212 TREES 



Middle West. With him the tree seized the land and 

 made it yield a living. Elms, which have outlived the 

 cotton woods and willows, are not so large yet as the 

 patriarchal trees in old New-England villages, yet time 

 alone is needed to match, in the valley of the Missouri, 

 the elms in the valley of the Connecticut. 



I think, with due appreciation of its summer luxuriance 

 of foliage, and the grace and strength of the elm's frame- 

 work in winter, that the moment of greatest charm in the 

 life of a roadside elm comes in the first warm days of late 

 March. The brown buds on the sides of the twigs are 

 swelKng and a flush of purple overspreads the tree, while 

 snow still covers the ground. A tremendous "fall of 

 leaves" ensues, for the tiny bud scales that enclose the 

 elm flowers are but leaves in miniature. The elms are in 

 blossom! Each flower of each cluster has a calyx with 

 scalloped edges, and a fringe of four to nine stamens hang- 

 ing far out and surrounding the central solitary ovary. 

 The color is in the yellow anthers and the dark red calyx 

 lobes. 



Speedily, the stamens shrivel and pale green pendants, 

 which are the seeds, cluster upon the twigs. Winged 

 for flight, these ripen and are scattered before the leaves 

 are fairly open, and the growth of the season's shoots 

 begins. Only the pussy willow, the quaking asp, and the 

 earliest maples bloom as early as the elm. How much 

 they have missed, who never saw an elm tree in blossom ! 



The hubs of the "one-hoss shay" were of "ellum," 

 its interlacing fibres peculiarly fitting this wood for indes- 

 tructibility. Saddle trees, boat timbers, cooperage, and 

 flooring employ it in quantities. It is also used for flumes 

 and piles, for it resists decay on exposure to water. 



