70 S Y L V A BOOK i 



and not only because I have hardly ever known any 

 considerable woods of them (besides some few nurseries 

 near Cambridge, planted I suppose for store) but 

 almost continually in tufts, hedge-rows, and mounds; 

 and that Shropshire, and several other counties, and 

 rarely any beyond Stamford to Durham, have any 

 growing in many miles together : Indeed Camden 

 mentions a place in Yorkshire calPd Elmet ; and 

 V. Bede, Eccl. Hist. /. 1 1 . c. 14. (speaking of a fire 

 hap'ning there, and describing of the harm it did 

 thereabout, ulmarium or ulmetum) evasit autem ignem 

 altare^ quia lapidium erat^ & sertafur adhuc in mon- 

 asterio r. abbatis & presbyteri thrythwuelf, quod in syfaa 

 elmete est ; but neither does this speak it miraculous, 

 (for the altar it seems was stone) or that the elms 

 grew spontaneously. In the mean time, some affirm 

 they were first brought out of Lombardy, where 

 indeed I have observ'd very goodly trees about the 

 rich grounds, with pines among them, ^itelus almi ; 

 for I hear of none either in Saxony or Denmark, nor 

 in France, (growing wild) who all came and prey'd 

 upon us after the Romans. But leaving this to the 

 learned. 



9. The elm is by reason of its aspiring and tapering 

 growth, (unless it be topped to enlarge the branches, 

 and make them spread low) the least offensive to corn 

 and pasture-grounds ; to both which, and the cattel, 

 they afford a benign shade, defence, and agreeable 

 ornament : But then as to pastures, the wand'ring 

 roots (apt to infect the fields and grass with innumer- 

 able suckers) the leading mother-root ought to be 

 quite separated on that part, and the suckers irradi- 

 cated. The like should be done where they are 

 placed near walks of turf or gravel. 



