NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 
5 
WYCH ELM. 
In the centre of tlie village, and near tlie church, is a square piece of 
forestry of Selborne, while here we have now only some of the more remarkable 
trees noted. 
The wych elm, the first tree alluded to has been a subject always annotated 
upon, this species being far less commonly grown in England than in Scotland. 
In the former country it is supplanted almost entirely by the small-leaved 
or English elm, as it is commonly named, a tree which reaches a large size, and 
of which there are magnificent specimens in our public parks or promenades ; 
but it produces a wood of iuferior quality, and as it is now planted in the hedge- 
rows of the small enclosures of the south, it must very materially injure the crops 
by its spreading roots, which shoot up and would soon cover the ground. The 
tree mentioned in this letter is the ulmus campestris, Linn, it yields a timber 
valuable for various agricultural purposes, and is esteemed for making naves for 
cart-wheels ; it is of a more spreading character than the others, and often attains 
to a large size. The Selborne elm, though of less size than some others, the 
measurements of which have been recorded, must have been a large and very 
fine tree. 
The oak trees mentioned in the latter part of this letter gained their peculiar 
character by being very thickly planted, and as it might be called ''neglected." 
According to our notion of timber management thinning is indispensable, but to 
obtain trees of the kind alluded to, the thicker they can be grown, the better. 
Beech trees with a clean stem of from fifty to seventy feet are very valuable for 
keel pieces, but the practice of growing wood of any kind in this way has 
scarcely been practised. Larch planted for hop-poles, or sweet chesnut grown 
for the same purpose, are treated in this manner ; and what in commerce is 
called Norway poles, are I believe the first thinnings of the Baltic forests, which 
