VALUE OF THE WYCH ELM. 59 



general cultivation. The wych elm, though a rare 

 tree in some counties, seems more extensively 

 spread over England than the other species, and 

 adventures farther to the north. Ray tells us, on 

 the authority of Aubrey, that the common elm, 

 so called, is scarcely found indigenous northward 

 of Lincolnshire, whereas this species is found even 

 in Scotland. Our soil is very favourable to the 

 growth of both species. The wych elm affords 

 a tough and valuable wood for the wheeler and the 

 millwright ; the bark from the young limbs is 

 stripped off in long ribands, and often used, es- 

 pecially in Wales, for securing thatch, and for 

 various bindings and tyings, to which purpose its 

 flexible and tough nature renders it well adapted. 

 Gerard says, that arrows were made from the wood 

 of this tree, and he lived at a period when he could 

 well ascertain the fact, during the reign of Eliza- 

 beth and her predecessor, before fire-arms had 

 superseded this truly British weapon : he was in 

 the younger part of his life gardener to the great 

 Lord Burleigh. That the wych elm, when per- 

 mitted, will attain large dimensions, is manifest by 

 the size of several we have observed in many 

 places ; but that gigantic one, which grew in Staf- 

 fordshire, exceeds in magnitude any other of this 

 species which we ever heard of. It required the 

 labour of two men for five days to fell it ; it was 

 forty yards in length, with a diameter of seventeen 



