282 ELM. 



discovered in it any medicinal virtues. The Mantuan bard 

 gives ample directions, ulmis adjungere vHes, it being usual in 

 those days to fasten the weak and limber vine to the sturdy 

 Elm *. Later poets have some happy allusions to this practice : 

 thus our own Milton, describing the morning avocations of the 

 dwellers in Eden : — 



" They led the vine 



To wed her elm ; she spoused about him twines 

 Her marriageable arms, and with her brings 

 Her dower, th' adopted clusters, to adorn 

 His barren leaves." 



Paradise Lost, h. v. 1. 21 G. 



"• Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine, 



Whose weakness married to thy stronger state, 

 Makes me with thy strength to communicate." 



Shakspeare. 



In the Teutonic mythology the Elm had the honoiu' of being chosen for 

 the formation of the first woman, Emla (elm), as the first man was Aske 

 (ash). Several superstitious customs were practised by our Saxon ances- 

 tors on this tree. A canon of Edgar in the tenth century runs thus : 

 "• We decree that every priest shall anxiously advance Christianity, and 

 forbid tree worship, divination with the dead, omens, charms with songs? 

 and many other illusions which are practised in asj'lums on Elms (hence, 

 perhaps, the name Wytch Elm) and on various other trees, by which many 

 are perverted who ought not to be so." 



Qualities and general Uses. — This beautiful tree is well 

 adapted for planting, as it does not destroy the grass beneath 

 it. Animals in general are very fond of the foliage, and eat it 

 greedily. The wood is much valued ; being hard ajid tough, it 

 is used for making axle-trees, mill-wheels, keels of boats, 

 chairs, &c. ; and being very durable in wet situations, it is pre- 

 ferred for coffins. It is also stained to imitate mahogany. 

 The tree is much infested by insects, especially the aphis ulmi, 

 which feeds upon the juices of the leaves and makes them curl, 

 to form, as is supposed, a shelter from the weather. Silk- 

 worms are fond of the leaves. Dambourney obtained from the 

 bark a yellowish-brown colour for dyeing, and De Vilette 

 manufactured of it a kind of strong brown paper. 



* He has also given the Elm a place in the infernal shades. Vide JEn. 

 lib. vi. V. 283. 



