148 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



is endowed by nature with a strong reproductive 

 capacity in throwing up stoles or suckers from 

 its roots, in which respect it is only equalled by 

 the aspen. Signs of uncommonly strong repro- 

 ductive power are often to be seen in spring, 

 when stems that have been felled, logged, and 

 dragged out of the hedgerows in winter send 

 out a flush of twigs here and there in making a 

 final recuperative effort. 



Both kinds of elm are easily reproducible 

 by layering. Indeed, this strong reproductive 

 capacity is often a curse to farmers, as the 

 elm, when standing in hedgerows at the edges 

 of fields and meadows, is prone to throw out 

 shallow surface-roots, like the ash, from which 

 suckers are apt to be sent up. Last spring, in 

 Herefordshire, I saw elm root-strands interfer- 

 ing so much with the work of the plough that 

 they had to be hacked through, and this even at 

 a distance of thirty-five yards from where the tree 

 stood. It is true that in this case there was a 

 deep bank and ditch on the far side of the tree, 

 but this shows all the same how hedgerow timber, 

 ash and elm especially, can interfere with hus- 

 bandry, by impeding the plough and by robbing 



