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COMMON EUROPEAN ELM. 
Ulmus campestris. 77. foliis duplicato-serratis , basi incequalibus ; floribus 
subsessilibus, conglomerate, pentandris ; fructibus glabris. 
Upon the Old Continent one of the most useful trees in the mechanical 
arts is the Elm, which is indigenous to the centre of Europe and to the 
north of Asia. It was formerly most abundant in Germany, and the town 
of Ulm, in Suabia, is said to derive its name from the vast forests of Elm 
that existed in its vicinity. 
This tree was cultivated by the Ancients, and highly esteemed for the 
excellence of its wood : it is frequently mentioned by Virgil, Pliny and 
Theophrastus. 
No forests consisting wholly of Elm are found in England, Germany, 
France or Italy ; hut the habitual use and superior fitness of its wood for 
certain valuable purposes, cause it to be propagated on private estates, by 
the sides of high-ways, and in the large forests which in different countries 
are protected by government. Thus cultivated and artificially multiplied 
it has produced numerous varieties, like the fruit trees, which are distin- 
guished principally by their foliage : in some of them the leaves are small, 
shining and coriaceous ; in others, large, downy and supple. To this dif- 
ference must be added that of the bark : upon a trunk 6 inches in diame- 
ter, in some varieties, the bark is smooth; in others it is rough and scaly 
upon saplings less than 2 inches thick. Distinctions are also founded upon 
the rapidity of vegetation and the quality of the wood. Nurserymen 
assure us that new varieties are constantly appearing among the young 
plants reared from the seed ; hence it becomes impossible to compose inva- 
riable definitions, or to harmonize the confusion of botanical writers. 
But all these varieties may be referred to two types, in which remark- 
able differences are found and constantly reproduced. One of these is the 
Common Elm, under which are ranged all the ordinary varieties ; the other 
is the Large-leaved or Dutch Elm. 
The Common Elm is one of the tallest and finest trees of the temperate 
zone of Europe ; several stocks yet survive in France which were planted 
in the reign of Henry IV., about the year 1580, by the orders of Sully, and 
which are 25 or 30 feet iu circumference, and 80 or 90 feet high. 
