318 



DECIDUOUS TREES. 



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columnar stems, with a parasol-like tuft of foliage at the top ; but 

 as they are gradually exposed on all sides to the sun the head 

 widens rapidly, the tall trunk covers itself from root to branch with 

 a picturesque small spray peculiar to this elm, the outer branches 

 of the top begin to droop and fall like spray from a fountain, until 

 the whole tree assumes a loftier grace than belongs to its lower 

 and broader-crowned sisters of the eastern valleys. Fig. loi is a 

 sketch of a young forest elm that is beginning to develop the 

 changes just described. Unfortunately, however, such forest- 

 grown trees, if more than forty or fifty 

 ^'^" '°'' years old, usually fall victims of the first 



summer tornado that finds them in its 

 track. 



For the formation of wide avenues the 

 elm, in congenial soil, has no equal among 

 trees. But it should never be planted in 

 narrow streets, nor nearer than forty feet 

 asunder in wide ones. Its great size and 

 breadth of head should also cause it to be 

 sparingly planted in or near small grounds, 

 if a variety of shrubs or small trees are 

 desired. 



The roots of the white elm feed quite 

 near the surface, so that surface manuring 

 in autumn is a wonderful stimulant to its 

 growth. Large street trees are often se- 

 riously injured in old villages by the gradual accumulation of gravel 

 and broken stone incident to annual road improvements, until the 

 feeding roots are so covered that they cease to have any rich 

 surface to feed in. In other places noble old trees are being 

 literally starved to death, while the good people who walk under 

 them are wondering why their elms do not look as well as for- 

 merly. Streets much travelled are continually enriched by drop- 

 pings, and where the soil is not covered by water-proof pavements, 

 there is little danger of trees in such streets suffering from this 

 cause. But many instances have come under our observation of 

 elms in villages and cities that languish for want of fresh food and 



