1380 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
himself had seen some of these elms in Burgundy, with trunks from 4 ft. to 
5 ft. in diameter, which, though hollow, yet supported heads capable of shel- 
tering some thousands of men. In England, the elm has been planted from 
time immemorial; and, probably, from the era of the possession of the island 
by the Romans; though Dr. Walker supposes it to have been brought over at 
the time of the Crusades. The oldest trees on record are, perhaps, those of 
Mongewell, in Oxfordshire, which were celebrated in the time of Leland, in the 
reign of Queen Elizabeth. There may, however, be much older trees ; for the 
elm, being a tree of less national importance than the oak, has never possessed 
the same attractions for antiquaries. In Scotland, the English elm was hardly 
known before the union of the two kingdoms. Dr. Walker mentions it, in 
1780, as being found nowhere in that country of a large size; but, as already 
mentioned, promising to afford a much greater quantity of wood than the 
Scotch elm in the same space of time. He particularises a tree planted in 
1771, which, in 1799, was 35 ft. high. In Ireland, the narrow-leaved elm is 
said, in Mackay’s Flora Hibernica to be abundant, but scarcely indigenous ; 
and no instances are given of large trees. In the middle and southern states 
of Germany, it attains a considerable size, as will be seen by our statistics 
of this tree in foreign countries. 
Properties and Uses. The wood of the elm loses a great deal in drying: 
weigliing, when green, nearly 70 1b. the cubic foot; and, when dry, not more 
than 483 1b. The wood is of a brownish colour, and is hard and fine-grained. 
It possesses greater lateral adhesion, and less longitudinal toughness, than that 
of U. montana, and, consequently, does not crack so much as that sort in 
drying. In ship-building it is valuable for forming the blocks and dead eyes, 
and other wooden furniture of rigging, being particularly suitable for these 
purposes, from its hard and adhesive nature, and indisposition to crack 
or split when exposed to sun or weather. (See Matthews on Naval Timber, 
&c., p. 57.) The great use of the English elm, however, in ship-building, is 
for keels. The Norfolk elm is said by Sir J. E. Smith to make the best 
timber, and to sell for double the price of any other. It is rather remarkable, 
that Marshall seems of a diametrically opposite opinion ; since he says that there 
is nota single good elm in that county. Sir J. E. Smith adds that, in Norfolk, 
the elm is generally used for the naves of wheels; and in many parts of 
England, and particularly about London, it is also employed for coffins. (See 
Eng. F., ii. p. 20.) The knobs which grow upon old trees are divided into thin 
plates by cabinet-makers, particularly in France and Germany; and, when 
polished, they exhibit very curious and beautiful arrangements of the fibre; 
which render this wood extremely ornamental for furniture. A mode is 
mentioned in the Museum Rusticum (vols. i. and ii.) of preparing the wood of 
the trunk of the elm for cabinet-makers, and giving it the colour of mahogany. 
This consists in sawing the wood into thin planks, and then boiling it for an 
hour or more, till all the sap is extracted. The planks are afterwards wiped 
dry with coarse cloths, and laid in piles, alternately with layers of deal laths, 
placed across the boards at regular distances ; about ten or twelve boards are 
thus placed one above the other, and a heavy weight put on the last. In this 
way, the boards dry without warping, and are afterwards washed with aqua 
fortis, when they are ready for the dye. This consists of two drachms of pow- 
dered dragon’s blood, one drachm of powdered alkanet root, and half a drachm 
of aloes. These ingredients are steeped in halfa pint of spirits of wine, and the 
tincture is applied with a sponge, being repeated two or three times, according 
to the depth of colour required. Elm timber is remarkably durable in water ; 
and it is particularly adapted for piles, pumps, water-pipes, or any other similar 
purposes. It is generally employed for making the keels of large ships ; and, 
for this purpose, it often sells for a higher price than is obtained for any 
other kind of timber in the place where it grows. It has been used from 
time immemorial for water-pipes, or troughs, for conveying the water of the 
salt springs to the large boxes, or pans, where the watery particles are eva- 
porated by the heat of the sun or by fire, and the salt deposited ; and, as it 
