EUROPEAN OR FIELD ELM. 'Y.rt 
Properties and Uses. The wood of the Ulmus campestris is of a browimfa 
colour, and is hard and fine-grained. When green, it weighs nearly Beventy 
pounds to a cubic foot, and when dry, not more than forty-eight and a bait 
pounds. It possesses greater lateral adhesion, but less longitudinal toughness 
than that of the Scotch elm, (Ulmus c. montana,) and, consequently, does not 
crack so much as that variety in drying. In ship-building, it is valuable foi 
forming the blocks and dead-eyes, and other wooden fixtures of riguniir. bcina 
particularly suitable for these purposes, from its hard and adhesive nature and 
indisposition to crack or split, when exposed to the vicissitudes of moisture and 
dryness. One of the principal uses of the English elm, however, in ship-build- 
ing, is for keels. In Norfolk, the timber of this tree is generally used for na\ 
to wheels; and in many parts of England, and particularly about London, it is 
also employed for coffins. Elm timber is also remarkably durable in water, and 
is particularly adapted for piles, pumps, water-pipes, and for any other similai 
purpose. It has been used in Europe, from time immemorial, for water-pipes, or 
gutters, for conveying the water of salt springs to the large boxes or pans, where 
the watery particles are evaporated by the heat of the sun, or by fire: and it is 
well known that the Anglo-Saxons called all the places where there were salt 
springs, "wich" or " wych " (as Droitwich, Nantwich, &c.); hence, probably, 
originated the name. " wych elm," which was formerly applied to all British elms, 
including the Ulmus c. montana. The knobs, which grow upon old elms, are 
sawn into thin plates by cabinet-makers, particularly in France and Germany : 
and, when polished, they exhibit very curious and beautiful arrangements of 
fibre, which render their wood exceedingly ornamental, for articles of fancy. As 
fuel, the wood of the elm, according to Hartig, is to that of beech as twelve hun- 
dred and fifty-nine is to fifteen hundred and forty; and, as charcoal, as fourteen 
nundred and seven is to sixteen hundred. The ashes of this tree are rich in 
alkaline salts; and among seventy-three kinds of trees, M. Werneck found thai 
it occupied the tenth place in productiveness of potash. The inner bark, like 
that of the European lime-tree, is sometimes employed for making bast-mats and 
ropes. Young deer are very fond of this bark; and in Norway the inhabitants 
kiln-dry it, and grind it with corn to make flour for bread. The Leaves and 
young shoots of the elm were used by the Romans to feed cattle, and they are 
still employed, in may parts of France, for the same purpose ; and both in France 
and Norway, they are boiled to serve as food for pigs. In Russia, the leaves ol 
the Ulmus c. parvifolia are used for tea. The bark is highly astringent, and both 
the leaves and bark, it is said, contain a considerable proportion ot glue. Y nun 
the bark there has been extracted a principle called ulndne, which is regarded by 
some as a constituent of every vegetable. A decoction ot the bark fmparte a 
yellow colour to wool. In Norway, the bark is employed m tanning skins. 1 be 
fruit, in a sreen state, is sometimes eaten as a salad. 
As a picturesque tree, the elm," observes Gilpin, has not so d.st.nct a char- 
acter as either the oak or the ash. It partakes so much of the oak, that, when it 
is rough and old, it may easily, at a little distance, be mistaken for one: though 
the oak, (I mean such an oak as is strongly marked with its peculiar character ) 
can never be mistaken for the elm. This is certainly a defect in the elm; for 
strong characters are a great source of picturesque beauty. 1 his def . .. how- 
ever, appears chiefly in ;he skeleton of the elm: ... lull foliage, 3 characters 
more marked, 
this respect, 
owing as 
lip-htne^s- t commonly tiancs loose.y, auu w, >i> & >> * , ; .< i 
elm natura y Sows upright and, when it meets with a soi .< oves rises highet 
th?nTr g eiL?alityof\rees: and, after it has assumed the dignity and boarj 
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