74 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



distance from the parent stem. Yet 

 it is very rare to see young elms spring- 

 ing up spontaneously in the way that 

 seedling ashes, sycamores, beeches, &c, 

 may be observed by the hundred in 

 places where these trees abound. This 

 fact has long been noted and used as 

 an argument against the truly native 

 character of the so-called English elm. 

 It has been asserted that it was intro- 

 duced into this country by the Crusa- 

 ders, but even if such was the case, it 

 has now a good title to be recognised 

 as indigenous, its lineage being as un- 

 impeachable as any of the nne old 

 English families who came over with 

 the Conqueror. Like them it has be- 

 come firmly established in the land, 

 whilst it cannot be denied that it has 

 well sustained its claim to be regarded 

 as one of our most favourite park and 

 ornamental trees, from its majestic 

 beauty of outline, its vigour of growth 

 and general utility. 



The Natural Order Ulmacece, which 

 includes several genera and about 

 twenty species, is closely allied to the 

 nettles and hops. It is represented in 

 Britain by two species, and a number 

 of varieties, varying from two to six or 

 eight according to the tastes of bota- 

 nists, and the value they set upon 

 minute differences. Even between the 

 two recognised species considerable 

 confusion exists, from the fact of the 

 same names having been used by dif- 

 ferent botanists for both the trees. 



Thus the JJlmus campestris of Linneus 

 is the U. Montana of the present day 

 botanists, whilst the U. campestris of 

 to-day is synonymous with U. suberosa, 

 and represents the other well-marked 

 type of our British elms. 



The fine distinctions so dear to the 

 heart of the critical student of botany, 

 are rather out of place in the pages of 

 a popular magazine for beginners like 

 the Y.N., and the relative values of 

 the curve of the veins of a leaf, the 

 presence of pubesence when young, 

 which disappears in the mature leaf, 

 and the varying position by the eighth 

 of an inch of the seeds within the seed- 

 vessel, are minutise too trifling to 

 attract the attention of ordinary or 

 casual observers. And yet it is to this 

 very faculty of noting these trifles 

 " light as air/' that we owe the system- 

 atic arrangement and knowledge of the 

 natural sciences that we now possess. 

 The difficulty with a neophyte (surely 

 an apt name for a young botanist), 

 must always be the inability to accu- 

 rately apportion the exact value to be 

 accorded to every trifling variation ; 

 but he may rest assured that no vari- 

 ation — if permanent and not merely 

 accidental — is too trivial to be noted 

 and recorded, as by such observations 

 order is ultimately evolved out of 

 chaos. Trusting merely to book des- 

 criptions or dried specimens of the 

 leaves and flowers, a series of elm 

 specimens might seem to run insensibly 



