THE MOUNTAIN, WYCH OR SCOTCH ELM. 125 



growth of the Wych Elm, which is allowed by all to be 

 a native of the British Islands. In the southern parts of 

 England it is less common than in the northern districts, 

 and it becomes more abundant and more generally dis- 

 persed as we advance into Scotland, where it forms a 

 prominent feature in the wooded scenery of that romantic 

 and picturesque country ; it delights in those deep glens 

 and denes which are so common in its mountainous dis- 

 tricts, for in these it finds a soil congenial to its nature, 

 being generally rich and loose, and frequently mixed 

 with the debris of rocks, through which the moisture 

 percolates with ease, and at the bottom of these ravines 

 there usually flows a stream whose brinks are enriched 

 by deposition brought from above, and are well adapted 

 to the constitution and long tough roots of this tree. 

 It is also the native Elm of Ireland, where it flourishes 

 in situations similar to those of the sister isles. Upon 

 the Continent it appears to give place, at least in the 

 champaign districts, to the U. campestris and its varieties, 

 or else, as seems probable, it is there considered as another 

 form of that species, being apparently unknown in France 

 and Germany under the title of U. montana ; this seems 

 confirmed by Loudon's remark that the Cevennes Elm, 

 considered a variety of U. montana, is a native of the 

 south of France. It is, however, indigenous to the ele- 

 vated forests of Switzerland, and we are informed of 

 Germany also, under whatever name it may be known ; 

 and it is not improbable that the opinion of some botanists 

 may be correct, viz., that the U. campestris of Linnseus 

 refers to the U. montana of modern authors. 



Instead of the upright pyramidal growth, and long con- 

 tinuous trunk of the U. campestris, the Wych Elm forms 

 a large spreading tree, generally losing its central column 



