492 ULMUS CAMPESTRIS 
In many parts of Britain, the wych elm, (Ulmus c. montana,) or witch hazel, 
as it is still occasionally called, has long been considered a preservative against 
witches; probably from the coincidence between the words wych and witch. In 
some of the midland counties, even at the present day, it is said that a little 
cavity is made in the churn, to receive a small portion of witch hazel, without 
which, the dairy-maids imagine that they would not be able "to get the butter 
to come." In the early ages of Christianity, the European hunters were accus- 
tomed to hang the skins of the wolves they had killed in the chase, on the elms 
in the churchyards, as a kind of trophy.* 
Soil and Situation. The Ulmus campestris delights in a sound, sweet, aud 
fertile soil, which is rather moist and loamy ; and thrives best in an open situa- 
tion, such as good pasture grounds in the vicinity of rivers, or smaller streams. 
"The propriety of planting the elm," says Marshall, in his work on "Planting 
and Rural Ornament," "depends entirely upon the soil. It is the height of folly 
to plant it upon light sandy soil. There is not, generally speaking, a good elm 
in the whole county of Norfolk. By the time they arrive at the size of a man's 
waist, they begin to decay at the heart; and, if not taken at the critical time, 
they presently become useless as timber. This is the case in all light soils. It 
is in stiff, strong land which the elm delights. It is observable, however, that 
here it grows comparatively slow. In light land, especially if it be rich, its 
growth is very rapid; but its wood is light, porous, and of little value, compared 
with that grown upon strong land, which is of a closer, stronger texture, and at 
the heart will have the colour, and almost the hardness and heaviness of iron. 
On such soils, the elm becomes profitable, and is one of the four cardinal trees, 
which ought, above all others, to engage the planter's attention ; it will bear a 
very wet situation." 
Propagation and Culture. The Ulmus campestris produces an abundance 
of suckers from the roots, both near and at a considerable distance from the stem ; 
and throughout Europe, these afford the most ready mode of propagation, and 
that which appears to have been most generally adopted till the establishment of 
regular commercial nurseries ; the suckers having been procured from the roots 
of grown-up trees, in hedge-rows, parks or plantations. In Britain, the present 
mode of propagation is by layers from stocks,! or by grafting on the Scotch elm 
(Ulmus c. montana.) The layers are made in autumn, or in the course of the 
winter, and become sufficiently rooted to be taken off in a year. Grafting is 
generally performed by the " whip" or "splice" mode, near the root, in spring; 
and the plants make shoots of three or four feet in length the same year. Few 
plants succeed more readily by grafting than the elm ; so much so, that when 
the graft is made close to the surface of the soil, and the scion tied on with mat- 
ting, the mere earthing of the plants from the soil, in the intervals between the 
rows, will serve as a substitute for claying. It has been recommended that the 
graft be made six or eight inches above the collar, in order to lessen the risk of 
the scion, when it becomes a tree throwing out roots, which, as is the case with 
many of the varieties, would become troublesome by their suckers. Budding is 
sometimes performed, but less frequently. On the continent of Europe, plants 
* See Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum, iii. p. 1382 ; also "Woodland Gleanings, p. 30 et seq. 
f The process of producing layers consists in bending the 
young branches of trees and shrubs into the soil to a certain 
depth, and elevating their tops above the surface of the ground, 
in an upward direction, as denoted in the adjoining figure. In 
time, the buried parts of these branches take root, and finally 
become perfect plants. The ground should be kept quite clear 
of weeds, and the layers should be watered in dry weather ; 
and, when sufficiently rooted, they should be carefully sepa- 
rated from the stool, or parent plant, with all the rootlets attached to them, and planted in nursery 
lines, or in the situations where they are permanently to remain. 
