THE ELM. 83 



when exposed to hot sunshine or unfriendly weather, 

 it is particularly suitable for the blocks and other 

 wooden furniture of rigging ; the great use of it, 

 however, is for the keels of ships. The wych-elm 

 is the species that predominates in the north of 

 England, as in the south the prevailing species is 

 the campestris. The two forms abound equally in 

 flowers, but the wych-elm is much more ready to 

 ripen its fruit, and the description above given of the 

 latter product pertains emphatically to it. Herein 

 again we have a curious bit of collateral evidence 

 as to the campestris not being aboriginal to England. 

 For it is inconsistent with the harmony of nature 

 that a tree or plant should be located in a spot 

 where the climate would be opposed to its free 

 multiplication by seed cast from its own boughs. 

 Such multiplication occurs in the case of the wych- 

 elm ; but very sparingly or not at all, in England, in 

 that of the stately small-leaved one. With all 

 their willingness to accommodate themselves to new 

 soils and to new countries and latitudes, there is 

 of course a limit to the endurance of plants, and we 

 must not be surprised if, when a tree is brought 

 from a far southern country, as the campestris pro- 

 bably was, either by the Eomans or the Crusaders, it 

 should be unable so to harden its nature as to ripen 

 fruit with regularity, and so easily and steadfastly as 

 to propagate itself without the aid of man, who trans- 

 orted it from its birthplace. 



G 2 



