THE WYCH ELM. 



at page 120. It was planted originally on the 

 left side of a little stream, but having, from some 

 unknown cause, been laid prostrate, the trunk 

 fell on the opposite side of the stream, where it 

 took root, and rising again, has acquired such di- 

 mensions that it covers an area of seven thou- 

 sand square feet, or one sixth of an acre. The 

 main stem, which now forms a natural bridge 

 across the stream, is ten feet three inches in 

 circumference, and the three trunks, which rise 

 from the right side of the stream, measure 

 severally, eight feet and a half, six feet, and 

 five feet eight inches. 



These trees sometimes attain a great size. 

 Evelyn mentions one " growing within these three 

 or four years in Sir "Walter Baggot's park, in the 

 county of Stafford, which, after two men had been 

 five days felling it, lay forty yards in length, and 

 was at the stem seventeen feet diameter ; it 

 broke in the fall fourteen load of wood, forty- 

 eight in the top ; yielded eight pair of naves, 

 eight thousand six hundred and sixty feet of 

 boards and planks. It cost ten pounds seventeen 

 shillings the sawing ; the whole esteemed ninety- 

 seven tons. This was certainly a goodly stick! " 



The Cork-barked Elm resembles the Common 

 Elm rather than the Wych Elm ; it rarely ripens 

 its seeds, but produces suckers freely. The tim- 

 ber is soft and spongy, and much inferior to that 

 of either of the others. 



