474 



KOTES AKD ILLUSTEATIONS. 



which Professor Martyri, with greater science, has by no means improved 

 to the ordinary reader. 



Amidst this complication, the unlearned planter will find some dif- 

 ficulty in discriminating between the only three kinds with which it 

 is important for him to be well acquainted — namely, the indigenous 

 Witch or Scotch Elm, the Witch Hazel, and the English Elm. 



The first or Scotch Elm grows to a very large size, and abounds in 

 the north-western counties of England, and in Scotland. The bark of 

 the young branches is smooth and very tough, and young trees often 

 suffer severely by being stripped of it by boys, or other idle persons ; 

 but that of the old trees cracks, and is rough. The branches spread, 

 and do not grow so erect as those of the English Elm, but will form an 

 extensive top, if they have air and light. The leaves are rough, and 

 doubly sawed on their edges. Their base is unequal, about three inches 

 long and two broad, of a dark green colour, and they stand upon short 

 foot-stalks. The flowers come out usually in March, sometimes so 

 late as the beginning of April, upon the slender twigs standing in 

 clusters ; they are of a deep red colour, and are succeeded by oval- 

 bordered capsules, containing one roundish seed, which ripens in May. 

 But as the leaves do not appear till late in the spring, it is not de- 

 sirable to plant or transplant the tree to situations near the mansion- 

 house. 



The second sort (which some consider as a variety only of the first) 

 has received its name of Witch Hazel, from the resemblance of the 

 young shoots and leaves to those of the Hazel. It grows also to a 

 spreading tree of great magnitude. The bark of the young shoots, as in 

 the former, is very smooth and tough ; it is of a yellowish brown colour, 

 and spotted white. The leaves are oval, and, when in a state of luxu- 

 riance, nearly six inches long, and three and a half broad ; they are 

 unequally sawed in their edges. The flowers grow more diffiised to- 

 wards the ends of the twigs. They have long leafy empalements of a 

 green colour, and appear in the spring before the leaves. The seeds 

 ripen in the end of May, or beginning of June. 



The third sort, or English Elm, attains a much greater height, and 

 grows much more erect, than the two foregoing. It has oval acute- 

 pointed leaves, which are doubly sawed and unequal at their base. 

 The flowers are of a purplish red colour, and come out by the beginning 

 or middle of March ; but no seeds ever appear on them. Any further 

 description of the narrow-leaved or English Elm is unnecessary, as it 

 never can be mistaken for either of the other kinds. 



Dr Yule, in his interesting paper (published in the Edinburgh 

 Horticultural Transactions) more than once noticed above, mentions 



