262 BRITISH FOREST TREES 



the MOUNTAIN, SCOTS, OR WYCH ELM (ULMUS MONTANA, 

 Sm.), and the CORK ELM (ULMUS SUBEROSA, Ehrh.), which 

 were all comprised (as also the soft-wooded WHITE ELM, U. 

 effusa^ Willd.), by Linneus under the comprehensive name 

 Ulmus campestris. These species show so many mutual inter- 

 changes, that they are often exceedingly hard to distinguish ; 

 they seem to be varieties rather than distinct species. 



Distribution. The red or hard-wooded elms are distri- 

 buted throughout the greater part of Europe, Algiers, Asia 

 Minor, and Siberia as far as the drainage of the Amur, but 

 are characteristic rather of southern than of northern Europe, 

 where they are never found forming pure forests, and not 

 generally even in large clumps. They are to be found more 

 frequently in France, Spain, and Italy than in Germany and 

 Switzerland, more frequently in the south of England (where, 

 indeed, throughout many counties, as in Suffolk, Essex, and 

 Dorsetshire, they form quite characteristic features of the 

 rural scenery) than in Scotland or in Norway. The wych 

 elm, more abundant in Scotland than in England, is in- 

 digenous to Britain and Ireland, but it seems probable that 

 the English or small-leaved species was originally introduced 

 by the Romans, a conjecture strongly supported by its poor- 

 seeding capacity in this country, as well as by historical data. 



The mountain elm ascends the Alps to over 3,300 feet, 

 but in general the elms prefer the lower-lying localities, such 

 as dingles, coombs, and sheltered valleys, or level stretches 

 even when subject to inundation, where they thrive equally 

 well as coppice, pollards, or high timber trees. In many 

 respects useful and valuable trees, it is to be regretted that 

 more is not done for their cultivation on a large scale in 

 compact forests, although no doubt large quantities of fine 

 timber are produced at present along roads and in the hedge- 

 rows dividing fields. They thrive well in the neighbourhood 

 of the sea-coast. 



