112 



THE ELM. 



And Wordsworth, having, probably, the same 

 passage in his mind, says : — 



" Our days glide on ; 

 And let him grieve, who cannot choose but grieve, 

 That he hath been an Elm without his Vine 

 And her bright dower of clustering charities, 

 That, round his trunk and branches, might have clung 

 Enriching and adorning." 



With Milton it was a great favourite, from 

 its affording a shady retreat to the care-worn 

 citizen : — 



" Not always city pent, or pent at home, 

 I dwell ; but when spring calls me forth to roam, 

 Expatiate in our proud suburban shades 

 Of branchiug Elm, that never sun pervades." 



The " rugged Elm " is enshrined too in Gray's 

 Elegy, as every one will recollect. 



" Beneath those rugged Elms, that Yew-tree's shade. 

 Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, 

 Each in his narrow cell for ever laid. 

 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 



The Elms immortalized by the poet have been 

 cut down ; but the Yew-tree is still in existence. 



The Common Elm is generally propagated by 

 suckers, w^hich spring up in great abundance round 

 the trunk, or by grafting on young plants of Wych 

 Elm which have been raised from seed. It grows 

 most rapidly in light land, but requires a stiff 

 strong soil to produce good timber. It will 

 bear any amount of pruning, but needs none : 

 the custom of lopping Elms in hedge-rows, and 

 converting them into gigantic brooms, is as in- 

 jurious to the timber as it is destructive of 

 picturesque effect. It is to be presumed, how- 

 ever, that farmers who adopt this practice are 



