78 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



" Thou wast the yew from the wood, 

 Thou wast the firm, strong oak, 

 Thou wast the holly and thorn, 

 Thou wast the rough, pleasant apple, 

 Thou hadst not a twig of the aspen, 

 Under no obligation to the alder, 

 And had'st no friendship with the elm, 

 Thou wast the beloved of the fair." 



It was the favourite tree of the poet 

 Cowper, who in various passages in 

 the Task happily hits off its character- 

 istics. He first refers to its common 

 habitat by the river's bank : — 



" There, fast rooted in his bank, 

 Stand, never overlooked, our fav'rite elms, 

 That screen the herdsman's solitary hut." ' 



And then again, in quite a different 

 situation : — 



" 'Tis perch'd upon the green hill top, but 

 close 



Environ'd with a ring of branching elms 

 That overhang the thatch, itself unseen, 

 Peeps at the vale below ; so thick beset 

 "With foliage of such dark, redundant growth 

 I called the low-roofed lodge the peasant's 

 nest." 



and when describing — 



" The woodland scene 

 Diversified with trees of every growth 

 Alike, yet various." 

 He pictures — 



1 ' The ash far-stretching his umbrageous arm ; 

 Of deeper green the elm ; and deeper still, 

 Lord of the woods, the long surviving oak." 

 And lastly — 



" The grove receives us next ; 

 Between the upright shafts of whose tall 

 elms 



We may discern the thresher at his task." 



U. campestris is usually called the 

 common, English, or park elm, it 

 being generally planted as an orna- 



mental tree, whilst U. Montana, which 

 is clearly indigenous in the north, is 

 called the mountain, Scottish, or wych 

 elm. This latter name refers to its 

 reputed prophylactic virtue against 

 witchcraft, which it shares alike with 

 the mountain ash and hazel. So the 

 rustic ploughboy prefers an elm or 

 hazel switch to drive his team, for good 

 luck, and to keep away the witches. 

 If dauntless Tarn O'Shanter had been 

 provided with such a switch on his 

 memorable ride, his good grey mare 

 Maggie would never have lost her tail. 

 Even yet in rural districts a piece of 

 wych elm is furtively let into the 

 churn, else the dairy-maid believes that 

 all her efforts would never produce 

 butter. A premature fall of the leaves 

 of the elm is also held to portend a 

 murrain amongst the farmer's cattle. 



Readers of Sir W. Scott's "Anti- 

 quary " will remember the incantations 

 of D ousters wivel and his efforts to 

 discover the concealed treasure by 

 means of the divining rod. This magic 

 wand was formed from a forked twig 

 of a twelvemonth's growth, cut from a 

 hazel or wych elm tree. Held loosely 

 in the hands of certain gifted individ- 

 uals it was believed to indicate the 

 presence of water, hidden treasure, or 

 precious minerals, In the Cornish 

 peninsula it is still used in prospecting 

 for tin, &c ; and only recently the 

 Town Clerk of a Wiltshire town 

 gravely reported to the Council that 



