THE ELM AND THE TULIP 



the gentlest zephyr to start them to singing ot 

 comfort in days of summer heat. The elm is 

 fully clothed down to the drooping tips of the 

 branchlets with foliage, which, though deepest 

 green above, reflects, under its dense shade, 

 a soft light from the paler green of the lower 

 side. It is no wonder that New England 

 claims fame for her elms, which, loved and 

 cared for, arch over the long village streets 

 that give character to the homes .of the 

 descendants of the Puritan fathers. The fully 

 grown elm presents to the sun a darkly ab- 

 sorbent hue, and to the passer-by who rests 

 beneath its shade the most grateful and restful 

 color in all the rainbow's palette. 



Then, too, the evaporative power of these 

 same leaves is simply enormous, and generally 

 undreamed of. Who would think that a great, 

 spreading elm, reaching into the air of August 

 a hundred feet, and shading a circle of nearly 

 as great diameter, was daily cooling the atmos- 

 phere with tons of water, silently drawn from 

 the bosom of Mother Earth ! 



Like many other common trees, the Amer- 

 ican elm blooms almost unnoticed. When the 



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