of the Northern Forest 69 



While of fine effect in groups, the Wych Elm is not 

 a good tree for mixed woods, where its spread of growth 

 makes it a bad neighbour. The growth of young trees 

 is very rapid, the long annual shoots being so flexible 

 as to resist the fiercest storms and make it one of the 

 best trees for wind- swept shores and exposed places. 

 It is much less apt to fracture than the Field Elm, 

 thriving well as a hedgerow tree and much less prolific 

 of suckers. On poor land it is short-lived and not worth 

 growing, and it fails completely on dry gravel or stiff 

 clays, though it grows fairly well upon chalk and lime- 

 stone. Rich alluvial soils suit it best and account for 

 its majestic beauty in our parks and beside water; for 

 though not classed as a water-side tree, some of the 

 finest examples of Wych Elms are seen near water, the 

 boughs always weeping in old trees which lean grace- 

 fully in all directions when grouped. 



The Field Elm. The Field Elm is the most stately 

 tree in the plains and valleys of Britain and western 

 Europe, and one of the most frequent, owing to its easy 

 increase and rapid growth, but one that in our country 

 should never be planted, as it commonly is, in avenues, 

 beside roads, or near houses and out-buildings. In such 

 places it is much better to have firmly-rooted trees like 

 the Ash, Beech, Oak, and Pine. With the Elm there is 

 always the danger, even in fine weather, of boughs 

 falling with fatal consequences to men or animals, and 

 there is the disaster which results from heavy rain-storms 

 and floods sweeping over the country, desolating whole 

 valleys, and glutting the market with the trees blown 

 down, so that fair prices are not realized. Of its value 

 there can be no question, but the right place for the 

 Elm is the heart of the wood, or in alluvial or free soils 



