THE ELM. 81 



resume his legitimate occupations, " to weave, of 

 osiers and pliant rushes, such implements as his 

 work requires : if this Alexis disdains thee, thou shalt 

 yet find another." 



All the preceding remarks apply to the noble tree 

 populary known as the elm, by botanists called the 

 small-leaved elm and the London elm, and classically 

 Ulmus campestris. It is this one also which, in the 

 south of England, has given its name to one or two 

 " Elmtons" or "Elm-towns;" another circumstance 

 indicating its probably exotic origin, since names 

 of places founded upon that of the elm are very rare, 

 while names of towns and villages founded on that 

 of the oak and other undoubted natives are quite fre- 

 quent. There is one kind of elm which is acknow- 

 ledged to be indigenous that one called by botanists 

 Ulmus montana, and popularly distinguished as the 

 wych-elm. In all characters except the technical ones 

 found in the shape of the leaf, and in the structure 

 of the flowers and fruit, this is a perfectly dissimilar 

 tree. Instead of being lofty, erect, and with many 

 tiers of columns that alternately lose and disclose 

 themselves among the foliage, this one is compara- 

 tively low in stature, and the tree is disposed 

 more to the spreading or horizontal mode of growth : 

 consequently it never attains the handsome figure of 

 the campestris ; it is unsuited for avenues and colon- 

 nades, and takes its place better among the middle- 

 class forest inhabitants. Planted singly, well-grown 



