TKEES FOE WATER CATCHMENT AREAS 161 



volume of timber, which is always in local demand. The 

 wood differs from that of the other elms in its dark- 

 red heartwood, and is of especial value for making coffins, 

 boxes, furniture, etc. ; and is of service also, like wych elm, 

 for hubs and felloes of wheels, in boat-building, and for uses 

 under water. 



The English elm is rarely planted in woods, probably 

 on account of the difficulty of procuring it, as seedlings are 

 unknown and grafted trees are objectionable. Suckers, 

 however, can be dug up wherever large trees occur, and be 

 used for planting when oak and other broad-leaved planta- 

 tions are being established. It grows very fast in the 

 south of England, and a sprinkling of it in such plantations 

 would be advantageous. In the Forest of Dean, a mixed 

 oak and larch plantation, aged 39 years, in which there 

 were a few English elms, showed the following average 

 measurements: larch, 59 feet high, 41 inches girth at 

 breast height; English elm, 54 feet high, 37 inches girth; 

 and oak, 40 feet high, 20 inches girth. These comparative 

 measurements show the remarkably fast growth of English 

 elm in good woodland soil. 



3. Smooth-leaved elm {Ulmus nitens). This species is 

 common in France, Germany, Austria, etc., where it is 

 found wild, mixed with common (pedunculate) oak, in the 

 forests bordering on the great rivers. Seedlings of it are 

 imported from French nurseries under the name Ulmus 

 campestris, but are totally different from the English elm. 

 Smooth-leaved elm is wide-spreading in habit, and on that 

 account is often called " wych elm " erroneously in southern 

 and eastern England, especially in localities where the true 

 Ulmus montana is rare or absent. Smooth-leaved elm may 

 be planted in woods, similarly to the English elm, but will 

 not produce as good timber or grow as fast as the latter in 

 southern England. 



4. Cornish elm {Ulmus strida). This is a form of the 

 smooth-leaved elm, with smaller, firmer leaves and an 

 upright habit, which is confined to Cornwall and Devon. 

 It succeeds better than the English elm on poor and 



