Zelkova 917 



and free from branches, except at the summit, excelling in this respect most broad- 

 leaved trees. It grows fast in youth, continuing its growth in height to sixty or 

 eighty years old, afterwards mainly increasing in girth. It is moderate in its demands 

 for light, and gives good coppice shoots. 



Cultivation 



This species was introduced into cultivation in 1760, the oldest known tree in 

 Europe being one ^ in the garden of M. Lemmonier at Petit Montreuil, near Paris, 

 which was cut down in 1820, when it was 72 feet in height and 6 feet 8 inches in girth. 

 It is probable that the elder Michaux, who saw this tree growing in northern Persia in 

 1782, also introduced seed.^ Further consignments^ were sent to France in 1831, 

 by Chevalier Gamba, French Consul at Tiflis, Seeds from this source germinated 

 after lying eighteen months in the ground ; but Gay, in a note in the Kew 

 Herbarium, states that this tardy germination was probably accidental, as seeds from 

 Karabagh, which he sowed in the last days of March, produced seedlings, which 

 were peeping out of the ground at the end of May. (A. H.) 



This tree is now rarely seen in nurseries, though it is easily propagated by 

 suckers, and seed could be procured without difficulty from its native country. 

 In consequence it is hardly known to modern gardeners, though both from its 

 ornamental habit and valuable timber it would be much better worth planting than 

 many trees of more recent introduction. 



The principal point to be attended to is to protect it from frost, and prune it 

 carefully until the main stem has attained the desired height ; and to plant it in a 

 deep, rich alluvial soil, and warm, sheltered situation. So far as I have been able to 

 learn, no tree has produced fertile seed in this country. 



Remarkable Trees 



A remarkable tree at Wardour Castle, Tisbury, Wiltshire, is reputed by tradition 

 to have been sent, when quite young, from North America by the second Lord 

 Baltimore, about 1632, and has been supposed^ to be Planera aquatica, Gmelin,^ a 

 native of swamps in the south-eastern United States, There must be some error 

 in the tradition, as the tree is undoubtedly Zelkova crenata. It is known as the Iron 

 tree, and the late Lord Arundell of Wardour assured me that this name, used in 

 America for the Hornbeam and Hop Hornbeam, was a proof of its American origin. 

 He also believed that the tree had been cut down during the siege of Wardour 

 Castle in Cromwell's time, and had afterwards produced from the stool the seventeen 



1 Andre Michaux, Mimoire sur le Zelkoua (Paris, 1831). 



2 See a lengthened correspondence concerning this tree in Garden, xxiv. 370 (18S3), xxvi. 38 (1884), and xxxii. 92 

 (1887). 



3 This species was introduced into England in l8l6, according to Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1413 (1838) ; but it 

 appears to be unsuitable for our climate, and no specimens are known to us to exist, except two plants in the Elm collection 

 at Kew, about 8 feet high, which were introduced in 1 897, and are thriving so far. 



