58 TREES ATTRACTORS OF HUMIDITY. 



in splendour by a touch of the frosty air, not 

 ruined and denuded like our elm, which contributes 

 no grandeur, no beauty, to our autumnal scenery, 

 as its leaves curl up, become brown, and flutter 

 from their sprays, when growing in exposed situa- 

 tions, as early often as the middle of September, 

 by constitutional mechanism alone, even before the 

 beech or the maple seems sensibly affected by the 

 cold. This character of itself marks a difference 

 from the common elm, which preserves its verdure, 

 except from accidental causes, long after this pe- 

 riod ; and then, when its season arrives, the foliage 

 becomes tinged with a fine, mellow, yellow hue, 

 contributing a full share with other trees to the 

 character and splendour of autumn. The wych 

 elm may occasionally be desirable in the few days 

 that our northern summer requires its deep shades, 

 but will not otherwise afford pleasure or beauty in 

 the shrubbery or the park as an ornamental tree, as 

 its leafless sprays announce too early the unwelcome 

 termination of our floral year, and its sober russet 

 foliage is scattered at our feet without preparation 

 or a parting smile. 



Trees in full foliage have long been noted as 

 great attractors of humidity, and a young wych 

 elm in full leaf affords a good example of this 

 supposed power ; but in the winter of the year, 

 when trees are perfectly denuded, this faculty of 

 creating moisture about them is equally obvious, 

 though not so profusely. A strongly-marked in- 

 stance of this was witnessed by me, when ascending 



