FOREST TREES. 23 



having one principal stem, which soars upward to a great height, 

 and the boldness and abruptness with which it throws out its 

 branches. The leaves are of a darker color, smaller, and closer.' 



' The largest dimensions given of the English Elm on the Con- 

 tinent is sixty feet high, and twenty feet in circumference at the 

 ground, containing two hundred and sixty-eight feet of timber.' 

 " The Crawley Elm stands in the village of Crawley, on the 

 high road from London to Brighton. Its trunk measures sixty-one 

 feet in circumference at the ground, and thirty-five feet round 

 the inside at two feet from the base. This tree is not so large 

 as would seem from this account, as it diminishes very rapidly 

 upward." 



" The noblest and most beautiful English Elms in this country 

 are found in Roxbury, the largest of which measures fifteen feet 

 five inches five feet from the ground ; it holds its size fully to the 

 height of twenty or twenty-five feet, where it divides into three 

 large branches, the main central one of which rises upward to a 

 height much above one hundred feet." " As among the ancient 

 Romans, so in France at the present day, the leaves and shoots 

 are used to feed cattle. In Russia, the leaves of a species of the 

 Elm are used as a substitute for tea. The inner bark is in some 

 places made into mats, and in Norway they kiln-dry it, and grind 

 it with corn as an ingredient in bread." 



THE BIRCH. 



Of the Birch family there are several varieties, called the Black, 

 Yellow, Red, Canoe, the Gray, and the Dwarf. Of these the 

 Yellow and Canoe Birches are the most interesting and useful. 

 The general outUnes of the Yellow Birch often resemble the Elm, 

 the root-spurs rise high lap the trunk, protruding much beyond 

 the regular circle of its shaft. It is very firmly rooted, capable 

 of withstanding a violent blast. It attains to the height of sev- 

 enty or eighty feet, and often measures from nine to ten feet in cir- 



