this tree, which is a few hundred feet from the first State House. This tree 

 now has a spread of 124 feet. 



Thanks to the foresight of some of her early settlers, some of the cities 

 in northern California, notably Sacramento and Chico, have many stately 

 specimens on their streets. Had these pioneers planted rapid growing but 

 short lived trees like poplars or soft maples there would now be straggling, 

 dying trees instead of picturesque old elms forming Gothic archways like 

 cathedral naves. 



With all its advantages, the American elm has some objectionable fea- 

 tures, such as its suckering habit and its susceptibility to the attack of insect 

 pests. It does not appear, however, to be as badly attacked by pests in Cali- 

 fornia as in the Eastern States, where the gypsy moth, brown-tail moth and 

 elm-leaf beetle are causing so much trouble. Its chief enemies in this state 

 are aphids. This pest does not attack the English elm to any extent, which 

 often leads to its choice over the American elm. 



The value of shade trees such as the elm can hardly be estimated. Not 

 long ago a well known landscape architect, who had charge of laying out one 

 of the most famous estates in America, was asked how much a certain tree 

 was worth. "Worth," he said emphatically, "It is worth the whole place, 

 for it is creative of beauty, and around that tree I build everything." 



Only recently the Bronx Parking Commission in New York City went 

 to the heavy expense of constructing protective channels for the roots of a 

 large elm tree in order to relieve them from pressure from a thirty foot retain- 

 ing wall which otherwise would have caused the tree to die. 



ENGLISH ELM 



English elm (Ulmus camjpestris) has a smaller and more rounded head 

 than the American elm, and retains its foliage later in the season. It is a 

 favorite tree in England where it is widely planted. The famous "Long Walk" 

 in Windsor Park is lined by this handsome and imposing tree which Boulger 

 well describes in the following words: 



"When bare of leaves, and standing black against a dull wintry 

 sky, the tiny twiglets on the topmost boughs appear as delicate lace- 

 work, far exceeding in fineness the minutest ornament of the Gothic 

 architect, and yet graduating downwards into mighty beams, so as to 

 suggest at once the strength of Nature's framework and the delicacy of 

 her finish." (67) 



