THE MOUNTAIN, WYCH OR SCOTCH ELM. 129 



beneath. The introduction of the Wych Elm to the great 

 extent it has been carried, in all artificial mixed plantations 

 in the north of England and Scotland, without regard 

 to the nature of the soil or the peculiar habits of the 

 tree, has been a great error and mistake ; disappoint- 

 ment has in consequence followed, upon all soils of in- 

 ferior quality, and, instead of a thriving crop of useful 

 timber, the planter, after years of anxious expectation, 

 beholds nothing but a set of hide-bound, unhealthy, and 

 decaying trees. The rapid and rampant growth of this 

 species for the first few years after planting, even in poor 

 soils, and the value of its timber where it attains large 

 scantling and maturity, were, no doubt, the inducements 

 that led to this extensive cultivation, to which also may 

 be added the further inducement held out to nurserymen 

 to recommend it to their customers, as it was a plant 

 they could raise in any quantity at a very trifling cost, 

 and which returned a quick and ready profit, as the young- 

 trees were often fit to be removed from the nursery at 

 the age of two years. 



But the failure of the Wych Elm as a profitable tree 

 upon the generality of soils appropriated to planting, is 

 not the only or the least of the evils that have at- 

 tended its almost unlimited introduction, for it has not 

 only failed in itself, but has too frequently been the 

 cause of preventing the growth and progress of other 

 trees. The Wych Elm we consider from its habit and 

 growth to be less calculated for mixed plantations than 

 almost any other tree with which we are acquainted, 

 not even excepting the ash, particularly where the oak, 

 a tree that cannot bear close interference, is intended to 

 form the principal or ultimate crop, for, in addition to 

 the rapid growth we have noticed during its early years, 



