THE ELM FOR HEDGEROWS. 57 



rich soft soil, with a loose open bottom, is the best 

 adapted for its vigorous growth, and in ordinary land 

 its rate of progress is usually at the rate of twenty-five 

 feet in ten years. Its form is tall and elegant, with 

 an erect bole, remarkable for the uniformity of its 

 size throughout, with dense foliage, and clustering 

 Jiabit of growth, which causes it to be very ornamental. 

 As it is not of a spreading nature, it is frequently 

 made use of as a hedgerow tree, and few trees pro- 

 duce timber of such equal size and value in so short a 

 time. The wood being brown, hard, and of a fine grain, 

 is well adapted for articles that require lateral adhe- 

 sion, and in London it is used extensively for making 

 coffins. 



The tree is remarkable for its propensity to pro- 

 duce seedling varieties, many of which have been 

 spread throughout the country, and are of very 

 inferior value compared with the best specimens, 

 some of which range from eighty to a hundred feet in 

 height. In Hertfordshire there is one tree which 

 measures forty-eight feet in girth at its base, and 

 contains nearly 500 cubical feet of timber. Some few 

 years back, elm trees were described as standing in 

 various parks spread throughout the country, from 

 125 to 150 feet in height; one at Strathfieldsaye 

 130 feet high; one at Milbury Park, Dorsetshire, 200 

 years old, 125 feet high; and at Croome Abbey, in 

 Warwickshire, a tree of 200 years of age measured in 

 the diameter of its trunk nine feet six inches, 

 diameter of its head seventy-four feet, standing 150 

 feet high, 'and was considered when the description 

 was written the loftiest tree of its species in England. 



The elm usually reaches its maturity in seventy or 



