298 HOW TO GROW GOOD TIMBER. 



which are useful for a variety of purposes. Selby 

 sums up an account of its character as follows : — 



The wood when matured is of a deep-brown colour, compact and 

 fine-grained ; according to Loudon, it loses nearly two-thirds of its 

 weight in drying, as when cut it weighs nearly seventy pounds the 

 cubic foot, and when seasoned not more than twenty-eight pounds 

 and a half. In the lateral adhesion of its fibre it surpasses the 

 U. montana, though perhaps inferior to it in longitudinal toughness, 

 and therefore not capable of supporting so severe a cross strain. The 

 former property, however, eminently qualifies it for every purpose 

 where a strong wood that will not split or crack, either from con- 

 cussion or the action of sun and wet, is required ; on this account, 

 Matthew, in his able treatise on naval timber, strongly recommends 

 it for the " blocks, dead-eyes, and other wooden furniture of rigging." 

 In country carpentry it is very extensively used in all the Southern 

 parts of England ; but the purposes to which it is applied it is 

 unnecessary to enumerate, these having already been described by 

 Evelyn and subsequent authors. Its durability under water, as well 

 as the straightness and great length of its stem, qualifies it for 

 making the keels of large ships, for which purpose it sells at a very 

 high price. 



As an ornamental tree for general purposes, few 

 can surpass the elm, as when well-grown and not 

 too much interfered with by the forester, it has a 

 gracefully aspiring form without a disposition to 

 lankiness : its foliage is thick enough to afford any 

 amount of shade, and yet is never of a heavy ap- 

 pearance. 



It flourishes best in good deep soil, in which the 

 most solid balks are grown : when planted on poor 

 land or on gravel-beds it decays at the heart at a 

 very early age. Some of the English elms in Hyde 

 Park have thus decayed, whilst others have attained 

 a respectable size and age, having been injured by 

 storms : — 



