318 



THE planter's GUIDE. 



it will not eyen reject what to most trees "woiild be a 

 superabundance of moisture. Like the Oak, it surpris- 

 ingly accommodates itself to almost any soil — a light and 

 sandy one excepted, on which it wiU not succeed, nor pay 

 the planter. In the county of Norfolk, for example, or 

 on the fertile though light coast of East Lothian, there is 

 not, generally speaking, a good — that is, a large — Elm. In 

 those light districts it pushes vigorously at first, and may 

 reach a foot or more in diameter ; but it soon after decays 

 at the heart, and if not cut down in time, becomes useless 

 altogether for timber. 



" The Elm,''' says Gilpin, " is the first tree that salutes 

 the early spring with its light and cheerful green.'' This 

 may possibly be the case in Hampshire ; but in these 

 northern latitudes where there is often little spring at aU, 

 I cannot say that it is a particularly early tree ; at least 

 it is surpassed in that property by the Poplar and Larch, 

 which are oui' earliest here ; by the Sycamore, which next 

 comes out, and also by the Horse-chestnut, which is not 

 far behind the Sycamore. It possesses, however, gi'eat 

 facilities for transplantation, and indeed it has been long 

 celebrated for such. Evelyn, who does not seeui to have 

 much practised the art, informs us that you may remove 

 Elms of twenty years' growth with undoubted success ; 

 and that he himself removed one, by way of experiment, 

 "almost as big as his waist," having fii^st totally dis- 

 branched it. 



Generally speaking, if we except perhaps the Beech, a 

 tree will transplant well, or the contrary, in proportion to 

 fibrousness of its roots. But the Elm possesses roots in 

 which the fibres are not only abundant, but where the 

 larger roots are of so very pliant and flexible a kind, as 

 readily to extend themselves in every direction in search 

 of food. In respect to the proper season for removal, any 



