72 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



their elm-embowered streets, which are indeed beau- 

 tiful, and typical of a New England town. 



The most characteristic mark of beauty in the elm 

 is the fringed appearance of its drooping branchlets, 

 which hang suspended from the heavy boughs and 

 trunk like so much lacework. The poet "Whittier 

 noticed this beauty, and alluded to it in his verses 

 addressed to the Merrimac Hiver : 



Laugh in thy plunges from fall to fall ; 

 Play with thy fringes of elms, and darken 

 Under the shade of the mountain wall. 



The arching character of the boughs which leave 

 the trunk with an almost imperceptible curve out- 

 ward, distinguishes this elm from all others, and gives 

 it that singularly graceful figure which is best seen in 

 isolation on the meadow, or in succession beside the 

 road. 



The leaf of the elm is rather harsh to the touch, 

 and distinguished by its veiny, lopsided character, 

 entirely different hi every respect from a beech leaf ; * 

 the edge is most frequently, but not invariably, dou- 

 ble-toothed. 



The meadow land of the Connecticut River Yal- 



* I make a comparison of these two opposite types of leaves 

 to draw particular attention to the difference in the character of 

 foliage between the beech and the elm ; no two trees could pos- 

 sibly be more differently graceful. 



