xvm.] ENGLISH ELM. 153 



six centuries as the great Chestnut tree, and must be of 

 very great age. 



ENGLISH ELM ( Ulmus campestris) 



is found growing in the hedgerows of most of the 

 counties, and forming the avenues in many of the parks 

 of England. It also occupies a wide range over Europe, 

 preferring generally low lying, level ground, with a 

 moderate degree of moisture. It thrives on many 

 varieties of soil, provided the situation be open, but 

 attains the greatest perfection when grown in a deep, 

 open loam, reaching, under favourable circumstances, 

 the height of 60 to 70 feet, with a circumference of 

 from 7 to 8 feet. 



The wood is , brown in colour, heavy, hard, tough, 

 porous, and much twisted in grain, which makes it 

 difficult to work when thoroughly seasoned, and also 

 next to impossible to split it. The medullary rays in 

 this species of wood are so fine as to be hardly distin- 

 guishable, and this in some measure accounts for its 

 strong cohesive properties. 



The economical uses of the Elm are very great, since 

 we find it extensively employed in engineering works for 

 piles, pipes, pumps, blocks, &c. ; it is also used for keels 

 and planks under water in ships. Carpenters, wheel- 

 wrights, turners, and cabinet-makers also use it for so 

 many purposes that it would be very difficult to enumerate 

 them. 



Elm timber, if used either where it is constantly 

 under water, or in any situation where it is kept perfectly 

 dry, excels almost every other kind of wood in durability. 

 But under any other circumstances it decays rather 

 rapidly ; therefore, the surveyor, in selecting this wood. 



