140 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



is exposed to the weather. Sir J. E. Smith says that in Norfolk elm wood is geuerally 

 used for the naves of wheels, and in many parts of England, particularly London, it 

 is also employed for coffins. The knobs which grow upon old trees arc divided into 

 thin plates by cabinetmakers, particularly in France and Germany, and when polished 

 they exhibit very curious and beautiful arrangements of the fibre, which render this 

 wood suitable for ornamental furniture. Elm wood has been used from time im- 

 memorial for water-pipes, troughs, &c., and for conveying Avater to the salt-pans or 

 boxes where salt is evaporated. Our Saxon forefathers called all places where there 

 were salt springs wich or wych, such as Droitwich, Nantwich, &c. ; hence, probably, 

 came the name of Wych Elm, which was originally applied to the common British 

 Elm. The leaves and young shoots of the elm were used by the Romans to feed 

 cattle, and they are still so employed in many parts of France. They have in some 

 places been given to silkworms, and in France and Norway they are boiled to serve 

 as food for pigs. In some places the bark is used as an astringent medicine, and 

 the inner bark for making bast, masts, and ropes. Young deer are very fond of the 

 bark, and in Norway they kiln-dry it, and grind it with corn to make flour for bread. 

 Some years ago an immense quantity of dried elm leaves were used for adulterating 

 tea, and for manufactviring a substance intended to be used as a substitute for it. 

 They are astringent, but contain a considerable quantity of mucilaginous matter. 

 The bark of the elm contains a considerable quantity of tannin united with mucilage, 

 rendering it medicinal as a tonic and demulcent and of use in tanning. A decoction 

 of it has been used as a diuretic in dropsy, and it is said to be a good substitute 

 for sarsaparilla. In England the elm is seen to perfection in many gentlemen's parks, 

 and we recall the beautiful avenue of elms in St. James's Park, and at Oxford and 

 Cambridge. The ancient poets often mention the elm tree, which, in common with 

 other trees, or such as did not produce fruit fit for human food, were devoted to the 

 infernal gods. They were given up entirely to funereal purposes. Homer alludes 

 to this in the "Iliad," when he tells us that Achilles raised a monument to the father 

 of Andi'omache in the midst of a grove of elms — 



" Jove's sylvan daughters bade these elms bestow 

 A barren shade, and in his honour grow." 



Ovid mentions that when Orpheus returned to earth after his descent into the infernal 

 regions, his lamentations for the loss of Eurydice were so pathetic, that the earth 

 opened, and the elm and other trees sprang up to give him shade and comfort. The 

 Romans planted the elm as a support to the vine, and it is still used for this purpose 

 in the south of Italy. This circumstance gives rise to many allusions to the tree by 

 poets, both ancient and modern. Ovid makes Vertumnus aUudc to it when recom- 

 mending matrimony to Pomona — 



" If that fair Elm, he cried, alone should stand. 

 No grapes would glow with gold, and tempt the hand. 

 Or if that Vine without her Elm should grow, 

 'Twould creep a poor neglected shrub below." 



Milton, in " Paradise Lost," describing the occupation of Adam and Eve, says : — 



" She led the Vine 

 To wed her Elm ; she spoused, about him twines 

 Her marriageable arms ; and with her brings 

 Her dower, the adopted clusters, to adorn 

 His barren leaves," 



