1900 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



At Ryston, near Downham, Norfolk, in 1908, I measured one in a hedgerow 

 which was 95 ft. by 16 ft. 9 in. 



At Belton, Grantham, there are large glabrous elms in the grounds ; and at 

 Barholm, not far from Stamford, there are two remarkable trees, very wide spreading, 

 with a rounded crown of foliage, of no great height, but 16 ft. 3 in., and 17^ ft. in 

 girth in 1910. 



In Gloucestershire there are several old elms on my own property which have 

 similar leaves to U. miens, but which keep their leaves green later in autumn and 

 turn to a brighter colour, which may be due to the locality, for I have noticed that 

 beech, oak, elm, and other trees colour better in the Cotswold hills than in 

 the eastern counties. The timber, though hard and tough, is not so red as 

 that of the English elm, and their habit is more spreading owing probably to their 

 hybrid origin. From one of these just outside my park, which does not lose its 

 leaves till late in November, I have raised numerous seedlings, which vary extremely 

 in habit and vigour, but all have rough leaves at four years old like the suckers of the 

 parent tree. At Toddington Manor there is a fine spreading tree near the house, 

 which in 1910 measured 100 ft. by 15 ft. 2 in. ; but most of the elms here and 

 generally in the Vale of Gloucester are true English elms. 



In Scotland I have not noticed any large trees of this species ; but Mr. Ren wick 

 measured a tree at Loudon Castle, 107 ft. by 15 ft. 4 in. in 1910. 



In Ireland, Mr. R. A. Phillips informs us that it is common in hedgerows 

 between New Ross and Waterford, and along the river Barrow. At Killarney, 

 Henry measured one in Lord Kenmare's grounds, which was 91 ft. by 12 ft. in 

 1903. 



On the Continent there are many large elms, referred by Continental botanists 

 to U. campestris, which are often U. nitens. The most famous elm in Germany is a 

 tree standing in the market-place of Schimsheim, near Worstadt in Hesse, which is 

 figured by Seidel in Woods and Forests, 1884, P- 577- Willkomm 1 states that this 

 tree is 500 or 600 years old, about 100 ft. high, and 44 ft. in girth at 3 ft. 4 in. above 

 the ground. The trunk is hollow, but otherwise the tree is quite healthy, with 

 abundance of foliage. Neither Seidel nor Willkomm identify the species of this elm. 

 The elm at Worms under which Luther preached is said by Willkomm ' to be prob- 

 ably U. nitens, and is reported by Seidel to be much taller than the Schimsheim elm, 

 and 25 ft. in girth at 8 ft. above the ground. Mr. Springer has sent me a photograph 

 of a wide-spreading smooth-leaved elm at Windesheim Castle, near Zwolle in Holland. 

 This tree measured, in February 1913, 75 ft. in height and 23 ft. 9 in. in girth, with 

 a crown of foliage 106 feet in diameter. (H. J. E.) 



1 Forstlichc Flora, 550, note (1887). 



