1382 



AlllJ()Ki:rU.M AND Fuurici:'! UM. 



I'AKT 111. 



more regular appearance, not start- * 1232 



iiig off' at ri<,'lit aiijiles, but lorminii 

 its slioots more acutely with tlie 

 parent branch ; neither does the 

 spray of the ehn shoot, like the 

 ash "(fin;. I04G. in p. 122-^.), in re- 

 gular pairs from the same knot, 

 but in a kiml of alternacy. It 1ms 

 generally, at first, a Hat appearance ; 

 but, as one year's shoot is ailtletl to 

 another, it has not strength to support itself; and, as the tree grows old, 

 it often becomes pendent also, like the ash : whereas the toughness and 

 strength of the oak enable it to stretch out its branches horizontally to the 

 very last twig." {Ibid., p. 1 13.) As an ornamental tree, it is used, both in 

 Britain and on the Continent, more esfjecially in France and Holland, for 

 planting in avenues, particularly in public walks. For this purpose it is well 

 a(la[)ted, from the comparative ra[)idity of its growth in any soil, the straight- 

 ness of its trimk, the facility with which it bears lopping, the denseness of 

 its foliage, its hardiness, and its longevity. It has also the great advantage 

 of recjuiring very little pruning, or care of any kind, after it has once been 

 planted. Tiiere are many fine avenues of elms in France, particularly those in 

 the (Jhamps Elysees and at Versailles; and in Holland, at the Hague. In 

 England, the principal public elm avenues are in St. James's Park, and at 

 Oxford and Cambridge; but there are also some very fine ones at gentle- 

 men's seats, especially at White Knights, Littlecote Hall, ami Strathfieldsaye. 

 Poetical mid Imtnrical Allitsinus. The ancient poets frequently mention this 

 tree, which, in common with many other barren trees, was tlevoted by them 

 to the infernal gods. The Greeks and Romans considered all the trees which 

 produced no fruit fit for human use as funereal trees. Homer alludes to this 

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

 Andromache in the midst of a grove of elms. 



" Jove's sylvan daughters bade their elms bestow 

 A barren shade, and in his honour grow." 



Ovid tells us 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 liim 

 shade. Virgil, in his Georgics, mentions that the Roman husbandmen bent the 

 young elms, while growing, into the pro|)er shape for the buris, or plough- 

 tail. (Sec (jcorg. I. ver. 170.) The use, however, which the Romans made of 

 the elm, as a prop to the vine, has given rise to the most numerous allusions 

 to the tree by poets, not only ancient, but modern. Ovid makes Vertunnius 

 allude to it, when he is recommending 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 |)Oor neglected shrub, below.' " 



.Mihon,in describing the occupations of Adam and Eve in Paradise, says, — 



" They led the vine 



To. wed her elm : she, spoused, about him twines 

 Her marriageable arms ; and with her brings 

 Her dower, the adoptetl clusters, to adorn 

 His barren leaves." 



Ta.sso has also alluded to this custom, in the beautiful lines beginning, 

 " Comeolmo, a cui la pampinosa pianta," in the 20th canto of La Gerusalcmnic 

 Jjibcralu. 



In the early ages of Christianity, the hunters were accustomed to hang the 

 skins of the wolves they had killed in the chase on the elms in the church- 

 yards, as a kind of troi)hy. 



.S'<./7 and Siludliou. " Narrow-leaved English elms," says Mitchell, " abhor 



