- 

 scape masses. , , 



U. campestria and its allies are raised by suckers and layers, 

 but chiefly by seeds, which should be gathered in June as soon 

 as ripe, and sowed in light mellow soil. The ornamental 

 varieties are mostly grafted on stocks of U. montana. The 



