226 TREES OF MINNESOTA. 



in habit: some specimens may be quite upright in growth 

 while others are very pendulous. One having the drooping 

 habit that was found in Illinois, is now offered by nurserymen. 



Distriljution. From Newfoundland and along the northern 

 shores of Lake Superior to the eastern base of Rocky 

 Mountains, south to Florida and Texas and west in the 

 United States to the Black Hills of Dakota and western 

 Kansas. * In Minnesota comrrfon throughout the state. 



PropaQfition. Described under genus Ulmus. The seeds 

 can often be swept up on roadways and pavements in large 

 quantities. 



Properties of wood. Very' tough in young trees, light and 

 moderately strong in old, difficult to split and rather coarse 

 grained; color light brown -with lighter colored sapwood. 

 Specific gravity 0.6506; weight of a cubic foot 40.55 pounds. 



Uses. The White Elm has always been the favorite shade 

 and ornamental tree in the northern states and is the best 

 street and park tree for general planting in this section. It 

 is also one of the hardiest trees for prairie planting and will 

 perhaps withstand as great extremes of temperature 

 and moisture as any of our shade trees. It is a rapid and 

 often straggling grower and should have a little attention in 

 the way of pruning when young to keep it in its best form. 

 The wood is largely used in the manufacture of agricultural 

 implements, for hubs of wagon wheels, for saddle trees, for 

 flooring and in cooperage. The bark was used by the Indians 

 when they could not procure birch bark in making their 

 canoes and houses. In some parts of this country the tough 

 inner bark was formerly twisted into ropes. 



Ulmus racemosa. Cork Elm. Rock Elm. 



Leaves ovate-oblong or obovate, taper-pointed, smooth 

 above, pubescent beneath, resembling those of the White Elm 

 but less sharply serrate. Twigs and bud scales pubescent; 

 branches generally with corky ridges or wings. Flowers in 

 April, in open loose racemes with slender pedicels not in 

 clusters. Fruit ripe in May, an ovate elliptical samara about 

 -f of an inch long, pubescent, with margins thickly fringed, 

 much like the fruit of the White Elm, but somewhat larger. 

 Occasionally a tree 80 to 100 feet high and 3 feet in diameter. 



