88 THE AMERICAN ELM. 



of its branches, without anything in the combination that 

 indicates weakness. It is very agreeable to witness the 

 union, under any circumstances, of two interesting or 

 admirable traits of character which are supposed to be 

 incompatible. Hence the complacency we feel when we 

 meet a brave man who is amiable and polite, or a learned 

 man who is neither reserved nor pedantic. A slender vine, 

 supported by a sturdy tree, forms a very agreeable image ; 

 not less delightful is that consonance we perceive in a 

 majestic Elm, formed by the union of grandeur with the 

 gracefulness of its own flowing drapery. 



The Elm is generally subdivided into several equal 

 branches, diverging from a common centre at a small 

 distance above the ground. The height of this diver- 

 gence depends on the condition of the tree when it was a 

 seedling, whether it grew in a forest or in an open field ; 

 and the angle made by these branches is much wider 

 when it obtained its growth in an isolated situation. The 

 shape of different elms varies more than that of any 

 other known species. It is indeed almost the only tree 

 which may be said to exhibit more than one normal 

 figure, setting aside those variations of form which are 

 the natural effects of youth and age. The American Elm 

 never displays one central shaft to which the branches are 

 subordinate, like the English Elm ; or rather, I should 

 say, that when it has only a single shaft it is without 

 any limbs, and is surrounded only with short and slender 

 twigs. This leads me to speak of its normal diversities 

 of shape, which were originally described by Mr. Emerson 

 under several types. 



THE DOME. 



This is the form which the Elm seems most prone to 

 assume when it stands from the time it was a seedling 



