THE ENGLISH ELM. 91 



THE ENGLISH ELM. 



THE English Elm may be seen on Boston Common, and 

 in front of old mansions in Medford and other ancient 

 towns in Massachusetts. Very few trees of this species, 

 however, have been planted since the Eevolution. This 

 royal Elm seems to have lost favor when republicanism 

 took the place of monarchy. Yet in many points the Eng- 

 lish Elm is superior to the American species. It is not 

 a drooping tree ; it resembles the oak in its general form, 

 but surpasses it in height. The trunk is not subdivided ; 

 throughout its entire length, the branches are attached to 

 it by wide angles, sometimes spread out in an almost hori- 

 zontal direction. Selby remarks, that, " in point of magni- 

 tude, grandeur of form, and majestic growth, the English 

 Elm has few competitors in the British sylva." In the 

 form of the leaf and spray it closely resembles the Ameri- 

 can tree ; but the leaf is of a brighter green, it comes out 

 several days earlier in the spring, and continues green in 

 the fall a week or ten days after the American elm has 

 become entirely denuded. The same difference, in a less 

 degree, has been observed in the leafing and falling of the 

 leaf of all European trees, compared with their kindred 

 species in the American forest. 



