152 SYLVAN WINTER. 



of the Ash, often breaking out on the underside of 

 the branch, forms very elegant pendent boughs.' * 



An elegant mode of twisting distinguishes the 

 spray of the Elm. It is stout, but abundant, the 

 smaller shoots being short and starting some- 

 times at nearly right angles from the stems. The 

 Winter buds are conical, reddish in colour, and are 

 terminal as well as lateral on the shoots, along 

 which they are placed in alternation. 



' The branch of the Elm,' says Gilpin, ' has 

 neither the strength nor the various abrupt 

 twistings of the Oak, nor does it shoot so much 

 in horizontal directions. Such also is the spray ; 

 it has a more regular appearance, not starting off 

 at right angles, but forming its shoots more 

 acutely with the parent branch. Neither does 

 the spray of the Elm shoot, like that of the Ash, 

 in regular pairs from the same knot, but in a 

 kind of alternacy. It has generally at first a flat 

 appearance ; but as one year's shoot is added to 

 another, it has not strength to support itself ; 

 and as the tree grows old, it often becomes 

 pendent also, like the Ash ; whereas the tough- 



* ' Porest Scenery,' pages 145-6. 



