382 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
(Ulmus montana), and it got its popular name 
because its foliage somewhat resembles that of the 
hazelnut-tree (Corylus Americana). 
The English witch-hazel or wych-elm was sup- 
posed to possess magic powers. It indicated the 
presence of hidden springs and of ores. Even at 
the close of the last century Cornish miners 
were so confident of its efficacy that they scarcely 
ever sunk a shaft but by its direction, and those 
dexterous in the use of the divining-rod professed 
to be able to mark, on the surface of the soil, the 
direction and breadth of the ore-vein beneath. 
A forked twig of the Ulmus montana was also 
used for the detection of witches, and hence the 
tree’s popular name. 
When the first settlers transferred the old 
English name to the New England shrub they 
also transferred all the folk-lore and wonder-lore 
thereunto appertaining and belonging. 
Whether the American wych-hazel has lived up 
to the reputation thus suddenly thrust upon it we 
do not know. Certainly it has a half-uncanny 
look when one chances upon it, all abloom, in 
woods where the last autumn gold is growing sere. 
For it wears the aspect of an April blossom, yet 
we find it in latter October or November, when 
