2i8 TIMBER AND TIMBER TREES. [CHAP. 



troop of at least eighty men. Another, but much smaller, 

 in the department of the Cher, France, measured over 

 30 feet in circumference ; this has been known for five or 

 six centuries as the great Chestnut tree, and must be of 

 very great age. 



THE ENGLISH ELM TREE (Ulmus campestris] 



is found growing in the hedgerows of most of the 

 counties, and forming the avenues in many of the parks 

 of England. It also occupies a wide range over Europe, 

 preferring generally low lying, level ground, with a 

 moderate degree of moisture. It thrives well in every 

 variety of soil, provided the situation be open, but attains 

 the greatest perfection when grown in a rich loam, 

 reaching, under favourable circumstances, the height of 

 60 to 70 feet, with a circumference of from 7 to 8 feet. 



The wood is brown in colour, of moderate weight, 

 hard, tough, porous, and much twisted in grain, which 

 makes it difficult to work when thoroughly seasoned, 

 and also next to impossible to split it. The medullary 

 rays, if present in this species of wood, are not distin- 

 guishable, and this in some measure accounts for its 

 strong cohesive properties. 



The economical uses of the Elm are very great, since 

 we find it extensively employed in engineering works for 

 piles, pipes, pumps, blocks, &c. ; it is also used for keels 

 and planks under r water in ships. Carpenters, wheel- 

 wrights, turners, and cabinet-makers also use it for so 

 many purposes, that it would be very difficult to enumerate 

 them. 



Elm timber, if used either where it is constantly under 

 water, or in any situation where it is kept perfectly dry, 

 excels almost every other kind of wood in durability. 

 But under any other circumstances it decays rather 



