THE ELMS AND THE HACKBERRY 



Scotch Dutch ^ medium-sized tree, 50 to 60 

 or Wych Elm feet high. The bark is smooth 



uimus ga ra ^^^^ greeu. The branches are 

 spreading and somewhat drooping. The buds 

 are 7tot downy like those of the slippery elm. 



The Scotch ehn, like the English elm, is 

 extensively cultivated in the parks and gardens 

 about Boston, and it is frequently planted along 

 roadsides. It is less upright and tall than the 

 English elm, its average height being about 

 forty feet, and it has a more spreading head. 



The Scotch elm, according to Gerard, had 

 various uses in ancient times. Its wood was 

 made into bows, and its bark, which is so tough 

 that it will strip or peel off from the wood 

 from one end of a bough to the other without 

 breaking, was made into ropes. Its wood was 

 not considered so good for naves as that of 

 the English elm, though in Scotland it is used 

 by ship-builders, the block and pump maker, 

 the cartwright and cabinet maker. Loudon 

 says in his " Arboretum et Fruticetum Britan- 

 nicum " : " In many parts of the country, the 

 wych elm, or witch-hazel, as it is still occa- 

 sionally called, is considered a preservative 

 against witches ; probably from the coincidence, 

 between the words 'wych' and 'witch.' In 

 some of the midland counties, even to the pres- 



