THE ELM TREE IW HEREFORDSHIRK. 



By Dr. bull. 



" Not always city-pent or pent at home 

 I dwell ; but when Spring calls me forth to roam, 

 Expatiate in our proud suburban shades 

 Of branching Elm, that never sun pervades." 



Milton. 



In the valleys of the Thames, the Avon, and the Severn, and for the 

 most part in the open country of the southern and midland parts of England, 

 the Elm is the most common timher tree. This is not the case in Herefordshire. 

 The deep tenacious clay loam that prevails so generally here is not the soil that 

 any kind of Elm delights in. There are nevertheless so many remarkable trees 

 of the common Elm in the country that they require and deserve some special 

 notice from our Club ; and, moreover, the commercial value of the tree has 

 suffered so much, in late years, that the fashion for planting Ehns seems dying- 

 out, and it may be useful once more to bring fonvard its great advantages as an 

 ornamental tree. 



The common English Elm for height and size, for grandeur of form, and 

 for majestic growth, combined with great lightness and beauty, has few com- 

 petitors. It gives to oxxi ijarks and pleasure grounds, giand avenues and noble 

 groups of trees ; it enriches our home landscapes ; adorns our houses ; and gives 

 everywhere a shade in summer that adds greatly to our personal enjoyment and 

 makes it perhaps in its homely and domestic associations the most general 

 favourite of all our large trees. 



[ Note. — " There fast rooted in his bank, 



Stand, never overlooked, our favourite Elms 

 That screen the herdman's soUtary hut." 



Ccwper's Task. 



"Almost every place," says Mr. Edwin Lees, in his charming book. 



The Botanical Looker-out, "has its favoui'ite old Elm, of large dimension-^ 



saucti&ed by some local name, often on a common, or beside a rustic inn 



or foldyard — once the resort of buoyant childhood — now abandoned for 



ever — and yet a hallowed landmark in the tearful vista of memory."] 



To the ordinary observer the Elm is the best known tree and the most 

 readily recognised, and yet to the botanist it offers one of the most diflScult 

 studies. Nature never seems more prolific in endless variety than in the seed bed 

 of the Elm. A glance at the plwits will instantly show their great variations. 



