722 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



1399. 7. montana. 



boat-builder, the block and pump maker, the cartwright, the cabinet-maker 

 and the coach-maker. The timber, Matthews observes, has much sap-wood, 

 and great longitudinal toughness ; but, from the great quantity of sap-wood, 

 and want of lateral adhesion, it splits considerably when dry. The tree has 

 a peculiar fan-like spread of the branches, often tending to one side, and 

 most perceptible in young trees. Hence, when grown up, there is ge- 

 nerally a slight bending in the stem, 

 which renders it very fitting for floor- 

 timbers of vessels ; the only part of a 

 ship, except the bottom plank, to which 

 it is applicable, as it soon decays above 

 water. Its great toughness and strength, 

 however, render it fit for floors. The soil in 

 which this elm most luxuriates is a deep 

 rich loam ; but that in which it becomes 

 most valuable, is a sandy loam lying o-n 

 rubble stone, or on dry rock. In wet tilly 

 clays, it soon sickens. It does not produce 

 suckers like the English elm ; but, accord- 

 mg to Boutcher, it roots more readily from 

 layers than that species. The most ready 

 mode of propagating it, however, is by seeds, 

 which are produced in great abundance, and 

 are ripe about the middle of June. They 

 ought to be gathered with the hand before 

 they drop, as, from their lightness and winged appendages, they are very apt 

 to be blown away by the wind. The seeds may either be sown as soon as 

 gathered, in which case, many plants will come up the same season ; or they 

 may be thinly spread out to dry in the shade, and afterwards put up into bags 

 or boxes, and kept in a dry place till the following March or April. 



1 6. U. (M.) GLA'BRA MM. The smooth-leaved, or Wych, Elm. 



Identification. Mill. Diet, ed. 8., No. 4. ; Sm. Engl. Fl., 2. p. 23. 



Synonymes. U. montana /3 Fl. Br. 282. ; U. folio glabro Ger. Emac. 1481 . f . : U. campestris var. 



3. With. 279. ; the feathered Elm. 

 Engravings. Engl. Bot., t, 2248. ; and our fig. 1400. 



Spec. Char., $c Leaves elliptic-oblong, doubly 

 serrated, smooth. Flowers nearly sessile, 5-cleft. 

 Samara obovate, naked, deeply cloven. (Smith.) 

 Branches spreading, rather drooping, smooth, 

 blackish, scarcely downy in their earliest stage of 

 growth. Leaves smaller than any of the preced- 

 ing (except U. campestris), as well as more 

 oblong ; strongly serrated, very unequal at the 

 base, not elongated at the extremity ; their sub- 

 stance firm, or rather rigid ; the surface of both 

 sides very smooth to the touch, and without any 

 hairs beneath, except the axillary pubescence of 

 the ribs, which often forms a narrow downy line 

 along the midrib. Flowers nearly sessile, with 5 

 short, bluntish, fringed segments, and as many 

 longish stamens, the anthers of which are round- 

 ish heart-shaped. Samara smaller than most other 

 species, obovate, cloven down to the seed, smooth, 

 often reddish. A tall, elegant, deciduous tree. 

 Britain, chiefly in England, in woods and hedges ; 



and forming the most common elm in some parts of Essex. Height 60 ft. 

 to 80 ft. Flowers and samara as in the preceding sort. 

 It bears seeds in nearly as great abundance as U. montana, and it does not 



