322 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
in the Elm country, and the instances are past 
counting in which town and country dwellings 
have been called after this beautiful inhabitant of 
our rural districts. 
Upon the twigs, made bare by the wintry cold, 
the Elm-flowers cluster on spring’s arrival, ere 
the tender bud of the coming leaf has opened. 
In little bunches, like a cluster of scaly buds, 
but purple-tinted, the blossoms grow. Stamens, 
with fructifying pollen, intermingled with pistils, 
which anon develope their one-seeded ovaries. 
These grow into thin green plates, like wings, 
notched at their upper and broader ends. And 
wings they are; for when the little seeds, encased 
in their thin green caskets, are ripe, they take 
flight with the first high wind, and flutter to the 
ground. Then, upon the turn of the Elm-fruit 
harvest, when the harvester—the first fresh breath 
of spring—has done his work, the leaf-buds open 
with hue of tenderest green. How beautiful at 
this season of leafage is the Elm! Who has 
failed to admire and enjoy, during a ramble on 
foot, a ride, or a drive, on a bright spring 
morning, through the winding roads of sylvan 
