COMMON EUROPEAN ELM. 
57 
the narrow-leaved Witch. Elm, the broad-leaved Witch Elm, and the up- 
right Witch Elm. On the Continent we possess these principal varieties, 
and those that are referred to them ; but we consider the Dutch Elm as a 
distinct species, not derived, like the others, from the Common Elm. 
In England the true English Elm is recognized as the best wood ; and 
to avoid mistake, in forming plantations, grafted stocks are procured from 
the nurseries ; for neither the foliage nor the wood offers any peculiar ap- 
pearance by which it may be certainly distinguished. 
In the description of the Tupelo particular mention has been made of 
a precious variety of the Common Elm, the Tivisted JElm, omitted by the 
German and English writers, which is propagated in the Departments about 
Paris, in that of the North, and in Belgium. 
It is an object of importance to multiply this invaluable variety, which 
can be done only by grafting or by transplanting suckers. It is reared 
with the greatest care at Meaux and Mendes, a few leagues from Paris, 
and thence it is procured with the greatest certainty. 
The Curled Maples, till they are 7 or 8 inches in diameter, exhibit no 
undulations of the fibre, and a similar fact is observed in the Twisted Elm ; 
the fibres do not assume the spiral direction till the trunk is 9 or 10 inches 
thick. In comparing attentively young Twisted Elms less than 8 inches 
in diameter with other varieties planted at the same time in the same soil, 
the only difference I observed was that the 'vegetation of the Twisted Elm 
was more vigorous, its foliage of a lighter green, and its bark'perfectly 
smooth, while that of the other stocks, even when only 2 inches in diame- 
ter, was thick and chapped. 
In Erance, Belgium, and some parts of Germany, many of the high- ways, 
as well as the public walks in the neighborhood of large towns, are planted 
with the Elm, which, besides the value of its wood, has a tufted foliage, 
and suffers 'the pruning-hook without injury. The trees destined for this 
purpose are reared in nurseries, and when about 2 inches in diameter are 
set out, in the autumn, at the distance of 24 feet. During the first years 
the ground is kept loose, that the rain may penetrate more easily to their 
roots. 
PLATE CXXIX. 
Plate 1, Leaves of the natural size. Fig. 1, Flowers of the natural size. Fig. 
2, Seeds of the natural size. 
VOL. III.— 9 
