



CHAP. CI. ULMfCcEJE. f/'LMUS. 



dyers' and printers' rollers ; the wood, by constant use, wearing smooth. Cart- 

 wrights employ it for shafts, naves, beds, rails, and standards for wheel- 

 barrows; anil the handles of spades, forks, and other agricultural implements." 

 The price of the wood of U. campestris is from 1,5. to l.v. 4<Y. per cubic foot, and 

 that off/, montaua is from \s. 8r/. to 2s. Young plants of the former, 6ft. 

 high, are Gd. each ; but of the latter, only 12*. per hundred. (Vol. xii. p. 409.) 

 As an ornamental tree, Sang observes, " the Scotch elm cannot be termed 

 beautiful ; but, certainly, an aged elm, when standing singly, is a very capital 

 object. In the form of its branches, and its general outline, it much resembles 

 the oak. Hence, in many of the recently improved places in Scotland 

 (where this tree chiefly abounds), it has been reserved as an ornamental tree, 

 and, in this particular, is an excellent substitute for the oak. Even where the 

 oak and the chestnut abound (as at Alva),the Scotch elm maintains its place, 

 with excellent effect, as a park tree." (Song's PL CaL, p. 86.) Gilpin says 

 of the" wych elm, that it " is, perhaps, generally more picturesque than the com- 

 mon sort, as it hangs more negligently, though, at the same time, with this 

 negligence, it loses in a good degree that happy surface for catching masses of 

 light which we admire in the common elm. We observe, also, when we see 

 this tree in company with the common elm, that its bark is somewhat of a 

 lighter hue. The wych elm is a native of Scotland, where it is found, not 

 only in the plains and valleys of the Lowlands, but is hardy enough to climb 

 the steeps, and flourish in the remotest Highlands ; though it does not attain, 

 in those climates, the size which it attains in England. Naturalists suppose 

 the wych elm to be the only species of this tree which is indigenous to our 

 island." (GUpin'i Forest Scenery, vol. i. p. 44.) On this passage, Sir Thomas 

 Dick Lauder observes, " We are disposed to think that Mr. Gilpin hardly 

 does justice to this elm. For our parts, we consider the wych, or Scottish, 

 elm as one of the most beautiful trees in our British sylva. The trunk is 

 so bold and picturesque in form, covered, as it frequently is, with huge ex- 

 crescences ; the limbs and branches are so free and graceful in their growth ; and 

 the foliage is so rich, without being leafy or clumpy as a whole ; and the head 

 is, generally, so finely massed, and yet so well broken, as to render it one of 

 the noblest of park trees ; and, when it grows wildly amid the rocky scenery 

 of its native Scotland, there is no tree which assumes so great or so 

 pleasing a variety of character." (Lander's Gilpin, i. p. 91.) One of the 

 most common uses of this tree, in British nurseries, is as a stock for the dif- 

 ferent sorts of English and American elms. 



Popular Superstitions. In many parts of the country, the wych elm, or 

 witch hazel, as it is still occasionally called, is considered a preservative against 

 witches; probably from the coincidence between the words wych and witch. 

 In some of the midland counties, even to the present day, a little cavity is 

 made in the churn, to receive a small portion of witch hazel, without which 

 the dairy-maids imagine that they would not be able to get the butter to 

 come. 



Soil and Situation. " The Scotch elm," Sang observes, " accommodates 

 itself, both in a natural state and when planted, to many different soils and 

 situations. The soil in which it most luxuriates is a deep rich loam j but that in 

 which it becomes most valuable, is a sandy loam, lying on rubble stone, or on dry 

 rock. It is frequently found flourishing by the sides of rivers or streams, 

 which sometimes wash part of its roots ; yet it will not endure stagnant 

 moisture. In wet tilly clays, as at Panmure in Forfarshire, it soon sickens. 

 On bleak hills, among rocks, and where soil is hardly perceptible, its roots 

 will often find nourishment, and the tree will arrive at a considerable size. 

 In a mixture of loam and clay schistus, incumbent on whinstone rock, as at 

 Alva, it arrives at a large size within a century." (Plant. Cat., p. 56.) 



Propagation and Culture. The Scotch elm does not produce suckers like 

 the English elm ; but, according to Boutcher, it roots more readily from layers 

 than that species. The most ready mode of propagating it, however, is by 

 seeds, which are produced in great abundance, and are ripe about the middle 



