14-00 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



long bows were in use, there were very many made of the wood of this tree; 

 for which purpose, it is mentioned in the English statutes by this name of 

 witch hasell." ( Gcr. Ernac., p. 1480.) 



It is only within the present century that this tree has been much planted 

 in England, though in Scotland and Ireland its timber has long been consi- 

 dered as next in value to that of the oak; and it has, accordingly, been exten- 

 sively introduced into artificial plantations. It is very remarkable that this 

 species seems to be altogether unknown in France and Germany ; neither 

 being mentioned in the Nouveau Du Hamel t \.\\v Nouveau Cours d 1 Agriculture y the 

 Dictionnaire des Emu et Forets, the Florc Franpaise, nor even in Willdenow's 

 Baumzucht, as far as we have seen in the Continental nurserymen's cata- 

 logues, and with the exception of that of Booth of Hamburgh ; though, by the 

 American catalogues, it appears to have been introduced into that country. 

 It may possibly, however, be known on the Continent as a variety of U. 

 campestris, that species being given as synonymous with it in Smith's English 

 Flora, on the authority of several authors. Indeed some botanists are of 

 opinion that the U. campestris of Linnaeus is the U. montana of modern 

 botanists. Among the trees of France JJ'lmus montana Bauh. is included, 

 but this, Mirbel, in his Nouveau Dit Hamel, makes synonymous with the Dutch 

 elm (U. major), and with 7. effusa Willd. Sir J. E. Smith, however, con- 

 siders Bauhin's figure as representing U. montana, and as the U. montana 

 cebennensis is a native of the south of France, we may safely assume the 

 species as being indigenous throughout Europe generally, though not under 

 our name of U. montana. 



Properties and Uses. The wych elm, according to Gerard, was applied to 

 various uses in ancient times. It was not only made into bows, but its bark, 

 which is so tough that it will strip or peel off from the wood from one end of 

 a bough to the other without breaking, was made into ropes. The wood was 

 not considered so good for naves as the wood of the common elm, which then, as 

 now, was esteemed superior in toughness and strength, though the wood of the 

 wych elm cleaved better. In Scotland, where the tree abounds, both naturally 

 and in artificial plantations, it weighs less than the wood of the English elm, 

 and is more coarse-grained. Nevertheless, Sang observes, " it is always prized 

 next to the wood of the oak." "It is used," he adds, "by the ship-builder, 

 the boat-builder, the block and pump maker, the cartwright, the cabinet- 

 maker, and the coachmaker." The timber, Matthews observes, has much 

 sap-wood, and great longitudinal toughness; but, from the great quantity of 

 sap-wood, and want of lateral adhesion, it splits considerably when dry. The 

 tree has a peculiar fan-like spread of the branches, often tending to one side, 

 and most perceptible in young trees. Hence the tree, when grown up, " has 

 generally a slight bending in the stem, which renders it very fitting for floor- 

 timbers of vessels ; the only part of a ship, except the bottom plank, to 

 which it is applicable, as it soon decays above water. Its great toughness and 

 strength, however, render it fit for floors." ( On Naval Timber, &c., p. 52.) 

 " The tree," Matthews continues, " when come to some size, on the primary 

 branches being lopped off', like the common elm and the oak, often throws out 

 a brush of twigs from the stem ; and these twigs impeding the transit of the 

 sap, the brush increases, and the stem thickens considerably, in consequence of 

 a warty-like deposit of wood forming at the root of the twigs. This 

 excrescence, when of size, after being seasoned in some cool moist place, 

 such as the north reentering angle of a building exposed to the dripping 

 from the roof, forms a richer veneer for cabinet-work than any other timber." 

 (Ibid., p. 53.) But, even without this process, the wood has often a curious 

 laced appearance, which renders it fit for beautiful cabinet-work. A writer in 

 the Gardener's Magazine (Mr. Ashworth of Prestwich, near Manchester,) 

 states the timber of the Scotch elm to be nearly equal in value to that of 

 the ash. " It is good," he says, " for the naves, poles, and shafts of gigs and 

 other carriages ; and, froru its not splintering, as the oak and the ash do, in 

 time of battle, for swingle-trees of great gun carriages. It is also used for 



