THE FIELD ELM. 



267 



western Europe and parts of North Afri- 

 ca and Asia; it is supposed not to have 

 been originally a native of this country, 

 though from its extensive growth in our 

 islands it must have been of very early in- 

 troduction, probably by the Romans. 



The Elm is one of the most 



Increase. ■.. r . 



proline or trees, 

 scattering its seed freely, and 

 therefore it is important in all 

 cases of forest plantation to 

 see that the trees come from 

 seed, as the Elm suckers very 

 freely, and there is the danger 

 of getting suckers instead of 

 seedlings. For this purpose 

 good seedling trees of 3 to 4 

 feet high should be used. The 

 rotation maturity of the Elm 

 as a forest tree is from 80 

 to 100 years, at which age it 

 will have attained the dimen- 

 sions that fit it for most usages. 

 There is no merit and no pro- 

 fit in letting it get broken- 

 backed and rotten to the heart 

 as we see it about London. 

 Selby protests against the 

 practice of grafting the Field 

 Elm on the Mountain Elm, 

 an absurd practice, as in all 

 soils it likes, the tree does 

 much better from seed. 



There are a num- 

 ber of these, mostly of gar- 

 den value, and that doubtful, though 

 they bear attractive names : Golden, 

 Silvery, Marbled, and Variegated ; but 

 none of them are worth growing except 

 from a shrubbery point of view. They 

 are usually grafted, and sometimes in 



country places one may see them mak- 

 ing a fair growth. Of greater value are 

 the natural varieties of Field Elm, such 

 as the Red Elm and the Cornish Elm ; 

 but we may safely take the common 

 Field Elm as the best from our forest 

 point of view. Books have been over- 



Varieties. 



GREAT ELM IN HATFIELD PARK. 



burdened with names of its varieties, 

 and it does no good, because for so 

 many one Latin name is as good as 

 another, so worthless forms come to be 

 planted instead of good ones. 



References. — Cobbett, Woodlands, par. 227; Loudon, 

 Arboretum, vol. 3, p. 1371 ; Laslett, Timber and Timber 

 Trees, p. 153 ; Evelyn, Sylva, 2nd edition, p. 28 ; Matthew, 



