THE ELM AND THE TULIP 



but it gives no impression of effeminacy or 

 weakness. Its uprightness is forceful and strong, 

 and its clean and shapely bole impresses the 

 beholder as a joining of gently outcurving 

 columns, ample in strength and of an elegance 

 belonging to itself alone. If I may dare to 

 compare man-made architectural forms with 

 the trees that graced the garden of Eden, I 

 would liken the American elm (it is also the 

 water elm and the white elm, and botanically 

 Ulmus Americana) to the Grecian types, com- 

 bining stability with elegance, rather than to 

 the more rugged works of the Goths. Yet 

 the free swing of the elm's wide -spreading 

 branches inevitably suggests the pointed Gothic 

 arch in simplicity and obvious strength. 



It is difficult to say when the American 

 elm is most worthy of admiration. In sum- 

 mer those same arching branches are clothed 

 and tipped with foliage of such elegance and 

 delicacy as the form of the tree would seem 

 to predicate. The leaf itself is ornate, its 

 straight ribs making up a serrated and pointed 

 oval form of the most interesting character. 

 These leaves hang by slender stems, inviting 



