72 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



tlieir elm-embowered streets, which are indeed beau- 

 tiful, and typical of a New England town. 



The most characteristic mark of beauty in the elm 

 is the fringed appearance of its drooping branchlets, 

 which hang suspended from the heavy boughs and 

 trunk like so much lacework. The poet Whittier 

 noticed this beauty, and alluded to it iu his verses 

 addressed to the Merrimac Eiver : 



Laugh in thy plunges from fall to fall ; 



Play with thy fringes of elms, and darken 



Under the shade of the mountain wall. 



The arching character of the boughs which leave 

 the trunk with an almost imperceptible curve out- 

 ward, distinguishes this elm from all others, and gives 

 it that singularly graceful figure which is best seen in 

 isolation on the meadow, or in succession beside the 

 road. 



The leaf of the elm is smooth except when young, 

 and distinguished by its veiny, lopsided character, 

 entirely different in every respect from a beech leaf ; * 

 the edge is most frequently, but not invariably, dou- 

 ble-toothed. 



The meadow land of the Connecticut Kiver Yal- 



* I make a comparison of these two opposite types of leaves 

 to draw particular attention to the difference in the character of 

 foliage between the beech and the elm ; no two trees could pos- 

 sibly be more differently graceful. 



