ELM TREE. 133 



cither extreme of wet or dry. " It is proper, too,"" he 

 says, " by reason of the -tenor of the grain, for all those 

 curious works of fruitages, foliages, shields, statues, and 

 most of the ornaments appertaining to the orders of 

 architecture." 



It is frequently substituted for oak in carpenters' 1 work 

 of all kinds, and is liberally used in house-building. In 

 Norway, in times of scarcity, the bark dried and pow- 

 dered has been mixed with meal for bread. 



The dried leaves are a good winter fodder for cattle. 

 In some parts of Herefordshire they are gathered in sacks 

 for that purpose. Virgil praises the tree for the quan- 

 tity of leaves it yields : 



" Foecundae frondibus ulrai." 

 " Fruitful in leaves, the elm." 



The Elm is considered injurious, and sometimes even 

 fatal to bees ; so that where Elms grow in great num- 

 bers, they do not thrive. Dr. Hunter, in his notes to 

 Evelyn, here takes occasion to quote a passage from Vir- 

 gil descriptive of the malady so fatal to bees, supposed 

 to be occasioned by feeding on the Elm. It may not 

 be amiss to follow so good an example : 



tcrnal air, for the purpose of propagating its species, and laying its 

 eggs in other trees. Each hole, which now appears as if made with 

 a gimblet, marks the exit of a perfect insect. In the first instance, 

 the voracity of the larvae, and, in the second, the endeavours of the 

 perfect insects to liberate themselves from the wood, particularly 

 when such attempts are made by almost infinite numbers, soon 

 occasion the bark to fall in large pieces. The consequence is, that 

 the new leaves only make their appearance to wither, and the tree 

 perishes." 



See W. S. Macleay, Esq. on the State of the Elm-trees in St. 

 James's and Hyde Parks, in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal 

 for July 18'24. 



